eloise {four years}

Eloise_Four Years

{lion: jellycat via Nordstrom // dress: June and January }

{four years} Four. It seems like this is such a big birthday! Maybe because it’s one year until five and then kindergarten? Eloise is SUCH an amazing kid and it feels like I’ve known her much longer than these past four years (and at the same time it blows my mind that she’s already four)!

Eloise is such a compassionate and thoughtful little girl. She is worried about babies or children that she sees or hears crying, wants to help give cuddles and comfort, and is always wanting to make cards or write notes for her friends and family. She is such a helper (just like her Papa) and wants to be included in everything. She is still a bit reserved at first and wants to observe in new situations, but has really branched out and started playing with new friends she meets and interacts with other adults too. She is a lover of all things creative (paint, crayons, clay, glue) and still LOVES books!

Summertime is different than the school year because she is home with me and Daphne during the mornings, but our daily structure is still the same. She is up just before 8 AM, eats breakfast, and then gets ready (unless we stay in jammies if we stay home which she loves). Eloise can brush her teeth by herself (with assistance at the very end, of course), brush her hair, and get dressed completely on her own. She generally wants to pick out what she wears both during the day and for bedtime, but prefers to match with Daphne. Lunch is around noon-ish, and then quiet, independent play time between 2 PM and 4 PM. Eloise does really well playing by herself in her room either reading or playing with toys. We have a lot of the kids toys in storage boxes under the stairs and rotate them out from time-to-time with toys upstairs, but lately we have been offering a box of toys to Eloise to play with during this time. It is awesome because she is seeing toys she doesn’t see all the time and it is easy to pick-up and put away! Dinner happens around 6 PM with the entire family and then we generally head outside for a walk around the block. Eloise LOVES to see neighbors and gets sad if no one is out at the time we are. There are lots of kids and families that we know close to us so we often see a few friends while we are out. Bedtime happens just before 8 PM (or 7:30 PM on school nights) and generally goes pretty smoothly. Eloise gets into jammies, brushes her teeth and hair, and gets two stories before being tucked in. She frequently asks one of us to stay with her but she will read quietly to herself and then turn out off her lamp before falling asleep.

Since our school here doesn’t get out until the end of June, Eloise doesn’t head back to school until after Labor Day. She will be starting Pre-K at a local preschool near her old school, and for now, we are planning on just one more year of preschool before sending her off to Kindergarten; however, given her late summer birthday, we are still considering whether we should delay her start and have her do one more round of Pre-K since she will be SO young when starting school. We won’t have to make the decision until this winter and will have at least a few conversations with her teachers before making any final decisions. But for now, she is really excited to be going to school again in a few weeks!

Eloise loves the game Don’t Break the Ice but thinks it’s called Break the Ice. (It’s a game where you hammer out “ice cubes” and try not to have the penguin fall!) She renamed the penguin Phillipa (originally Philip) and squeals whenever the cube she is hammering falls thru. And then when the penguin finally falls in, she will give the person who is playing with her a hug! I am not sure why, but she does this every single time.

Even though we live in a huge city, our community feels small. We know almost every single one of our neighbors and are close to quite a few. Our mailman Teddy has such a sweet relationship with our kids and stops to chat with the kids. He even left Eloise a birthday present in the mailbox this morning. The garbage truck drivers all stop and waive at the kids if we are out on the street or looking thru the window. We know the local children’s librarian, Erica, who teaches us silly songs and recommends books for the girls. We frequently see our “family friends” made up of parents and kids that Eloise has known since she was born; these adults are familiar to her and are almost like aunties and uncles with the trust and communication lines that have been formed over the years. And watching Eloise interact with these adults in our community, and ask to see them, warms my heart.

Birthday Interview. {I am hoping to do this interview every year to see how the answers change!}

What is your name? Eloise.
How old are you? Four!
What is your favorite thing to do? Watch shows.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Hmm. A ghost! Actually a doctor.
What is your favorite food? Hmm. Desserts.
Who do you like to spend your time with? Daniel Tiger’s family. Oliver (a friend); I haven’t seen him in a long time!
What do you do really well? Color. I am good at breaking things. (hahaha)
What makes you laugh? Jokes.
What is the best time of day? When I get to jump in puddles in the rain time.
What are you afraid of? Rainstorms. Scary movies (any movie with any scary part).
Who is your best friend? Mama.
What do you like to do with your family? Go to the park.
What do you love to learn about? Painting.
Where do you like to go? To the Space Needle.
What is your favorite book? Tigee the Adventure Tiger. 
If you had one wish, what would it be? Going to Candyland.

And the newest rendition of Things Eloise Says:

Eloise: “Mama, can we go on a walk?” Me: “No.” Eloise: “Papa, can we go on a walk?” Aaron: “Didn’t you just ask Mama and she said no? What makes you think I’m going to give you a different answer?” Eloise: “Sometimes I get lucky!”

Me: “Did you have any dreams last night kiddo?” Eloise: “No. I just had plain sleep.”

Eloise, looking at an old photo of herself: “Are those my old overalls? Aww, that blisters my heart!”

“That just really blows my mind!”

I said something in a conversation about the earth going around the sun. Eloise: “The earth goes around the sun? I have a song for that! The earth goes around the sun tra la la! The earth goes around the sun.” (This is a song that she sang at her school for birthday celebrations.)

“Where does your echo live Mama?”
Eloise: “Are there hydrangeas in that bouquet Mama?” Me: “Nope.” Eloise: “Why?” Me: “Hydrangeas don’t really do well in vases kiddo. They just wilt.” Eloise: “Oh, well maybe they just like to be with their families!”

Eloise heads to her wellness check-up next week, so I will update if her stats are vastly different!

{weight} 39ish pounds (my guess); height: 40 inches

{hair} (reddish) brown.

{teeth} 20 teeth plus four molars.

{eyes} dark brown.

{clothes}  4T, some 5 or 4 to 6 (which is a kid’s XS).

{feeding} during the day, three meals, (sometimes a) morning snack, & (sometimes an) afternoon snack. cup of milk with every meal.

{likes} singing, dancing, taking walks around the blocks, talking to the neighbors, Teddy the mailman, school and her friends, Daphne, coloring, yelling, Duplos, digging in the dirt, splashing, counting, any person outside on the sidewalk, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, coloring, buckles, jumping, watching out the front window (dogs, kids, trucks), books, mama & papa’s cell phone, FaceTime (but she always wants to hold the phone), bath time, shoes, mama’s (diaper) bag, putting things inside a bag or box, helping with anything & everything, when Papa comes home from work.

{dislikes} not being included, having something taken away from her, not eating when someone else is, being hungry, TimeOut.

{nicknames} Bug, Love Bug, Baby Bug, E, Kiddo. She recently has decided she doesn’t prefer being called anything but Eloise so E-Lo and Wheezy are no longer. At least for now!

{See her grow up: birth story // one year // two years // three years}

Happy Birthday Bug!

M

2 thoughts on “eloise {four years}”

  1. Happy birthday, Eloise.
    I’m an August birthday, too ( same day as GmaPhyllis) and did just fine starting school at age six(barely) and this was before the days of kindergarten, much less nursery school, preschool, preK.
    When the girls are college age, you might be glad to have another year separating them in school 😍 Do ya think?

  2. Happy birthday sweet pea! I can’t believe she and Crosby will be going to kindergarten together next year. Where is the time going?! Love you!

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