2.5 years old!

Hi precious girl! You are two and a half years old today! The time has flown by..

Sometimes it still feels like you are a baby becuase you're the baby of our family! I look at pictures of your siblings at 2.5 and they feel like big kids because we already had another baby or a cousin younger than you, etc. but you are the baby baby on both sides still.. but not for long! Your baby brother is due in 2 weeks, so I know you are going to feel huge and so grown up in just a bit here. You are excited to meet your brother, or you say so anyway, as much as you can understand ;) You love to kiss my belly and talk about "Papi" coming out. You got to hold a newborn 2 week old baby a few months ago and you did such a good job being still and gentle and you talked about it for days afterward, so I know you are going to do great with this little guy too! I got a few library books about being a big sister and you will rattle off how you are going to help mom by bringing me diapers and bringing the stinky diapers to the trash and singing to the baby and holding him. I can't wait to see you in this new role and to get to see a whole new side of you! You are firmly the baby in our family right now- pretty spoiled to be honest haha. You scream when your siblings take a toy from you or whenever you don't get your way pretty much and mom or dad or Ita or Johanna will almost always rush to your aid hahaha. We have actually had to talk to Johanna about this because she just loves you so so much and will let you get away with everything. We do a lot of saying, "Ellie, that isn't how you ask for something" and you will throw in a "please" without changing the whiny tone of voice haha. I know it won't last forever and I have to give myself grace with being pregnant and tired, already taking care of 4 kids and a house, etc in our busy season. You won't be the spoiled baby of the fam for much longer ;)

Speaking of you screaming... you have quite the temper! You can throw down a serious tantrum. and I don't know where you learned it ha. None of your siblings ever threw tantrums like you do and I don't think you see it on any t.v. shows? You pretty much watch Daniel Tiger or Paw Patrol... I mean I can see where Daniel Tiger crosses his arms and says "hmmph" and gets mad a lot... maybe something for me to consider actually now that I think about it hmm. Anyway, you will cross your arms and give a death look and yell "NO" and have actually thrown yourself on the ground a few times. You run away and scream and cry so hard and loud when we don't give in to a demand. It is a little crazy. We have started doing a pretty good job just ignoring it and that is helping a bit vs. Jo rushing to your aid or us trying to put you in a timeout which just brings attention to the negative behavior. It has been kind of a lot to deal with! I think it would be hard to be the youngest of 4...and Ezekiel can be a bit much and for sure takes toys from you, etc. so how else are you supposed to get your way? You are getting better at coming out to me and "tattling" and it is so funny and cute. "Zekiel took my toy." or "Johanna say no push me on swing". hard, but also just a part of having a 2 year old.. so tantrum on little lady and I hope we can respond in a way that teaches you to deal more effectively with your big feelings!

Other than the occasional tiff with your siblings, you generally LOVE to spend time with them so so much! You call Ezekiel your best friend all the time and your little relationship together is the cutest! You will ask them to play all the time and you especially love to make forts and play Paw Patrol. You love to play Little People all by yourself- you make the people use the potty, go to bed, eat breakfast, go to the park, etc. and it is the cutest to peek in on you when you're deep in play! You also spend a lot of time exploring and playing outside- you especially love the swings! You climb up and down the climbing dome, jump on the trampoline, go down the slide, go pick flowers, and follow your siblings around when they're going down to pick cherries or berries or tend to the chickens. You would spend all your time outside if you could I think! Johanna loves to play with you- and get you up in the mornings, and give you your baths, and get you dressed, etc. etc. You don't love it as much and she gets so sad when you reject her, "No! Mommy!" especially in the mornings or after nap- you're not a morning person ;) But she loves to play family with you and you enjoy it so much when you're in a good mood! You also love when she reads you books and pushes you on the swing! You know you can count on her in a way you can't count on Zeke or June because she is such a little mama to you! June builds forts that you adore! She loves you so much, but you probably spend the least amount of time playing with June right now- she is off by herself the most, but I think you two will be super close too! You also love to color! you ask to "draw'b'draw" a lot and actually do an amazing job staying in the lines! I think it will be nice for me when homeschooling next year ;)

You are fiercely independent! "I do it myself" is a common phrase heard from you. And you can! Sometimes you even put on your own diaper (like w/ the velcro, not a pull up) and pick out your clothes and dress yourself. You will bring me the stuff to do your hair. It is pretty incredible! I know you have siblings to watch and learn from and maybe have to be a bit more scrappy and independent because mom is busier than I was with the other kiddos, but you blow me away with how capable you are! You love to buckle yourself in the carseat, sometimes you yell about wanting to screw the lid on your sippy cup yourself or pick out your own plate when I already have one haha. You also kind of potty trained yourself! I started noticing that you were dry every morning and I would take your diaper off (which you mightily protested!) and then leaving you naked during the day and you have got pee on the potty down! We have even gone out of the house in undies several times! but the past week or so you've had a fair share of accidents... and you have yet to poop on the potty! It isn't super fun cleaning poop out of undies, but at least I am saving $ on diapers I guess ha. Some days you really want to wear a diaper and other days you refuse and only want undies. Your dad put you to bed a few nights ago and he just forgot to put a diaper on you and you woke up dry and went straight to the potty. It is pretty encouraging! But they say no big changes 3 months before or after baby and this all happened in like the past month-ish, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a regression after baby comes.

