today i am seven

This is a picture i took of eliza on her fourth birthday. This is what i wrote about her that day.

Today my youngest daughter is seven years old. She has changed so much in the years since i took that picture, yet held on to a lot of her little quirks. She is really a little mini-me. Feisty at home, shy with others, only a few friends - but real good friends.

She drives me crazy at times bouncing back and forth between defiant and needy. She cries before school most mornings because she doesn't want to go but, when i go worriedly check on her a couple hours later i see her running and laughing with her friend.

She is an excellent student. A real love of learning, just like her big sister. She is an emergent reader and excellent at math, yet unlike her siblings not all that keen on art.

She has outgrown most of her health issues, but still has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts and tree nuts. She worries more about this now and still won't go for playdates at other people's houses because of it. She is taking more responsibility for carrying her epipen and watching what people are eating around her.

The separation has been hardest on eliza. She is such a passionate creature and really misses her dad or me when she is not at our houses. I'm sure this is part of her worry about school each morning. She stays home way more days than she should because i am trying to protect her fragile little heart.

I love her with all my heart.