Elaina and "25"

Even at 3 1/2, Elaina gets her very own list of "25 Random Things"

1. Up to this point, Elaina hasn't really latched on to any certain type of toy or themed-type of toy. One thing that has been unwavering since she was very young is her love of books and reading stories.

2. Elaina sometimes pretends to be someone else and the pseudo name she has begun using is "Carasell RockStar" or just simply "Carasell." Ever heard of her?

3. She is a pretty scheduled kinda girl. For nearly the past 2 years, her bedtime has been right around 8:00 - 8:30 and she is generally awake by 7:00 a.m.

4. In the world of 3 year-olds, she thinks that her joke telling is superb.

5. She has an incredible vocabulary and imagination.

6. Elaina can't wait to begin school. She will be starting pre-school in the fall but in the meantime, we've been telling her that she needs to begin eating new foods like the kids that go to school do.

7. When her hair is long and straight, it hangs right at her waist. Pretty impressive for a 3 year old. She's usually pretty patient with having me brush and put her hair up except for the occasional moments when she is especially "fragile" and "tender."

8. Her current favorite movie is Cars. It has finally won out over Land Before Time and Lion King.

9. When she was just a year old, her Uncle Tim and Aunt Teri had bought her a warming teddy bear (similar to this one) for Christmas. He came with the name "Buddy Bear," but in time Elaina renamed him to "Teddy." She never plays with Teddy but she always requests him at bedtime.

10. She continues to be a horribly picky eater. Her current menu consist of only about 10 items.

11. Some of Elaina's nicknames include: "LuluBelle, LuLee, Laina, Bootie, Sweetsie, Love, Angel and Baby Girl."

12. Within the past few months, Elaina has become proficient at playing games on the computer. She has mostly figured how to play them on her own. For not knowing how to read, she navigates her way around pretty impressively.

13. She can now spell her own name. She knows her address and phone number too.

14. Elaina has the best sense of humor of any 3 year old I know.

15. She loves her little brother to pieces. In fact, there has never been a time that she was less than accepting of this new little yell-machine that we introduced into our home. It was like she was meant to be a big sister.

16. Though I'm not sure to what extent she knows about angels, she knows that her sisters, Ella and Ava, are angels in heaven. She will sometimes ask to see Ava's plaster hand and foot prints and seems unusually mature about the significance of them.

17. Elaina is tender.

18. Right now, we both share the same shoe size. Size 9.

19. She is just as much a Mommy's Girl as she is a Daddy's Girl. However, sometimes our popularity depends upon the hour.

20. She knows her alphabet, she can count numbers alternately to the number 100. She can identify shapes and colors too.

21. I think that she is working on a singing career. She has recently started making up her own words to songs and tries so hard to learn the words to the songs she hears on Noggin and on our CD's.

22. She is nothing short of a miracle in our lives.

23. God knew exactly what he was doing when he created her life. Her life was meant for us and ours for her.

24. Elaina will probably never know what a strong and fierce love that we have for her. No one could ever love her more.

25. Elaina is all of my love in a sweet, little package.