To be fair, Elia can’t pull herself to a sitting position yet, and could only crawl the other day. Erin turned around today and found her this way, having pulled herself to a standing position.
Curie July 2014
Curie July 2014. In a month, Curie will be three. She grew an inch and a half on the door jamb and was 25 pounds at her last doctor’s visit (from the rotavirus we referenced last post). Somewhere along the way she got her two year molars and we never noticed. She brushes, swishes and spits by herself. At a recent play date, she was a little bossy, and when she isn’t getting what she wants with us, she has started bargaining.
At two years, eleven months, Curie has started correcting some of her language and we have mixed feelings about it; as much as we want to hang on to the days, we are proud that she is growing. Where she used to say “I will” whether it was something you wanted her to do or not, she has learned to say “I won’t.” The hammer in her Ikea tool set went from “banger” to “hamber” to “hammer” in three days. She is just shy of three still though, and mints are “mintens,” and she likes to tell us that SHE is the “waiter!” When she means “leader.” Waiters are people of authority to her and she has great respect for them.
Curie’s other two authority figures are teachers and doctors. She loves to say “I’m the teacher,” and ask us to sit for circle time. She also says “Daddy is not listening.” Then other days she is giving us check-ups as the doctor. At night she likes to say that she is the baby lion and that Erin is the mommy lion.
Non sequitur: The fact that Curie likes her homemade Duplo/Lego “Belle” and “Flynn” train and fire engine more than the pre-made ones kind of warms the heart. The fact that she rebuilds them daily to new configurations assures us that Legos are still about creativity and not just glorified models.
She wears so many t-shirts these days that we are thinking about more dresses for her. Her latest shoes are Stride-rites again and she loves them. We did dress the girls up in the same outfits the other day, and finding it cute, we realize that somehow we became “those parents” in the process.
We have been concerned about not spoiling Curie and have been sticking to rules more often. It is hard, as you really want to give them everything they can, but the responsibility of making sure they are well equipped, forces you to be firm no matter how much it tears you up inside to do it. On the other hand, she is so good – she holds Elia and makes her smile and laugh. She cleans up her toys with just a gentle nudge. She is respectful, kind and good-natured.
She is growing though. We didn’t know she already knew how to ride a scooter until we saw it on the school pictures. When we were at National Harbor, she lay next to Albert and put her hands behind her head like he had. She is growing and says “I like Mommy the best,” or “I like Daddy the best,” to great effect. On the flip side, she likes to stand on Albert’s belly before jumping off (Hop on Pop), and when you have a moment of quiet and hold her tight, you say “I love you Curie,” and she says in the same quiet voice, “I love you too.” Three years old soon, holding on, but not too tight.
Elia Turns 7 Months
Elia turns 7 months. Erin has been holding Elia back. Prior to Elia’s 6 month check-up when the doctor started asking about her milestones, and though Albert had been citing Curie’s timeline, Erin had been professing that Elia was still too young to do many things. The reality was that Erin was saddened that this was the last baby, and we would never have a child this small again. We have this plan that once the kids are old enough to be away, and we were able to do so, we would consider adopting two more.
So in this seventh month, we let Elia eat Baby Mumums, one Cheerio, suck on an orange, and drink water from a bottle and a cup. She even drank the juices from Erin’s watermelon, but she did not like the lime (which Curie loved along with lemons at her age). On the weekend of the Fourth of July, Elia went swimming for the first time – though we did have her in a wet suit and coast guard-approved life jacket. We also took her to her first water park. Finally, Elia moved from her side-sleeper to the play-pen to sleep; it is still next to the bed but she gets a lot more room.
Elia scoots around quite well, but doesn’t crawl yet. She can almost clap her hands, and still puts everything she can into her mouth. You can see in the pictures that she is becoming more alert and aware. And she is such a good baby. We are all sick with the rotavirus at the time of this writing. Curie had it first (lots of throwing up), Albert had it the worst, and now Erin and Elia have it, but Elia takes it in stride with a wan smile even after throwing up.
