It took me three years to write about Graham at two years old, it's only taken me three months to write about Nellie. That's progress, right?
*Nellie has no shortage of love or attention. As the baby of the family, she's plenty spoiled by her older siblings. There's always someone around to play with her, read to her, or join her in mischief. Graham is her primary playmate, but the rest take regular rotations.
*Though two years have passed since Nellie's birth, Aubree's enthusiasm for having a sister hasn't waned at all. When Aubree comes home from co-op, she makes a beeline for Nell. She also uses Nellie as her main excuse for trying to get out, of or delay doing, her work, "But I'm playing with Nellie!" Aubree's also taught Nellie to answer the question, "Who's the cutest?" with an exuberant, "Me!"
*Nellie hasn't gotten her own version of a punk song yet, but we regularly sing to her, "Who's the cutest of them all that's made for you and me? N-E-L L-I-E, Nellie, Nellie Beth. Nellie Beth. Nellie's Best. Forever let us hold our baby high, high, high, HIGH!"
*Nellie speaks very well. Probably her language skills fall in the average range, but since her three brothers were all slightly to significantly delayed, it feels like worlds of difference. Occasionally she's hard to understand, but most of the time she speaks in pretty clear, complete sentences. And she has no shortage of things to say! Nellie is quite the reigning queen. She knows what she wants, when she wants it.
*One of her favorite words right now is "Yes!" I LOVE when my kids go through their "yes" stage. Nellie especially likes to say yes very clearly and deliberately, typically accompanied with a huge smile.
*Nellie loves to sit in her high chair. Possibly that's because she loves to eat. If I try to take her out of her chair before she's ready, she refuses and holds the tray down to make it clear she wants us to get her more to eat. She especially enjoys cheese, guacamole, Kix cereal, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
*Nellie loves to sit in her high chair. Possibly that's because she loves to eat. If I try to take her out of her chair before she's ready, she refuses and holds the tray down to make it clear she wants us to get her more to eat. She especially enjoys cheese, guacamole, Kix cereal, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
*I think Nellie might end up quite tall. She's significantly bigger than Aubree was at the same age and is possibly my heaviest two year old at over 29 pounds.
*When Nellie was younger, she only liked people from a distance. She refused to let other people hold her. When people got too close, or when she was nervous or unsure about a situation, she would hold both hands out from her body at a 90 degree angle.
Around 20 months old, she started randomly deciding she didn't mind some people holding her. I think it started with her Aunt Katie, but then generalized a bit. I recall being quite shocked a few times when she walked up to a friend or neighbor, put her hands up to be held, and then refused to be put down. These days, she's lost most of her social anxiety and has become quite the little social butterfly.
*Her favorite social outing is nursery. Sometimes I can't keep up with her when Sacrament meeting ends because she's rushing out to her class.
*I'm afraid Nellie might have gotten a bad reputation when it comes to her sleeping habits. It's true that when we're out and about, or on vacation, she has definitely earned the nickname "No Nap Nellie," but when we're home, she's actually quite a good little sleeper. Occasionally she'll fuss a little about going to bed, but more often she will run up to her crib laughing (especially for naps). She's decided recently that she has strong opinions about the blankets she wants to use. She'll prefer one blanket for a few days, then switch her allegiance to a new blanket.
*At bedtime, Nellie's had a few different routine preferences. For a while, she demanded that I sing "I Am A Child of God" to her (that's not a song I was in the habit of singing to her, so maybe she picked it up at nursery). More recently, she started asking for "a story." Sometimes I tell her stories about a little girl named Nellie. Sometimes I tell her nursery rhymes. In the last few days, she's specifically asked for "A story about Cade." Cade is a boy in her nursery class at church. The only problem with these songs, stories, and rhymes is that she never wants them to end.
*Our biggest sleep issue currently is probably Mondays when the trash trucks come. Nellie is terrified of the trash trucks. The first usually comes early enough to wake her up in the morning. The second usually comes while she's taking her afternoon nap. In both instances, she typically wakes up screaming hysterically. Bryce has taken the lead trying to help her. He'll be the first in the room to get her up, and has patiently opened the blinds each time so she can watch the trucks pick up the waste. She still wakes up terrified, but has gotten better about not remaining hysterical.
