No D... all about E!

Something occurred to me the other day. Although this blog is about a certain-disease that-will-not-be-mentioned-today, it's about Elise's certain-disease that-will-not-be-mentioned-today, and I don't think she gets much of the spotlight on here; the disease does. So today's post is going to be all about her, and just how incredible she is.

There are days when I look at her and think, "really? She's only four?" This child is 4 going on 14, going on 40.

Elise, from very early on, has always had a very delicate, empathetic soul. At the age of about a year, I started noticing how much she cared for others who are hurting. If we were out at a store, and she could hear a baby crying, she would look at me; her eyes all big and she would stick out her bottom lip and say, "awwww." When she learned to talk she would add, "bebe sad." If she could see the baby, she would reach out and say, "is okay bebe. No be sad. Is okay".

The other day, I was having a particularly bad moment, and Elise came up to me, hugged my leg and said something very profound, for a four year old:

"I know it's hard Momma. Poppa is gone (he was travelling) and you are all by yourself. It's hard work. I know. But you'll be okay. I just love ya (she always says ya, not you) so much."

What 4 year old says that?

She also has a wicked sense of humour, and loves to make us laugh. I remember when she was 2, she took a plastic red toy bin, stuck it on her head and sang, "little red capuz (pronounced ca-poosh - it means hood in Portguese) on my head" to the tune of "Little Red Caboose".

It's funny for a couple of reasons; who doesn't love to watch a toddler drunkenly stagger about with an over-sized bin on their noggin? And it was some pretty good word play... for a two year old.

And I'll never forget the time we were at Target (she was about 2 1/2 at the time), and we passed by the bra rack. She grabbed a bright pink bra, put it on and started to walk down the aisle yelling, "I need a bra for my boobies!"

Pure comedic genius, my friends.

(if you want to read more of the funny things that come out of Elise's mouth, I have a whole bunch of them posted on my other blog here.)

Elise has a huge imagination and loves to play make believe. Some days we're having tea with a Giganotosaurus (her favourite dinosaur), or we're princesses riding our unicorns to the ball. We've travelled to Australia, Mt. Everest, China, the arctic and even the moon.

She loves ballet and tap dancing, ice skating and gymnastics. These days she's been bugging me to put her on a soccer team. My dream is to put some hockey skates on her and let the Canadian in her have some fun. I love that she wants to be active.

Elise has been the best big sister Mattias could ever want; from day one, she has adored him, and he loves her just as much. Nobody can make Mattias laugh like she can. She is patient, gentle and loving with him, and a huge help to me.


Life with Elise is fun; she is a sweet, kind, amazing little girl. Did I mention that she's even bilingual? My husband only speaks Portuguese to her (and Mattias), and when we went to Portugal, she was able to speak with all her relatives.

I am so proud of her and all she has done in her life so far. She's incredible and I am blessed to be her Mom.