Category: Elia

Elia has been waiting and waiting for her birthday ever since Curie’s in September. At Target she will take a toy and say “this for my burday,” so that we have quite a list. We are afraid that it only comes once a year, interestingly enough, Christmas will help with that.

Elia’s verbalization has really kicked up in high gear, and she loves to sing songs in the car. She had a cognitive moment the other day. Albert has been singing “Wheels on the Car” recently, but while he was singing, Elia suggested that they sing “Wheels on the Truck,” making the progression that the song could be about other things.

Her sense of humor has also blossomed (and takes after Albert like Curie). She is still finding boundaries so things anything you say “no” to is funny. We have been “hiding” and making “lion noises” which consists of “rawr!” and such, but when Albert asked her what sound does a lion make the other day, she said “mmm, mmm, mmm” which is the sound lions make when they eat zebras. We have been eating zebras recently; she said “I eat little zebra, you eat sister zebra,” associating little and big with her and Curie. As you might guess, she has made the conversion to “I” and not “me.”

One morning when Albert was getting Elia dressed she noticed that Albert was wearing black pants and she was too, she said “we both wear black pants!” then she noticed that Albert was wearing a black t-shirt, and then had a pout that she too wanted a black t-shirt, fortunately we found one (note, she was already dressed and wanted to change).

At night she does not like to brush her teeth and Erin has to hold her and brush them to great consternation and protest on her part. On the other hand she does remember that she had a great dentist visit and says: “I do great with dentist” and earlier in the month: “me do great.” She and Curie will go through candy and throw away anything that is too chewy or hard that might be bad for their teeth by themselves, pretty amazing. We have been giving them Tic Tacs for treats and bribing. At one calorie a piece it doesn’t seem too bad, but if you don’t watch out they will try to eat the whole box.

Elia has always been a restless sleeper, tossing and turning to get comfortable, even more than Curie. She will be at all angles in the bed, but lately she has been waking up at night and sometimes not being able to get back to bed. There is an IKEA comforter that she has recently gravitated to to sleep but will kick it off in the middle of the night and say “no blanket” so we have to dress her warmer than if she used a blanket (who are we kidding, ever since Albert started it when Erin was on a trip, we don’t dress them in pajamas, we just dress them in tomorrow’s clothes). The other day though, she found an old onesie and had Erin put her in it, she loved it but it was too small, so Albert dug out the last onesie that Curie wore which was fleece and hooded. Elia loved it.

There was one week that Elia wasn’t feeling well and threw up in bed, and we mean really threw up. Mostly on herself but that meant getting her in the tub and Albert washed her clothes in the toilet (which had just been cleaned the day before, and if you think about it was pretty brilliant considering the debris in the bath and the subsequent having to scrub the bathtub too (at 4:00 AM – so if you wonder why we are tired this is one of the reasons). This is pretty gross of course but we mention for a reason, because the next night for the first time she blows out in bed, and we mean poo on the newly laid sheets from the night before. New bath, washing clothes and sheets in the toilet, and more laundry at 4:00 AM. Oh and Erin gladly let Albert do the cleaning since it really made her gag, something that Albert seemed to not be concerned about (what does that mean?).

So next month we will write about her birthday which is in December, but her blog goes from the 16th through the 15th, but it was fantastic and she loved it. Since Thanksgiving Elia has been single-handedly been drinking all of the apple cider we bought, two and a half gallons, she will ask for her Hulk cup (she loves the Hulk) and ask for an orange juice and an apple cider. Erin wants to wean her off of apple cider because it has not calcium. We drink calcium fortified orange juice because the kids have not wanted to drink milk recently, something the doctor said they needed to do for their growth. Curie is probably not going back (we have been giving her chocolate pudding and yogurt in her lunch to compensate some, and eating mac and cheese – not Albert though -eating it we mean), but Elia started to say “me no like our milk” and  “our milk smell yucky” it turns out she didn’t like whole milk any more and likes 2% and low fat milk because it is what they drink at school. She is at an amazing age and we love being with her, and I mean all of us; Curie more than the rest, she loves her little sister and will tell us how cute Elia is – amazing.

Elia, what a sweetheart in these interesting times. If you have children, you know what a salve they can be to the world’s problems and perspective comes down to simply worrying about them not everything else out there. Sure they can be whiney and frustrating and you can be sick with worry, but these things are still about love and not about disdain or hate.

Elia is a joy – most times. She does love to provoke her sister, and seems to have inherited, along with Curie, Albert’s ability know what will frustrate you. She has not yet learned that it is not always funny and that when you say “no” it really means “please stop,” but then again she is just shy of three. Sometimes we will tell her we love her and she will respond “me no love you” with a big smile on her face.

On the other hand she is unbearably cute. Albert asked, “Do you love Jie-jie?” To which she responded, “Yes. I love Jie-jie. Curie loves me too!” Oh and yes, she is using “I” now, mostly, instead of “me.” This manifested recently when Albert said “I love you Elia!” And she said “I love you!” Erin then said “I love you too!” To which Elia replied “Me love you too!” Albert likes telling Elia that she is funny because Elia likes saying “Dada funny” or “Sophia sat on Dada legs, Sophia funny.” So when Albert says “Elia funny,” she says “‘Lea no funny,, Dada funny.” And they will go back and forth a few times with this.

