3

Eleanor! You are 3!! Time is moving so quickly. It feels like you were just born... your little life has brought more joy to our family than you know, sweet one. Your smile lights up our room! Your presence brings peace when there is conflict. Your innocence has been such a gift to us.  Your "I love you" brings encouragement. Your love brings us happiness. 

You are full of spunk and life. You are LOUD when you want to be. You know how to be the baby and force your way into what you want with the big siblings- I can't tell you how many times I am telling your big sisters not to respond to you when you whine or yell for what you want because then you learn that that is an appropriate way to get what you want haha. Jo especially always saying, "Oh, poor baby!" when you start crying because you didn't get something you wanted ha noooo. You LOVE your siblings. all of them. so much. you spend your days running around after them for the most part. You are quiet and calm and can play nicely, so the girls love to include you when they play Barbies or color or imagination or whatever. and then you and Zeke connect on a more toddler, physical level and love to build together, jump on the tramp together, etc. You and Zeke are really best friends- the girls go off with Ita or to Tuesday school and you two love that special time together. You are also obsessed with Zak, but he isn't as in to you ;) You love to bring him toys, pick up things he throws from the high chair, give him kisses, and lay next to him when he is playing on the floor. You are such a good sister- all 4 of your siblings are so lucky to have you. you are loyal and fun and can get along with people older or younger than you- girl or boy- you are really adaptable and flexible and I think that will serve you so well in life! 

You are napping most days again...for a bit of time there, you weren't napping at all anymore, but you would get sooo cranky by the end of the day and literally be yelling at everyone, so we put it back in the schedule and I think we are all happier now! but you do stay up really late- like your sisters are sound asleep and you are up playing still at 10pm. it isn't a big deal because you play by yourself quietly and seem to be very content and you don't bother us, so we will take it!  you are currently sharing the garage with your 2 sisters! we curtained off an area for you girls and the rest of the room is the playroom! mom and dad had that area for 9 years and loved it so much, but it was hard for us to share our room with a playroom with kids coming in and out whenever we hosted and not having a proper closet, etc. so it was time to switch. so far, so good! you love sharing a room and never want to be alone. you are refusing to sleep on a bunk bed though and just use your old crib mattress on the floor because that is what you're comfortable with right now and i don't care enough to force you- no harm done so why push it. you love a good routine- for naps, you need your water bottle and a book and you turn on the white noise and salt lamp in mom and dad's room and snuggle up on our bed- and we better leave the door open! for bedtime, you need your water bottle and several books and ask me to "cover you in" and you want your foxy, your bear from birth mom, and your 2 blankies. so sweet. 

potty training has been ROUGH. you just refuse to poop on the toilet. you are fully pee potty trained. like even overnight. you stay dry almost every night and so you wear undies full time even to bed which is amazing! but cleaning a giant poop out of undies is disgusting and no fun at all. we have tried bribing you with candy and donuts and special dates with mom or dad. we have tried threatening to throw away undies that get pooped in, to take away your candy, etc. but you aren't responding to any of it haha. i know you will get there when you get there, but man it is frustrating in the mean time. dad thinks we should buy you a little potty to sit on, but i don't think that will help because you're clearly comfortable using the toilet- you pee in it all by yourself multiple times a day. and you have no prob sitting on it for long periods of time while trying to poop...you just can't seem to do it ha. someday you will read this and we will all get a good laugh i hope ;) 

you are a pretty good eater. you are a bit picky and for sure loudly voice your opinion about your wants and dislikes with food. you love the protein shakes (30g of protein and only 1g sugar/shake, but kinda $$) so we do use those occasionally to fill your belly when you're being really stubborn. you love any snack or junk food and ask for them often. you love oatmeal and breads and peanut butter and bananas. luckily, you love fruits and veggies and meat! and you love milk- you'd drink it all day long if i let you. you just don't usually like whatever meal i serve ;) you'll announce that you don't like it and push it away. you were throwing it, but we nipped that in the bud pretty quickly. sometimes you'll run away crying and yelling, "I'm leaving!" if I tell you that is your meal and I won't make you anything else. so funny, but also kind of hard. this year, we are pretty much hanging out at home because it is hard to work around a baby's nap schedule and i just still don't enjoy going out with 5 kids alone, so it isn't a huge deal if you don't eat. you will eat it later when you get hungry enough! another struggle area for us is that you are so easily distracted by any of your siblings that you take 2 bites and then leave the table and go play and then come back and do it again. we try to keep you there and threaten to take away your meal if you leave the table, but it is hard to hold to that... often, breakfast and lunch are kind of everyone on their own schedule so it isn't a huge deal. but what does happen a lot is that dad will sweep through the room and eat any leftovers on the plates left after a meal and then you'll come back 5 mins later and be like, "Where is my dinner?!?!!" hahaha. poor eleanor!

