my girl.

Oh this girl.

I love my child. Dearly. But to say she and I, no, she and EVERYBODY and having a time, would be putting it mildly.

I honestly have to brag on her for a second though. This girl? she is the best big sister ever. No seriously. EVER.

She is always quick to help out. You can ask her to go get something and she's on it before you finish the sentence. Even if she just made a trip upstairs, she'll go right back up there if it's for something her little brother needs. She loves to hold him, feed him, change his diaper (only wet ones!), and pick out his socks each morning to match his outfit.

I haven't had any of the "can't take a shower" problems, because I can. I can leave C with her for a few minutes (on his mat or something) and she will watch him like a hawk. She'll come get me the second he makes a peep and she knows better than to ever pick him up.

She has a heart of gold. If she accidentally does anything that might make him upset, it breaks her little heart. She climbed in my lap the other day only to sit on his leg and you would have thought her dog just died. She was so worried about him.

That is not to say that we aren't having our fair share of jealousy issues.

She gets a little upset every day as packages of spring clothes roll in for Cooper and less for her. She doesn't get that he has ZERO spring clothes while she already has last years. Try explaining that to a kid that hasn't had anyone else for her shopaholic Mom to buy for the last four years. It's real fun.

And the sleep issues? Oh the sleep issues.

For months now, E has gotten up every single night and ended up in our bed. Well, up until a couple of weeks ago when we had to get strict about the consequences if she kept it up. Let's put it this way, there was not a soul in this house getting a good night's sleep and it was not because of the newborn.

She decided she hated being upstairs by herself even though she's been upstairs by herself since we moved here. She then decided that she didn't have anyone up there watching her and that was not okay. She said they were "all dead" (aka, dolls). I'm telling y'all, it was bad.

She's not a good bed partner or we may have allowed it but it had to stop. So we finally laid down the law on that and she's managed to stay upstairs every night for the last week or so. Hallelujah amen.

She's been taking a nap at school most days and that's because she's not sleeping well at home. Her teachers are loving this latest development. Her parents not so much.

She's also been having a lot of issues with tantrums. We've managed to get pretty lucky in this department as she's never been a big foot stomper or someone who throws herself around. Until now.

Now I know all of this has got to be a regression of sorts from all the change. I know that. But it doesn't make it any easier.

And I'm sure a lot of it is our fault. She's always been so independent and so grown up that I think sometimes we forget that she's just FOUR YEARS OLD. No kidding, sometimes I have to check myself when I find me asking tasks of her that an eight year old might not do. I think in a way we've forced her to grow up a lot and maybe she's just not having it.

The thing about Ella though, is that she thrives on tasks. She thrives on being able to help out. To be a leader in her surroundings. She's bossy though and lately she's having such a hard time keeping it in check. And that mouth of hers.... I could go on for days about that but I won't.

So that's where we are at with E. We're struggling a bit but I know we'll get through it. The attitude, the sass; they're all qualities of my girl that make her her. And she's awesome. We just have to keep working to guide those qualities into something useful. Something positive.

And maybe tire her out daily so she'll sleep good at night. That would be awesome.