and my Ellie

With just that hint of a sly smile, she has always got something up her sleeve these days! I walk into a room and she freezes, starts to hide something, and runs away. She's becoming quite proficient at the tired/hungry/tummyache/flailing on the floor when it's time to clean or do schoolwork. She stashes things all over the house, and almost always has a lost clothing item when it's time to go to church or ballet class. I think her bed must be eating her shoes!

Ellie is a little social butterfly. She loves her friends dearly and really enjoys special friend time without her big sister leading the pack! She has music running through her blood. When it's playing, she is dancing and she can't help herself. She feels the music unlike any other 5 year-olds I've seen, and although I'm slightly biased, I do believe she has some big time talent in dance. I pray that her training at a very good Christian ballet school will help her to use her talent wisely, if she so chooses.

She has become quite the monkey recently. I am constantly finding her at the top of the doorway. She climbs all the doorways in the house and jumps down. And always, always, there is some kind of dancing performance or class going on, with costumes galore! She is progressing well with her schoolwork, making her way through the 1st grade math book and the concepts are clicking. Like her sister, she is also struggling with handwriting and reversals...so I'm guessing I'm going to have many years of intensive phonics instruction for these children of mine! But she's reading fine for her age, on lesson 57 of 100 Easy Lessons. I'm trying not to push her too much or worry about getting various subjects in. She hears and participates in many of Mary Clare's lessons and sometimes gets the answers before her sister (for example, she named the capital of Kentucky before MC today!).

Ellie looks up to her sister and loves her brothers so sweetly. She has been putting stickers on her ears or little dots with marker, to give herself earrings like Mary Clare! She gets her feelings hurt often and still sucks those first two fingers throughout the day. But she wants to be a big girl so badly, it saddens me when she feels like something is too babyish for her...I still think of her as my little babygirl. But like her big sister, she is growing up...

As much as I can't stand it, she'll be turning 6 soon enough...my Ellie-in-the-belly is no longer! But I love my sweet Libby Lu with all my heart and am so thankful God chose me to be her mommy!