Category: Elia Months

During these months we have been in the middle of buying a house and moving, so we have not been doing a great job with this blog. July’s blog for Elia encompasses June 16th to July 15th, So we will recount the happenings for this time even though we are a month late.

Albert went to his company’s big conference at the end of June necessitating asking Erin’s parents to come help for the time he was away. With Erin’s parents, Elia was playing royal family with Curie and them, and her punishment for Pop-Pop was, “You must sleep in a bed with no pillows.” And while Albert was away Elia would tell him “Daddy, I very miss you,” and later, “Daddy, you said we had to promise to face call.” Albert notes that it is quite a thing to have your daughter miss you so much. On his return, Continue reading “Elia July 2018”

Elia has become more cute and more frustrating at the same time. Not only does she simply not acknowledge you when you say something she doesn’t want to hear, she may also throw a tantrum, or flop to the ground crying. She is learning that you can’t always get what you want and that often asking nicely is the best way to get what you want. All at the the same time she will do her pushing back in the most adorable ways. She will literally growl at you, or practice her mad face to use later. And then when you get through to her and ask if she is really mad or crying, she will break into a laugh and say it was just pretend. Frustrating and adorable at the same time. Continue reading “Elia June 2018”

Elia is at an amazing age where everything is learning, testing (boundaries too), and experimenting. She is finding her identity partially by doing things that Curie doesn’t do, like full movies for instance, or that she is not scared when Curie is scared, or doesn’t like the same food that Curie likes, “robin (ramen)” when Curie says “udon.” She also wants to do whatever Curie wants, like be queen instead of princess, or play with that particular toy, or read that particular book. And then again, she will do what Curie asks, be the king, or prince, or husband, or daughter, or older sister, because in the end, Elia idolizes her sister. She is her best friend, the one she loves the most, and the one she wants most to impress; no wonder second children are so shaped by their older siblings.  Continue reading “Elia May 2018”

Elia is at an amazingly cute age, where she is affectionate and loves to cuddle. She is also at an age where she takes things from Curie and will cry when she doesn’t get what she wants. She loves to watch “scary” movies because Curie finds them scary, she learns to read, because Curie does, she loves who her sister is and strives to be like her, but not like her. They both crave attention and at the same time love one another like friends, like family, like sisters.

When someone wrongs Elia, Curie is the first to react and protect Elia, when Elia craves not only Curie’s attention but her approval as well. Continue reading “Elia April 2018”

Erin found a nice video on Facebook about how this is a crazy time but a time to be cherished, a feeling that we share; the time feels even shorter especially because the years seem shorter than they did when we were young ourselves. There is something undeniably amazing about children at this age, the near-unconditional love is something that sadly will disappear, so the importance of relishing it while we can, even at the expense of personal autonomy.

Elia and Albert share the kind of bond that Curie and Albert did before Elia was born, when both girls are tired though, they want Mommy. There is another meme circulating where the kids are on a little sofa chair with the mother while the father sits by himself on the sofa in a robe with a pipe. In our family the roles are reversed minus the pipe. It is a joy to be sure, but at the same time Elia at her age is less likely to respond when you ask her to do something she doesn’t want to do, Albert spoiling them with attention might contribute to this a bit. . This was the same with Curie at the same age, so it is a phase, we know. Continue reading “Elia March 2018”

Being behind on blogging means that the entries we write late are generally on single topics or recounting the goings on for the month and less about the quirky little things we began these entries for in the first place. At this point in writing we are behind by two posts and are trying to recount what happened between January 16 and February 15 for Elia. We have also not been as good about keeping notes throughout the month so that writing is easier. The reason we have not been as good about these things is that we have been more overwhelmed by work and responsibilities lately. At the end of January Albert went to Atlanta for a Board meeting during Erin’s birthday, and because it was February we had Valentine’s day as well. Continue reading “Elia February 2018”

As we mentioned in Curie’s blog post, Disney World and many of the other things we did during the month have been well documented, though in Elia’s case, Disney World was her first time at the park and at an age where she is old enough to more appreciate the experience. And while we had her birthday party before the trip, her birthday was on the flight back so we celebrated when we returned. The trip was for Elia and Albert’s birthday, but it was still nice to have a cake together. Curie, like Elia on Curie’s birthday, got her own cake as well.  Continue reading “Elia January 2018”

It is our job in this blog to relate the month from November 16 to December 15 right as we leave for our trip to Disney World for Elia and Albert’s birthday and the holidays with Erin’s family. In this time too is Thanksgiving at our house with Albert’s family. In Albert’s family Elia is the youngest granddaughter with the next oldest being Curie, and the next oldest cousin being Dylan a full 6 or 7 years older than Elia. This means that as Curie gets to a point where she can play with the cousins, Elia will always be younger without a cousin with a comparable age for her. On Erin’s side in her immediate family, even if her sister has a child immediately after getting married (if they decide to have children), it would mean a 5 year age gap between Elia and the next child. Fortunately, Continue reading “Elia December 2017”

So this is written almost at the end of December. The end of the year is always full of holidays, family, and friends, it can be a time of stress as well as happiness, gratitude, and joy. Curie in November sang “American Tears” in the Veterans Day performance with the school, which was very touching and amazing at the same time. She would practice at home and would sing about the “reveneers.” Later we found out she meant “pioneers.” Elia liked the song too and today will sing with Curie if they sing the song. At the performance, we went this year which made Curie very happy (we didn’t last year) reminding us of the need to come to these things. Albert recorded the video and Erin took pictures. Continue reading “Curie November 2017”

Halloween for Elia began with wanting to be a chef Belle for her costume long before Halloween, she has either long term memories or great memories of pictures of us in catering clothing with her as a chef, that she associates Halloween with being a chef. However, when she saw Curie’s Wonder Woman costume, and Erin’s fascination for Wonder Woman after the movie, she also wanted to be Wonder Woman; and because the costume we got Curie was too small, we had two Wonder Women. Elia wore her costume for the school parade and had a great time playing with her sword and shield, and posing in her costume at home. On Halloween though, she wanted to be Belle, and so she was Belle for Halloween. Continue reading “Elia November 2017”