Ella Turns FIVE!

Wow! Ella is five! She is such a great kid. She is kind, incredibly empathetic, determined, curious, sensitive, and happy. We love Ella, of course, but we sure like hanging out with her too. We celebrated her awesomeness with a pancake and pot painting party with all her friends! It was such a great day with wonderful people!

At Ella’s five year check up she measured a whopping 35 pounds and 37 1/4 inches tall. Small but mighty indeed! Here is what the Nugget has been up to for the last year. This past summer, Ella pretty much taught herself to swim. That girl was determined to not wear her floaties. Although it wasn’t graceful, she was able to swim across the entire pool! She loves to jump in on her own and swim to the edge. She never got comfortable swimming for a long time under water, but tread water, that girl can tread water.

School! Ella started preschool in the Typical Peer program at Ernest May Elementary School. Her teachers were Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. S. Although the transition was not the easiest, as Ella oftentimes cried when we left the house; after four months we were tear free! Makenna Higbee, as past student of ours, would watch Ella in the morning and then bring her to school. What a blessing Makenna has been to our family. Through preschool Ella has made some wonderful friends (Avery and Charlie specifically) and figured out how to be responsible without us. We are so proud of her.

So what is this five year old like these days. Ella loves art, adventure, camping, painting, wrestling, climbing, dancing, singing, and coloring. She is trying to ride a bike without training wheels because she wants to do BMX like her friend Avery. (I think it will be awhile til she masters no training wheels). She did gymnastics for a few months and has gotten pretty good at handstands and likes to have us watch her practice over and over and over. She has graduated to taking showers on occasion, but still likes it when I wash her in the bathtub. She loves to eat edamame beans, tacos, and rice. She likes Cheerios with chocolate chips as an after dinner snack. She doesn’t like brushing her teeth or getting her hair brushed, but tolerates them both. She goes to bed silly and wakes up sweet.

She goes with the flow on trips and likes to explore. She listens amazingly well and cries when she gets in trouble (which rarely happens). She tries to parent Miles from time to time. She is shy yet has become so brave. She is still tiny in size, but gigantic in love and affection.

She writes some words from memory: Ella, Miles, Mom, Dad, Topo, Love, Happy and gets so much joy in making cards for people. When she is sad or misses someone she draws a picture. When something dies (even a worm) she grieves and tries to save it by dumping water on top of it. She doesn’t like to be the center of attention but is constantly requesting our attention.

She goes to bed so quickly as she has transitioned to no nap for most of her fourth year of life. She loves Topo and occasionally cries that she misses Patches. She always asks to have her friends over. A perfect day for Ella would be to have everyone she loves at her house swimming in the pool.

Ella is sweet to Miles and looks out for him. She helped him gain confidence at gymnastics by hugging him and making him feel safe when he was scared. She gets incredibly frustrated (understandably so) with his lack of empathy and sometimes intense wrestling moves. She teaches him to forgive and say sorry. She holds his hand when he’s scared and shows him how to do all sorts of things (when he’s willing to listen). She comes home most days from school and immediately starts drawing. She didn’t have a single accident in pre school and I only got called from the nurse one time (apparently she hit her head on the playground). She has bad dreams and comes into our bed. She likes to wear dresses and bows in her hair but doesn’t hesitate to get them dirty. We are so grateful for her little heart and head…they are full of love and thoughtfulness!