Our Ellie

Ellie is three. And a half.

And I've said a lot lately about the challenges we have with her (namely, mood swings beyond anything I've ever seen in any girl ever)

but I haven't said enough about how much fun this little girl can be.

Ellie is sweet, thoughtful, a peacemaker, brave, silly (oh so silly!), loving, and is turning into the best kind of sister her brothers could ask for.

Ellie will do anything for her brothers. She's the mini mother of the family.

When they're upset, she jumps to help. Even if it means giving Nicholas the toy she'd been wanting, or stopping her own tears in the car so she can talk to Christian and help him stop crying also.

She's an expert at helping the baby when he's fussy. If I'm busy (say, prepping for a house showing...) and Christian is crying (say, every.single.time.) Ellie sits next to him and talks sweetly to him, about anything and everything, with a big smile on her face, until soon Christian is smiling too. And she just keeps talking until I'm finished and can take care of him again. 

When he wakes up after his naps, if I'm not ready to go get him yet, she goes in, turns off his sound machine, and then pushes his cradle all around the house, giving him a "ride."

She's fantastic. 

Last week, while I was cleaning before we left for a showing, Christian was crying on the couch and Ellie came and talked to him, kept him happy,

so I stopped paying attention to him and focused on my cleaning.

Ellie kept talking, and talking, and talking,

as Christian slid closer and closer to the edge of the couch.

He fell off. As she continued to talk in her sweet baby talk voice.

I guess there's a little to work on before she's ready to babysit for reals.

She loves being with "friends," and having a little sleepover with the girl cousins when we went to California was a dream come true for her.

She's always hungry. And incredibly picky. Everything she eats has a crust. When I give her dinosaur chicken nuggets, she leaves all the tails.

Yesterday, I even cut the crust off of her peanut butter and honey sandwich, so she wouldn't have to eat around it. 
She still left all the edges. 
I don't think I'll be doing that again.

When she's upset, all we have to do is get her to laugh, and suddenly, she's fine again! Last night, in my attempt to snap her out of her tantrum, I told her there was a fairy in the potty. And then we both laughed for the next five minutes.  

She has the most amazingly natural dance moves, (she can sway those hips!)
which is really remarkable considering I'm not a dancer and Kent's definitely not a dancer. 

She loves to play with Nicholas, but she spends a good portion of each day playing make believe all on her own. I love to listen to her little voices and characters.

Almost every day she talks about growing up, and always asks, "But I'll still have my voice, right? And my name will still be Ellie, right? With my voice?"

I don't know why she's so concerned, but I always make sure to tell her that yes, when she grows up she'll always be Ellie.

No denim is allowed to touch her skin, ever. Or shirts with buttons. Or elastic bands. She only wears knit pants.

She says waterfall as "waterfater" and huge as "hughnormus."
Sometimes she calls Christian "Chubby Wubby Lemon Squeezie"

She just asked me for a "toy sandwich that sings!" for her birthday. A sandwich that sings.  And then she cracked up.

When she's excited she laughs like a little goat.

She drew smiley face superpowers on her hands the other day, ala Ironman. 

 She told me that she could shoot smiley power out of her hand.

She's a perfect blend of adventurous, playful, wacky, sweet, and smart.