So this is written almost at the end of December. The end of the year is always full of holidays, family, and friends, it can be a time of stress as well as happiness, gratitude, and joy. Curie in November sang “American Tears” in the Veterans Day performance with the school, which was very touching and amazing at the same time. She would practice at home and would sing about the “reveneers.” Later we found out she meant “pioneers.” Elia liked the song too and today will sing with Curie if they sing the song. At the performance, we went this year which made Curie very happy (we didn’t last year) reminding us of the need to come to these things. Albert recorded the video and Erin took pictures.
Later in the month, Curie had a Thanksgiving pageant with the first graders and came home telling us she had a speaking part. Her line was “I am thankful for my parents and my little sister, I love them.” She told us that she had more but couldn’t remember them, so Ms. Gilbert, her teacher, shortened her line. It was very cute and she did great, The class dressed as pilgrims and Native Americans, with both male and female pilgrims. Curie was a Native american with a head dress and brown paper bag vest. She also lowered the microphone making it hard for a taller boy later. We were very proud. They also sang funny songs about Thanksgiving. Albert’s family came for Thanksgiving and Curie would later remark that she should have said she was thankful for her cousins, her aunts and uncles, and her grandparents too at the pageant. We told her that she could always be thankful of everything.
Over Thanksgiving, Albert and his father started talking again which was wonderful. We went to Luray caverns as a family where Curie overheated and got sick. She later had a low fever and we kept her away from everyone else as much as possible while still having fun. Turkey was a little dry this year, but no one complained except for Albert (who made it), and we had a number of good meals including hotpot and Ramen. Curie, who was sick stayed much of the time with Albert.
Curie’s parent teacher conference went well. Ms. Gilbert said that though Curie was the youngest in the class, she was not in the bottom of the group in progress and was doing well in everything except for measurements. Curie continues to progress in her reading with the books Ms. Gilbert and the advanced teacher have her bring home. Curie loves library books and brings home more advanced books that she has us read to her. Many of the books are comic books, which is interesting as a way to encourage kids to read, especially since when Albert was a child, comic books were not used to encourage kids to read.
Curie is often jealous of time, saying that we spend too much time with Elia, even though that is not the case. She asks for playdates with us all the time saying “we never spend time together anymore” to each of us. In the guilt department, she is also good at the puppydog eyes when asking for things from us. In fact, Curie has gotten very sophisticated in her emotional tactics. One night she told Erin, “the reason I want to stay up with you is because you are the best mommy in the world.” The force is strong in this one.