All about EJ

I realized that lately my posts have been very Birdy-centric. DMP and I discussed this last weekend on our date night. I think it is because Birdy is still little and has a tendency to say and do silly things that are easy "snippets" to blog about. So I figured I'd balance things out and write a post about EJ.

EJ is constantly suprising us lately with her maturity and "grown-up ness". From learning to tie her shoes, reading words with more than one vowel and helping with her sister, it has been fun to see her blossom in the last couple of months especially.

She is reading everything in sight these days. She'll sound out signs, random books and magazine headlines, food labels- you name it. She is so proud of her ability to read! We registered her for Kindergarten and she is super-excited to be going to "real school" in the fall.

On the less-fun side, she has recently decided to be a picky (for my kids) eater. At least every other night she'll look at whatever is served for dinner and say "I don't like this" or "My tummy is sick- I can't eat this" before she's even tried it. Fortunately, she usually does OK when we tell her that if she's too sick to eat dinner, she should probably go to bed. It's good that she's also old enough to remember foods that she didn't like at first that have become favorites so we can have a logical conversation about eating/not eating dinner.

The other day, Birdy was having a "bad day" and so was tired, grumpy Mommy. Birdy was pitching a fit about something, I was grumpy, and EJ went to Birdy and grabbed her shoulders and said "Take a deep breath- it's OK. Calm down and we can go play with our princesses". It was so sweet and mature that she was willing and able to step in and help her sister calm down - especially because I wasn't in a place where I could do that!

Her "maternal" and caring side is what I'm noticing most lately. She is so cute and super-concerned about this pregnancy and her "Baby Brother". She is always asking me how I feel, if the baby is kicking, how big he is and etc. She will also importantly tell me I need to eat good food so the baby can be big and strong.

Last night at dinner I was adding some salt to my veggies and I said to DMP that I want salt on everything lately (all food is tasting bland- pregnancy thing?). Later that night I was getting a slushie at Sonic with EJ and as we drove away from the ordering place she said "You didn't ask for salt".

"Huh?"

"You said at dinner that you need salt on everything." She was perfectly serious and it was said with the tone of "If Mommy needs salt, she should get salt!"