Emma on a Wednesday

• Puts her breakfast plate away without having to be asked and then responds to my expression of thanks with, "Well, it's the least I can do."
• Lays on my lap and watches Brother Bear in rapturous silence, periodically uttering in a quietly reverential voice, "I just love this movie."
• Stands on her bed shouting "NEVER!" over and over again while in a time out for sassing.
• Tells me that when she grows up I'll have to get her "one of those blue shavers you use to shaver your legs b/c I'm gonna be a girl Mommy so I need a blue shaver, not a black one like Daddy's."
• Protests when I pinch her thumb while trimming her nails, but then attempts to reassure me when she sees how badly I feel. "Don't be sad Mommy, please don't be sad. I know you didn't mean to, it was an accident." I smile and thank her for understanding. Then she continues, "It just really really hurts. Look Mommy, it's all red and poofy and...oh no, I think it's bleeding! I need a band aid, please please, it burns, it burns. Ooh, it hurts it hurts it really hurts, I maybe need to go to the doctor, do I have to go to the doctor Mommy, do I, do I? We should put on Neosporin or I'll hafta go to the hospital and get a shot, I don't want to get a shot, Mommy pleeeeeaaaaase, I don't want to get a SHOT!!" After collecting herself she says with a sigh, "Boy, you sure did give me a BIG boo-boo, Mommy."
• Commiserates with me when I explain that we aren't going to the gym today because my muscles are really sore from exercising yesterday. "Yeah, my muscles are sore from yesterday too," Emma agrees. "Really?" I ask. "Why are your muscles sore?" "Well," says Emma, "I ate a lot of food yesterday and that was too much exercise for my belly."
  
• Declares that Grandma is coming to see us soon and staying for a whole week. I clarify that Grandma is actually only coming for the weekend, and only if the weather clears. Emma absorbs this without complaint. Much later Em approaches me and says, "Grandma thinks she's coming on Saturday and Sunday, but really she's coming for Saturday and Sunday and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and then Saturday again b/c I asked the snow to keep her here and it said yes."
• Dodges her little sister all morning while complaining repeatedly, "Ma-ma, Sophie's bothering me." Yet promptly bursts into tears after Sophie goes down for a nap, sobbing, "But I wasn't done playing with her!"
• Settles in her room for "quiet time." (From 1-3pm our rule is that, in lieu of a nap, she plays quietly in her room with the door closed while her sister sleeps and I work). Over the course of two hours, she emerges from her room at least 12 times to request the following: tape, paper, water, snacks, cups, help putting on her tattoo, help cutting snowflakes, potty breaks (3), hairbrush, blanket, slippers, help with her shirt sleeve, help with her buttons, lip balm, apple juice, chalk, hoodie, and paper towels to clean up "just a little spill." When quiet time is over, she innocently inquires, "Did you get all your work done, Mommy?"
• Takes her first ever bite of peanut butter celery and says with a shrug, "Well, I guess it's a little bit good." I urge her to taste it again. She tries a second nibble, flaps her hands in the air and shrieks, "I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT!" With her third bite she decides, "I don't like this, it's icky." Bite number four: "Okay, I guess I'll eat it, but I like blue cheese better." Ten minutes later she asks for more because "peanut butter celery is my favorite!"
• Wraps a blanket around her waist, declares herself a princess in a magic skirt, and tells me that I am her prince. She wears the "bee-YOOT-i-ful" skirt for about an hour before deciding, "I don't want to be a princess anymore. I'm just gonna turn back into a big girl now." She drops the blanket, spins in a circle and says quietly, "Done." Then she goes off, presumably to do big girl things.
  
• Nails question after question in her Brain Quest book, prompting me to state, "You know, you're pretty darn smart for a 4 year old." Em stops reading, wraps her arms around me, gives me a big squeeze and whispers in my ear, "Mommy, I love you so much."