Nellie at five-and-a-half

I would like to report all of Nellie's favorite things here, but like Kevin, she doesn't have favorites on principle. So, all the colors are her favorite, all the kids in her class are her friends (don't you love kindergarteners?) She has been on a Garfield kick lately, and she loves playing games on the iPad. She likes meat and veggies more than dessert, though lately she'll eat anything in sight. She's a really good big sister to DJ, and she's excited to be a big cousin times two in the next few months!

Nellie is, as I like to say, a complicated kid. She has her anxieties and "sensitivities," and is generally unpredictable. We have rituals and rules about what clothes can be worn and when. Last year at this time, we engaged in endless battles about getting dressed--I'm sure about other things, too, but getting dressed was the big one. But a lot of those things have more or less gotten smoothed out. Nellie has boundless energy, but emotionally is more even-keeled. She's also terribly silly, with her dad's (and his dad's, and his dad's) wry sense of humor. Her curiosity is limitless. There is no end, it seems, to the things she wonders about. And she thinks very, very deeply about things.

I had a lazy moment yesterday when I remembered how Nellie used to need to sleep with not one pacy (she called it a nani because it sounded like "night night"), but two. She would suck on one and hold the other in her hand. Very practical, really. Also really annoying because of how quickly those things can disappear. And now - she can read! And write! She reads everything she sees, and lives to write letters (and facebook messages) to friends and family. Nellie is tall, and looks more grown-up every day. She wants to be called Penelope. And...where did the time go, anyway?

A few fun Nellie quotes:

So Daddy, you know a lot of things about nature. How do baby horses get born, anyway?
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N: Mommy, do you have another baby in your tummy?
Me: No.
N: Well then [patting my stomach], why is your tummy so huge?
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In response to my question, "what was the best part of your day?" at the dinner table, Kevin tried to get the girls to respond, "eyeball." Yes, that's how dinner goes at our house. This turned into a round of charades, with Kevin acting out throwing a football.

Nellie, guessing: I...I...I throw? I...toss? I...Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! I know! I throw food at a harp player!
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Nellie wrote a letter to her future self the other day. It reads, "Hi I love being 5 and 10. Wut grad r me in 5 grad? Yourslf Nellie." That is, "Hi, I love being 5, and 10. What grade am I in? 5th grade? Yourself, Nellie."
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Here's a picture of Nellie's new look! Does it suit her, or what? She wanted to look like Kit (the American Girl).