Ila's my girl. She wants Mommy over Daddy 100% of the time; therefore, she's my little sidekick!
She is helpful. Very helpful. She loves to take care of others. Even though she's younger than Eden, she is the sister that takes care of the other. When Eden is done with her homework in the evenings, Ila likes to pack everything back in Eden's backpack for her and reminds me to put a snack in it for the next day. Most of the time, I tuck Eden into bed first because Ila likes to come in there and pull Eden's covers up, turn on her ladybug nightlight, and wind up her music box for her. When Ila sees me cleaning, she asks for a wipe so she can go around wiping everything in our house down. When she sees me get out the vacuum, she runs and gets her toy vacuum and "vacuums" the rugs for me. When James starts crying, she is the first to run to him, handing him toys, his sippy cup, whatever she can think of that might make him stop. And when I'm walking to the changing table to change his diaper, she runs ahead of me and gets a new diaper and the wipes out and has everything ready for me when I walk into the room.
She's girly. She loves pink. Pink, pink, pink! She loves sparkles and glitter. She loves rainbows and unicorns. She loves shoes. She loves Pinkalicious books. She loves Daniel Tiger and Goldie and Bear on TV. And she loves... SPIDER-MAN! Obsessed, actually!
She's hilarious. Without trying to be. She's just got a funny little personality!
She's shy. She doesn't like strangers. She hides behind me when people she doesn't know try to talk to her. Unfortunately for her, people have always come up to her more than my other two. I think for two reasons:
1. her hair
She has the prettiest, thickest, waviest, shiniest, gold hair. Like Goldilocks. And when she was younger, it was even curlier. And strangers constantly come up to her to tell her they love her hair, and sometimes they even try to touch it. Poor Ila, she hates to be touched! (More on that in a minute!)
2. her glasses
What can I say? Kids with glasses are freaking adorable!
Unlike her big sister, who just loves freely, you have to EARN Ila's love. But when you do... man oh man, it's so special! She might be shy and reserved at first, but once you have her love and trust, she is wild and crazy and funny and will talk your ear off!
She doesn't like to be touched unless it's on HER terms. Even with us, her family. Do not touch her hair, pick her up, or hug her. The girl likes her personal space! She will freak out when Eden tries to hug her or if Dustin walks by and rubs the top of her head. But then when SHE wants to, she will curl up to us on the couch when watching TV or insist on hugs and kisses before she leaves for school in the mornings. She calls the shots! (And I am perfectly fine letting her call the shots when it comes to this. It's her body!)
Here at our house, she's the wild one! Full of SO MUCH energy! Constantly bouncing of the walls. Running circles through the house. She runs up, punches us in the leg, shouts, "TAG! YOU'RE IT!", and runs off. She's the one who wears me out and has me counting down the minutes to bedtime. But I wouldn't change a thing about her!
She can be stubborn and difficult at times, but she has a heart of gold. She's sweet as pie, but I've seen her stand up for herself when she needs to on the playground or when the "big kids" aren't including her.
My favorite thing about her? Her feistiness! The girl has some sass! And that's actually the nickname we've given her for James to call her - SASSY!
So she turned four in October, and we had a week-long celebration.
Celebration #1: Her birthday fell on a Wednesday. On the Sunday before, Dustin's parents came over for a birthday dinner. I took her to HEB that morning and let her pick out a boxed cake mix, frosting, and sprinkles. We came home, and I let her do all the important jobs, like pour everything into the mixing bowl and sprinkle all the sprinkles! She requested pork chops for dinner, we played outside, she opened presents, and we ate her adorable cupcakes!
Celebration #2: We had a super fun morning on her actual birthday. I love decorating after they go to sleep the night before so that they can wake up to surprises!
the start of her James Avery charm bracelet!
Her birthday fell on a good day at school. It was Western Day! The kids got to go on a hay ride, barrel train, and play games. We sent her off that morning with pink cookies to share with her class (Celebration #3), and she was SO HAPPY AND EXCITED! (After I picked her up, she informed me that Mason from her class did NOT eat his birthday cookie during snack time. She was not happy about it. I got so dang tickled by that. Also, it sounds exactly like something I would say.)
Celebration #4: Her birthday was also the first day of the Austin County Fair, so after school, the five of us headed there. While we waited for the carnival to open, we stuffed ourselves with curly fries, corn, corndogs, ice cream, and lemonade. We walked around looking at animals. And then we rode rides, rode rides, rode rides until Eden and Ila were practically asleep on their feet! IT WAS SUCH A FUN DAY!
We were very excited that she got a pink car with a 4 on it!
Celebration #5: On the Friday after her birthday, she had her four year check-up at her pediatrician in Katy. So my mom tagged along, we picked up my Grandma Jan from her house, and after the appointment, we had lunch at The Rainforest Cafe (Ila's favorite), and my grandma took her to a bookstore so she could pick out a book for her birthday present!
Celebration #6: On Saturday, we had another birthday dinner for Ila, at a Mexican restaurant, this time with my mom and Mark.
Celebration #7: And finally, on that Sunday, we had a get-together at my Pops and Granny's with my dad and step-mom, brother and sis-in-law, aunt, uncle, cousins, and our closest friends. My friend, Kim, made her a Spider-Man cake, Dustin made tacos, and all the little cousins ran around playing and picking pecans from the big ol' pecan tree. And she received lots of Spider-Man presents!
Ila apparently didn't like Eden's "cha, cha, cha", so she let her have it!
Oh, I love her so!
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