fabulously five

{excuse the old pic - figured it was better than nothing}


Elise had a great five year old check up this morning! She has come a long way since last summer, and has really grown to trust our pediatrician. She was very brave and cooperative.
The fact that she didn't have to get any shots definitely helped the situation.

Lila has had a slight fever and I wouldn't have normally taken her in, but since we were there, I decided to get her checked as well. So, then, of course, Bennett told the Dr. that he had a cough also (totally not true). Just proves that at their ages they are jealous of anything- even been checked by the Dr.!! Luckily we have a very patient Dr. who humored Bennett by checking him as well, and then rewarded everyone with suckers and stickers.
As expected, Lila just has a summer virus and will be fine in no time.


So, since this blog is my baby book, here are her stats:
She is now 42 inches tall (approx 50%) and weighs 36lbs 12.8 ounces (approx 25%). According to my Mom she is about the exact same size Aunt Mo was at this age- and we called her peanut! So, for our family, she is definitely a petite little thing.
All three are in the same shoe size right now, so I am pretty sure the older sister is going to end up being the shorter sister in the Parnell clan. :)
Dr. R gave her a pep talk about trying new foods (pretty sure that went in one ear and out the other), but said her growth is actually perfect and she would much rather her right where she is than heavier. She had high praise for her fine motor skills and encouraged me to make sure that she does not get bored, as she could sense her desire for knowledge and new things.

I can sense this as well, and she continues to keep me on my toes and challenged. I am seeing a lot of maturity lately, and it is making me realize just how grown up she is getting. She helped me all day yesterday clean out the playroom, and seemed to actually love sorting out the toys into keep, donate, toss piles. We have been reading Peter Pan, one chapter a night, and I am absolutely amazed at the depth of her questions, and her desire to know what each and every word means. I must admit, it is an exercise in patience, as a 4-5 page chapter sometimes takes us an entire hour to get through. But, I do feel like it is expanding her vocabulary greatly. She shocked me last night, when several times, after I gave the definition of a word, she then used it in a sentence to practice. On her own.

Her extreme sensitivity is also very evident, and for this I have no one to blame but myself. I was talking to my Mom the other day about it and my Mom just smiled and said, "She is you."
She still often has crying spells about missing Baxter. She seems to have dealt better actually with Tiger's death than with Baxter's relocation. She often begs for him to come home, and this, of course, kills David and I, but we still feel good about our decision, and know that at some point, we will get another dog. She doesn't forget anything, and when something bothers her, it bothers her...

Her imagination is amazing, and she loves to do anything creative. She picked out a book of paper dolls at Barnes and Nobles after story time this week and literally played with them for 6 straight hours when we got home. I sooo wanted to eavesdrop to all of "their" conversations, but also wanted to give her space to be free and creative.

One of my biggest challenges continues to be her extreme shyness. It is not an issue at all around people she is very familiar with, but often times in public she just totally shuts down. For example, we will be at the pool and she will see a friend (who she talks about at home all of the time) but cannot make herself go approach her. I am walking a fine line with this. I don't want to give her a complex about it, but I have also tried to explain, gently, that if she doesn't talk to people (or at least say HI) when she sees them, that they will think she does not want to be friends with them. I am hoping the extra year of preschool will help with this and her confidence in general.

So, yes, she is fabulously five. We are enjoying her so much, and watching her grow is such a blessing.....

On another note, Happy Happy Birthday to my little brother Jared! We hope you have a wonderful day!
Love, Nicole