Curie still calls Elia her best friend and says that she loves her. She tells us when Elia is crying and even insists that we help her before helping herself. Having the two of them is really quite joyous and it will only be a matter of time before they play together (and fight and make up and everything else). Curie says it best when she says, “everybody sit down, we’re a family.”
Elia, it’s not morning-time yet, it’s time to sleep
Fourth of July 2014
Fourth of July 2014. Here are our obligatory fireworks pictures and our story.
So we didn’t want to go into the city or even find a good show because of the effort it often takes to get home. Hours to walk home to Brooklyn after the NYC fireworks display, the Hoaglands getting a hotel room to avoid the crowds after the White House display, Erin’s boss taking four hours to walk home – of course in retrospect, someone told us to just pull over on the side of the road near the display.
Our version? Avoid the crowds and see where no one else is going – Sheraton Tysons, formerly called the Sheraton Premiere, our favorite staycation site, and Erin’s favorite hotel in the area. The result? Suite on the 23rd floor, take-out, and the promise of the breakfast buffet and pool in the morning. So we sit down to eat and in the corner of our eye notice a fireworks display in the distance, like a sparkler – then another, and another, and another. Before we knew it there were twenty at any given time, most a glimmer far away like sparklers, but a couple pretty close, basketball-sized or so. With the lights off, and fireworks all around us, it was a pretty good way to spend a Fourth of July. Oh, the American Nepalese Association were having a convention, and the Elia went into her first pool in the morning. When we do Elia’s update, we will post pictures.
An Extra One
An Extra One. We made Curie’s June post before the end of the month and without taking into account the weekend. For Curie’s posts we pick four pictures, one of her and Elia, and one of the family. On any given day there is at least one picture, but most likely several that would count. Since these didn’t even get the consideration, we thought we would post an extra one.
The last weekend in June we went to National Harbor to play in the sand by the Awakening, ride the Capitol Wheel, ride the merry go round and visit with Albert’s cousin Celia at the National Mall. Starting with the large picture on the right, we brought three shovels and a pail to make sand castles, a number of kids came up to us to play and at one point we had given away everything except for one shovel that Curie was using. The older kids were filling the pail and the younger kid started crying because he did not have a shovel. Curie, unprompted, came up to him and gave him her shovel. Left one picture at the top is Curie, who moved away from the castle making and started covering her feet up in sand to entertain herself because the (older) kids were playing with the shovels and pail. That is our daughter.
Next picture down is Curie hugging a rock at the Smithsonian. The next two are Curie on the carousel at National Harbor, for five dollars you can ride all day. She rode a horse, a panda, and an eagle. We didn’t choose a picture of the ferris wheel, but she loved it and took pictures of the boats with her camera. Finally, the last picture is of Curie and her best friend.
Curie June 2014
Curie June 2014. “Daddy, I like being with you.” Life’s challenges are mollified by “I love you Mommy, you are my very best friend,” or “it’s okay sweetheart (to Elia),” and “will Elia be friends with me?” Recently she has been asking, “Daddy, how was work?” Even on Saturdays when there is no work.
Curie fell off the bed for the first time this month and had a fever and bloody nose (not related to the falling). We suspect the fever is from teething. As for the bloody nose, Erin called down to Albert to have him rush up to find Curie covered in blood. She had used her forearm to rub her nose and spread it all over her face and arms. She looked quite the fright. Albert calmly wiped off the blood and talked to her gently to not alarm her about the blood (Erin who is not good with blood felt a turn in her stomach). Later Albert talked to Curie about how cool the blood was as not to make the sight of blood something she turns away from. She wanted to bring the tissues to school, which we did not do.
