What a great year for Elena. Elena has grown in many ways this year. Certainly her legs have grown! She is tall and lanky. She barely tops 38 lbs, but reaches up to . This is a small problem in that she is about to out grow the height of her car seat, but still doesn't weigh enough for the next model up! This year she seems to have increased in strength over coordination. She is always trying to help carry in the biggest grocery bag or lift the largest box. In the past few weeks her goal has been to make it all the way across the monkey bars by herself at school - and she's done it several times! She has incredible endurance (it should be noted though this does not appear to be a unique characteristic, if my observations of her peers is correct.)
Socially Elena is much more mature. She has gained more control over her emotions in the past year. She is better able to express her anger, frustration, and concerns using words that actually mean what she is going through. Her temper tantrums have noticably decreased in intensity and duration. Often is takes her an initial outburst, then reminder, but she can find the control to express what she needs. Elena is also more mature in groups. Last year she really outgrew her shyness, this year she has really grown into her personality with her peers and friends. She will interact with kids on the playground that she doesn't know. At school, her teacher tell us that she is a class leader who plays with all the kids. Often she will say something like, 'Maggie and I had a problem at the tire swing, but then we just worked it out.' Her best friend, by far, at school is Mia. They are playing together on the playground almost every day when I pick Elena up. And Elena seems to have recognized that friendship is complex. Sometimes she and Mia 'have a rough day' and fight. Sometimes Mia has a bad day and Elena will tell us all about it (tattle tale!). But what made a huge impression in me was several months ago Elena had a rough day and she was mean to Mia. That night she was very distraught that she was mean to her friend, 'But momma, Mia is my BEST friend, and I was mean to her.' Last year she wouldn't have been able to think about that beyond it happening. This time she wrote out a card and ran in the next morning to give a hug and say she was sorry to Mia.
Of course, on of the biggest changes this year has been to our family - with the addition of Elena's little brother, Egan. Adding a sibling has got to be one of the most difficult things (I don't specifically recall my own experience, but I'm sure I harbor scars!) Really, Elena embraced this huge life change with wonderful grace and love. She adores Egan and rarely seems to angry or frusterated about the changes be brought with him. She started by calling him 'little pinto bean' then 'little brother' and now, since he can sit up and play a bit more now she calls him 'my brother.'
Elena has always been determined, but I often wondered if it was because of all the things we put her through (hey, let's move to a non english speaking country and dump you into daycare at age 1.5 - doesn't that sound like fun!). This year several things really showed that this girl has grit and determination in her blood. Take, for example, her decision to stop sucking her thumb. Once she made that decision for herself, she never went back on it. Not once did I find her sucking her thumb. It was hard, I was ready to start sucking MY thumb. Then her little brother arrives. What a huge change! She pushed through that like a champ. And, she has a frighenly high pain tolerance. She has been quite obsessed with shots. This year she got her first round of shots that she can 'remember.' The nurse had Jake holding her arms in a 'bear hug' and was desperately trying to distract her and get her to look away from her leg (shot location). Elena refused she was determined to watch every detail from the shot coming out of the package to the bandaid going on. Finally the nurse gave in, injecting her while Elena never flinched and watched the whole thing. Then we got to 'play shot' for the next 5 weeks. As for me, I have to lay down when I get a shot a feel woozy watching ER. I wonder if she will be an endurance athlete? Once she puts her mind to something, the decision is made.
Of course, sometime she puts her mind to things we would prefer her not to, like having a temper tantrum melt down. This year we started a new program called 'Magic 123' - she gets counted to 3, then has a timeout the length of her age. We've used timeout, etc before, but this program seems to work well because it is so consistent between Jake and I. What is amazing is the rage of a tantrum she can have. Now, they have decreased in intensity quite a bit (and we haven't had to replace the door on her room...yet...but did take out all furniture that could be thrown). In the past few months, most of the time she has her time out and comes right back out. The 'fits' are much more rare. But, when she puts her mind to being mad and there is no way around it. Here's hoping she takes up running soon.....
This year Elena really started to write. I feel like I'm spelling every other word at this point (as you can probably tell from these blog entries - spelling is NOT my strong suit). In the beginning of the year we would have to write out what elena wanted to say, then she would copy it. Now she can write words from sound as we spell them out and she has a couple memorized. Just last week she told me how Mia helped her learn how to spell some new words. Elena also has started to like chapter books. We read a lot of the Magic Tree House series. She still loves her shorter books - basically she loves books. Probably her favorite non-chapter book is Skippy John Jones. We can't wait until she is old enough (and by that we mean not scared of things) to read Harry Potter and Ronald Dalh books!
Elena is still into detailed roll playing. She will turn just about anything into just about anything. She really wants her own computer.....but no dice kiddo. We really limit her screen time. So she made on out of cardboard. She loves to play waitress...she gets out her tray and a gardening tool belt with pockets and a pen/pad to take orders. When we eat out, she carefully watches the servers. Then when she gets home, she tried to mimic what they have done and said. After Egan a was born, she liked to play 'doula' asking us questions about how breastfeeding was going and filling out a 'wellness' chart.
Of course, elena's other claim to fame is her ridicilously large vocabulary. She loves to copy large words. It's quite amusing to hear her say, 'probably these possibilities are not so good.' She also loves to gesture with her hands while she is talking. In particular, she will make a little circle motion with her hand, the other firmly planted on her hip with her leg tipped and pointed out. When she wants you to agree with her (always) she will raise her eyebrows in this encouraging wink, as if to say, 'this is the part where you say 'yes.''
I think we will always recall this year as special because it was right before she heads off into the 'big outside' world, starting kindergarden, we are even thinking of soccer or choir, too. (of course, we don't want to over schedule!) Right now, she still can be found in the back yard flying high through the air on her swing - carefree and determined at the same time.