*On her own terms, Nellie is a cuddler. For a while, she would crawl into bed with me in the mornings, what her her arms around my face and whisper, "Mommy, my mommy!" She also wanted me to hold her hand when I put her to bed, or whenever she was cuddling in my bed or on the couch. When she gets tired, she likes to tuck herself into a cozy spot on my lap, and she's not shy about trying to push away anyone else who might be sitting there first. One of her favorite ways to get close it to try to lay right on my head. That's somewhat less enjoyable.
*Nell loves books, which is good since she lives in a bibliophile household. Sandra Boynton books are her favorites, and she thinks "Red Hat, Green Hat" is hilarious. She does not like when I read chapter books aloud to her brothers. She will go get her own books and try to shimmy herself in between me and the book I'm trying to read.
*She loves to draw and write, especially on her siblings' school work and drawings. When we are at the table doing school work, she will occasionally play on her own, but more often she wants to be sitting on my lap drawing or telling me what to draw (butterflies, elephants, tigers, Dad, and Elmo are her most common requests. Thankfully she does not have high standards when it comes to artistic talent.).
*Nellie also loves to sing and laugh. Her laugh is high, hearty, and generous. She loves to ask, "Is that funny?" or proclaim, "that's funny!" She has a broad repertoire of songs. She's learning Graham's Let's Play Music songs right along with him, and I'm not sure which of them is better at staying on key.
*When you ask Nellie to sing or show off a trick to an audience, she will fix you with a glare as if to say, "I am NOT a performing monkey!" We even have to be sneaky if we want to catch her skills on camera.
*For a few weeks, Nellie and Graham got in the habit of carrying around silverware all. the. time. I mean, you never know when you might come across an unexpected meal, right?
*Another of Nellie's favorite activities is watching "Loading Photos" on the computer. We set the computer's "sleep" screen saver to run through a slideshow of our pictures, and before it begins it warns "loading photos." Whenever Nellie sees that, she gets super excited and runs over to claim her seat in front of the screen. She loves seeing photos of herself and her loved ones.
*She also loves seeing herself on Facetime and Marco Polo and is definitely a screen hog. If we try to turn the camera to one of her siblings, she'll grab my hand and try to turn it back so that she is front and center. Since we've started using Marco Polo, she often cries, "I want to see Jordyn!" so we will leave a message for her cousin-friend and eagerly await her response.
*Nellie likes to "hep" around the house. One of her favorite chores is helping fold the laundry. Whatever article of clothing we hold up, Nellie can correctly identify the owner 95% of the time. It's really quite impressive. Sometimes when I'm not sure, I just ask her.
*Nellie adores babies. When she starts to struggle in Sacrament Meeting, one of my tricks is to whisper, "Nellie, can you find a baby?" Immediately she'll stop fussing and start looking around intently until she finds a baby to watch. If we ever have a baby friend over, Nellie follows them around and thinks everything they do is funny.
*Nellie also loves to sing and laugh. Her laugh is high, hearty, and generous. She loves to ask, "Is that funny?" or proclaim, "that's funny!" She has a broad repertoire of songs. She's learning Graham's Let's Play Music songs right along with him, and I'm not sure which of them is better at staying on key.
*Unfortunately, as the fifth child, she ends up spending a lot of time in her carseat. For the most part, she's a pretty good sport, but when she hits her limit, she sheds her socks and shoes, pulls out her hair ties, and starts kicking any sibling she can reach.
*For Christmas many years ago, my mom gave me dresses that she'd made for me when I was a little girl. I've been anxiously awaiting the time when Nellie could wear them.When Nell was 20 months old, she wore the dress I wore when I was four. I think she wore it better.
*Nellie is totally unaware that she's smaller than her siblings, and she certainly thinks she's just as capable. We had a primary program in September. Nellie came with me to the practice and inserted herself in the Sunbeam class. She did her best to sing along to each song, and occasionally walked herself up to the podium waiting for her turn to speak. The Sunday of the actual performance, she was not a happy camper when all four of her siblings went up to the stands and she was left behind. She yelled, "I want to go UP!"
*Nellie loves water in all shapes and forms. She loves baths and showers. She loves swimming. She loves watching swimmers and divers. She loves playing in the water and she loves rivers, lakes, and streams.
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