a few insights about Michelle

Michelle is a good girl, with a sweet heart. She cares deeply about others. She is very kind to younger children and is thrilled when friends that are Ella's age come over. She takes them by the hand and helps them play and is very nurturing. (Here she is with our friend Jaylynn's baby):


Michelle is somewhat of a daredevil/risk taker. She learned to walk at 9 months (as did Ella), and soon after she was running and climbing on everything. She taught herself to ride a 2 wheel bike. She can go across our monkey bars by herself. She enjoys fast rides and can't wait to try out a real roller coaster with her daddy. She loves to swing and often worries me with how high she swings.

She likes to know when things are going to happen and to know what the "schedule" is for the day and the week. She is still trying to fully comprehend the concepts of time, and so she wants everything translated into days. How many days until Kodi's party? How many days until the baby is born? How many days until grandma comes to visit?

She understands a lot of Spanish, but she will rarely speak it. Sometimes when I (or others) try to say something to her in Spanish, she'll say, "Say it in real." (meaning English)

I think I have shared this on the blog before, but when Michelle was little she had the best cry. She totally trilled her r's as she cried. I've never heard any baby/toddler cry like she did. I always knew when it was my baby crying.

As I've mentioned, she loves to pose for the camera.

She loves her mommy and daddy. She is so happy that I'm home for the summer and asks often when I have to go back to work. How many more days do you get to stay home?

She knows her letters and numbers. But for some reason when counting, she always skips thirteen. :) She loves to write. She loves to be read to. She likes to play rhyming games.

She has an incredible memory. She often will remember things that happened months ago (or even years) and say, "remember when ...." I am often surprised by what triggers her memories and how far back they go.

As a baby, she was a very picky eater. It took months to get her to eat solid foods. (although she's always loved spaghetti, as you can tell from the photo above :)) She stopped nursing at about 2 months. She would arch away from me and scream. So after a week or so of that, I gave up. So I pumped and gave her breastmilk in bottles until she was about a year. And when feeding her a bottle, you had to hold her a specific way... with her head on your knees and her legs toward you. Then you'd put your hand on her cheek and hold the bottle with your other hand. I think (but I'm not sure...who knows?) that she was already so curious that nursing or being cradled close to you was too confining. She wanted to see what was going on around her. Fortunately, instead of getting pickier when she became a toddler, she has slowly become less and less picky. She still has her favorites, but she'll eat most things now.

She loves art. She likes to draw, paint, color and play with playdough. Right now, we are taking an edible art class on Tuesdays and she really looks forward to it.

I've been trying to think what her "obsessions" or extreme interests are (for Ella, it's dinosaurs and rocks) and can't really name any. She loves to be outside, to be swinging, riding or running/moving. But so far, I can't think of any subjects that she absolutely loves. I guess animals. She loves the zoo, especially the elephants. Ands she loves books about animals. But that's all that comes to mind.

She is my sweet, smart, beautiful girl. I can hardly believe she is already five!