our elise

Our Elise is growing, changing, maturing, and developing...and it pretty much amazes me daily. She is a little bit of an enigma...just when I think I have her completely figured out, she surprises me. She is emotional, yet strong, timid, yet confident, and quietly caring. Her yearning for knowledge and learning, and her ability to retain information continues to surprise me.

{This is truly not a post to pat myself and David on the back as parents, as we are both far from perfect, or to brag about our child, but more so just to document what I am feeling and noticing about her right now. Time is flying so quickly, I want to be able to remember as much as I can. I have had lots of thoughts about her bouncing around in my head this week and so I decided I needed to write some of the down.}

This Christmas brainstorm came home from school the other day and put a huge smile on my face...

One of the things that baffles me about her is that as much as she is concerned with right vs. wrong, or how things should be done, she is a TOTAL slob when it comes to her room. She loves to work and play independently, and often spends over an hour after we tuck her in reading or playing school. Sometimes in the morning when I go upstairs I find papers spread out all over the bed (for her "students") and her asleep among all of the stuff! It is quite a contrast to the super organized type-A child that reminds me when papers are due back to school, remembers dates for everything, and can't have any food touch on her plate or a major panic attack ensues.

Yesterday morning I snapped a pic of her bedside table with my phone...I was slightly annoyed with the mess and then I noticed the note next to her bed....

I asked her who the note was for and she said "Jesus. Just leave it there and he'll see it eventually."

Seriously.

Above you can see all of her "school supplies" stacked at the foot of her bed....I am working on giving her a little freedom to live this way (don't want to stifle her creativity) while also wanting her to be respectful of her space, which, for me, means keeping it somewhat presentable. I think in the future I am going to need to search for some bedside tables with a little more storage so that she has a place to keep all of her stuff. I think that is part of the problem. Regardless, she is always pretty willing to help clean it up, but then it just looks like this again the next day.

She often leaves little notes like this for me:

And also will often quietly write a note to her teacher or to a friend. She is outwardly our least affectionate child- not a big hugger, but I love that she has found her own sweet way to show that she cares.

She is absolutely thrilled that David set up an email account for her (after much begging), and loves to send quick and short emails to friends and family. Obviously David and I monitor this closely, but it has been a great way for her to communicate with people she doesn't get to see often, especially since she doesn't love to talk on the phone.

The other night she had been in bed for quite a while and then David and I heard her stomping down the stairs (it is literally amazing how a 40 pound child can make so much noise coming down the steps!!!) and were frustrated before she even got into our room. It was past 9:30. On a school night.

Until we saw the huge smile she had on her face- she had come down to show us that she had finished her first Judy Moody book...



So, David snapped a quick pic, we praised her reading skills, and then told her to get to bed!! :)

She is fascinated by other countries and places and that people live their lives differently elsewhere. Often her weekly library book choice from school is non-fiction about other countries. This week she chose a book about China. One of my wishes is that David and I will be able to afford to take the kids places to witness these types of things...as much as I think reading and learning about it in school is so important, I would love also for them to see things first-hand...especially since Elise has such an interest in other cultures.

Her teacher this year has inspired her so much, and as of late she has been talking alot about how she would love to be a teacher or work for schools...we shall see how she feels later, but for now she is definitely showing signs that she would be great at that. She loves to come home from school and teach Lila and Bennett all that she learned that day, and then, as I said above, she teaches her invisible students every night.

She usually teaches me a few things every day as well.

Our Elise. Our little enigma. Currently outside catching a lizard, while wearing a skirt, of course.