Oh, Ella. Where to start? This kid is A LOT (of wonderful things). She’s a renaissance girl with so many interests, talents and skills it’s hard to keep up. Unlike Zoe’s chronological review of last year, I’m going to attempt to cover as many of those talents as possible by grouping them. Let’s see how that goes.

But before we start, I’d to say that Ella is one incredible human being. What I can’t capture in pictures–or even words–is how intuitive and kind she is. While some “younger sisters” can be entitled and demanding, this one is the peacekeeper, keenly aware of what’s going on around her and constantly helping others find common ground. She’s also a master communicator, able to articulate what she’s feeling and to come up with impressively inventive solutions to manage a wide variety of “above-her-pay-grade” situations.

Now to the goodies. Brace yourself for the long list I’ll cover in this post:

• MUSIC: Piano + singing
• ART: Drawing + building + slime (is that an art?)
• MOVEMENT: Karate + gymnastics (more like contortion)
• DRAMA: On-stage + off-stage
• FASHION: Hair, nails and jeans, oh my…
• SMARTS: Graphic novels + Minecraft / Roblox (yes, those take smarts)
• FRIENDSHIPS: Oh, so many!

MUSIC: Piano + Singing

Ella has been super lucky to work with a fabulous piano teacher, Miss Beth, for the past few years (thanks to my sister!), and her skills have really blossomed this year. She has a near-perfect ear for pitch and is able to hear and replicate music with lightning speed. This is of course a blessing and a curse, since once she learns something it’s near impossible to get her to read the music to play it… But that said, her speed, timing and accuracy are hard to argue with. Check out her performance of an advanced piece that Miss Beth usually reserves for her older students: The Fly’s Adventure.

Though she’s done some singing + piano playing on songs with Miss Beth, this year she started taking singing lessons, too. We’ll see if that one sticks, but it’s hard to have a sister who loves singing on a stage and not want to learn those techniques. I don’t have any recordings of her singing yet, but here’s a photo of the girls with Miss Beth from our trip home at Thanksgiving:

Quick plug: If you’d like to take virtual piano lessons, there’s no better teacher than Miss Beth. She’s FUN for kids (and adults), knows how to challenge and to encourage exploration (she’s helped Ella learn some pop songs she was trying to replicate by ear), and just plain rocks. Happy to connect you!

And now, meet Ella’s biggest fan: Jasmine. This very musical cat loves it when anyone in the house plays the piano or sings. During Ella’s lessons, she’ll jump up on the piano bench, and often she’ll just sit below and listen (and meow).

ART: Drawing + building + slime (is that an art?)

Ella is infinitely curious and always building and creating. Leave out a cardboard box and come back to find a dragon’s lair, complete with dragon food and hand-made furniture (apparently dragons need furniture). She carries around a sketchbook, loves Posca paint markers, and generally loves making a mess, I mean, letting her artistic side run wild. For my birthday, the family gave me a Billie Eilish vinyl album, for which Ella designed this lovely packaging to make it extra special:

Sure, it kind of gave away its contents, but so clever, right? And OMG, slime. She is infatuated with it. When it comes to premade slimes she loves PeachyBbies, but nothing compares to MAKING her own. Personally, I can’t stand the stuff. I don’t like the smell, the texture, not one bit of it–and I always insist it’s made outside. But I love my daughter, so this year for Christmas we reimagined the area under her loft bed to become a slime factory of sorts. Her wish list included big bottles of glue, activator, slime charms, jelly cubes, instant snow (it’s a slime thing), and even Borax (don’t ask). Santa added a floor protector and storage bins. Love that guy. Here’s a pic from a place called Slime Kitchen, and let’s be clear, I much prefer slime-making in someone else’s area…

She also redesigned her room this Summer, which involved helping me repaint every wall, creating a “cozy corner” with a big fat bean bag for reading, installing photo lights under her bed, and seting up a desk at the window for crafting. This picture is before Santa came through with a space for slime-making, but I think you’ll be impressed with her cloud theme.

MOVEMENT: Karate + gymnastics (more like contortion)

Though she tried soccer out for a while this year, it didn’t stick. I’ll give her props though for being a complete novice among some more seasoned kids and always having her “I’m open!” hand up for a pass. But to prove her well-roundedness, she is quite skilled at karate, achieving two belt levels this year! From white with a black stripe to yellow to yellow with a black stripe, this girl’s on her way up. Not only is she great at the nuts and bolts, but she’s so flexible she’s one of very few kids in the dojo in the Split Club.

