I don’t always write updates for the girls at their quarter or half-year marks. It’s on an “as inspired” (or as needed) basis, and at this time, for Nella, I feel like writing. My third precious daughter might not get quite as many blog posts or photos as she might’ve if she was the first child, but she’s not any less beloved or cherished. Because she’s been growing and changing so much these past few months, here’s a little post just for her.

Dear Nella,

You have already changed so much since your birthday, sweet girl. Your already-strong personality has blossomed even more, and to say that you “march to the beat of your own drum” is definitely an accurate description these days. You are so independent, playing on your own much of the time, perfectly contented. You come up with your own ways to play, which usually involve taking care of your baby dolls or stuffed animals. You’ll set them up in the toy high chair, and then you’ll go over to the kitchen to make them a plate of toy food. I think it’s so funny that most of the time, playing “mom” just means making everyone food.

You don’t watch many shows, but you very much love any and all characters that you’ve seen. Favorites include Daniel Tiger, Cookie Monster, Elmo, and Minnie Mouse. You’ve been taking Kaelyn’s plush Minnie every day lately to play with, and I’m just glad she’s so good at sharing with you.

Your favorite books are Jingle All the Way and Daniel Tiger: Meet the Neighbors (although any Daniel book will do)!

You are obsessed with the Baby Shark song, and you’ll ask for it by saying “Doo doo doo” until we put it on. If you can’t have that song, you’ll usually settle for Elmo songs.

You love picking out your own clothes now, although, to be honest, you’ve spent most of winter (and some of fall) wearing pajamas all day long. You are obsessed with your “dodut” (donut) pajamas and will always want to wear those if they’re available. If you’re wearing real clothes, you choose your pink unicorn sweatshirt or camo hooded shirt (you like that it has a “HAT!”)!

You’ve already had two haircuts, and although you look completely adorable any which way, I sometimes still feel a little sad that I had to cut all your curls off. They were wild and crazy and went just perfectly with your personality. However, you were eating your hair and having some digestive issues, so we decided that cutting your hair could help. It seems like the habit is now broken, so hopefully, when the hair comes back in, you can keep it. When I brought this up with your pediatrician, he suggested that eating hair could be a sign of iron deficiency, so we now have you on a multivitamin. You also get two fiber gummies each day at lunch.

Sometimes, I give you a little piece of cookie dough with your lunch, and when we were out of it, every day you kept asking me for “DOUGH, doooooough!” Ha!

You take all the pacifiers that Eve doesn’t like and pretend to be a baby yourself with them.

You’ve started to tolerate having your picture taken (and almost even like it), as long as I instantly show you the photo after I take it. You’ll usually laugh when you see yourself, and then I can sometimes get another photo or two.

You’re hilarious and you try to make us laugh by dancing or just acting crazy. You’ll do this slightly-forced little laugh to get us to giggle with you and I love it.

Along with all your charm, you’ve also figured out how to throw some serious tantrums. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say these are the worst ones we’ve had to handle out of all the kids so far. You’ll just scream and scream at the top of your lungs without stopping for extended periods of time, which earns you a timeout. Usually, you’ll calm down, and when we open the door, you give the sweetest hugs. Being two can be really tough, so hopefully this will get a little easier with time.

You also make the cutest little grump face at us when we say something you don’t like. You scrunch your eyebrows and lips and say, “no!”

You are talking a LOT! At your birthday, it seemed like you weren’t saying much of anything, but suddenly, you found your voice! You try to say most things that we ask of you, and even some completely unexpected phrases (like today, I called your name, and you yelled back, “Right heeeere!”)! You call Kaya (and yourself) “Ya-ya”, Kaelyn “Yay-yeh”, and Eve “Eeee”. When you want a snack, you’ll say “bowl”. I just love your little voice, which sounds so serious and definitely a little lower than your sisters’ for now.

You’ve started drawing scribbles and coloring, and sometimes, that’s what you’ll do while your older sisters are doing their schoolwork. It never lasts long, though. Last week, you used a couple of colors on a blank sheet of paper, and then came over and handed it to me, just like your sisters always do when they make a surprise drawing for me. Awww.

You love all of us, but I think you might love Daddy the most right now. He seems to especially love this age (as he has with all our girls). You’re just the perfect size for tickling, cuddling, and carrying around.

When you see me putting on makeup, you run for the step stool and join me as fast you can. You usually try to smear concealer all over your face before I can catch you. You also really love using up all the chapstick and insist on powdering your face. You make a mess, but I love how much you love to be close by and copying your mama. I love you so much, Sunshine Girl. Keep on shining.Love, Mommy