*Sigh*, my first baby is no longer a baby, not by a long shot. Six years old and E1 is already so mature. I totally trust her to keep herself safe and not initiate trouble or take excessive risks–she is a bit of a scaredy-cat. Her limbs and torso have lengthened out and that baby chub she had as a toddler is long gone. She has a generally sunny disposition and even temper. The following are other random tidbits about E1, as a profile:

• Favourite stuffie – after forgetting about him for years, she found Makka Pakka in a box in the basement earlier this year and has resumed her love for him. Once her favourite In The Night Garden character when she was turning one year old, he has reclaimed his spot as her favourite cuddle toy. Even though all he can say is “Makka Pakka”, she is still able to imagine many imaginary games and stories for him to partake in.
• She has really started to master gathering consensus from her playmates, including her sister. A common phrase she uses is, “Ok, pretend that [insert imaginary/play situation here], right?” and waits for the other person to agree. And while it gets a little excessive (i.e. every other sentence is often this phrase to confirm the direction of play) it is satisfying to see she is trying to get everyone on board of play. Now to help her work out what to do when her playmates don’t want to be as similarly collaborative.
• Favourite food – homemade Mac ‘N Cheese
• Is generally game for trying things at least once. For example, she willingly tried a week of Hapkido (a kind of martial arts) summer camp, even though she didn’t know anyone else in camp, and ended up loving it. She even asked to sign up for lessons with no prompting from us. Daddy was thrilled.
• Is usually a chatterbox, confidently sharing commentary on everything. Unless she’s specifically asked to do something she’s uncomfortable with, like selling the boxes of Girl Guide cookies she’s responsible for to our friends and family.
• Doesn’t like movies.  Not only does she find things like monsters and villains and large animals scary, she finds dramatic tension scary. Just the change of the music score from major to minor key is enough to get her hands up to her ears and start saying, “Scary!”. As a result, her repertoire of movies willingly seen is limited to Frozen, Cinderella…and that’s about it. We’ve been to friends’ homes where they put on kids movies on the TV, and she’ll be running back and forth between the TV room and the room where we adults are hanging out in, trying to limit herself exposure to the scary parts.
• Favourite song: Roar by Katy Perry; the songs in the Frozen soundtrack
• Has demonstrated real resourcefulness and initiates creativity. Once she fished out the empty plastic tub that held corn starch, and made her own version of a piggy bank with it via some tape, paper, and markers. Ribbons and scraps are always saved for art projects.
• Around the time of her 6th birthday, she was a real sore loser when losing in games. Losing twice in a row in games of Candyland with her sister and me? Feet-stomping tantrum. Losing a best 2 out of 3 tournament of successfully-getting-the-slinky-down-to-bottom-of-stairs game with her father? Red face, tears and screaming proclamations of it not being fair. Which only strengthened her parents’ resolve to keep beating her (fairly) in games, so she can learn that losing isn’t the end of the world and how to be a good competitor so others will want to play with you again!
• Celebrates her good moves/fortunes in games with a cute fist pump and exclamation “yes!”, a habit quickly picked up by her little sister.
• Loves reading. She is likely reading at a Gr 3 level, as she can read chapter books, but she still mostly prefers her picture books. Often if we go to a party at someone’s house with kids, she’ll take a timeout from playing with the kids to go check out the kids books on the bookshelf. Good thing her father works for Kobo and can get her all the eBooks she wants!
• Has the bad habit of eating with her hands even though it is a completely cutlery-friendly meal
• Getting things right is really important to her
• Reasoning and logical explanations work really well with her to solicit proper behaviour, prevent improper behaviour, and to convince her of our best interests for her. But she remembers everything, and can make excellent logical arguments back, so less-than-truthful explanations would backfire on you eventually.
• Imaginary play situations of choice: family, showtime (dance, lipsynching, plays), teacher/student, princess, restaurant
• Is becoming more comfortable with dogs and cats. Going over to our friends home who have a Chow Chow dog no longer causes her to panic at the sight of him, and this year she willingly went to go pet him.
• Hairstyle of choice – single ponytail, or two pigtails braided.

Ways she is like Mom

• She wakes up and gets out of bed easier in the morning
• Seems to have my sense of direction
• Prefers the red sauce in the Ying Yang rice dish
• Is the slowest eater of the family. Even slower than me!

Ways she is like Dad

• She likes to strip off her socks soon after arriving home, often leaving them in the middle of the living room floor
• Her hair is thicker and darker in colour
• Has her dad’s biggish head. Her hats are always at least one size up from the recommended ages on the tag.
• Eczema on her hands that we are constantly battling
• Has uncanny ability to remember things from a very long time ago. She distinctly remembers the time when she tried to open the microwave door by herself in order to get her warmed milk, but instead pulled the entire microwave off the stand and caused the inside rotating plate to break. Luckily she was unscathed. She was also only 2 years old.

In short, she is an amazing little girl that I am proud of every day. I love you, E1! ~Mommy/Jen