Today I just wanted to write a little post all about our daughter Aly and what she’s up to these days…

-Aly is currently 5 years old and halfway through Kindergarten. She loves school so much and hates whenever there is a break from it, and she even misses it on the weekends.

-She loves the idea of “homework” and takes her nightly reading log very seriously. The teacher even gives her extra chapter books to read, which she just loves. She also has a workbook I got her, that she begs us to do! I hope her love for learning never fades.

-She continues to be a social little thing. She easily makes friends at school, dance, church or the playground. But one thing I love about her, is her fierce loyalty to her brother, Fynn. She always keeps him close, makes sure to include him, and looks out for him.

-Aly loves to draw. She draws all the time. She is obsessed with Flair Pens and uses them for everything. She’s filled up several notebooks, but prefers to draw on blank paper to make people cards or to hang around the apartment. You never know when you’ll walk around a corner and find a new Aly Original scotch taped 4 feet up a wall.

-She also loves to read, and she is quite good at it. She can read chapter books with ease (I think she’s at a 4th grade reading level now), and she also loves to read to Fynn and Jackson. She is quite the New Yorker and almost always has a book ready to read on her commute!

-Aly loves to dance, and this warms my heart so much. She is incredibly graceful and very focused. She constantly asks me to teach her things at home, like pirouettes, and she wants me to stretch with her every day so she can be more flexible.

-Aly struggles hard at bedtime, not wanting to go to sleep and wanting to keep playing with Fynn. However, we have seen tremendous improvement in this area over the last few months!

-Aly and I got to see Frozen on Broadway recently (4 rows back!!). She still talks about how much she loved it, especially the little girls Anna and Elsa.

-Aly is very independent these days—she gets herself ready each morning and night, she bathes herself, brushes her teeth, flosses, brushes her hair, cleans up after each meal, folds her own laundry, puts away dishes, cleans up her toys, and helps out with her brothers. Wow, she is such an awesome helper to our family!

-Aly has caught on to our love of travel! She constantly pretend plays to travel to various countries that she has been to or heard about. And if you ask her, she is going to live in Hawaii when she’s a grownup!

-I love the relationship she has with each of her brothers. She and Fynn are best friends. They do everything together, and they are both so eager and excited to see each other after school each day. They have made up games that they play together, Doggy, Dragon and the Princess, Mermaid and the Shark etc. They turn our tiny living room into a magical world waiting to be explored. She also loves Jackson dearly and prides herself on how much he smiles and coos for her. She knows how to sooth him and can’t wait until we’ll let her carry him around.

-Aly still grieves the loss of her brother, Roman. She talks about him often, always includes him in her drawings of family pictures, and she draws dozens upon dozens of cards and pictures for Roman. She would have been a great big sister to him too.

-With Ron, she loves to take pictures and even got a tripod for her birthday that she had been asking for for over a year. They love to go on adventures around the city!

-I love playing board games with Aly, this may be one of my new favorites of this stage. We play Monopoly Jr., Clue Jr., Trouble, Sorry, and 100 piece puzzles!

We love our Alygator so much!