Girls

I think alot about parenthood. How what I say, how I act - it's all molding who the girls will be. They watch my reactions to things and learn from my daily demeanor. What a scary, smack in the face kind of reality that is. 

This past week, fueled by comments from my Emma, i've been laying awake in bed at night thinking about how hard it will be, is, raising girls. I want them to be kind. I want them to be themselves. Mostly I just want them to be happy and love life.

We have a neighbor girl who Emma suddenly decided she didn't like because she has freckles. We've been really working on this, explaining to Emma that God made everyone different and it's not a nice or acceptable thing to say. We checked out a couple books about being kind at the library, including a request for Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore, and i'm hoping we end this fast. 

When we were at the library getting our weekly books and movie, a larger lady walked in and I saw Emma watching her closely. She left, and loud enough for the librarian to hear Emma asked "Mom, how dat lady gonna use the toilet?" I almost died. 

We've been having a lot of "if you don't have anything nice to say..." conversations and I hope that i'm doing all of this right. There are a lot of things I think i'm good at as a mom, but dealing with Emma being not so nice is hard. I trust my gut, and though i've read lots of books about raising girls, I don't think there's anything quite like a momma's intuition. What I do know for certain is that I love these girls something fierce.

I feel like poof, summer disappeared and in came fall, with lots of chilly nights and cardigans filling the hampers. One morning last week Joey showed up at 6:15am with hot apple cider donuts. Oh hey fall.

We spent the day with Great Grandma Shirley a few weeks ago before she jetted off to Florida.

Eva is such a ham. Gosh do we love her. I could write a novel about the cute things she does and says. She can talk like a 3 year old, I swear. She says everything. Puts words together, uses them in the right context. In public she walks around saying "hello" to everyone she passes. 

She likes toys but she likes books even better. She also loves to close her eyes and dance. 

And then there's our Emma who knows exactly what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it. It's only fair, given she is my daughter and Joey is just as equally hard headed. She is my "I will not eat chicken with marks on it" and she means it to the 5th degree.

We took her shopping for some clothes the other day and she picked out a darling little romper that was shorts and buttoned up with a collar. I admire her fashion sense but didn't find it practical because A. it's getting cold out and B. how in the heck would she get it on and off herself at school. She was mad. Like, really mad that we wouldn't buy it for her and told me Mrs. Mary would have no problem helping her out. She made me hide it on a rack so we could come back in the spring to pick it up. She won't forget, either.

I've always thought known hoped  that my will would stay stronger. Some days I have to remind myself of this and she's only four. 

Joey did get her a toy baby duck that she can feed and it makes noises when it eats. She thanked him 1,000 times, told him he was the best dad in the world and really meant it. Despite the strong will she's mostly a whole lot of sweet.

Emma loves school. Just about everyday after we go to the ice cream shop with her little friends Ella and Cailynn. There is an old man that is usually there and he calls the girls Billy. They laugh and laugh.

Emma and Eva are each other's shadows. I've envisioned the sibling rivalry happening by now, but these girls are best friends. There is the random feud over a book or a hug that was too tight, but it's mostly just love. The two of them together are magic, like, clap-happy magic. Cinnamon and sugar, rhythm and blues. 

Lately when we're out in public strangers have been telling us what a beautiful family we are. What a heart-warming compliment. I tell Joey we hit the daughter jackpot. I know he feels it too.

My picky eater Emma drinks pickle juice right out of the jar. A daughter after my own heart.

This week we're going to do some fall decorating and stay busy while daddy is working long nights in the fields. We've started some Christmas presents because I like to pretend to be on top of the ball game.

It's also picture week at school, and we have a play date scheduled with some girls from school.

Happy Tuesday. Happy week.