For her second date, Curie chose to take a walk with Albert instead of going somewhere fancy or eating anywhere. They went to the Little Target and Safeway where he and Elia go just to see where they do go. She was excited to get Elia and see Albert’s work and then go to the little store to see what Elia’s day is like. She LOVED Albert picking her up early two Fridays in a row and getting Elia. Elia loved having Curie come get her giving her a huge hug when Curie arrived.
While Erin was away on a trip, Alice was scheduled to come visit. Albert and the kids needed to get the house ready for her. The girls did not complain about cleaning the house for Alice and they went so far as to go get her a present. They went to Michaels and got clay and a mug kit. Curie made flowers out of clay to bake and give to Alice, and the both Curie and Elia painted Alice’s mug. Albert made sure that the kids had chocolates to give on Teacher Appreciation Day, and he himself had a moment where he contacted a number of former teachers in appreciation.
Curie was very interested in helping Elia out with her family poster, working on what to put on and how to do the presentation, in fact she rather made Elia nervous about it all before she had to give her presentation. Elia did fine by the way, but Cure was working up her own nerves. For her play, Curie’s play, Curie was nervous, she was the understudy for the red crayon, but was an apple tree for the play itself. Albert talked to her about the difference between being nervous and being excited, that there is no difference, that they are the same response physiologically. Erin ran late and Curie was worried waiting for her to come, and relieved and excited when Erin made it. It is so important to be at these things if you can. Curie was great in her play.
We have put out bird feeders and the kids are more and more interested in seeing the wildlife that comes to our deck including the squirrels and various species of birds. Albert put out LED fairy jars and the girls love standing on the top of the deck even going so far as to (with Albert’s help) ambushing Erin and Susie with water balloons from the deck to the swing downstairs. The girls also began planting seeds in starter kits for a while before Albert put them out in the sun without opening them up and killing them. We do have a few that survived and plants that we put in. The kids love to garden and love to help out, though Elia has become more scared of bugs since then.
Curie claims that she can tell the difference between the Impossible Burger 2.0 and a real burger, we don’t believe her, but it is possible as she has a more heightened sense of smell than we do. When the Impossible Whopper comes out we will test the difference between the burgers and find out if it is true. At Taiko, Curie stresses out the sushi chef by sitting perched on the seat as the only one at the sushi bar watching him work. We don’t dissuade her curiosity, though we are sure the sushi chef would be grateful if we did.
We recounted how Curie broke her first board in an earlier entry, but this month, Curie breaks her first EMA board at martial arts, and a second board at home. Albert is concerned about Curie’s ability to break the board during the actual test so buys more boards and even a re-breakable one. Curie is scheduled to test on June 7th but we realize that Erin will be away, so we reschedule her test to be the day after school ends on the 14th understanding that if she does not pass, it will be the entire summer before she can re-test (not altogether true, as Erin calls and finds out that we could come back in later that week to retest the areas that she does not pass if needed).
Curie still loves to dance, she makes rock patterns at the Mosaic District with Elia, and when she plays princess or super heroes she is either Princess Isla (even if she could be Elsa or someone else) with crystal powers or is Queen Diamond. She has, in a very older sister way, convinced Elia that she should be Princess Wava with water powers when they play.
On Mother’s Day, Curie makes Erin a kiln fired ceramic puppy in art class that looks more like a piglet (her words, not ours). And when Albert makes scallops we find out that the kids love scallops. We visit Lake Accotink with Natalie’s family, Curie goes on a Harry Potter birthday party for Kalani and learns more spells including leviosa and patronus, and teaches them to Elia. We go to Dave and Busters a few more times, and go out to Huntley Meadows begrudgingly until we are actually there.
One day, after a big storm, Curie notices a bird’s nest that has fallen from the tree right outside our house. She is overcome when she also finds a baby bird that has fallen with the nest. We have to go to the bus so she worries about the bird and Albert tells Erin. Erin calls animal control then puts the nest, bird, and an egg back into the bush under the advice of the people at animal control. We tell Curie that Erin did her best, but that day we have another storm and we are not sure what happened to the baby bird.
Curie continues to be a stalwart and positive in the things she does. She is amazingly observant and empathetic and has genuine pride in others even if tinged with a little sister jealousy at time. When Elia drew a person that was in Curie’s style, Curie was so proud and proclaimed that she taught Elia that when we were amazed. Curie wants so hard to be a great big sister and works to help Elia whenever she can. Curie has gone so far as to take Elia to the bathroom by themselves at Target or at a restaurant when Albert lets them. When Erin is there, Erin does go follow to check. When Curie accidentally hurts Elia when playing, she is more often distraught simply because she has hurt Elia not that she might get into trouble.