"Ar-One-See-Emma"

Many people have been asking how Sydney is adjusting to being a big sister and having us occupied with her little brother. The answer is that she has done wonderfully! She loves to see him when he is awake, and tiptoes around whispering when he is sleeping (when she's not singing at the top of her lungs, which is par for the course!) She loves to pat and kiss his head, to "shush" him and say "that's okay" when he cries, and his toys (which are mostly her old toys, naturally) are exciting and new as she talks about "Baby Peter" wanting to play with them.

The best part of all of this is that she is still a growing little girl who is constantly learning, listening, and surprising us with her abilities. For the first time today (since I'm usually working) I took her to a gym class that she attends each week with a number of other little boys and girls. Her physical aptitude and dexterity amazed me as I saw them for the first time in an environment where she could really run freely and let it all hang out.

She amazed me yesterday too, in a very different setting. While having lunch a bit on the late (and tired) side, I was trying to keep her on task (turkey and cheese, if I recall correctly) when she began staring at me intently. After a moment that I attributed to fatigue, she pointed at my sweatshirt and said "Ar... One... See... (pause) Emma!"

Not impressed?

I realized as she was pausing before the "Emma" that she was staring at my RICE sweatshirt! She spontaneously, and for the first time Amy or I knew about, was starting to spell out what she saw with the letters she knows. I can't fault her for thinking the "I" was a "1", and I was truly tickled when she didn't know the name of the letter "E" and instead used a word (the name of her cousin, in this case) that started with the letter. After I picked my jaw up off the ground, I lavished praise on her for a while and walked her through some more letters while she beamed in recognition of her achievement.

Parents out there will surely recognize my pride, which was naturally enhanced by the fact that she chose the name of my alma-mater to spell first. I guess it's a good thing I didn't go to someplace like Gonzaga or Rensselaer, or that my sweatshirt didn't say "The William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art!"

I can't believe how fun childhood is!