Eleanor is three!

Eleanor turned three today! She weighs 31 pounds, 4.8 ounces (55th percentile) and is 37.5 inches (58th percentile and 56% of the way to my adult height). Every birthday and milestone seems somewhat surreal in that part of me can't believe she's been around this long and the other part can't remember what life was like without her. Eleanor still naps almost every day for about 2 hours. She counts, reliably to about 12 and unreliably to 20. She loves to cook with me, especially measuring and dumping ingredients. She also loves jumping on the bed and "taking care" of Jane.

She communicates well and absorbs everything she hears even if she gets it a little wrong...for example, she talked about her daddy's "ant convection" for days (he had an ear infection) and says phrases like "drive face" (drive safe) and "enjoy your hope!" (I think a cross between enjoy your day and hope work goes well). She also adds "-ed" to everything to form the past tense, for example, "I taked a nap!" or "I drinked all my water" or "you telled it to me."

She has tons of imaginary friends, two of which have names: "Baby" and "Kala." Baby seems to pretty much always be with us, even in lines at Water County. She also loves spending time with her real friends - we pretty much never leave the house without her asking if one of her friends is coming. Eleanor potty trained herself back in April/May. She just decided one day she wanted to start using the potty so we switched to pull ups and then when she kept herself dry for a week we switched to underwear. She loves Frozen, Alice in Wonderland, the Sandlot, Daniel Tiger, and Super Why. She's got long, straight hair and especially loves her hair done in an Elsa braid or Anna braids (french braid vs. pigtail braids). She also loves singing, putting on "shows" and reading. The Berenstain Bears are her favorite books.

The biggest thing about Eleanor though is her personality. This girl has it coming out of her ears. She goes from ecstatic to mad in seconds. She is stubborn, creative, lively, a social butterfly, and then disappears when she needs alone time. One time a random stranger came up to me and said, "you know, that girl has personality plus" and that's pretty much the best (or at least kindest) way I've heard it described. We love this girl and love watching her grow.

(The outfit she chose to wear to Busch Gardens for her birthday)