As you can see, she’s quite proud of that. She is in fact so flexible that she’s a borderline contortionist. She’s taken gymnastics for a while, but she also somehow found this actual “self taught contortionist” kid online and was doing her workouts over the summer. Meet Anna McNulty and watch at your own risk… And here’s just a small view of how bendy Ella’s back is–and if you think that looks easy, give it a try yourself but don’t blame me:

DRAMA: On-stage + off-stage

Like her sister, this kid enjoys her performing time on the stage (and off it). Both girls have participated in the Drama Maniacs program, which hosts classes onsite at the elementary school as an afterschool program. They put on themed shows where the general idea is driven by the program, but the kids come up with their own lines to fill in the show. At the end of each “season”, they perform live on stage together, and it’s hilarious. This year they did “Magic Time” and “Lights, Camera…Blockbuster”.

She enjoys dressing up, which included a complex (and obscure) Halloween costume for “Linkle“, a character from Legends of Zelda, a game which ironically Ella hasn’t played. Her sister even crocheted a green hood for her, and yes, that’s a working compass necklace and a brown leather belt from Target, all of which she had to approve as “authentic enough”. She’s picky, er, discerning. Side Note: Notice every kid in this Trick-or-Treat picture looking at their parents’ camera, except for ours.

And finally, I wouldn’t want you to miss out on Ella’s carefully designed outfit for what she’ll look like at “100”, which all the kids did to celebrate the hundredth day of school. Smashing! And I hope she’s right.

FASHION: Hair, nails and jeans, oh my…

Speaking of dressing up, this kid loves a hoodie. Ok, so maybe that’s not fashion, but she rocked an Amazon “frog on a skateboard” hoodie so hard that most of her friends now own one, in varying colors. She fought denim (in lieu of leggings she’d rip holes in every third wear) until late this year, and now there’s no going back. When she gets a wild hair (pun intended) about how she wants something to look, she’ll go so far as to teach a hair stylist what a “Butterfly Haircut” is – and she did, too!

She waffles between caring and not caring about fashion, and loving / hating getting her nails done. But take her to a salon, and she picks out the cool-kid colors without missing a beat–and leaves with a smile. So I’ll say that her fashion sense is well-developed and healthy.

SMARTS: Graphic novels + Minecraft / Roblox

We’re grateful that Ella also excels at school and has been identified as “Highly Gifted”, which honestly means little at this age but may open some opportunities for her later. She’s a voracious reader, though she just can’t get behind books with no pictures yet. I keep telling her that it’s more fun when the reader gets to IMAGINE (come on, this kid has a vivid imagination!) how the characters and scenery look. But so far she’s only interested in any graphic novel she can get her hands on and finishes them quickly.

We’re just thrilled she will spend time NOT on a screen, though unless tempted by a new graphic novel, she much prefers screen-time with her friends building in Minecraft or competing/collaborating in Roblox. At first I fought Minecraft as a waste of time, then I saw the worlds she built with friends, so elaborate and well-thought-out. Having spent many years co-creating at work, I now believe that all the time she’s spending doing that today with kids her age who are all as strong-willed and imaginative as she is will pay off down the line.

FRIENDSHIPS: Oh, so many!

The final facet of our incredible Miss Ella worth covering is her ability to make friends with anyone and everyone–and help all those friends stay friends with one another. Her teacher often partners her with other students who are struggling because she’ll willingly help them learn. There’s no schoolyard drama she hasn’t been able to smooth over yet, including who gets selected for games, who gets to lead the many clubs they all start and abandon, and who gets invited to what. She’s like a universal electricity converter, able to travel between friend groups with ease. It’s a fabulous skill I hope she keeps all her life.

Below are just a few friend pictures I’m sure she’ll enjoy seeing years from now, when someone tells her about this blog or she gets interested enough to find it online. For now, I hope to keep it under my hat, so she can continue to believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy for as long as that lasts. (Yes, I’m talking to YOU.)

I can’t let that middle photograph go by without acknowledging that YES, that is Ella and two friends sliding down a set of stairs on a blow-up mattress. We were sent this by the parents after a sleepover, and yes, I find the choice questionable, but it’s super difficult to question the look of complete and utter joy on their faces. Anyway, let’s wrap up this year by saying that this silly, kooky, wonderful kid had a great year in 2024 and is blossoming into a lovely young lady with infinite possibilities for the future. She is fearless, kind and brilliant, so watch out world, Ella Rae is on her way!