Your sisters took a gymnastics class this year as their P.E. and you loved to come watch. Heck, you love to go anywhere. Anytime someone is getting ready to go, you'll get on your shoes and ask to come too haha. But anyway, you watched them for months and now you've started to do your own little moves. You will do little handstands- and actually kind of go over the top and thump down ha, but you never seem to care! We have a little wedge and mat and you will get them out often and do somersaults- it is so fun! We often tell you to show people your gymnastics and you happily show off your tricks ;)

What else? Your vocabular is awesome! You are now speaking in full, long sentences and I can mostly understand you. Although there are times I have to ask you to repeat yourself a few times. and rarely, I have to ask you to show me. Some of our favorite things you say are "What?" whenever anyone calls you. The way you say your own name, "Eyyie" and your siblings names is the best! When you see pics of Abuelo, you say "Lelo". We should really teach you Spanish... and I admit that I am lazy in that department, but your dad is the one who is fluent sooo. Your Ita always points out "Poor morenita won't speak any Spanish!" and people around this area will for sure assume that you know it. Plus your birth mom already learned Spanish as her 2nd language and I am not asking her to learn a 3rd, so it is up to us! We will do it, I promise! We haven't seen your birth mom since Christmas/your bday. I wish she would come see us more and she for sure knows she is always welcome. i comment on her FB stories and such and tell her how beautiful she is and that we miss her and that we would love her to come visit, but she doesn't respond often. I don't know how much of that is that her Spanish reading and writing skills aren't super strong. I should probably do voice messages more often. She is pregnant again- but I haven't been able to get her to tell me how far along or if it is a boy or girl. I think she is hoping to keep the baby, but again, not sure. I pray that she knows that we are HERE for her! That she can come over if she needs help, that we will help with babysitting if she is overwhelmed, etc. etc. It is hard to think that you will have a half sibling that we don't get any say over your relationship with. I hope that we are able to be close to your birth mom and sibling- I think it could be so beautiful! We will see how it plays out, but I know the Lord has His hand on this too! The Lord's hand over your life has been so clear and I know He has beautiful plans!

We got you your Mama Sing My Song song and stuffy a few months ago and you loooove it! We make your stuffy sing every day before nap and night before bed and you sing along... you know all the words! It is so cute. I absolutely love the words in your song and the way they capture you and your story. Wanted and chosen, loved for all time. I pray that these words have so much impact on your life- that you would always know how loved you are! They also play on the meaning of your name- "shining light". It is hard to pick out words to describe a personality at 2 years old when you're still developing so much, but I am so thankful we did it early after seeing the way you respond to it and love it. such a treasure!

You haven't had a hair cut yet and it is always in your face. but when we do put it up, it is so adorable. its like you have little bangs that we never gave you. pigtails are especially cute! Whenever Ita comes downstairs, you will sweep your hair out of your face if it is down because you know she will comment on it and put it up for you. Ita would sometimes ask you (a few months ago), "What is wrong with your hair?" and you would respond "oh, broken!" haha. cutest.

We have pretty much always played musical rooms around our house and you haven't been exempt from the changes. You were in the laundry room like all the babies until you started climbing out of the pack'n'play when we moved you into the downstairs bedroom. Johanna was in there with you for quite a long time and it was precious. absolutely the sweetest- you would always climb into bed with her and sleep together. every night! and in the mornings, you would play together and it was just a gift. BUT Johanna goes to sleep pretty late- like even if she is in bed by 8, she will be awake til 9 or 9:30. and you had a hard time going to bed when she wasn't in the room with you. so sometimes if you took a bad nap we would put you down by 7 and you would refuse to sleep without her. and then you just started not going to sleep at night... you would scream for your door to be open and you wouldn't let Johanna fall asleep. you would start yelling for me at 10:30 at night. and we got frustrated so moved Jo out and moved Zeke's stuff in, but he usually sleeps upstairs with Ita anyway. You do so much better alone in the room- you will just play by yourself for a while and then put yourself to sleep! You are actually a pretty good sleeper- you wake around 7am and go to bed by 8 with a nice 2 hour nap in there!

You aren't a great eater- you tend to be pretty picky and even when you're starving, you get super easily distracted by your siblings and run off playing. You do looove your milk still and ask for it first thing in the mornings. You love all fruit- any kind, all the time, too much haha. you also really like meat! and of course anything snacky :)

Eleanor, you are such a JOY in our lives and we are so so thankful that we have gotten to love you for the past 2.5 years. I pray that the Lord will richly bless your life. That you would shine His light in the world! You are acutally dancing to a vacation Bible school song with Jo & Zeke right now as I type this that says "Shine Jesus' light and it is so precious. I pray that you would have a deep and beautiful personal relationship with our Savior and that it would fill your life with hope and joy that would change our world for Him! I also pray that your relationships with your siblings and your dad and me and extended family would bring so much goodness into your life and fill your childhood with happy memories. You are a blessing to our family and we love you SO much! Happy half birthday <3