Erin and Albert…

Elia July 2015. What an irresistible little girl. She listens and understands, you talk and she responds, just that little communication has been amazing. The cutest thing has been that she has learned to nod – for those of you without kids, or those of you who have forgotten, nodding is a learned response, and until now, Elia had always shaken her head for “yes” or “no.” Curie nodded with her whole head pivoting at the base of her neck and her shoulders going up when her head went down, sometimes she still does. Elia nods more deliberately nodding with her whole torso with a dip of her chin usually with one single nod rather than the bobbing of the head you would be used to.

Elia’s non-verbal communication has become more sophisticated; in addition to nodding, she points more deliberately: when she sits down, she will point next to her to insist that you sit next to her. She also signs with more meaning: for instance, two index fingers together now means milk specifically.  But it is her verbal communication that is starting to pick up now: she babbles full sentences, and in the most recent days she says “ro ro” for train or rail road, and after her experience in the Beach ball pit, says “ah-bub-ble” for those balls. Upon sliding down the slide, she will say “again, again” or a reasonable facsimile of that.

Most impressive is her musicality. She will sing back little snippets of the Echo song and ABC’s and if you play music she will try to sing along. She pumps her fists to a good beat and has started to twirl to “Let it Go;” at first just holding her hand over her head like a ballerina teetering back and forth, and now in the last few days, will actually turn when the music comes on.

On the Elia Project front: early in the month she started waking up waking up with a dry diaper and waited to potty. She will go if you put her on the potty regularly now and will go reflexively if you put her on the seat. To note, she potties better with Albert than Erin right now, but that could simply be because he spends more time at it than Erin.

Elia has become far more assertive and opinionated now insisting on things and crying dramatically when she can’t have them. She slides down the slide by herself and understands that you have to walk around and go up the stairs again for a second turn, however if Curie is in the way she will try to squeeze by her or if Curie is already at the top of the slide, Elia will push Curie down the slide so that she can have her turn. Curie thinks it is hilarious – fortunately (not so hilarious was their big fight over an umbrella).

Elia’s memory has always been remarkable, but recently we have seen it in action in new ways, she practically flipped out when she saw a merry-go-round in the mall – even though she hadn’t ridden a merry-go-round in months, and when we were in New York riding the ferris wheel in Toys R Us two months after we had ridden it for the first time she pointed with a very worried look on her face while in line at a specific car she wanted to ride (on our first ride we spent the time in line talking about which car we would get). On the topic of Times Square, there are panhandlers there now dressed up as giant babies; this blew Elia’s mind. She pointed very deliberately making strong vocalizations that all was not right with the world.

Elia had to stay home from school with Albert one day recently and the two of them had a daddy-daughter day. After that day, she now loves to be picked up by Albert, and when Curie wants to be picked up by Mommy and she is already holding Elia, Elia voluntarily will reach out for Albert to switch. It is adorable to watch and irresistible for Albert. We spend our times making memories of moments in anticipation of the days when most of our lives are behind us, and these will be left, the pictures we take every day, and the hours we spend writing these moments down document these, the best days of our lives.

Elia June 2015. It’s midnight, everyone else is asleep; we are eating Japanese stacked potato chips watching BBC cartoons in the dark. Elia can’t talk yet, so when she wants another chip she makes the sign for “more” but in her definition it means “I want.” We open the can, she takes two chips from the sleeve in the can puts them on my chest. She takes one and gives it to me, takes the other, leans up against me and takes a little bite. We don’t say a word and once the chips are gone she makes the sign and we open the can for new ones. Little by little, she nestles a little further on my chest and turns her head away from the TV; in moments, she is asleep, and I sit quietly in the dark and appreciate the enormity of my wealth.

On June 14 Elia really started to repeat words like “dog” “woof woof,” the day before she said “water” after seeing a fountain, she says “ah,” when you ask to see her teeth, and “hi” to people, a lot. She sings when she dances with Curie, she dances to any music, and she raises her hands to twirl when she sees Curie do ballet -but doesn’t end up turning. Elia loves to play the piano and cries when you try to pick her up while she is playing it.

She understands very, very, well. She sits when you tell her to sit down. You tell her the pot is hot in the kitchen, she raises her hands and backs away. She communicates with a motion or a look. She points to things she wants, and she cries when she doesn’t want something. Her favorite part of “When you are happy and you know it,” is stomping her feet. Our favorite though, when something is amazing, she claps; and when she the time is right you say “hurray,” and she shoots her tiny fists into the air and shouts “aay!” in return. Hurray!

She loves to drink soup and her spoon work has become amazing. She finally has lower molars, or rather one lower molar and two upper molars, so now can chew. She likes spicy food but will tell you if it is too spicy – spitting it out and wiping her tongue with a paper towel bunched up in her hand. She wipes her mouth and the table with that same napkin. She has graduated from her high chair at home to a toddler IKEA chair, and at restaurants, she gets to choose which kind of chair she wants to sit in. She learned to click a pen, and hold the camera. She works on the keyboard, and loves books. She draws and writes, and of course goes on the potty. June 6 first time on the potty, no. 1, June 10, no. 2; in eight days, five successful events, two blanks, one misfire. She can’t talk but she will point to her diaper and it is time to go or time to be changed.

Ever since we went for the walk with the tandem tricycle, Elia has been sitting on the tricycle in the basement waiting for us to go back out or in the little car that Curie loves so much. She asks to play tent with the covers even though it has been months since we last played tent. She loves trains after going to Strasburg and says “too-too” when riding the train, and says “vroom” pushing chuggers on the carpet. At her doctor’s visit she recognized the nurse from the previous visit and remembered it was the same one who gave her her shots – and was afraid. The doctor saw her pout and begin to cry and was amazed that she remembered. She waves at dogs but is scared of them when she gets too close, the cat at the Hoaglands made her cry. She waves at babies, and waves goodbye; she flirts then turns shy when you catch her looking.

Elia hugs Curie in the morning and gives hugs to everyone at bed time. The girls play a lot; Curie is a lot more patient and Elia interacts with Curie more. She draws when Curie draws, gets a turn walking on walls because Curie does; they cleaned up the blocks together and, at the bath, learned to squirt water from the rubber ducky first accidentally into her own face, then into Curie’s. Her laughter is infectious when she does it. She likes to pour water over Curie’s head even when it is un-asked for.

So Elia is growing and it is amazing. Our favorite this month? Elia sits on Albert’s chest facing him reaches down and grabs his shoulder and tries to pick him up to go down stairs. Albert goes along with it and Elia dutifully makes the “this is heavy” grunting noise and is delighted to find that it works. She then sits in Albert’s elbow, waves good bye, to everyone else, and then the two of them go downstairs, sometimes at midnight, to watch BBC cartoons in the darkness, and somewhere, in the glow of the TV, there is a can of Japanese stacked potato chips just waiting to be shared.