Currents: Emma

Current Books: She just told me she loves Liz Kessler books, especially Philippa Fisher and Emily Windsnap. She is reading Philippa Fisher and the Fairy's Promise at the moment. She just finished The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963 and wouldn't stop talking about it. I caught her giggling out loud when reading it more than once. (As a huge reader myself, this sight made my heart absolutely SOAR.) She is eagerly awaiting her birthday because I made a stupid promise one year ago that she could start reading the My Sister The Vampire books when she turned 8 years old, so now I have to stick to it. Of course, I remember reading my mother's Danielle Steel books when I was around her age, so there are worse things.

Current Music: She is super duper in love with Selena Gomez right now. I seriously hear "Love You Like A Love Song," "Who Says?" and "A Year Without Rain" in my sleep. She and I are both really digging Taylor Swift's new song off the Hunger Games soundtrack, "Safe and Sound."  I try to push her toward these types of singers whenever I can, but unfortunately Kesha is still on our playlist too. However, I feel I've been at least mildly successful in influencing her musical choices because she loves her some Kelly Clarkson and Pink, and really...who in their right mind doesn't??

Current TV/Film: TV: "Austin & Ally" and "Wizards of Waverly Place." She would be loath to admit it, but she also gets sucked into a lot of her sister's "baby" shows. We haven't been to a movie in awhile. I think the last one was Lorax, which both girls seemed to enjoy. Her all-time favorite movie of the moment is Dolphin Tale.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasures:

1. Running around naked, smacking her butt and chanting "Shake your booty, shake shake your booty" while I huddle in a corner and try to resuscitate her unconscious father.
2. Putting her hands under her shirt and pretending she has "boobies."
3. Blowing bubbles in her dirty bathwater, a pastime she's seduced her sister into doing as well.
4. Gleefully sticking her stinky feet in my face.
5. Having heated, one-way conversations with various game characters as she's playing her Nintendo DS.
6. Wearing her favorite pair of jeans several days in a row. She'll only stop after I order her to put them in the laundry, and not before she falls to the floor, cradles the jeans to her chest and shrieks, "But they aren't gross yet, I swear! JUST ONE MORE DAY!" 

Current Color: Black, blue and purple. (Check out the "Current Color" section of my recent Currents: Sophie blog post, to which I say: A-HA!)

Current Links: ST Math, Disney Coloring Pages, and Funny Kitties songs on Youtube.

Current Fetish: She will only wear pants and t-shirts. The pants must be skinny jeans or leggings. No pants that are "puffy" and make her look fat. (Oh yes, that is a direct quote. And oh yes, it pains me terribly.) Still no dresses. Also, she always wears at least two ponytail holders around each of her wrists because "the colors help make her hands pop."

Current Outfit: Black leggings, blue t-shirt.

Current Drink: Lemonade, water, green tea. Soda whenever she can sneak it past me.

Current Wish List:

1. To not have to changes schools when we move to our new house.
2. To get her ears pierced.
3. To have a huge party for her birthday.
4. To move to Indiana, St. Louis or Florida (near family members) instead of living in Chicago, where "there is nothing to do."
5. To have her own phone, laptop and ipod.
6. To go to Florida and meet Winter the dolphin.
7. To have a bunk bed.
8. To drink soda "with every meal for the rest of my life."

(Guess how many of these wishes are going to come true? I'll give you a hint: it rhymes with "sun.")

Current Triumph: I don't know if this counts as a triumph, but she just got her hair cut and she's pretty excited about it. Also, she's now lost six teeth and happily shares that fact with complete strangers, along with the fact that she's "practically a third grader."

Current Bane Of Her Existence: Well, this could go on forever. Learning to ride a bike, the wind blowing her hair, muscle cramps, homework, wearing jackets, clothes that itch, spiders, wet hair on her neck. When I asked Emma directly, here was her reply: "Sophie annoying me and you telling me to do things that don't make any sense, like be responsible. Oh - and be sure to put in there that I don't like casserole."