you love your extended family a lot! you adore Grandpa Rick and will bypass grandma Sandee to get to him. you have very much enjoyed having grandma and grandpa over at our house a lot this year- grandma lived with us for like 4 weeks after baby Zak was born! and then they both stayed over while dad and I attended your Abuelo's trial for a few weeks. they spoil you and give you so much attention, so you eat it up! You love your Ita too- living with her makes it a bit different because she won't spoil you the way the other grands do, but she loves to make you breakfast and gives you lots of love. your birth mom had another baby this year- about 2months younger than Zak. so now you have 2 baby brothers! we have gotten to see him 3x since he was born and he is precious. you just eat him up and share your toys with him and want to hold him. i hope we can continue to see him often and that the two of you can be close and grow up together in a way! I am curious to see how that relationship will unfold throughout your life. I know he will speak English so you'll be able to really know him and if he stays close and visits regularly- i wonder if he will consider himself like a cousin to our family and come over often once he can drive, etc. I hope so! I hope we get to love on that little guy too!! Your birth mom is doing good- she is working where she can and has childcare for Michael at only $3/hr. She lives in a little trailer park with a few other girls- i think one is her cousin. i see her post pics of the laundromat often so i know she goes there once a week or so- I offered for her to do her laundry at our house every Sunday, but she hasn't taken us up on it.. It is getting a little harder for you to be with Birth mom because she doesn't speak English and you don't speak Spanish. I wish we had worked harder to teach you it, but life has been so busy the past few years! Zeke was only 20 months when you came home and then another pregnancy and baby Zak... just a lot! but hopefully soon we will take it more seriously so you can really connect with her <3  before moving on to another topic, quick story about Grandpa Rick- he was home with the 4 big kids a day during trial and grandma had come with dad and me to watch baby Zak at the courthouse. on our way home, your birth mom called and asked to come visit and we said sure. we pulled in the driveway (it was already dark out) to see someone walking around with a flashlight and were a bit creeped out. it was just grandpa. that was odd. but your birth mom pulled in right as we were parking and we were hungry and tired and zak was crying so we just carried on into the house. your siblings immediately greeted us with, "Grandpa lost Eleanor!" and we learned that they'd all been looking for you for the past 15 mins. you had not napped and got angry about something and stormed off and then they couldn't find you! i was glad at that point that your birth mom couldn't understand what we were saying! i looked in my bed right away because that is where you nap and sure enough you were there with your head completely covered by the comforter hahahah. crisis averted ;)

your hair is super long! we haven't cut it yet and maybe soon, but you protest when we suggest it. it is always in your eyes and you always take it out when we put it up ha. Ita will ask you "What is wrong with your hair?!" and you used to say, "Broken!", but now you just push it out of your eyes. You are just now moving into some 3t clothing. you don't really care about your clothing much- I remember June at 3 was sooo into her clothes and looking beautiful. you aren't into it at all- you just wear whatever we pick out for you. and for days at a time. you will wear the same outfit for 2 or 3 days in between baths. sometimes i think i am a lazy mom, other times i think i am just really smart ;) you hate wearing shoes and will always be barefoot- even at church, you take them off as soon as possible and run around barefoot. country girl :)  

you have really started talking a lot more lately! you sometimes say something profound out of nowhere. it is hard to understand you sometimes- very toddleresque. you are going for a grandma sleepover this weekend and grandma insists on bringing Johanna along with you because she can't always understand you ha. the other day, Zeke was in trouble because he was trying to get into Ita's phone and you heard us scolding him and said, "Don't say that to him. Him my favorite brother!" i just love your little voice and the sweet things you say. you are also very free with your "I love you!"s- it is just the best. 

You are such a funny girl. you are so thankful. so happy almost all the time. and you are so quick to share and generous and never jealous. you are just a delight! but then you also throw the worst tantrums of any kid i've raised- like actually on the floor crying and refusing to leave. we went to the library just to grab some books i had on hold and i had you, Zeke and Zak. i was holding a basket full of books, the carseat with Zak in it and then you refused to leave... you were running away from me and then on the floor screaming and kicking. it was so hard. and then i said i wouldn't take the 3 littles out by myself again hahaha. i am sure i will, but i will always be scarred ;) 

anyway, there is a peek at who you are and some of the things going on in your little life right now. you are so much fun and bring so much JOY and life and laughter into our home. you are precious and i am so in love with who you are and who you are growing into! i love you, Eleanor Angelina Gonzalez!!! Happy birthday <3

Birthday survey... favorite:

toy: barbies

fruit: ummm vegetables

vegetable: um. cherries

movie: um don't know

outfit: looks at the outfit she has on

game: Mario Kart

Food: banana bread and Eggie and meat. (Which she is currently eating)

animal: elephant. no horsey. 

song: the floor is lava song

season: winter time bcuz its cold its winter time

subject in school: coloring class

book: Bunny book

best friend: mom. zkiel.

thing to do outside: um playing with Ezekiel. jump on the trampoline. 

drink: milk

holiday: holloween

thing: candy

what do you want to be when you grow up: um...play barbies

how did we celebrate: we got some balloons from $Tree and got strawberry popsicles like she asked for. we had mac'n'cheese for dinner too! we ended our night with a few fireworks, but Ellie wasn't a big fan ;) we will take her swimming with her siblings next weekend (when we have babysitting for Zak) which is all she has been asking to do for her bday!