Erin and Albert… – Page 37 – …Now with Curie and Elia

March 8, 2016May 13, 2018

Curie February 2015

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When drinking her lemonade, Erin overheard Curie say quietly, “I’m going to drink my potion now.”

It is a relief to hear such things in a day and age of screen time and unscheduled programming, even if it did seem a little sinister. Just the fact that she is using her imagination is a relief and a breath of fresh air. These days Legos are kits rather than conduits for imagination, but it is imagination that we want for our kids.

Curie loves the wicked queen from Snow White (no she has not seen the movie, but YouTube has told her who she is), but only because she has a pretty crown, so it was a bit of a surprise that she was muttering to herself about potions. Continue reading “Curie February 2015”

February 18, 2016May 13, 2018

An Extra One

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My mother says the picture I picked for Elia’s collage was unflattering,because of the way we had her hair; Elia has my jaw line and it made her face look like a bartlett pear. So here is one of the ones I was going to use that makes up for it. 🙂 She is so cute in this one, like a Dr. Seuss little girl with her boots and pajamas at the mall.

February 15, 2016May 13, 2018

Elia February 2016

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On Feb 6, Elia says “love” for the first time in the form of “love you dada.” Granted, it sounded more like “Louu Daddai,” but it was still there. Elia has then progressed to “seyou,” which means “see you soon,” followed by “Louu Daddai!” She is conversational with: “Dada, fix mama phone,” or “Mama, snow falling outside! There’s snow.” And every time she walks outside she will say “Wow! Snow!” She will even call Poppop by herself and have a full conversation with him, albeit, that she will answer yes and no questions. She likes to call us “guys (dai’s),” and knows her colors now through green and orange (green used to be white). She can also count to 10 by herself (credited to Curie and Jake and the Neverland Pirates).

She has her own personality, opinions, and temperament, so much that she has been practicing her eye roll. She loves playing “Row, row, row, your boat,” riding Curie like a horse when they play train, and kissing you on the lips by holding your cheeks so that you can’t turn away. Continue reading “Elia February 2016”

February 6, 2016May 13, 2018

Curie January 2016

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How do we describe what it is like in the Chen household these days? Just look at the picture of Curie and Elia in their striped Dr. Seuss pajamas mugging for the camera. And for Curie, she has started posing with her cheek to her shoulder as her go-to pose.

While there are still the requisite “that’s mine!” or “no Elia!” the kids are playing together now all the time now. Curie will jump off the couch, prompting Elia to do so also, they both stand and hold the back of the recliner and rock vigorously on it singing “Row, Row, Row your Boat” at the top of their lungs. When they are excited they make the seventies “whoop whoop” disco noise together – usually at around 11 PM when everyone else is asleep. They are having a grand ole time together, and (for now) where Curie leads, Elia follows. Continue reading “Curie January 2016”

January 23, 2016January 23, 2016

Blizzard January 2016 Snow Flakes

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I have a whole bunch of deep snow drift pictures, and pictures of trees covered in snow. I even have a very cool snow pile on a roof in layers slowly falling from the roof. While all of these would show the enormity of the storm, there is a peacefulness in standing in the snow with a camera, hence: Snow Flakes.

January 23, 2016January 23, 2016

Blizzard January 2016 Day 2

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4:30 AM: snow is now up to our screen door which opens outward. Neighbors told us how they got snowed in in 2009 – 2010 and needed to go out the back door and climb over the fence. In order to not get snowed in, I am going to prop it open. Later we will dig out our neighbors who forgot to do the same thing. 24 hours of snow to go.

January 22, 2016January 23, 2016

Blizzard January 2016 Day One

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Curie and Elia really wanted to shovel snow and so at 3 inches of snow(4:30 PM), we bundled them up and they took their respective shovels (Curie has a 3 ft one and Elia has a 2 ft one), and we went out to shovel. We have really wanted to teach them the notion of charity and as this was a perfect opportunity, we went out to the common walk ways and shoveled those.

Curie said, “we need to be neighborly!” so as part of the exercise we went to almost every door in our mew and shoveled out our neighbor’s walk ways. It actually embarrassed some of our neighbors so that they came out and helped us. Our family picture here is pretty cool, we were using our waterproof camera for snap shots and the flash caught the flakes in mid-air (one on my nose, and one on Curie’s).

January 22, 2016January 23, 2016

Blizzard January 2016

“For reference, the December 2009 and February 2010 snowstorms commonly called “Snowmageddon” and “Snowpocalypse” clocked in at 16.4 inches and 17.8 inches, respectively.” NBC. That means 20-30″will be significant. Now in Worcester that was not significant but when people here go crazy with an inch, this should be interesting