Current Celebrity Crush: Selena Gomez and Winter the dolphin

Current Indulgence: Jewelry. She just used her own money to buy "Best Friends" bracelet and necklace sets. She gave the matching bracelet to her friend Violet and the matching necklace to her friend Olivia. She also has an Emma necklace from Grandma Kitty and a bracelet from Gigi that she wears almost every day.

Current Excitement: She is so excited for her birthday. Like, SO EXCITED. She's been talking about it since February. Seriously.

Current Mood: Dramatic. Ebullient. Unpredictable. Giddy. Mercurial. Dynamic. Tenacious. Maddening. Utterly, completely entertaining. A glorious tornado of opinions, thoughts, and feelings...that's our Emma Bloom.

Currents: Sophie

Current Books: Some of her favorites are the Pinkalicious and Frances series of books, Marcel the Shell, Skippyjohn Jones (she only has the first book but listens to the author read them all on CD). But she also loves chapter books. We've read the first Secrets of Droon book three times and she likes the Disney Fairies series. She also loves this app on Chris's phone where Grover reads Monster At The End Of This Book.

Current Music: She just asked today if I could put Nicki Minaj's "Turn Me On" on my ipod. But she'll still listen happily to Laurie Berkner. She's a musical conundrum. Chris has been playing both girls The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" at night on his phone for a lullaby, but the song on his phone that they most adore is "The Duck Song." If you haven't seen the video, check it out below. Then picture my girls re-enacting it word-for-word, which they have done on multiple occasions.

Current TV/Film: TV shows: "Wow Wow Wubbzy," "Peppa Pig," "Team Umizoomi," "My Little Pony." Oh, and "Powerpuff Girls," of course. For movies...she says her favorite is anything with Ariel (ie, My Little Mermaid or Ariel's Beginning) but she also loves the Barbie movies. Anything girly-girl.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Oh god. It's so gross. She picks her nose and then delicately, discreetly, puts her finger in her mouth and sucks. I have tried saying something to her about it more than once, but she just gets embarrassed and hides under the table. (Literally, this is what she has done every single time. It's like a pre-programmed response, as if someone hypnotized her and then suggested she climb under the nearest table immediately upon hearing the phrase "Please stop eating your boogers.") I don't have the heart to ask her to stop anymore. When I was little, a boy at school ate dirt every single day during recess. By the handful. Like...he gobbled it. So if she likes the taste of her own snot, who am I to judge? Eventually a peer is gonna give her grief over it, and the behavior will cease. Or maybe not. Kids made fun of the dirt-eating boy all the time, and he just kept scooping the stuff into his mouth with a smile on his face.

Current Color: When I asked her what her favorite colors are, she said black and purple and blue. But I think she is just saying that to copy her big sister. (Although when I stupidly said this comment aloud, it was greeted by outraged tears and much foot-stomping denial.) I think her true favorite colors are purple and pink.

Current Links: She isn't on the computer much, but she plays a lot of Internet games on Chris's phone, like The Cupcake Game and The Fairy Game and The Dora Game. (Do you sense a theme?)

Current Fetish: Hmmm...this one always stumps me. I think it's the word "fetish." It conjures decidedly un-preschoolish images in my mind. But let's see...I guess the one that drives me the most crazy is her "actually" fetish. For example, I will ask if she wants a waffle for breakfast, and she will say no. Then, approximately 30 seconds later, she'll say, "Well, actually, I do." Or we will pick out a book for bed, get all snuggled in, and then on page 10 she will declare, "Actually, I want to read a different book tonight." Or I will make her a sandwich for lunch, and she'll take two bites and announce, "Well, actually...I wanted soup." She always emphasizes the word "actually" in this passive-aggressively hostile way, like she's doing so just to drive the point across that SHE OWNS ME. The only other fetish I can think of is leggings. The girl will not wear anything but leggings. Period. Oh - and she's pretty much obsessed with her Nintendo DS and Xbox's "Rayman" game.

