5 years + 5 months

Emily has had big dreams this month.  At the beginning of the month she was trying to decide if she wanted to be a scientist or a detective.  She settled on detective and started taking notes on the members of our family like Jack from The Magic Treehouse books.  She keeps them on slips of paper in containers on her art desk.  Her notes on me say "Hard work" "Pays bills" "Favorite state is Iowa" and "Does not like rice spilled" (referring to the rice box).  Lincoln's notes say "Spills rice" "Mess of rice makes a disaster" "Never picks up rice" "Likes rice and diggers" "Loves bagels" "Doesn't obey anybody".  The last one makes me laugh.

 

Lately, Emily has been playing Rock Star Emily.  Although I'm pretty sure she has no idea what the real lifestyle of a rock star looks like, she thinks it means she is the best.  She has been making posters advertising for Rock Star Emily.  She has her own web site (www.rockstaremily.com), her own TV channel (712) and some kind of singing contest with 60 episodes and the finale on May 1 (although we've never watched any of the reality singing shows).  She also made her own pennant flags.  EEK stands for Emma, Emily & Karen (two imaginary friends).  I know this is all coming from a Fetch! episode where they learned about playing/writing rock songs.

I have mentioned many times the Child Craft books from my childhood that reside in Emily's room.  She loves looking through them.  This month she has really studied the "Guide for Parents," which is basically a how-to guide circa 1986.  At various times she has informed me that you really only need to bathe babies 3-4 times/week unless they get really dirty, we need to let the babysitter know what TV shows or commercials she is allowed to watch and suggested we create a "safe" place for Lincoln (a "toodler") where he is allowed to make messes and we can say "yes" instead of always saying "no".  How would we live without her?!? ;o)  The other night she told Austin she was reading it so she would know what to do when she had kids.

Geography is still a major interest.  Emily is doing better at pronouncing the states after learning the song Fifty Nifty United States.  After conquering "Stack the States," Emily has moved on to "Stack the Countries."  That's another pronunciation challenge!

Emily has been very proud to start making her own lunch, which is usually a ham & cheese sandwich.  She still enjoys her beloved Chocolate Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast (dry) with an occasional addition of Quaker Oatmeal Squares or Life.  She usually requests it for snack, too.  However, she has an annoying habit of always leaving 4-5 pieces in the bowl no matter how full I fill it.  :op Sometimes when I ask her what she wants to eat she replies, "Whatever you give me is fine."  She is doing better about trying things that I make with less drama, although she still prefers things plain and bland.