Currents: Emma

Current Books: Emma is a voracious and enthusiastic reader, just like her mama. (Yes, I'm proud. Deal with it.) Right now she is reading Ramona and her Father. She just finished the first Sisters 8 book and loved it. Chris and I bought her the rest of the series as a gift for getting ALL A's ON HER REPORT CARD FOR THE ENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR. (Yes, I'm proud. Deal with it.) When the books came in the mail, she squealed and paraded the books around the house like trophies. She is also heavily into the Rainbow Fairy books and received many for her birthday. She has her own library card and basically reads whatever she can get her hands on.

Current Music: The latest requested downloads were Justin Bieber's "Overboard" and Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow." She loves pop music, anything she hears on the radio when riding the bus. She still loves Ke$ha, which somehow makes me feel I've failed as a mother. (I'm not a prude, and I let Em listen to a lot of mindless pop music that makes me feel like my brain is bleeding, but the woman actually spells her name with a dollar sign. For that reason alone, I will never pay for any of her music. Ever. But I digress...) She also likes Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson. She doesn't like boy singers because they sound "dumb." (Justin is the exception because, "Duh! He sounds like a girl." Which...is true.)

Current TV/Film: Her favorite TV show right now is "Good Luck, Charlie" on the Disney Channel. For movies, she likes her same princess movies - Tangled currently tops the list - but she also likes going to the movie theater a lot. We recently saw Kung Fu Panda 2, and Aunt Jayme took her to see the new Judy Moody movie. She seemed to really enjoy them both. On her summer list of movies she wants to see are A Dolphin's Tale and Mr. Popper's Penguins. No interest at all in Cars 2: "Yuck. That's a boy movie."

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: The only thing that really comes to mind is that she still shakes her body with excitement, which always looks to an outsider a bit like she's having a seizure. At this point, I don't know when or if she'll ever outgrow the habit.

Current Color: Pink. Always and forever, I fear.

Current Links: She plays games on Nick Jr., and she likes to print out activity books and word ladders and coloring sheets from various kid-friendly sites.

Current Fetish: Hmmm...well, she likes to have her nails painted, but only in a pattern. The latest was three pink, then two red. She also still refuses to wear anything but dresses, unless she is going to camp and has no choice. The other day she wore her friend Olivia's high heels to the park and got a terrible blister on her heel. When I pointed out that high heels are not really appropriate footwear for the playground, she replied, "But Mom. I want to look BEAUTIFUL. Even when I am hanging from the monkey bars."

Current Outfit: yellow and green polka-dotted sundress

Current Drink: After recently coming back from the dentist and being told that juice is not good for her teeth, she is big into green tea. She really likes her dentist and actually listens to what she says. In other news, I am considering going to dental school.

Current Wish List: Oh my...how much time ya got?

1. An ipod
2. High heeled shoes
3. Her hair to be as long as Rapunzel's, "or maybe just to my knees because I don't want to get bugs in it."
4. Acting classes (I mentioned that maybe she could take a class somewhere once school starts again. She then told my friend Whitney, "Mommy is going to let me be an actress in the fall.")
5. BOOKS!
6. Disney World
7. To drink soda on a regular basis (I plan to solicit our dentist's help in nipping this particular wish in the bud.)
8. Ice cream from the ice cream man in the park. Daily.

Current Triumph: She is starting to memorize some of her multiplication tables, and she's super excited about it. She isn't as solid on them as she thinks though. Yesterday she screeched, "I know my times!" Then she told me 2x3=4 and 4x3=11. Her Daddy taught her how to float at the pool Saturday, and she was bragging about it as if she'd won Olympic gold. Although again, she overestimates her prowess a bit. For her, success constitutes staying above water for approximately 10 seconds before becoming submerged and choking on chlorine. Still, it was definitely a triumph.   

Current Bane Of Her Existence: Probably Sophie, honestly. She is remarkably patient with her little sister most of the time, but Sophie is definitely able to drive her crazy like nothing else can. (And frankly, Sophie's been a whiny pain lately, so I can only sympathize with Emma's dilemma.) It doesn't help that Sophie adores Emma and mimics everything she does. Em also despises sunscreen and tangles in her hair.

Current Celebrity Crush: Lady Gaga. Teddy from "Good Luck, Charlie." Miss Ruth, her camp counselor. (Maybe not a celebrity, but definitely a crush.)

Current Indulgence: Mint chocolate chip ice cream cones from Oberweis, Coke (only on her birthday and New Year's Eve), and Fun Dip.

Current Excitement: She's very excited to be in camp, and to have her first field trip to the zoo. She is also excited to see all her grandparents over the summer, and to go to Ohio with the Dippels. She is excited about writing in her journal and reading her books and staying up late and having sleepovers with Olivia and coloring the perfect princess picture and eating Wolfy's for dinner and going to the pool. Emma gets excited about a lot of things.

Current Mood: She's still moody, but she is also maturing. Emma is full of life and imagination. She is capable of extreme goofiness and revels in being silly. She is a loving, affectionate seven-year-old girl who still thinks nothing of making up a song called "I Love Mommy" and singing it to me every night before she goes to sleep, or shouting "My Mommy rocks!" in the park when I spin her fast on the tire swing, or grabbing my hand to hold as we walk down the sidewalk together. I know her demonstrativeness is bound to go away as she gets older, which makes me treasure every snuggle and "I love you" all the more. In short, I'd say her mood lately is very, very happy...and she makes those around her very, very happy too.