Eloise is 4 (and 1/4)

There were so many times over this past year that I was inspired to sit down and write a post about you, and I regret not doing it until now. I wrote your last update at 3 years old and you are now a week away from 4 and 1/4, so I'll be covering a lot of ground in this post. ;)  It has been such a joy to witness your unfolding from a lisping, defiant, combustible toddler to an articulate, spirited, creative little girl with a delightfully funny and playful personality. 

You are still our petite little sweetie. You had your 4-year "Well Child" appointment two weeks shy of your birthday and measured 3 feet, 1.5 inches tall (11th percentile) and 28 pounds (3rd percentile). It wasn't until late last year that I finally boxed up the last of your 2T clothing; you are now in 3Ts full-time and can get away with some 4Ts. Because you are so tiny, people assume you are much younger than you are and surprised as soon as you open your mouth. You are very well-spoken for a 4-year-old, which makes the contrast of your small stature all the more comical.

You are still the worst sleeper in the house. Your entire year between age 3 and 4, you slept through the night in your own bed maybe 3 times. One time for sure that I can remember, for which you were rewarded with a bowl of Crunch Berries for breakfast. It was such a momentous occasion that I snapped a photo of you eating your cereal, which is somewhere on the blog. While you typically still crawl into our bed several times a week, I am thrilled to report that the number of nights spent entirely in your own bed have increased dramatically since you turned 4. Only about once a week or less do you wake up crying hysterically and need to be soothed back to sleep, which once upon a toddler time used to be a nightly (or even twice nightly) occurrence. 

You are still the pickiest eater in the house. You're not a fan of most veggies, and won't reliably eat the ones you have been known to tolerate (such as lettuce [in Caesar salad], green beans, and broccoli). You are a very moody eater; often times you will turn your nose up at the same meal you devoured only a couple weeks before. You are also a fussy eater; you examine your food and won't eat a bite if you see the tiniest speck of onion, or "any things I don't like." Consequentially, there are some nights that you just flat-out refuse to eat dinner. That has nothing to do with your skinniness, though. ;) You can and do pack in large amounts of the foods you do like. You love peanut butter and honey sandwiches and typically have one (sometimes two) every day for lunch. For breakfast you like a bowl of cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios or Cinnamon Life), a pancake (I freeze them for easy re-heating in the toaster), or a bowl of oatmeal (with a little maple syrup on top which you insist that YOU stir in, not me). Your absolute favorite food continues to be macaroni and cheese and you are a fan of all other stereotypical "kid" foods like burgers and pizza and tacos. Favorite healthier foods are eggs, yogurt, cheese, apples, oranges (clementines) bananas and strawberries. 

Another thing that hasn't changed... most of the time, you don't wipe after going #1 (fortunately you do call us for help after #2). You don't flush either. We remind you to wipe and flush constantly, but you just don't do it. You are our gross kid and we frequently catch you with your hands down your pants (scratching yourself) or your finger up your nose. Sorry Sweetie, just keeping it real. ;)

While your emotional, reactive self continues to mellow as you get older you still fly off the handle many, many times a day. When the slightest thing doesn't go your way, you cry and yell and run to your room and slam the door (slamming the door always earns you a time out). You can be an absolute brat at times and tell me that you hate me at least once a day (usually much more). The silver lining of all this is that, after four years of your over-the-top antics in this area, it is pretty hard to ruffle my feathers. I know that your fits are more about you than they are about me, and you're just expressing big emotions. It doesn't take long for you to get over it, and sometimes you even come up to me and apologize (without prompting).  On the other side of the coin, you are such a loving, affectionate little girl. You love to give hugs ("Huggies!" you say) and are always saying, "I love you, Mama" out of the blue. 

Your eczema is a thing of the past, PRAISE GOD!! While your pediatrician told us that many kids outgrow it, we had heard from so many other people and sources that it was something you would probably deal with your entire life. It disappeared very gradually--first your allergy meds (Claritin) was no longer necessary...then your/our daily lotion-slathering ritual was no longer necessary... and then one day we realized that not only did you rarely scratch anymore, but your skin was perfectly clear! You can even swim in chlorinated water and take bubble baths now without it affecting your skin one bit! We couldn't be more thankful!

You have absolutely zero interest in picking out your own clothes and most of the time refuse to even dress yourself. If I don't help you get dressed, you just won't. You have no problem stripping your clothes off, however, which you typically do two or three times a day on account of you spilling/dribbling something on yourself (you can't tolerate even the smallest spot of anything on your clothes). If I didn't put another outfit on you, you would happily run around in your undies all day long.

Interestingly, you like picking out what shoes to wear and can be quite particular about it. Sometimes, to speed up the process of getting dressed to go outside or to pick up Avalon from school, I will set out a pair of shoes for you but you almost always disagree with my choice and instead put on another pair. You do put on your own shoes most of the time, albeit often on the wrong feet. You are getting to the age where I should probably correct you (I do when we go out...most of the time) but I just think it is the cutest thing when kids' shoes are on the wrong feet. Lately you have begun to ask "are they on the right feet?" after putting them on most of the time, so the wrong-feet cuteness probably won't last too much longer.

