Happy birthday, sweetheart! We adore you and are so, so grateful that you are our biggest girl. You are smart, creative, energetic, compassionate, and strong-willed :) We love you!
Sleeping: Elise is a fantastic sleeper. She rarely naps (maybe once a month after a long day or if she's sick) but regularly sleeps 12 - 13 hours at night. Bedtime is usually between 7 and 7:30. I foresee a difficult time getting her ready on time for kindergarten next year. This child loves to lounge in bed after she wakes up. She has a 45 minute "rest time" each day in her room while Jack and Claire are napping. During this time, she typically plays with dolls, Legos, or clothes.
Eating: Elise is a great eater. She definitely has her favorites but will eat most things with little to no coaxing. She's branched out a lot in the past few months and realized that she likes a lot of foods that she never really gave a chance (chili, enchiladas, taquitos, salmon, green beans, etc). For breakfast, she enjoys cereal, fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, eggs and bacon, or whatever else is offered. For lunch, she usually has a sandwich with peanut butter or turkey/ham and cheese, along with a few sides. She loves all fruit. Her favorite vegetables are cucumbers, red bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and asparagus.
Big Sister: Elise LOVES her siblings. We often joke that Claire is her favorite toy. If Claire makes so much as a peep, Elise is the first one to comfort her, bring her a new toy, etc. I really thought the novelty of having a baby in the house would wear off a little but her love and compassion for Claire keeps growing. She absolutely adores her, 100% of the time. It is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. She and Jack are best friends and buddies, even though they certainly have moments where one of them vows, "I will never let you play with me again!". They would definitely go crazy without each other and they truly enjoy each other's company.
Favorite Toys/Activities: Claire, dolls, "girl" Legos, clothes and accessories (she loves dressing herself and then changing outfits, over and over again), our basement trampoline, games, Duplos, Magna Tiles, zoo or aquarium trips, sledding and playing in the snow, hiking, shopping trips with Mommy, listening to someone read, singing songs from Frozen :)
Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Elise still does not care for coloring or writing. We implemented "mandatory" workbook practice every day beginning around her 5th birthday and she has made a ton of progress on her handwriting. She's completed a few kindergarten workbooks with ease and I plan to continue this and/or "mandatory" reading time or spelling practice daily until she starts kindergarten. My prediction is that she is going to love math. She is quite good at adding and subtracting in her head and can easily complete a page of math problems like 12+3=, 20+10=, 10-7= , etc. She quickly learned to recognize 3 digit numbers. The other day on a long car trip she decided to count as high as she could go. Once she reached 501, she said, "I think I'll stop here." :) She loves to build and create.
Elise goes to Pre-K from 9-12 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. She has made a lot of friends and is always happy to go. At her spring conference, her teacher told me that she is definitely ready for kindergarten and also mentioned that Elise has a "strong personality"... no surprise there, ha! A few times a month, she gets to stay for lunch bunch and never fails to mention that she can't wait to eat lunch at school every day in kindergarten. She is really excited about moving to New York but even more excited about spending a month in Texas first.
For her birthday this year, we didn't throw a big party but we did celebrate her birthday several times with several cupcakes :) Here are some pictures from her first "party" with Mimi a few weeks before her actual birthday.
Ready for some cupcakes!
Early birthday presents from Mimi and Pop - Duplo cupcakes and ice cream cones
On her actual birthday
Ready to open presents
She loves her American Girl doll (Marie-Grace) from Gram and Grandpa!
Opening the dollhouse and furniture from Mommy and Daddy
And some dolls and extra furniture from Mimi and Pop
We had a crazy amount of snow this winter. The biggest snowfall was over 20 inches in a span of 2 days! Elise loves sledding and is a daredevil... she even sprained her ankle on a really steep hill and went back to sled on the same hill again after the next snowfall.
Playing in the front yard
Daddy made a snow slide
And a snowman!
First matching outfit with Claire
Sliding at the zoo
Fuzzy pjs
Daddy and his girls
Creating with Magna Tiles... I can't say enough good things about these toys. She has gotten so creative with different things to build and new ways to use them with her other toys.
Elephant
Peacock
Bake Shop
After playing with them for several months, she now likes to make all of her creations symmetrical in shape and color
Elsa's Ice Palace (also completely symmetrical, even the "floor"!)
Symmetrical castle for Claire :)
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