Elia May 2015. Elia continues to be adorable. At Elia’s last doctor’s visit, she was 2nd percentile in height, 1st percentile in weight, and 87th percentile in head size (thanks to Albert). Her milestones progress nicely with a few more “words” that only parents (and maybe Ms. Irene) can understand. She can repeat “chee” when taking pictures and may have said “A-oh” meaning apple, but for the most part, Elia communicates in non-verbals. She points to her belly when she poops in her diaper and needs to be changed, she points insistently when she wants something, when she is done eating she brushes everything away onto the ground, and she will hold her hands up if she wants to be picked up. She throws her head back and cries if take something away, and prostrates herself when she is mad (okay, the last two are not really sophisticated communication, but they are cute). Often Erin asks Albert to interpret her grunts and gestures for when she is thirsty.
On the understanding front, Elia knows a lot more than we think. She can stand or sit or lay down when you ask her, she give hugs and kisses on demand, she will high-five, bump, and beep, and if you ask her for the remote she will give it to you. When you say it is time to clean up, she will put things away – and then unhelp by messing it all up again as a game. If you tell her “no,” she will give you the impish grin and do it all over again.
Elia’s motor skills are very interesting too. Because she has started standing on stools even when we are not there we have started turning stools over so that she can’t climb on them. Recently though, she has begun righting the stools herself and picking them up to where she wants to stand. She LOVES to clean and will bring things like plates and bowls that seem to big for her from the table to the kitchen. She is very independent and won’t want you to hold her when she is balancing. She will actually take your hand and push it away. She does this on the merry-go-round which is pretty scary, and she does this when she gets up on her bike and stands on the seat without holding on to anything which is even more scary. Because she is trying more things, she does tend to be a little more accident prone and took a tumble down the stairs head over heels – Albert’s fault.
On the growth front, Elia’s bottom molars are coming in so she is holding drool in her mouth and eating a lot of ice cubes. She is also having more of a gag reflex which may be due to the fact she has more in her mouth now. She continues her bow-legged walk and has begun trying to jump on the bed – never leaving the bed while doing it. Curie likes to jump on hotel beds to “5 little monkeys,” and of course Elia wants to copy, so if you sing “5 little Elia-monkeys jumping on the bed,” she will move her legs up and down in an attempt to jump. On the topic of songs, in addition to trying to sing with us, she has learned the motions to “Skidamarink” including pointing at her ears or cheeks when she is supposed to point at her eyes.
This month we went from Michigan to the flower fields to Lake Anna, to California (see the separate entries for the latter three) and Elia, like her sister has become quite the traveler. She loves to be with Curie and Curie has gone so far as to seek attention from Elia. They are now playing together sometimes, and Curie will waggle her head and tongue at Elia to make her do it. Once they start, the whole family tends to join in making for a spectacle, especially if it is in a restaurant or Costco. Curie has always loved her little sister, but she also loves Curie; the other day when Curie was still asleep, Elia pat Curie’s back and then put her finger to her lips to ask us to be quiet. How cute is that?