…Now with Curie and Elia
Someone mentioned that the last photo I had up there was from 2015, three years ago, so here is a more current one. It took hundreds of selfies to not show how many double chins I have. Strange since I have no such vanity when taking family pictures with Erin and the kids. 🙂
In this day and age where Facebook artificially filters a rosy picture of life and social media allows us the illusion of community while fostering new kind of loneliness, it is important to underscore that our blogs are written to capture the beauty and memory of childhood for Curie and Elia. We are thankful for the family and lives we have but to assume that it is easy or somehow more idyllic than another family would be a mistake. All families have their triumphs and challenges, every person has their achievements and their crosses to bear. We struggle to hold it together and muddle through life and parenting like any other family. It is however the celebration of joy that helps us get through the trials we are given and it is beauty of the mundane that keeps the dreariness of routine at bay. We are just as jealous of beach resort vacations and trips abroad that others have, but that does not keep us from wringing every drop of happiness we can from each ordinary day with our family. Continue reading “Curie May 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”
It has been a filled month, Erin starts a new job soon, it looks like we are buying a house, Albert has budgets and a Board meeting, Erin has a Board meeting for her old job and one for her new job. As stressful as it gets, being mindful of family always helps. Even then, we worry about reading, and school, and sleep, and calcium, and screen time and everything else that comes with parenting.
The kids are excited about the new house, and we have tried to keep up with things to do as the weather starts to warm. We began our month with Easter at Pinstripes, which was too expensive again, and went to the river to do an Easter egg hunt with Isabella’s family. Continue reading “Curie April 2018”
On the left is a collage of her past tests including her first sample class. Notice how her pants are getting shorter, and for those of you who think it might be laundry, we sadly don’t wash it as much as you are supposed to.
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”
Curie continues to grow and become more sophisticated. She is in size 6 at this point and can think of the wind as God. She wants to be a to be a scientist or a chef, loves showing Elia how to do things and is proud of her sister when she can do the things that she taught. She is trying very hard to be helpful and is generally so unless she is tired or Elia has taken something away, or she wants something Elia has. Her drawing has become more sophisticated too with her learning to draw giant eyes with sparkles in them like in anime or manga and will ask you if you want her to draw your picture with both eyes open or winking (the picture, not her while she is drawing. While drawing with Albert, they worked through the proportions of a face and she took to it very quickly (as did Elia). Continue reading “Curie March 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”
The months go by faster and faster it seems. Within a blink of an eye both girls are growing and learning and it is crazy to think that just a while ago both were babies. In February, we celebrated Erin’s birthday and Valentines Day, and while we decided not to celebrate Valentine’s Day between us, for the kids we buy big heart boxes of chocolate and extra flowers in addition the ones sent to work so that the girls have some at home. Both girls are so excited to plan and celebrate that they forget that you want to surprise at times. This means getting more gifts and chocolate making it a month-long celebration. Nothing wrong with that. Continue reading “Curie February 2018”