Elizabeth at 5

Elizabeth is 5 year old! Here is a picture of her waiting for preschool to start on her 5th birthday. It was also the day of the Valentine's party. 

Here are a few things about Elizabeth at age 5. 

She's about 36 pounds. Not quite big enough to sit in a booster seat in the car yet. She gains weight pretty slowly. 

She usually sleeps about 10 1/2 or so hours at night. I put her to bed around 8-8:30 and she "reads" in bed until around 9. She enjoys listening to audio books. She's still not keeping a dry pullup at night. We're not quite sure what to do about that! 

She wakes up between 7:30 and 8. We get Nathan off on the bus at 8:15. She then eats her breakfast and watches a little TV while I get ready for the day. The rest of the morning we run errands together or play games. The last week or so we've been able to go outside. Finally! It seems right around her birthday is when "spring" starts. 

Her favorite toys to play with are princess and castle sets and My Little Pony.  She does very well playing by herself. I can hear her humming and singing and her toys like to talk. She talks a lot! I can always hear her using her little imagination. 

She's also a big fan of stuffed animals. She loves stuffed kitties! She sleeps every night with a stuffed animal stuffed into the front of her pajamas. 

She loves to play with Nathan. She says he is her BBBFF. (Big Brother Best Friend Forever). She learned this acronym from My Little Pony. They still fight but are much better at playing imaginative games together. They can have fun playing games inside or outside or just running around in the living room in their underwear listening to Disney songs on Pandora. 

She loves to play dress up games. She likes wearing princess dresses and cat costumes. She loves to have her nails painted. 

She's very curious about how things work. She will "explain" how things work. For example, she will tell me how the wheels on her bike move with all the chains. Or she likes to take apart her toys and put them back together. 

She loves preschool! She goes 4 days a week from 12-2:30. It's just the right amount of time. She's always happy when she comes home, but then likes to kind of decompress and will just play her own game until Nathan gets home. Then, she's ready to play again! 

In the evening, the kids play while I make dinner( Jeremy is usually at work). After dinner, they like to run around and play. I can't wait until it's light out so they can run around outside! 

She's getting very good at writing her name and most of her letters. She knows all her numbers and colors. Her preschool teachers say she is doing great both socially and academically! She'll come home every day from preschool and tell me about the little girls she played with that day. She says she is friends with most of the girls but never plays with the boys because they sometimes push her. She mentions the girls Ali, Hannah, DeAnna, and Raini a lot. 

We register her for kindergarten next month! I can't believe my baby will be going to school next year. Our school district has decided to go to all day kindergarten next year so she will really be leaving and I'm sad about that. We were expecting half day kindergarten so I'm giving her up sooner than we planned. 

Elizabeth goes to her gymnastics class once a week on the "Tumblebus."  She LOVES the Tumblebus. Her coach says she does an incredible headstand for someone her age! We believe it! 

Her allergies and eczema remain a challenge. The eczema is really, really hard to deal with. We have tried every ointment, lotion and steroid cream in the world over the last 5 years. She still just scratches her hands until they bleed. It is very frustrating. We try gloves but the minute they come off, she's scratching. Everyone notices her hands and I feel like a horrible mother, but am not sure what to do. 

We had a full blood test done this year to test for allergies. Her food allergies are peanuts, sunflower seeds, and hazelnuts. She's getting good about carrying her little pack with her epi-pens!

Her environmental allergies are extensive. My guess is they are fueling the eczema since we've tested for the foods and can't seem to find another that is causing the problem. She's allergic to grass, cottonwood, birch, ragweed, russian thistle, sagebrush, dust, cats, and dogs. I'm sure they could test for more too, and would likely find more! 

Elizabeth is such a good girl. She's just a joy to be around and I have so much fun with her! She's also just darn cute! She's such a good friend at preschool. She's so good at sharing and taking turns and making other people feel better. She's very loving to her family.