As we have written, June saw us in Ottawa visiting Eric and Taylor, driving instead of flying to Massachusetts for Grampy’s memorial, and celebrating Elia’s 6 months. It has also seen tragedy at Albert’s work, the end of the fiscal year for Erin’s, and a generous visit to the White House by David and the Hoaglands (Curie was unimpressed). At the BBQ festival in DC, there was a city bus on display for people see while visiting the MBTA booth. We put Curie in the driver’s seat and sang “The Wheels on the Bus,” while we pretended to ride. Imagine our surprise when the bus roared to a start because Curie loves pushing buttons. We hightailed it off the bus while the MBTA people rushed aboard.
Curie has always had a great sense of humor and it has only gotten better as she has grown up. Just look at her in costume, hamming it up at the White House, and eating corn. The picture of Curie and Elia in the corner is one of our favorites. She also loves shopping, and asks “daddy, what did you buy me?” When he comes home from work (he doesn’t always buy something).
Curie loves Elia, even when she doesn’t. Curie will ask to hold Elia and try to calm her down when Elia is upset. Though, Curie wants to be held by Mommy when she is upset, Curie will sing to her when Elia is upset. This morning when she woke up, instead of asking to watch something, or go downstairs, or even where Mommy or Daddy were, she asked where Elia was (Albert had her in the hall) as the first thing she thought of after being woken up. We think she was dreaming of Elia and couldn’t find her upon waking.
Sometimes it is hard to give yourself a break from the petty things to hug your loved ones a little closer, and appreciate each moment. Take the break though, after all, life is fleeting.
From the Service
Elia Turns 6 Months!
Elia turns 6 months! Who knew that birth order had such an impact in raising children? With Curie we had all the time in the world to marvel at her milestones and growth, with Elia, we blink and it is six months, she can roll from back to front, has started teething, can hold an 0-ball, can put her pacifier back in her mouth, loves her exersaucer, is scooting along and has learned to sit (whew!), all in one month. With Curie, Albert would exercise her legs, hold her middle up with a blanket so that she could experience the sensation of crawling to practice, balance her to help her sit (okay everyone said Albert was trying too hard), with Elia, we have to split our attention between the two children while still managing all the other parts of life.
The other day, Jim and Brenda were taking care of Curie (or should I say Curie was playing with Brenda and Jim?), and we had a moment on the bed with just Elia, and Albert remarked, this is what it was like with Curie, and we realized that Elia does not get as much attention as Curie did even though we try otherwise. Then, Albert (a middle child) had the realization that with a third child, the oldest child can then help with the middle child and the youngest gets more attention. But, we are only having two, so Elia will be the “baby.”
This month we drove up to the Cape for Grampy’s funeral after our flight was canceled and Elia had her first car ride to New England. She did great and had the most sleep of all of us. She was quiet at the service and charmed Marsha when she woke. We went to Ottawa as we said in Curie’s blog entry and Albert let Elia fall off of a low bench at Taylor and Eric’s house which caused quite the scare (Erin did the same with Curie at the same age). All is well though.
Elia is happy and outgoing, she loves to get attention and will cry when left alone. She loves holding things and exploring the feels and textures of what she touches. She has started solids with baby food, though hates rice cereal. She loves bananas, and peas and eats the best while watching TV (don’t we all?). Curie loves her sister and calls her “sweetheart” and “honey” all the time. She smiles when you sing, when you pick her up, when you just enter the room. She lights up when she hears Curie or Erin and lights us up when she smiles.
Yes she is the second of our children, and yes, it is harder to make sure we take a picture a day, and yes, she has to sit a little longer because more than one child is fussy (we include Albert or Erin in this category depending on who is tired – meaning we can have up to four tired children), but that doesn’t change the fact that she is our daughter and we love her every bit as much. And on top of it all she also has Curie who loves her dearly, one more than when Curie was born. Oh and that last picture with the cute dress? Elia pooped on it right after we took her picture. She is in a cute overall today.
BTW people have been saying she looks like Julie, anyone else think so?
Elia Learns to Sit
On June 17th two days before her 6 month birthday, Elia learned to sit.