Oh we love this sweet girl! She is growing up so fast and becoming such a big girl. I think she's recently gone through a growth spurt as most of her 3T dresses that she insists on wearing daily show her tushy because they're too short now. At least she can get away with wearing tights or leggings underneath.
She is such a good helper, especially when it comes to her sister. She never complains when I ask her to get a wipe out to clean up Lucy and she is so good about cleaning up the toys Lucy makes a mess with. She knows how to entertain her sister and loves telling us when Lucy is getting into something she shouldn't be doing (which is OFTEN!). She loves helping me clean and bake and has been a trooper with getting our house cleaned up and decluttered for moving.
Ella loves her long, straight "Rapunzel" hair and has been asking for it straight pretty often lately. At least she can wear it straight for 4-5 days without washing it. But then she'll tell me she misses her curlies, and I agree with her...we love those curls! She panics anytime I bring up the idea of cutting or trimming her hair - this girl has never had a haircut! Although she did note the other day that when it gets so long that it touches the water while she's sitting on the potty, "we might have to do something about that." Agreed.
She's fully potty-trained at night time and naps now - no more pull-ups around here! She is my wake up call at precisely 6:30am every morning when her little face appears at my side of the bed telling me she has to go potty. It's often startling without my glasses on! She can easily go by herself, but insists that we know she's up and using our potty. She'll usually go back to bed or play in her room until around 7am when we're ready to get up with her, but she loves snuggling with us on our bed in the mornings.
We've taken her railing off her bed so she's in a twin bed with no guards or rails up. Makes it easier to get in and out of bed for her...both a good thing and a bad thing. She's actually great about staying in bed all night and loves the freedom knowing she can get up if she needs to go potty.
Her vocabulary is hilarious as she picks up on what older kids and adults say so quickly and uses expressions appropriately. Her favorites lately, "Oh.my.goodness. That is just sooo awesome." And, "That is like crazy fantastic mommy!" She told her dad the other day, "Daddy, lose the attitude." You think she's heard that a few times? :) When she can tell I'm getting frustrated or flustered she'll tell me, "Mommy, just call on God. He'll be here for you." Love that I have her to remind me of these things :).
She's still princess obsessed. She's been known to use a "dingle-hopper" at the dinner table a time or two (for those not familiar with The Little Mermaid, Ariel calls a fork a dingle-hopper and uses it to brush her hair). We need to remind her that forks are for eating, not for brushing hair. When we ask her to get ready for a bath, she'll immediately tell us she needs to go get her fin and bikini on and pretend to be Ariel the entire time she's in the bath. It amazes me how she stays in "character" as long and as often as she does. It cracks me up when she'll break out a line from Frozen pretending that she's Elsa and I'm Anna - we'll be having a conversation and she all of a sudden tells me, "I said NO Anna! You can't marry a man you just met!"
A few recent favorite pictures...
Practicing her ballet moves before dance class...
Looking so grown up lately...
She still loves everything about preschool. Her astronaut helmet she made at preschool...
Two things Ella loves: reading books and anything "Frozen" related. I love her "reading" her Frozen book (which probably won't make sense unless you've seen the movie)...
I love that Ella's preschool has helped to nourish and support her
spiritual growth. She looks forward to Chapel once a week and does such
a great job remembering songs and Bible verses. Here is one of her
recent favorite songs and her weekly Bible verse:
