This message is to serve as props for our eldest, who is so easy to get along with, care for, and be around that we 'rents often fail to recognize her value.
She sits next to me now, long and lanky like her father, voluntarily reading her latest Greek mythology library book, in case there are additional historical facts she has previously missed.
When Dad B told her to get over her fears and hit the math books, she did. When told she was to learn to dive, she swallowed her nerves and dove in, again and again, increasing in elegance all the while. From her earliest moments we have learned together, "Fear on the inside, courage on the outside." She has consistently faced her fears, and is all the stronger for it.
The occasional "Hmph!" vented in emotional frustration are an anticipated expansion of her tween world. As a 2-year-old, Mom B obtained Dr. Dobson's Strong Willed Child, thinking that Em was of that type. Mom B soon realized that Emily is not such a child, evidenced 24 months later by her first sister and definitively proven in the succeeding 30 months with the Queen. In this light, the rents need to be grateful of this child, knowing that she is likely the highlight of now and future Bowling 11-year olds.
This is not a statement of favoritism. The impetus of said post is realizing that the non-squeaky wheel is overshadowed by her louder and more acrimonious siblings. She is asked to handle a task, and we mentally mark it off as 'done', while the speculation is opposite with the siblings, where disobedience (or 'lack of obedience' in the new world order) is assumed until tasks are proven complete.
She is a darling, a pleasure, and a source of immense pride for this writer.