She's Got Spirit

{lindsay skeans photography}

Eloise is a special child. She is ridiculously adorable and sweet, fun to be around and usually well behaved. She is also what I would call quite spirited. She has lots of energy, is demanding, dramatic (the whining!) and persistent. She doesn't like to sit still, which I can relate to. None of this is necessarily a bad thing, it just leaves Chris and I (oh, and you Mom & Dad) fairly exhausted by the time she is finally in bed at night.

In the past few weeks Eloise has been listening less and whining more. Her lack of listening is not only the cause of frustration at home but potentially dangerous when we are out. Sometimes Eloise's problem with listening comes from being completely entranced in whatever is going on in her head. She goes off into her own world and we can repeatedly talk to her and get no where; whatever is happening in her imagination is far more interesting than our boring questions and instructions. With all of Eloise's whining and lack of listening my new house rules are: Rule #1, no whining, Rule #2, listen.

Dinner and bedtime are when Eloise really turns on the spirit and turns off the listening. Often there is no listening of any sort, the only way we can get her to sit through a meal is by reading. As soon as Eloise is bored with sitting down she is up, running around the kitchen and down the hallway, making us 'snacks' at her play kitchen, cuddling under the table with Granby, insisting to check in on Spencer, basically anything that is not eating dinner. When it's time to get into bed she jumps on her bed as we try to get into pajamas and insists on a new set if, god forbid, we get a drop of water on her pants while brushing teeth. She whines, cries and as soon as we get into bed after a series of stall tactics she falls fast asleep.

When people ask me about Eloise's personality I usually say it's kind of like her hair - bouncy, beautiful, and a little crazy. She has a spirit about her that is uncontainable and this is part of what makes her so special. It makes me a little crazy, but it is definitely special.