Eleanor

 

I haven’t had the chance to just write about Eleanor in a while. In the pictures above, she’s doing one of her favorite activities lately: reading books about sharks. She’s also finishing up her school lunch because she never seems to finish it at school.

Eleanor started getting interested in sharks a while back. During that time, Grant went out of town to South Padre Island, Texas and brought back shark tooth necklaces for the girls. That just sealed the deal. She kept wondering what type of shark her tooth came from. She decided she would read every shark book she could until she learned from what species of shark her tooth came. Every time we go to the library, Eleanor just plays around while we look at children’s books for Phae. None of those books tempt her. She bides her time until we go to the children’s nonfiction section and she can grab a bunch of shark books. I’m beginning to worry she has read almost all of them.

Eleanor is doing really well in school. She always tells me proudly about being able to wear her “self manager” badge at school. She reads all the time. Her school sends home calendars for us to mark how many minutes the kids read each day. When they add up the minutes at the end of the month, Eleanor often has the most minutes in her class. When I went to parent-teacher conference in the fall, her teacher said Eleanor was at the reading level they hope kids will be at the end of first grade. The only problem her teacher mentioned was that Eleanor sometimes has a hard time getting her work finished. That was no surprise to me. I’ve always known she was meticulous. She’s either slow because she has to have things “just so” and will take her time to get it right, or she gets distracted by talking to her friends. Honestly, I don’t know where she would have inherited either of those challenges. What are you looking at?

I’ve been concerned lately because she comes home from school and tells me how someone wronged her. Lately, she seems to mention the same person doing it. As her mother, I’m tempted to worry about her getting picked on. The other day, a boy kicked mud into Eleanor’s face; she had mud on her face, boots, and pants to prove it. But as her mother, I also have to consider the fact that she is a sensitive girl, often the victim. I don’t know whether to think this boy deliberately splashed mud in her face or if he was just happily jumping in puddles and she was too close. Sometimes I want to put a stop to things, and other times, I want her to learn to be assertive, deal with problems on her own. At least I know she will never be the one picking on someone else because I know her personality.

Eleanor makes friends so easily. I can’t believe how she can walk up to anyone she doesn’t know, even some kids who are older than her, and start peppering them with questions about themselves. She usually comes back to me and says, “Mommy! I made a new friend, and his/her name is _____.” Anyone who tells her their name and talks with her a little is an automatic friend. When I pick her up from school, I often see her walking slowly and chatting with a teacher (not her own teacher) on the way to the spot where I pick her up.

Eleanor recently started bearing her testimony in church. I think she got the idea to do it because she asked me when she could speak in sacrament, and I told her she had to wait for the bishopric to ask her unless she was going up to bear her testimony. After some talks about what a testimony is and what things are appropriate to say, Eleanor eagerly went up to bear her testimony for the first time in November. She has gone up to the podium every fast and testimony meeting since then. She has told me once or twice that she was nervous, but you can hardly tell by listening to her. I know she didn’t get that from me. I am not comfortable in front of a large group of people. I am in awe of her when I see her stand up and talk about her feelings about Jesus in front of so many people.

Eleanor may be sensitive, but she is such a confident little girl. It makes me feel like I must have done something right if she is so sure of herself and not the least bit self-conscious. But I probably can’t really take credit for it. She’s just amazing all on her own. She is such a blessing to have in our home.