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| Little beauty Elise at almost five-years-old |
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| Having fun on the swing |
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| Sisters bonding...and smiles |
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| Sister hugs are the absolute best |
Elise will be turning five-years-old in just a few days! I still can't believe how much she's learned and matured in these five short years. I took some photos this past weekend and stopped in my tracks when looking back through them on the computer. I no longer see a little girl and instead a sweet young lady, who is yearning to grow up and dress her prettiest at all times. I have to admit, that I got teary eyed seeing how beautiful she looked in these photos. She is still very much a child and has those adorable childlike qualities, but we are also slowly seeing aspects of her maturity and growth. Aside from being very tall for her age, she now has what I like to call the "grown-up voice", she talks in complex sentences and now tells stories dispersing the occasional colloquialisms throughout (for some reason this makes me feel as if she is five going on fifteen). She also makes very intelligent inferences from the things we say, and spelling things out won't always get past her anymore.
Our girl can read all by herself now and she only needs help with big words. I hope Kindergarten will be challenging enough, because she has aced every single one of those simple 1-4 letter site words. She is so inquisitive about the world and how things work; she's a definite thinker. She is still a little ball of emotion though! I will say that she has come a very long way from the tantrum laden days of past, but she is still quite emotionally driven and strives for perfection and order (according to her interpretation). All this said, I see a very sweet and very determined young lady at the core of it all. I am so proud of her for all the things she has accomplished in these last five years. She is setting a great example for little Alina to follow, and she is even helping teach her how to read small words. I am so grateful for both of our sweet girls, and for the very special bond that they share.
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| Sharing secrets |
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| Serious look, but I love it as I see a glimpse of her baby face |
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| All smiles, she brings so much joy to our lives |
