Emily is Turning 5

Terrible 2's - not really. It was more like the 3's from hell. With 4 came a slight but continuous mellowing. Enough to make Sondra and I beam with pride every time we see the manners et. al. that we have fought so hard to instill in her.

Now 5 is almost here and it is such a turning point. I guess we all have key ages in our lives:

16: driver's licence
18: adult
21: um, well you know
30: Oh, crap, I'm old
etc..

But my 20/20 hindsight, tells me that age 5 may be the biggest of them all. For Emily is changing from a toddler/little kid into a young lady (or something akin to that). The maturity is feels overnight to me though that's probably the trauma of age 3 lingering.

Emily is by and large a very nice girl. She has her moments, but don't we all. Emily is good about sharing with Maddy. She asks instead of demanding. Her protests are even less weepy and/or dramatic. For example, she came in to wake mommy this morning. Mommy had been up during the night with Maddy and needed to keep sleeping. When asked to go play quietly, Emily did without hesitation. In the past, she would have stomped her feet and began yelling that it wasn't fair.

Emily did come back into the bedroom BUT she did so qietly and only to ask if someone could reach a puzzle for her. The cool thing here is that she had already attempted to get it herself. In the past she would just play helpless and not even make an effort. Way to go Em!