Erilyn Lately...

This sweet little girl makes people smile wherever she goes. It is a beautiful gift. I think children in general have the ability to remind people of the joy of life, but she is especially, and noticeably talented at it. Just as Daddy blessed her to be...she is a joy to our family!

Her favorite two sentences right now are, "Yeah, sure.", and "Okay...a minute!" Which are responses to nearly any question you can think of. "Erilyn, will you put Anthon's shoes in the cubby?" "Yeah, sure." "Erilyn, do you like your snack?" "Yeah, sure." "Erilyn, you have very pretty toes." "Yeah, sure." "Erilyn, is Daddy upstairs?" "Yeah, sure." OR--"Erilyn, wil you put Anthon's shoes in the cubby?" "Okay...a minute!" Anthon--"Where did you get that gum, Erilyn? Will you get me some?" "Okay...a minute!" Coming home from Church and taking off various pieces of clothing..."Erilyn, put your clothes in your drawer, and your shoes in your cubby." "Okay...a minute!"

You get the idea.

She likes her hair done, but she'll only stand for it once a day. And she insists on taking it out at naptime. So, for the rest of the day, she has orphan Annie hair and won't let me do anything about it...UNLESS, she's playing with Anthon (which usually involves something very physical) and it's getting in her face, she'll let me put it in a ponytail. She's certainly gotten to the point where she wants to do everything herself. And she's usually pretty good at it. She loves to wear Anthon's pjs everywhere. It's either Anthon's pjs, or Cinderella costume including the clicky high heels.

It's so funny to watch her. She's so different from Anthon! In obvious ways, but also in little ways. For example, to this day, despite all my best teaching efforts, the first two things Anthon does when he comes home from school are drop his backpack and jacket by the door, and rip all his school clothes off in a trail to his bedroom. If Erilyn takes anything off her body, she immediately puts it away, without me asking her to. And it's not only that, she'll sometimes put Anthon's stuff away, too! Just because! And she's so careful about it. She was putting a shirt away for Anthon, and she noticed that she was putting it in the wrong drawer, so she lightheardedly says, "OOps! Anthon's pants...wong door..he, he! Sirt go in Dis door!" And then, as she was closing the drawer, a piece of the shirt was still hanging out, so instead of leaving it, as Anthon would have (well, he would have left it on the floor, or at the most, in the pants drawer), she carefully rearranged it until the drawer would shut properly. ! Who taught her this stuff?! It wasn't me! She is a naturally tidy person. Which I have to say, is a nice change from the tornado in our house known as Anthon.

We definitely love our Erilyn!

Here are some pictures of her apple picking for family night, playing at the mall on a rainy day, temporarily adopting a stray kitten, and, (gladly!) pushing the apple bucket!