August was a big month for us. New house, start of the second grade, and lots and lots of work. House, work, camp, and the start of school. Renovations got mostly completed on August 13th, we moved on August 15, Curie started second grad on August 28th. The whole summer we did not take our vacation or do many of the summer things we would normally do. We DID to out to Butler Orchards and pick vegetables and dig up potatoes, which was amazing, but now we have fruit flies in our house because of it.
The kids love the new house and have less frequently talked about how much they miss the old house, unlike when we moved from our old house before that the the most recent old house (confusing, we know). Part of this is because we involved them very much in the picking of things for the remodel, and because we are still in the same neighborhood. Elia and Curie picked the paint an curtain colors of their room (yellow walls, and pink curtains), and because we made them wait so much, we let Curie pick out a sink at Floor and Decor. This has led to a powder room that is amazing and with some guidance, it is a Curie design (see our entry on our house).
Curie never ceases to amaze us with her sensitivity and ability to be considerate. She loves to help and will be upset if there are no more jobs to do to help at times. She relishes when the family sleeps together and Albert does not get up to do other work. She is very much into taking care of Elia and very much cares about Elia’s opinion, though Elia doesn’t realize this yet. She will be sad if Elia won’t give her a hug, and finds her time with Elia to be her best time – even so far as to say, if Elia can’t go to a friend’s birthday party, then it won’t be fun and she doesn’t want to go either.
In Elia’s blog we mention that we use the word “ravioli” to trip up the girls when they can’t say a word. Curie can say “ravioli” when she thinks about it but more often than not, it is “raviloli” accompanied by peals of laughter. She also says “aminals” and then tells us that her friend Etta tells her it is wrong. We miss “lello” and “stink” and all the other words that she has grown out of, but we are very proud of our second grader and share some heartache hoping letting her be the youngest in her class was the right decision. We have faith in Curie though and will work with her to prove us right.
Cure loved camp. She loved riding ponies, loved cooking, loved baking, flying and driving drones, meeting new friends and counselors, All of it. In fact, Congressional is working on her because she said at one point that she wanted to go to school there too. We can’t afford to send her to school there, but we are happy that she loves camp. On the start of school though, she loved that too and was happy to be back at EMA to do her tae kwon do after school. She wants to get her black belt, but she is swayed at times by Etta dropping out because she didn’t want to spar and Isabella telling her that she does not want to break boards. But with her yellow with stripe, she is in the higher belt class now and is no longer the smallest student in the school. Her uniform, in fact, has started to look like floods.
Curie is sensitive, can be emotional, bright, caring, smart, loving and wonderful She thinks through many of the things around her, and her growing up is a wonder as she explores how things work, why people do things, and what is fair and what is not. She is learning discretion and consideration, knowing, She is also brutal in her ability to turn it around. Erin prepared raspberries for the girls, and Curie told her that Erin should not choose only what Erin wanted but should offer a choice for them. Scary smart. That was not all she then followed it up with “Elia is only four and should be given more understanding.” And like that we were put in our place. How wonderful.