January 21 10

My child at almostnine is probably cooler than, well, than I will ever be. If you ask those who have met her, they will tell you that I am a truth teller. I also have no idea where this child came from. I mean, I know that she came from ME (the entire North York General Hospital staff knew. For 25 hours) and looks eerily like my mother and, like I am, she is stubborn, and hotheaded, and hates math and loves the color blue. Like I am, she is fiercely independent and determined and just a wee bit of a perfectionist.

But at almostnine, I was nothing like Emily. I wore the clothing my mom bought for me to wear, which included things like Florence Eiseman dresses and clothing from Units (oh, like you never) and keds and giant bows. I played with cabbage patch kids and barbies and played Free to Be You and Me on the piano. I was so excited to own my very first cassette single – Glory of Love by Peter Cetera. I read The Babysitter’s Club books and dreamed of the day that I could be an actual babysitter. Boys were kind of gross and stinky back then.

When I was a kid, I was a kid. Emily is a kid, but she’s sooo not a kid. Kids do not say things like, “look at this parfait and tell me it doesn’t look delicious.” I have always just assumed that Emily is who she is because I was an infant when I had her and I won’t deny that the idea of having a Lorelai and Rory Gilmore relationship with my firstborn crossed my mind about 34 seconds after I heard her wailing and “it’s a girl!” She was my sidekick. So, maybe she likes to eat cookie dough because her mom ate it. Maybe she likes music so much because her mom spent a lot of time playing the radio instead of kids’ music. Maybe she wants to be famous because her mom had her modeling from the time she was 6 months old.

or maybe that’s just WHO SHE IS.

Earlier this week, Emily got to see the inside of a real live recording studio and she got to sing “A Little Help From My Friends” in a hot and cramped sound booth and got to hear her voice being mixed and recorded. She wasn’t awkward. She wasn’t nervous. She was happier than I’ve seen her in months.

Later this week, thanks to a call from her, Emily was asked to come and be in a photoshoot for a campaign being done to help young girls get excited about math and science. Emily was a bit skeptical of the subject matter because we know how she feels about math, but she was giddy with excitement about the shoot. She stood on the white backdrop and danced, smiled, twirled, posed, and goofed her little heart out to the Glee soundtrack while a photographer took 100 pictures. She wasn’t shy. She wasn’t awkward. She wasn’t nervous. She was happier than I’ve seen her in months.

She was home.

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  1. And, OMG, she was hilarious to boot! I had so much fun with you girls on Tuesday – and can’t wait for more! 🙂

    Comment by Darcey on January 21, 2010
  2. None of this surprises me in the least. I love your almostnine year old!

    Comment by Camels & Chocolate on January 21, 2010
  3. She’s really one of a kind. That kid is going to be famous one day, I just know it. She’s just so talented. I just kept thinking about her when I was watching Mamma Mia because I was like “Emily could so do this. Like NOW.”

    Comment by Kristabella on January 21, 2010
  4. I wonder what it must be like to know, just down to your core KNOW, what you want to be and truly can be at almostnine?! I I’m wayovernine and I still have no ideas!

    Comment by fadkog on January 21, 2010
  5. Yeah. I totally get it. My Lola is your Emily and she was been dying to get back infront of the camera. Only our modeling agency fired us. I guess it’s time to look into another one. She keeps asking.

    Comment by OHmommy on January 21, 2010
  6. Hi,

    My name is Ani and I work for Iconic Casting. Our company is casting a family show and I wanted to know if I could send you the info to post on your blog. I was unable to find an email address on your blog. Please email me for more info at “ani@iconiccasting.com.”

    Thanks!
    Ani
    iconiccasting.com
    myfamilycasting.com

    Comment by Ani on January 21, 2010
  7. Which agency did you use for Emily’s modelling? I have a 6 month old in Toronto, and I’m dying to sign him up…

    Comment by Renee on January 21, 2010
  8. Oh, she’s going to be a star one day. So is *my* Emily – maybe it’s the name?

    🙂
    .-= Angella´s last blog ..Help for Haiti =-.

    Comment by Angella on January 21, 2010
  9. Loved Units. It was right next to the Banana Republic back when they did t-shirts with the safari animals.

    Comment by Associate Girl on January 21, 2010
  10. I love your Emily posts. She sounds awesome. Has she had a bit of a hard time adjusting to Atlanta? She seems like the kind of person that thrives anywhere and everywhere!

    Comment by Heather on January 22, 2010
  11. OMG, Emily is totally supercool! But you know, you have to take some credit — you’ve nurtured her innate coolness. And *that*, my friend, is cool.

    Comment by Nenette on January 22, 2010
  12. She’s awesome because you encourage and let her be awesome. Which is, um, awesome.

    And I totally agree with Fadkog – it must be amazing to just KNOW who you are all along.

    Comment by pgoodness on January 24, 2010
  13. she does sound marked for stardom! How wonderful that she’s got that confidence in herself!

    Comment by pixielation on January 24, 2010
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