A Specialist for Ellie

Ellie is one of this blog's biggest fans.   She loves reading through the old blog books and thinks that a blogpost all about her is about as exciting as it gets.  She also loves to tell stories and  is begging me to start her own blog soon.  I'm not quite ready for that kind of commitment yet, but I am happy to shine the spotlight  on her for the day!

After having been through four different medications without success in the treatment of Ellie's  absence seizures, the neurologist just recommended that we take her to an epileptologist.   Apparently an epileptologist is a neurologist who went through years of  extra training to become an expert in epilepsy and seizures.   Since she's had negative reactions to two of her previous medications, I am hesitant to mess around much more with medications, but I am still quite interested to hear what an epileptologist has to say about her case.

In the meantime, Ellie is thriving being at home with me during the day.   Homeschooling is a great fit for her personality and I delight watching her learn at a pace that's perfect for her, then stretch herself in developing her interests and talents!

For instance, while we are learning about the Civil War in history, she has been carefully crafting an entire Civil War era community out of paper.   There are Union families, Confederate families, slaves, dishes, animals, food, buckets, houses, etc.  She has spent several afternoons (after her school work is done) coloring, cutting, and arranging them.  I feel like it's something she would  never have time for if she was at school all day, and it plays an important role in how she processes and learns these types of things.

 She has an incredibly long attention span for these kinds of activities and I am in awe at the sheets and sheets (at least 20 in full color) of people, furniture, and other objects she has designed and colored.  

She painstakingly cuts every item out and finds places for them in her community.  

Some of the details of what she's working on are minutely tiny. 

She talks about being a teacher when she grows up and it's clear that that is something that she would excel at, but I think she would also make a great author.   She loves stories--reading them and telling them!      Each one of the characters she has created  have a story of their own--stories of love, of war, of slavery.    It's a beautiful thing!  

Some other random tidbits about Ellie:  

She recently let Cami cut her hair.   She's not a huge fan of brushing her hair, so the shorter length makes it much easier for her to avoid mom's ever-annoying daily reminders for her to go do something with her hair.   

For Christmas she got Elsa and Ana clothes for her dolls, and  an Olaf toy.   She loves having her own Frozen characters now to play pretend with!    The blond doll was one I played with when I was a little girl.    

Here is a glimpse at the Christmas book she created and gave to the whole family: 

I don't have any pictures of it, but she also recently created her own endangered species horse museum, where you took a tour through the house and visited rare horse species.  She created the horses out of household objects and once again had a story for each one.   Her imagination and creativity are amazing! 

We sure love our Ellie girl!   

************************************