Elyse Rozen Turns Three! (A Very Belated Birthday Post! (9/23))

Elyse Rozen, our 4th biological child, sixth in the line-up, was named after her Grandma Deidre, whose maiden name was Rozenboom. Yesterday, our little spit-fire turned 3. Words cannot accurately paint a true picture of this child, but I will do my best.

Elyse has been nicknamed "Moxie". The name came from a friend of ours at church, Nathan. He and his wife kept the 2 year-old class one day. Not long after that, he said to me, "Your little Elyse has got some MOXIE in her!" He could not have been more right. Moxie: spirit or courage is what a dictionary I own says. Elyse is a ray of sunshine. Her smile lights up a room. With white-blond curls and big blue eyes, she captures the hearts of most who meet her. She has been described as strong-willed, determined, and coquettish. Definitely, life would be boring without her. It is not that she is into everything, that is our Katria, she is just bold, loud, outgoing, happy, full of life. My mother-in-law says that she is the one to watch: She will want to go sky-diving, ride a motorcycle, be on a stage.

She is also great, I mean amazing, at puzzles. Puzzles that other children her age and older cannot do. She can just look at a puzzle piece and know where to put it without trying it. She is constantly moving unless given such a hands-on activity. On vacation, I found her quietly taking pegs and putting them into holes on a battleship game board, creating a pattern. She will insert the chips into the Connect-Four board, over and over. She will sit and build with tiny legos, by herself. She is definitely an odd mixture of extroverted wildness and quiet concentration, it really doesn't seem to go together. That's Elyse. Just 13 months younger than her sister, Katria, she is the exact opposite in looks and personality. Katria, a fussier baby who is now quiet and shy, and then Elyse, a content, calm baby who now commands attention with her crazy antics.

Elyse enjoyed her day yesterday. Grandma and Papa took her to breakfast. She got pancakes and then a dish of ice cream as the waitresses sang to her! For dinner, she chose homemade pizza with olives. I made her a pretzel ice cream cake for dessert. We also did our tradition of going around the table and sharing a favorite memory or what we enjoyed about Elyse the most. We were all cracking up as we shared and Elyse enjoyed every minute of it. Sometimes, the children don't know what to say about their siblings, especially Ruth who is more reserved. Not this time, Ruth volunteered to go first and every child had several stories to share!

Happy Birthday, Elyse! May you continue to bring sunshine to our lives.

In Christ, Laura