Emma Mae

I am a week and a half from my one year blog anniversary.  I love reading back through the year to relive  the fun and the not so fun moments of our lives.  Looking back though, I see a lot about Emma.  A lot of it, not so flattering of her.  True, she is more of a challenge than I hoped for as a parent, but it gives me a lot to write about.  She brings out emotions in me that are hard to ignore.  They get stuck in the crevices of my mind as I try to figure out what kind of parent she needs me to be.  How can I make her life more successful?  Well, anyway, I wanted to write a post that highlights some the attributes I love about her.

*She is super snugly when she wakes up.  In the morning, or from naps.
*She loves shiney, flashy things.  Cars, clothes, jewelry, rocks.  If it sparkles, she needs it.
*Her favorite foods are anything sweet.  She takes after her momma in this area.  She can eat sweets like a    champion.
*She has a great sense of humor, but doesn't realize it.  She gets embarrassed if people laugh at her.  I hope she can see that as a good thing, someday.
*Emma has incredible confidence in her own sense of style.  It never matches, but she doesn't mind.  She wears what she likes.
*She loves to dance and does so freely.  She moves however the music takes her.
*She responds well to positive reinforcement.  Now I just need to remember to do it.
*Emma loves doing art.  Drawing, cutting, gluing, painting, stickers.  She loves it all.  She created a whole paper princess that she actually played with until the dogs ate it.
*She is very strong-willed.  This is what causes a lot of the conflict, but if we can develop it properly, it can make her a very strong leader and help her stand her ground when she's older.

God made her a twin, but yet, a unique, special individual.  I look forward to seeing who she becomes.

My Little Dancers

Emma and Taylor love to dance.  Love, love, love it.  I think its great, but wanted to avoid dance lessons because of the cost.  Its expensive.  The lessons, the shoes, the costumes.  Oh my.

So...I encouraged gymnastics.  They liked it just okay.  Taylor worked really hard to get things right, but Emma, on the other hand, didn't.  If things are too hard, she just quits.  That's what happened.  If she couldn't do it right, she just gave up.  And, things were pretty slow paced. A lot of waiting in line.  That left a lot of time for them to get into trouble together.

I finally gave in and agreed to give dance a try.  I'm not sure how things will go, so I signed them up for a month to month class.  I was able to borrow a pair of tap shoes from a friend, but had to buy two pairs of ballet shoes and one other pair of taps.  Its a good thing I had won a Payless gift card at a neighborhood party.  That was it.  I was going to hold off on buying any other "gear" until I knew they would continue with the lessons. 

Last night in the car Taylor asked if they were going to wear ballerina clothes.  I told her no, that we would just wear pants and shirt for a while.  She was so sad.  She said all the other girls would have on ballerina clothes.  She sweetly said they could just wear their play dress-up ballerina clothes.  These things are stained, torn, and too small.  I couldn't let them wear those.  Seeing the fear and sadness in her eyes, I knew that I also could not let them be the only kids without ballerina clothes.  Off to Walmart we went.

I was later explaining to them that they had to listen, pay attention, and do what their teachers said.  They were going to teach them how to do ballet and tap.  Emma said it was okay, because she already knew how to dance.  She then showed me her spectacular tap routine.  I think her downfall will be her over-confidence in her ability to dance.

So, today was the first day.

Waiting for their class to begin.

Taylor has natural ballet talent.  I, and some other parents, were very impressed.  I then showed them my other daughter - the one picking her nose and looking at herself in the mirror.  She did pay attention sometimes, but I'm hoping that her natural talent will come in next week's class.