Dear Emma Gracie,

That big *sigh* you heard today was from your Mommy. You have leap-frogged over the age of 4 and you have gone straight to age 14.

You told me today that when you grow up you and Sam are going to get married. Little Sam is your sweet, (very cute – you do have good taste!) little friend that you play with at Kids Klub while Mommy works out. You just told me as we were walking out, “Mommy, when I get bigger like you, Sam and I are going to get married. And he’ll get bigger too so we can get married!”

What happened to marrying Daddy? (Not in a sick, Kentucky-inbred sort of way – but a sweet little FOUR-YEAR OLD way.) You are not supposed to be planning out futures with little boys named Sam (or boys by any other name, for that matter.), you are supposed to be running around having a fun life free of worries or cares.

All I’m saying is, keep this up and you are going to give your Mommy a heart-attack. Come on! You know the plan:

• No dating until you are 18.
• You’ll get married at 26 or so.
• Have little grandbabies around 28, or maybe 30.

So, Sam, hit the road. You can come around knocking in 14 years or so.

All my love,
Mommy

If the art thing doesn’t work out for Emma, she will make a fantastic lawyer.

J. and I have been astounded lately with her knack for debate. She uses her negotiation skills for everything. Five more minutes of coloring before bed? Five, four, three more bites of her dinner. And she is famous for ONE more story before bed. I noticed the other night when I went in to tuck her in (Denise had put them to bed), that there was a stack of books, we are talking maybe 10 or 12 books next to her bed. I guess she found a tactic that works on Denise. She definitely has one that works on her Daddy. (Not so much on Mommy.) 🙂

For a time she would pose it as “Hey, Mom – I have a great idea! Let’s….” and so would begin her request. I loved it when she said this, she always said it with such enthusiasm, it almost didn’t matter what she was asking for. (Almost.)

But lately she has resorted to pleading…okay, let’s call it what it really is…whining. And what is the one thing Mommy cannot stand?

Whining.

I think, however, that we have found a great tactic that is helping tremendously with the whining. (Listen up – all you Mamas with whiny 4-year olds!) I think J. actually started this with her.

E.: “But….(whiny, whiny, whiny little request).
M. (or D.): “Would you like to try again?”
E.: “OK! Mommy, may I have (insert request here) please?”

I am not kidding you…it works every time! And not only that, she is starting to censor herself! She will start and before I can even say anything to her she says, “Mom. Let me try again.” It is like a little game, and it is so beautiful. And it also makes me smile every time she does it.

Obviously we are not a whine-free household. Yet. But, I’m holding onto the fantasy. Someday.

My little Em is going to be a great artist someday. I am convinced she will be an amazing painter or writer. And I try to encourage it whenever I can…however I must draw the line at composing the next great American novel or impressionist painting on my SHEETS. On my BED!

I tried to make her take a little nap last week while Lauren was here – so I put her in my bed for her rest. She asked if she could draw in her little notebook, and I, of course, told her that would be a great, restful thing to do.

Ha.

I am about to get into bed and our bed is littered with post-it notes. I mean, the entire pad was scattered around, on top of the sheets. I made a joke to J. about how instead of a bed covered in rose petals, I get a yellow, sticky paper covered one.

But as I started to pick up the paper, I uncovered the sheets. And this is what I saw…

Sorry for the poor quality of pics – it was very dark and I couldn’t get the sheets spread out really great – but if you look, you will see on my white sheets, written in blue ballpoint pen, “Emma, Momma, Daddy” and a few other unintelligible words.

I’ll admit it was kind of funny after the initial shock wore off and my anger passed. When I asked her why she did it, she said “I put the paper over it to cover it up!”

Of course.

Never did get an answer on why she wrote on the sheets. She has had privileges taken away. And she was just about to get her dog game back – when I went upstairs this morning and she had drawn all over her toybox! At least this time it was in pencil.

So the doggy game is going to be mine until Friday. We’ll see if she can control her artistic impulses until then.