Emma

Emma and the Birds

Emma is now three years old, and she's learned to walk a little.  She is learning a few words while she does this.  Marie and Carter hope to teach her very much about the future including, the importance of the world around her.  

She's learned to walk, barely, but she is learning.  Her tiny toes clutch the cement tightly, while her arms reach out for balance.  She smiles absent minded, because she has nothing to cry about.  She's a perfectly happy child, and she is never afraid to show it.  She doesn't quite know what fear is yet.  She's three years old and finding everything fascinating.  When she walks, she doesn't know why she is, or where she really wants to go . . . she just knows if she follows her mom and dad, she'll be safe.

Emma stands up tall for a toddler, and while she runs about following her mom and dad, she stumbles and finds herself looking over a squad of pigeons in the park.  Her Aunt Annie called them Winged Rats, but Emma found them interesting.

Annie walked over to Marie and watched Emma run about.  "I can't tell you how happy I am still to be an aunt.  Emma is adorable."

Carter laughed, and watched her continue to run around, "She might just run cross country in the future.  I don't think even I could run that much."  Carter laughed as Emma started running towards the birds.

She must have thought she could catch one.  She'd circled around enough times at least.  While she chased them around, Annie let out a rather noticeable laugh and continued speaking to Marie and Carter.  "Does she know any words yet?"

"She knows quite a few.  She's a quick learner, she gets if from her mother's side I'm sure."  He replies as he watches his daughter run around trying to catch birds, "What she's doing right now, I'm pretty sure she got from me."

"Did you used to chase birds often?"

"Nope, I just had a lot of motor power.  I'd run all over the place, and I tried catching all kinds of animals."  Carter laughed as his daughter sat down with a disgruntled look on her face.  He didn't think his daughter could be mad about anything at this age.  But she really wanted to catch a bird.  She didn't know quite how she would, but she tried.

Carter walked over to her and picked her up.  He carried her on his shoulders and ran back to the bench where his wife and sister-in-law sat.  Once he was there he set Emma down on his knee and asked her, "Are those birds?  Can you say Bird?"

She looked up with a confused demeanor present in her gaze.  Carter didn't know if she understood anything or not.  She was only a couple years old.  He set her back down and watched her run around in circles again.

She ran over to Marie and shouted, "Mommy!"  She didn't know very many words, but she was very aggressive and familiar with the word Mommy.  She learned how to nod too, and when asked 'Do you want to go home' she nodded in approval.  

"Why do you want to go home so quick, I thought you wanted to come to the park and hang out with Auntie Annie."  Marie asked.

She looked back at the birds and ran towards them once again.  Emma was determined to catch herself a bird, and there was no force alive that was trying to stop her at all.  

"I think we should get a dog," Marie blurted out of the blue."

Carter shot to attention.  He wasn't much of a dog person . . . he did have numerous cats before, and he thought of them as excellent company; but a dog?  He didn't know what kind of dog she wanted, but he was quite certain it had to be from one of two choices.  There were only so many breeds he could stand.

"German Shepherd or Siberian Husky?"  He asked.

"I was thinking a Mountain Dog . . . those are loyal, strong, obedient dogs."  Marie argued, "I had one when I was little and he was just perfect.  I think it would be the perfect thing for Emma."

"You know, your parents still breed dogs don't they?  You can pull a husky from them if you wanted."

"I suppose I could, but huskies have a lot of energy.  Do you think Emma could handle that?"  

Carter looked back at Emma who was still quite positive that she'd come home with a pigeon in hand.  She did circles around the tree they were hiding in and shouted really loudly when they wouldn't come down.  She ran back over to them and sat down, looking up at her parents with a look that said, I really don't like those birds anymore.

"I'm pretty sure she can handle that much energy.  A husky would be a perfect dog for Emma!"  Carter announced, "There's no doubt about it."

He pulled his daughter into a hug and let her run wild again.  He hoped that his daughter would appreciate the dog and learn to take care of it in the future.  In a couple days they'd go and visit Emma's grandparents, and they'd pick out a husky to take home.

 I'm ecstatic to tell you that this story is moving quickly in a good direction and I hope some of you are out there enjoying it.  There's more coming soon.  No more for today, but soon.