6 years + 6 months

Emily has reached the halfway point of being six and is already looking forward to seven.  We measured on her growth chart and discoverd Emily has grown 2" since her birthday!

At the beginning of the month, Emily suddenly decided that she was old enough to start taking showers instead of baths.  Even though I've been suggesting it for months, she made up her mind when she found out showers take less water than baths, and she wanted to save the Earth or something.  I guess we'll take it.

Emily still has a loose tooth on the bottom, and the permanent tooth is already poking through behind it.  She has a deadline of May 14th when her dental check-up is scheduled to get it out.  I feel like she is 6 months old and teething again.  I have caught her chewing on all kinds of things like coat collars, dirty gloves, her fingers and most maddening--her hair.  I can't stand it and have come dangerously close to chopping it off myself with a kitchen scissors.  She won't keep it in a ponytail or wear a headband.  She often comes home from school with it wet and matted from the twisting and chewing.  I'm at a complete loss.  She knows it bothers me, too, because I found this note in the bottom of her backpack.

One new thing Emily started this month is a keyboarding program I got from Amazon called Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum.  She got through the home row and part of the top row before getting frustrated.   The problem is she tries to rush through the lessons without taking time to repeat and practice.  She also is obsessed with perfection and WPM numbers and gets freaked out by timed exercises and games.  After sparring over it for a week or two, it has been set aside to try again another time.

Below is her April artwork from school.  I love the picture of her teacher dream.  Is that really how she thinks it is?!?