My Brilliant Daughter

I know I am supposed to be overly proud of my children. It is my right as a mother to think they are the smartest, funniest, cutest, most wonderful children in the entire world.

Luckily enough, I am right =D

Emerald is really doing great--she is progressing wonderfully. That is what this post is about--how well Emerald is learning =)

She can now:

~Count to 29. I would consider it to 30, but she says "28, 29, 20-10.." which is technically not right

~Recognize all the letters of the alphabet, uppercase or lower case when written down

~Recognize the words "Emerald", "Daddy", "Mama", "Benjamin", and "Gabriel" if written down

~Knows all the sounds the letters make and can sound out a word (though that does not mean that she will then read the word--she will do something like "cuh-ahhh-tuh. Cuh-ahhh-tuh....that spells Remy!! -our cat-)

~The most exciting (to me): She can spell and write her own name =D sure is is messy, but up until this point, she would write DLAREME (Emerald backwards) or EMMMMMMM.....you get the idea. But now she can write her name! Whoo-hoo!!

Other than that, she knows all her colors and shapes (today she says her favorite shape is a rectangle and her favorite color is pink); the sounds animals make, domestic and wild; and all the words to a ton of nursery rhymes. She can point to any body part and name it, or tell you if it hurts; recognizes a variety of emotional expression when shown pictures; and can follow multi-step directions without being retold. Most beautifully though, she can invent the most elaborate, complex stories.

It's easy to get frustrated and notice the things that Emerald is struggling with. For example, though she never has tinkle accidents any more, she will insist on waiting until Daddy is home before she will poo...which has the unpleasant side effect of making her quite uncomfortable and ill and unable to make even if she wants to when he DOES get here. So she is not fully potty trained yet, though she is nearly four. Or the fact that she is every bit as stubborn as her mother, which means that we butt heads constantly.

But despite all of that...she is a very intelligent, empathetic, compassionate child that loves to learn and is eager to please. We are very blessed to have such a beautiful, wonderful daughter!!

~Andie~