Kite Flying and Hanging Out with Friends
Snow
Visiting Virginia Hospital Center 2017
VHC L&D and NICU 2017. We have a lot of pictures to catch up on, Christmas, Disney World, Collages etc… but we go to the VHC every year to leave a basket or chapters for Labor and Delivery and NICU to thank them for taking care of us when Curie and Elia were each born. Usually, we don’t see any familiar faces anymore as the people who took care of us like Emma, have moved on to other places. This time however we were able to see Analisa in NICU who took care of Curie and even remembered us an the circumstances that she took care of us. This was six years ago, so that is pretty amazing. Apparently Rey is also still working NICU but was not there. In any case, it is a nice tradition to take the kids to see where they were born and to thank L&D and NICU for everything they did for us. Oh and a weird tradition, a while ago we started taking our picture there in the corner mirrors so this is no different except it is in the NICU lobby.
Albert’s Birthday 2017
Yesterday was Albert’s birthday, and I have never seen Curie cry so hard as when she took out the birthday card that she made for him and saw that it was wet. Her water bottle had spilled in her backpack and blurred the card’s picture.
She was lying on the stairs, sobbing, inconsolable. Eventually she asked me to come closer, and she laid her head down on my lap.
“Mommy,” she said, “I worked so hard on that card.”
“I know, honey.”
“Now you can’t even read the words.”
“Did you write ‘happy birthday’?”
She shook her head, no.
“Did you write, ‘I love you?'”
She nodded yes.
So we got out brand new markers – that always seems to help – and made a brand new card. It took a long time, but it was well worth it. This girl really loves her Daddy…
Curie October 2017
Before coming to the DMV area, Halloween was never a very big holiday for us, however since the Hoaglands have a party each year to celebrate Bella’s and Quin’s birthdays, we have gone to their Halloween haunted house party since 2007. Curie’s first year was as a Red Hot Chili Pepper, but the following year we started our meta-costumes (well documented) which resulted in us being judges for the costume contest this year. We were worried that the kids would decide last minute that they didn’t want to wear their costumes, but they embraced being judges wholly with Curie leading the charge. Continue reading “Curie October 2017”
When you are a dad, you draw what you are asked…
Cadence, Luna, Celestia, and Twilight Sparkle.
Curie September 2017
A sign of our times perhaps, but one of Curie’s milestones is that she can make Alexa work on her own with voice commands. When we first got the Amazon Echo, Curie would try, but her voice was too high or something and Alexa would not respond. Elia still can’t reliably make Alexa respond. It is similar to the remote control, Curie is proud of the fact that she can turn on, select the kid’s profile, find a show, select an episode and fast forward, reverse, and pause or play her show. We are just starting to teach Elia. Continue reading “Curie September 2017”
Curie’s Yellow Belt Test
From left to right, Curie trying out EMA before kindergarten, her white belt test as a no-belt, her white belt with stripe test as a white belt, and tonight, her yellow belt test. Just look at her extension in this picture and the contact she makes! Her pads fit better now too!
Curie August 2017
It is difficult writing when behind as it is too easy to write about the now rather than the then. The biggest thing in August was that Curie began first grade! Not only did it feel like it came so fast, it was in fact faster because Fairfax county began school a week earlier than it had in the past starting the week before Labor Day. So it was that we only went to the pool once during the summer and that our vacation at the end of the time came close to ending right before the start of school. Continue reading “Curie August 2017”