Sweet Iyla Grace, today you are SIX years old!!
At 6 years old, you have such an intrinsically deep JOY inside you that emanates wherever you go, be it the dentist, the hair salon, the doctor, school, out to eat, etc. You delight in new experiences and bring smiles to all around you. I never realized how smiley you truly were until your sister joined the family- and it is HARD to get that one to smile for photos! ; )
People often comment that you are a mini-me, and it's true- especially the way our eyes smile! You share the unique trait I have of having had blue eyes until almost 4 years old, when they slowly turned green. You are petite like me, though you have your Papa's LOOOOONG legs! Your eyelashes are also incredible- so long, dark, & thick.
Legs for days!
You tend to go through phases with hair and clothes that last about 2-3 months before a sudden change. For most of the last year you were really into wearing socks, then one day about a month ago they all just didn't seem to fit you right (it was a mixture of your feet growing + you getting more sensitive to the seams!) SO: socks were officially OUT!
Every night before bed you lay out your outfit for the next day, and it's the cutest thing:
Here's a parade of outfit choices from the past several months, all hand picked nightly by you:
For the photo below I asked you to smile for the camera, to which you gave me the following 'fake' smile:
I then asked you to smile for real and got this: ha!
You used to be good about letting me do different hair-dos on you, then one day decided you liked your hair just DOWN, thank you very much. For awhile we had a compromise where either I got to do your hair, you had to wear a hairband, OR you would have to get your hair cut (it was always in your face and getting long!)
And so it was that last week we did your 3rd official CHOP of about 6 inches, into a cute little chin length bob:
You have strong opinions and a definite mind of your own, yet are still an extremely good listener and rule-follower with teachers, authority, etc. You are at an age now where we talk about compromise a LOT when Papa and I don't agree with something you want.
For example, one tug of war we consistently have revolves around evening snacks. Pretty much every.single.night you are hungry right before bed, and get really mad if you can't have exactly what you want (like a HUGE bowl of crackers or a sugary treat).
Another battle ground is the state of your room, which is typically a flurry of stuffed animals and discarded outfits from morning fashion dilemmas. Mostly I let it go, but every once in awhile I have to do some deep cleaning/straightening in there!
You are loving kindergarten and are happy every morning to head out to school. Your teacher is Ms. Anne, and you have 18 new little friends in your classroom. You go to a really cool Fine Arts Academy, where you have weekly ballet & theater classes in addition to many other amazing programs unique to your school.
Here are a few shots of you in action at school when I volunteered for pumpkin carving day:
I also got to join you for a birthday lunch today!
You adore your weekly swim and theater classes, as well as the the ballet class you take at your school.
Theater class carpool crew
You are generally a really healthy kid; however, you did get a virus this fall that saw you missing 3 days of school. Whenever you get a fever, your little face breaks out in a rash- a clear sign that your body is fighting something!
At home you can be found drawing, reading books, or playing with stuffed or plastic animals. You've yet to ever really get into baby dolls; animals are always your preferred playmates! You love cats and pretty vocally don't like dogs. You'll say your favorite animal is a cat, cheetah, or jaguar, and indeed you LOVE all members of the cat family!
Your current favorite color is yellow, though you'll tell me you also love pink, red, and purple.
Your current favorite outfit is a short sleeve unicorn shirt usually paired with unicorn printed pants and occasionally a pink skirt.
You wear gray crocs almost every day, though are now rocking a cute new pair of gray boots we got for family photos.
You love having me make you "lunchie" plates to eat, which have a variety of your favorite snacks. These include carrots, apples, grapes, oranges, strawberries, olives, pretzels, gold bunnies, & crackers. You also still love veggies like green beans, asparagus, and broccoli! It's VERY hard to convince you to try new foods; you are definitely set in your ways as far as what you like to eat.
For 6 months around summertime you wanted to sleep in our room next to our bed due to feeling scared in your room. Papa started working with you on "Courageous Points" toward trying to sleep in your own room again. Then shortly after kindergarten began you bravely made the transition back to your own room!
Your bedtime routine is a bath (if it's a bath night) then a story in our bed before you head to your room. You like to draw and read in there until you get sleepy. Then you turn on your own sound machine, turn out the lights, and fall asleep in the 7:30-8:30 window. You have to wake up earrrrly for school, but on weekends tend to sleep until around 7-7:30.
The best part of when you were sleeping in our room was getting to watch your sweet sleeping face! The absolute cutest. : )
You are such a sweet big sister, and don't have a violent bone in your body. Eloise is a very strong, physical little one and often overpowers you by yelling, sitting on you, or hitting. You two have the sibling love/hate thing going on in a minute to minute basis, but your hearts are definitely connected and you have a strong bond and love for one another.
There is a tree in our front yard that you LOVE to climb. You'll climb up and pretend you are a wild animal of some kind, typically a big cat. Eloise is following suit and getting pretty good with her climbing too!
You love to draw and make up stories:
You also love helping me bake chocolate chip cookies!
You have some pretty awesome expressions:
We had your birthday party over the weekend, complete with stuffed kitty adoptions and a petting zoo with pony rides. You had so much fun with all your friends and family:
Here are a few more shots from the past several months:
We love you so much sweet Iyla Gracie! Happy 6 years to YOU!
