Emma's Carpool

Mondays are my day to drive Emma's carpool to preschool. It consists of Emma and two other kids - Luke and Grace. They are so funny to listen to. Usually we pick up Grace first. You should just hear what she and Emma say to each other. Here's an example of a recent conversation:

Grace: (while holding her hands out) My mom painted my nails - They're all sparkly.

Emma: Oooh pretty. (Holds her hands out too now) My mom painted my nails too, but it's almost gone. Do you like my shoes? (lifting feet up for better viewing)

Grace: Yeah, those are nice.

Etc. You get the idea. This is the sort of thing they talk about. Nails, shoes, hair accessories, Disneyland, etc. Sometimes they'll sing along with the music. Their favorite is Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You. But mostly they just enjoy their girl talk before Luke gets in the car. And I can't stop smiling.

Yesterday Grace stayed home so it was just Emma and Luke in the car. Emma was wearing some tall boots (which she and I both LOVE and I wish I had for me). Maybe she missed Grace, I don't know, but she turned to Luke and asked him if he liked her boots. He looked at them for a minute, and then very matter-of-factly answered, "No".

Silence. For just a moment. I think Emma was in a state of shock. She asks people all the time if they like different things she's wearing (preschool teachers, primary leaders, my family, her friends, strangers - everybody) and no one ever says no. This is a topic of high priority for her right now. When Luke answered no I think Emma's world might have shattered a little (okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but you get my point). She had no response to that.

I finally interjected my thoughts so they'd both feel okay about what happened (well, mostly so Emma would feel okay - I don't think Luke cared). I told Emma that boys don't have to like girls boots, but that I sure like her boots. Everyone can like different things.

This had the desired affect, and Emma agreed. She seemed to bounce back to her normal self, and I'm sure her teachers were all asked that day about her boots.

What am I going to do with her? =) Other than just love her like crazy!

April Fools Trick

Emma LOVES playing tricks on Eric. And I suppose I don't really discourage this behavior. Wanting to do something but also wanting to keep it simple I decided to re-make some oreos. We scraped the cream out of the middle of some oreos and replaced it with toothpaste. (My pictures don't want to work right now, but they looked real!)

Emma was very excited. Eric knew we would be doing something, but didn't know what. Just before he got home from work I told Emma "Don't say anything to Daddy about the cookies or the trick so he'll be surprised when he eats them." So what did Emma do? Right when Eric walked in she went up to him and said, "I'm not going to say anything about the trick." Hmmm. Maybe I wasn't clear enough? A little later she got the cookies and gave them to Eric. He knew by her behavior that this was the trick, but didn't know exactly what to expect. Being a good sport he took a big bite. Emma was practically rolling on the floor laughing. Almost an hour later she started laughing about it again. I think I might be in trouble when she gets older.