3 and a half!

 Ellie girl...you are 3 and a half today! We love you so so much and are so thankful for every day we get to watch you grow. You bring so much laughter into our family and I feel like your silly imaginative side has really come out this past 6 months- you are always in pretend mode and it is so much fun. 3 brings a lot of drama and attitude, but also so much sweetness. You are such a gift to us little lady and I hope you always know how much we LOVE you.

You are always telling me you love me. always always. like 18 times in an hour. "Mommy! mommy. mommy." "What Ellie?" "I love you." It is the sweetest. I try to always stop and appreciate it. I know I will never be this loved by you again. You also told me I was your best friend the other day. I am so lucky...<3

You still take a solid 90 minute nap about half of the days. But only if we make you lay down in my bed. And I have to bring you water and several books to read. and the light has to stay on. and the door has to stay open. ;) when you do take a nap, you have a harder time going to bed at night and sometimes bug the big girls when they're trying to sleep.. but mostly, you just play quietly in the room or on your bed and it doesn't really make much of a difference to me. so i vote for nap! on the days you skip nap, you need to be in bed by 6pm and you are such a grouch! like yelling at everyone, laying on the floor kicking and crying kind of grouch hahaha. pros and cons to both. 

you're kind of whiny... i blame Johanna because she always says, "oh my poor baby what do you need?" when you start to whine. like you don't even use your words...this morning at breakfast you wanted milk and you didn't even ask me, you just started crying... like seriously?! we work hard on not responding to you when you do that, but it just persists ha. I know you'll outgrow it soon, but in the mean time it drives me nuts ;) 

You love to do everything yourself! and you're pretty good and capable at most things. like you can fully buckle yourself into your carseat- impressive! you always have your shoes on the wrong foot, but you do it! you get yourself dressed and brush your own hair and always want a turn brushing your own teeth! you can go pee by yourself on the potty, but that is the one area where you do not want to do it alone and refuse to go by yourself. i just stand there and watch you do it all yourself anyway, but you always want me there. 

you are finally fully potty trained! you took the longest of all my kids so far and i was not super patient about it, but we did it girlie!! you have been fully pee potty trained for like over a year even at night and that was awesome, but pooping just wasn't happening. i fully took away your diapers and you didn't even care haha just crapped in your undies. it was seriously awful. I would get so upset and take away your candy and tv time. we tried spanking. we tried bribing. we tried making you sit in it for 10 mins before changing you. nothing helped. we finally just took away all of your undies. but you would still crap your pants. and that was even harder to clean up haha. so all pants got taken too and you just wore dresses and we stayed home. and it finally finally worked! one time i accidentally took you out without chonies and that was emberassing- luckily we were with friends who noticed you flailing around sans undies haha- very public place too oops! the last accident you had was probably 3 weeks ago and you said, "I'm sorry I let you down mommy!" precious girl. oh and you don't want me in the bathroom when you're pooping haha. 

You love dresses and dressing up fancy. you twirl around and it is super cute. you hate your hair being up though and take it down during nap so it is literally always in your face. Ita always tells you she likes to see your face and  you'll quick brush it back. you have pretty perfect hair- like not thick and not thin, just beautiful! 

you and zeke play so so well together. you have elaborate make believe games and get lost in your own worlds. snow tiger has been a favorite lately. it is so cute and i pray you two are always best friends <3 you like zak a lot, but he pulls hair and hits so you get mad at him. you love the big girls too and they love to play little games with you like day care or house. a few days ago, they made a whole world and made you and zeke credit cards and made you guys get jobs to pay for things. it is so funny. I am so so so thankful that all of you kids have each other and I pray that those sibling relationships are such a wonderful, rich part of your life forever!! 

you stepped on a bee the other day and you are such a tough little girl. i am so proud of you! you love love to be barefoot and it was bound to happen with all the clover we have in our grass. so today i told you to wear your boots back to the cherry tree so you wouldn't step on a bee and wouldn't you know, a bee flew down your boot and couldn't get out so it stung the top of your foot. you were screaming bloody murder it was awful. but you were such a tough girl again. i really hope that is the last bee sting of the summer- Jo and I have both stepped on bees this summer too :(

you LOVE parks. and you have no fear- you climb the highest things and just go to town. you really know your body though- today you were hanging from a monkey bar and i wasn't sure if you were going to go for it because you are always super brave, but you asked me to help you and when I couldn't you moved on to something else. You are just as capable as the big kids- you amaze me! sometimes, I am scared watching you, but you are so sturdy! we need to get you into sports asap! 

you aren't the best eater. super slow! and you cry when we take your food away or your dad ends up eating it haha. it is frustrating. we try setting timers and not giving you snacks if you can't finish your food, etc. but no luck really. you get very distracted by your siblings and run off playing so we are really working on staying seated until the food is gone. but you're growing healthy and strong, so not too worried ;) 

you can write the letter E! Zeke learned that letter first and I think you just learned it from him. you write it all over when you're drawing. the cutest! 

i love you to the moon and back my precious little princess. I love your huge heart and the way you always want to give me a hug and a kiss when I tuck you in. I love the way you love your routine. I love the way you want to be involved in everything. I love the way you follow me around and never ever want to be alone. I love how much you LOVE Frozen and will watch it several times a week if we let you. I love how you sing the Frozen songs. I love how you love milk and want to drink a glass 2x every day. you are just so full of life and bring so much goodness into my days. thank you for being so silly and loving me so much. i pray that the Lord protects you and gives me wisdom to help you grow into a woman who serves Him and knows deep joy in life. I love you my Eleanor Angelina. Forever and always <3 <3 <3