Albert recently had a meeting but had time before it to spend with Elia which gave them a chance to really bond for a bit, as a result for a while Elia wanted only Dada and allowed Curie to spend time with Mommy. One thing that has become a favorite for Elia is hiding with Albert. This started with being in a sheet tent right before bed with Curie and they would hide in the bed to surprise Erin. But Elia has really taken to it and loves laying on Albert’s belly hiding from animals. “Me sleep yo belly, we hide from bea-os!” She will put her face up against Albert’s touching noses and say seriously in a whisper “hide dada! is bea-o!” Then she will make bear sounds “”Rawr” but more like “Wawr!” in your face. Or lions, or tigers, and sometimes dinosaurs. “Dada, hide!” “We hiding.” “Es Beawr”

Elia has loved going to parties with bounce houses and jumping things especially at EJ’s party where she wanted to climb up everything, even things that seemed to big for her. She is very much in the “do by my self” phase. When Curie got a new winter coat, Albert washed Curie’s old one and gave it to Elia as her new coat which she loved. It was still a little dirty so Elia said “wash my coat” in her measured way so Albert washed her coat. It was the morning and Albert was going to put her in a lighter coat because her coat was being washed. Elia, not knowing that washing took time started crying that she wanted her coat, her new winter coat. Albert fortunately found a vest that Curie never wore with a big 5 on the back that Elia loved. In fact she insisted on wearing it the next couple of days as her “soccer shots vest.” Oh and if you called a coat, she corrected you that it is “my vest.” That week was the last week for Soccer Shots (which Elia loves) and all the kids got medals for participation. Elia was so proud to wear hers. On occasion she asks about it and loves it all over again.

Her favorite show is Hi 5 House on Netflix and she can be seen singing and dancing to the show by herself as a part of the studio audience. It is adorable. We have all gotten into it singing “The Animal Dance,” “Action Heroes,” and more. She is so good natured and laughs with a beaming face that lights up your own joy. She calls M&Ms “em a lens” or “em a lems,” kisses everyone good night, unless she decides you don’t get a kiss to get a reaction out of you, points to the old car and pointed tells us that it is the old car, got a little sick and for Thanksgiving said “I thankful family” when asked what she was thankful about. She is a sharp one that one, and a joy to have all the time, especially in these interesting times.

With fall has come some getting sick, some time away on business, and a lot of farms for apple picking and festivals. Elia has been commuting with Albert a lot since Curie has gone to kindergarten and Erin remarked how she hadn’t realized how much time she had with the kids when she picked both of them up from school.

In the car one day Elia burped and we called her out in it because she loves saying “I bupped.” But to our surprise, she said “no, I farted, I farted in my mouth,” and was so pleased with herself for telling a joke. The crazy thing is this, when Curie was little, before Elia was born, Curie said the same thing and we have never told that story in front of Elia.

The games in the car have changed. Erin invented what color is that sound with Curie, or let’s make Elia say a word. Albert and Elia have been identifying cars with colors and getting a point for every car identified. When he says, “you have a point!” Elia grins and says “yo turn!” The songs have changed too. When Erin was driving, she would teach them songs from her youth, now with Albert and Elia, they are singing “The Wheels on the Car” where he actually uses the windshield wipers, the windows, and the horn. Another song they sing is “Old MacDonald has a Zoo” because Elia said that there were no monkeys on the farm.

She loves going to pick up Curie at Martial Arts and is fascinated by the people working out there. She keeps telling us that she wants to do the Tiger Tots, which she has to be four to join (she is almost three now). She is also obsessed with soccer, or more specifically a soccer uniform from Soccer Shots, so we enrolled her in the program. The shirt has taken forever to get to us, but it finally did arrive. She was obsessed with seeing some teams on a field practice soccer in the park and wanted to go play with them. All of soccer is Soccer Shots for her and it is probably because her friend Sophia is in the program that she is so aware of it. Now she is in the program too, she loves it and will perk up and be more attentive if you mention it.

Elia is exploring and pushing her boundaries more, as should be expected; she is also discovering imagination. One day she was opening the door and put her finger up to the door lock and looked at Albert and said, “dis my finger key,” which is really quite remarkable. She looks at tall buildings and calls them castles and tells you to look at them, so we do from her perspective and everything looks amazing. She still loves sitting in your lap, asking you to read or play, “Dada, play with me,” “Mama, play with me,” taking your hand and pulling you to her level.

With Curie, she is Elia’s hero even if she expresses it in different ways. She will give hugs and kisses, or withhold them, want to have whatever Curie has, or do whatever Curie is doing, and fairness is important. If someone else gets something she should get it too.

We have been to a lot of festivals and parties lately with jumping and slides as a theme in most of the places. At the Burke festival, Elia loved riding the long carpet slide with Albert and Erin, but was tired and unwilling to ride it at Butler farms, later we learned she was sick. The have been in many bounce houses and slides and Elia has been on every large slide she can find. Recently though, she asks to hold Albert’s hand if she is sliding down a normal slide.

Parenting is hard, when our children are sick we worry, when they fall, we worry. When they find adversity, we worry. When they learn, we worry – and work with them, and worry, and hold them and hug them and play with them and care for them, and cherish them. And love them. And while now when they cry and holding them can make it better, we’ll take that magic, and while we worry that is just another expression of love.