Me: Elle you always wait to want to go to the bathroom when we’re on the opposite side of the store! *Elle stays quiet because she sees I’m angry* Elle: When I’m a Mamam, and you’re 3, I’m going to get mad at you. Me: Excuse me? Elle: When I’m a Mamam, and you’re 3, I’m going to get mad at you. Me: Why would you say that? That hurts my feelings. Elle: I’m sorry Mamam. I won’t be mad at you. Me: That hurt my feeling that you would be mad at me. *Waits for it…* Elle: Wellllll, you were mad at me… —————————————————— *After she woke up* *Seeing that I was on my iPhone* Elle: Ok. I’ll be Mamam, and you’ll be Elleonai. Me: Ok. Mamam, I love you. Elle: I love you, Elleonai. How was your sleep? Me: I had a good sleep. What do you want to do today, Mamam? Elle: I want my iPhone.  (this girl really thinks ahead and manipulates the situation. Well played, Elleonai.)

Happy birthday to our beloved Elleonai, who turns 3 today. She is filled with amazing surprises, esp. With her adamant nature of conquering challenges of independence so she could show us that she could be just like her older sisters. Everywhere we go, strangers come up to me to ask how old she is because she’s usually very very garrulous and loud, so her conversations are not normally what 2 year olds say, mainly also because she is so influenced by the older ones. Some of my favorites is when she says, “it’s kinda like”, “I’ll do it myself” and “seriously” or “don’t judge me, I’m a fox today” and when she starts out a conversation with “actually”. If you sit down and talk with her, chances are you’d laugh over her sense of humor. I’m telling you now that I feel she’s gonna be the funniest of the three. She also has a deep love for music and singing, catching lyrics & learning songs very quickly and even controlling what we listen to during our car rides. She really enjoys singing in public, on stage, in Target, on the toilet… She is definitely a different force from her sisters, […]

An hour ride going home…   Me: I have a surprise for you guys. Since you’ve been asking me to introduce new songs from when I was a kid.   *puts on Disney’s Children’s Songs Radio* *after a few songs, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” comes on*   Elle: SIGHHHHHHH Me: What’s wrong? You don’t like this song? Elle: SIGHHHH Noooooooo.   *fast forward to next song* *next song is Shoo Fly*   Elle: I hate this… Me: Really? Honestly, Elleonai, you have to listen to other songs other than ones written by Taylor Swift.   #my2yearold

Last night, during bedtime, Elle took my hands and said, “let’s pray for Ate.”  Heart quickly melting, I waited to hear what she would pray. It went like this: “Jesus, please take care of Ate in school. I go to school when I’m 4 or 5. I’m going to have a birthday. All my friends are coming. Lord. Amen.” I LOVE learning what is in that 2 year old brain of hers. Often times, I’m surprised, impressed.  Then there is all the things I learn about what is in that 2 year old heart of hers, and I’m moved beyond words. She can be a very opinionated little 2 year old, knowing exactly how she feels and verbalizing it accurately, but she can also show how complicated her little heart is, loving those that have been showing her love.  

I should update on my little nut, Elle. I guess after her first year, the milestones have become expected, so I haven’t been as excited writing about them.  I mean, having had two kids before her, it seems redundant, but I know many years down the road, she’ll click on her link and want to read how much I love her, how proud I am of her, how impressed, how tickled, how bewildered, how blessed my life is because of her. So, it’s no surprise that her language has surpassed all her sisters’ milestones, having started to talk in phrases at 1.5 years, so by around 2, she started speaking in sentences.  But now, the sentences have turned into conversations, dialogues, interviews, hilarious thoughts, fights, monologues, complaints.  She speaks like a 3-4 year old, with the most impressive sense of humor, sarcasm, and even wit.  She will conjure up something smart to say just to get out of doing something. For example, last weekend, her lola wanted her to change out of her church clothes.  She has a penchant for dresses so she told her lola, “that used to my my shirt when I was smaller. It doesn’t fit me […]