Ella Grace

Its hard to believe that my first baby is getting so big! Ella is fast approaching 3 1/2, and she acts even older most of the time! She is such a wonderful big sister to Lucy, and I love how motherly she can be with her. Its so precious! When we are going somewhere Ella likes to make sure that she and Lucy have everything they needs: cups of water, a snack, their socks and boots on, etc. When we come home she likes to help her sister take her coat off and hang it up (or throw it on the floor!). She is incredibly excited to be a big sister again to her baby sister Sophia! We were so worried at first because she was very convinced that this baby was going to be her baby brother. When we found out she was having another sister, we were scared to tell her! But when we did tell her, she was so excited and hasn't asked for a baby brother since. I am trying to keep her as involved in the pregnancy as possible so she doesn't feel out of place once the baby is here. I am curious to see her actual response, but I think she will do well and that she will love to help with the baby! She is always saying something about the baby, or asking questions about what it will be like when she is born. My favorite was the other day she looked at me very seriously and almost looked scared and asked, "Sophia is naked in your tummy?!" The rest of the day she concerned herself in asking what she would be wearing at different seasons. She wanted to make sure we were prepared to dress her baby sister! And are we ever! We have been so blessed with baby girl clothes! 


I am also very happy to say that she is moving past her throwing fits, or crying or whining when things don't go as she plans. We have been working on helping her communicate her feelings instead of melting down. It seems to be working! Now instead of throwing even the smallest of fits, she puts her head down and pouts and tells us "I'm so sad." And then will proceed to tell us why! It is such a welcome change from her fits, even though they weren't nearly as dramatic as the ones she would throw when she was 2! 

Her favorite things right now include princesses. She refuses to wear jeans most of the time, and when we finally do get her to wear a pair of jeans she will say sadly, "I am not a princess right now because I am not wearing a dress." She normally tells us that she wants to wear a dress so she can be a princess and dance! We hear that quite often. She loves to dance and sing. She knows a lot of songs, but she also loves to make up her own words. 


I have been assembling homeschool curriculum that turned out to be more work than I had thought! I ordered everything printed in color on cardstock and then I still had to laminate over a thousand pages and then cut them out how they were suppose to be. She loved helping me where she could, and she even started doing some of it. She does so well with letters, but she, like her mommy, has a harder time with numbers. She will get frustrated and say that she just can't remember! We are planning to start preschool in the fall. With her birthday being just days away from the cut off, if we were to put her in school we would have had to petition having her start this coming fall. And we know she is more than ready!