Current Outfit: Blue dress with multi-colored flower/asterick thingies all over, pink striped leggings and black boots.

Current Drink: Lately, it's all lemonade all the time. We drink sugar-free Crystal Light, which is basically just flavored water, so I consider this a major step up from constant orange juice.

Current Wish List: She talks often about swimming in a pool. Every day, when the sun is out and it's even remotely warm, she asks if we can go to the pool. I explain to her that the pool is not open yet, and then the next day, she asks again. She has swim lessons every Saturday, and at least one point during the day Sun-Fri, she asks if today is the day she has swim lessons and can swim in the pool. We are in the process of (hopefully) buying a house that comes with an above-ground pool, and while I am thrilled about finally owning our home - and in particular, this home - for a multitude of reasons, I get most excited imagining her joy when it sinks in that she has a pool in her own backyard.

Current Triumph: No more pull ups at night! She's been potty trained for almost two years, but we haven't been able to get past wearing a diaper at night. I wasn't stressed about it at all - her sister was the same way. We worried about it a little bit with Emma, but one day she just didn't seem to need them anymore and that was that...so I figured it would go similarly for Sophie. Of course, in almost every other situation in which I've assumed the second daughter would behave just like the first daughter, I've been dead wrong. But in this case, I was actually right! (Cue the band, folks. That's worth a few crashing symbols at least.) Sophie inexplicably started staying dry all night a couple weeks ago, and she hasn't had a single accident since we tossed the pull ups for good. She is ridiculously proud of herself for this...as she should be!  

Current Bane Of Her Existence: She hates when people laugh at her. It's a problem, because she does a lot of genuinely funny things and can't seem to decipher the difference between when someone is laughing with her and someone is laughing at her. From her perspective, it always feels like we are mocking her and she gets very upset and demands we stop. So we've gotten in the habit of turning our faces and stifling our giggles so she doesn't see, which to me feels more like mocking her than just laughing openly, but it keeps her happy. She also complains of a stomachache almost every day, which both breaks my heart and worries the hell out of me. They don't slow her down; she doesn't act sick. But on an almost daily basis she utters the words, "My stomach hurts." I don't know if it's what she is eating, or anxiety, or something more than that. I've been advised that if she doesn't seem to be in actual physical pain (ie, doubled over, not eating, throwing up, etc.) then to let it go, but I'm starting to wonder if I should take her to the doctor. I just hate to open up that door of various tests, etc, if we don't need to. If anyone has any suggestions for this, send 'em my way please!

Current Celebrity Crush: Right now, the Easter Bunny

Current Indulgence: Slushies

Current Excitement: She can't wait to go to real school. Of course, I've explained to her many times that she won't be old enough for kindergarten for over a year, but I don't think she gets it. She is also very excited to be allowed to chew gum when she turns five and to grow her hair long.

Current Mood: Unpredictable. She's grown moodier as she's grown older. She can be so happy and light and silly one day, and then grumpy and whiny and tantrum-y the next. It's hard to predict and even harder to control. But at her core, she has a kind and loving nature. Right now we are just trying to weather the storm and live for the sunny days.

Photos, Photos, Photos

It has come to my attention that I have been horribly remiss in my blog postings lately. Perhaps on another day I will wax poetic about all the reasons why, but right now I just don't have time. (I know, I know...my life is just so terribly busy and important, isn't it? ISN'T IT?!?)

In the meantime, feast upon the fast food of blogger-dom...PHOTOS!

Emma as a Starbucks barista in her school play.

Grandma Kitty and Daddy with the breakout star!

The girls with cousin Micah, Gigi and Paw Paw in St. Louis.

Playing Banana Boat in the park.

The kids enjoying their gifts from the Easter Bunny.

Striking a pose at the Botanical Garden.

Family pic! (Yes, all three girls are in pajamas. That's just how we roll here, peeps.)