This is SIX

My baby girl is SIX today. What a whirlwind it's been!

At six, Emma is loving kindergarten. She likes to buy school lunch (and always chooses chocolate milk), but on the days she brings, she loves a good ham sandwich. Whereas Sara goes with salami and bread and nothing else, Emma goes with ham and bread and nothing else. 

 Emma constantly has some sort of project going on (sometimes multiple), often spread throughout the house. She can make a project out of anything that happens to be around - from empty shoe boxes to business cards and popsicle sticks. Emma rarely wears clothes that really match. For example, if it's a shirt with rainbow colors and a skirt with rainbow colors, she puts them together and loves the way she looks. I love her free spirit, even if it drives me crazy somtimes.

 Like she always has, Emma does every emotion all the way. There isn't a lot of neutral ground for her, which can be so hard, but also so rewarding. She feels everything so intensely, and she has an innate sense of justice. Although she doesn't yet know what that means, and she can't articulate it, her perception of what's right and what should be is totally in tact. There isn't much over which she won't go toe to toe, and I know this will serve her some day. This child loves and feels deeply all.the.time.

 Watching Emma play soccer is a true highlight for me in this chapter. She loves soccer, and she plays hard. She rolls with the punches (sometimes literally), and pours herself into practice and games. And when she's not at a practice or game, she's begging someone at home to pass the ball with her. She is proud to be "an athlete" and likes it when we feel her big muscles. She's one tough kid, and for the first time this fall, she's juggling two teams with one of her BFFs.

It was only right that Emma's birthday celebration this year included an FC Dallas game with her teammates and September birthday friends. At halftime, they went on the field for a birthday introduction on the big screen!

 

Happy birthday, Emma Grace. You are an amazing, fiery, independent little girl, and I couldn't love you more.