Ellie is our youngest daughter. Her name is based on an old French name meaning “battle maiden,” and it fits her perfectly. She is fearless, kind, full of joy, determined, meticulous, and larger than life. We are just beginning to know the details of her character as she learns to speak, but she expresses herself perfectly without words.
She is fearless, and when she is afraid she pushes back fiercely. Once a whole kindergarten class racing boisterously down the hall towards us at her brother’s school startled her. She set her back against her mommy, put her hands up in front of her, and growled. During intense parts in movies, she puts her hands up in front of her, palms out, and yells at the TV. She doesn’t cower; she is completely oblivious to how small she is.
She is gentle and sweet with children younger than herself, but refuses to back down to older children who try to take toys away from her. When a bigger child tries to take something from her, she ignores them and walks away, often dragging them along behind her.
She stands up and dances when she eats food she likes, and giggles at everyone at the table. She is a clown. She sticks her tongue out whenever we ask her to pose for a picture. She loves giving tight hugs when she is picked up.
She is a determined climber. We find her almost daily standing precariously on a tall piece of furniture, reaching for food or candy we tried to stash away from the kids. If she knows where something is hidden, she will not stop trying to reach it until we move it again.
She is meticulous. She tries to leave things as she finds them, and there is a right way to do everything. When she opens a door, she always closes it. She loves to find cellphones and return them to their owners. If she has decided that a pillow should be in a certain place on the bed, she won’t sleep until she has put it back in it’s place. When she rights this irregularity, she sits back with an immensely smug and contented look and pulls the blankets up to her chin.
We are so blessed to have her as part of our family, and already we can’t remember what it was like before she was born. She is learning to talk and we feel like we are getting to know her better every day as she learns to express herself. We treasure these moments with her as a little girl because we know how quickly she will grow up into a young woman.