You enjoy the "home school" preschool lessons we do a few times a week while Avalon is in Kindergarten, and are a really fast learner. You learned to write your name in only a couple days! You are excited to start preschool in the fall and I think you'll do great.

You hate all bugs and creepy crawlies. You shriek at the sight of the tiniest little bug, even regular old houseflies. I don't know how many times I have momentarily panicked after heard a blood-curdling scream from you, only to discover it is because you saw a bug crawling on the wall, or something like that.

You love to sing and have quite the vibrato. ;) Two of your favorite things to do are belt out songs while swinging on our back yard swing set ("Let It Go" is still your song of choice), and belt out songs in the evening when Daddy lets you and Avalon each pick out a music video to watch before story time. You have great pitch and I am amazed by some of the notes you can hit! We have talked about maybe getting you into voice lessons someday because you seem to have that magic combination of passion and talent.

You love to play with dolls (Barbies and Disney Princesses) and are always trying to get Avalon and/or me to play with you... which we often hesitate to do, because you are so darn particular about everything! You have an idea of the "story" you want the dolls to act out, and like to be in control of every detail, giving the rest of us very few creative liberties! ;) My favorite thing about playing Barbies when I was young was dressing them up and changing their clothes and accessories, but you have no tolerance for this and get annoyed when I try to do so while we're playing! For you "playing dolls" is all about acting out the story, which is often something morbid like a doll drowning in the swimming pool. (Just like your sister, you are not one bit perturbed by the notion of death!) To entice Avalon or I to play with you, you will say, "Please? You can stop when you want to stop" (but you still always throw a big 'ol fit when we decide to stop!).

You're slightly screen-obsessed; you'd watch TV or play on your tablet all day long if we let you. When you have TV time you tend to choose one show and only watch episodes of that (we have Internet TV--Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime--so everything is always 'on'). Usually the show varies by the day, but often a week will go by where you watch the same show every day. Your favorites are Wishenpoof, Blue's Clues, Big Comfy Couch, Creative Galaxy, Fireman Sam, and Tumble Leaf. Your favorites that I only let you watch on rare occasion (because I hate them) are Barbie and the Dreamhouse and some Bratz show. Because you are my child, naturally you also love Full House and, most recently, Fuller House. Of course I can't not mention the dreaded YouTube. Just like Avalon, you love to watch ridiculous YouTube videos of adults playing with and reviewing toys, as well as little girls playing with dolls, costume makeup tutorials, and lame skits written and acted out by teenage girls, most of them about mermaids. Your YouTube time is very limited and Daddy and I have considered making it inaccessible to you girls all together because what you like to watch is so dumb.

You seem to be very methodical and you especially like to line things up. For instance, when you're coloring you carefully line up all your crayons on the table before you begin. You line your crusts up on the table as you eat your sandwich at lunch time. At Christmastime you were given a small bag of candy and immediately emptied it out and lined all your candies up on the floor. I often come into your room after quiet time to see that you've made tidy lines of various toys on the floor--dolls, or play food, or Shopkins, sometimes even books ("it's a path," you explained).

There are a handful of questions you ask Daddy and I constantly, which we've dubbed "Ellie Questions." The one we hear the most (as in several times a day) is, "Can we go to Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Steve's house someday?" We're pretty sure Grandma and Grandpa's house is your favorite place on the planet you ask us this regardless of whether it has been several months since we visited, or an hour (you once asked on the drive home from their house!).  A couple of your more general inquiries are, "How do you know which way to go when we go places?" and "How come we always have to go somewhere?" (That last one is funny because we actually go very few places.)

You're adorable and you know it. I'd go so far as to say you are just the teensiest bit vain. You are always saying, "don't I look pretty?" as you pose and spin, and you spend time smiling and making faces at yourself in the bathroom mirror every single day. Often Daddy or I will send you in the bathroom to wash your hands before a meal and several minutes passes before we hear the water turn on... because you have spent the entire time mugging in the mirror.

For as much of a performer and ham that you are, you are also a little shy. You usually hide behind Daddy or I at first when you meet new people and it takes you a little while to warm up to them.

I have always believed that you had a certain rare sparkle about you and I feel that more strongly with every passing year. Everything about you is just so darn cute. You bring a big smile to my face more times a day than I could possibly count. I especially love our time together during the day while Avalon is at school, when you're not copying or competing with or trying to please or antagonize your big sister. I'm so glad we decided to hold off on preschool this year because I feel like I've gotten to know you so much better over these last 6 months. You are fun and funny, sweet, smart and sassy. I will continue to savor this time before I have to send you to school and share you with the world!