We were at the Mosaic district with Isabella’s family when Erin was away and we discovered that Curie likes fried rice. Up until then, she has only liked steamed rice, so the changes in her palate as she grows has meant that she has an expanded repertoire of food that she likes. Interestingly at the same time Elia has expressed a like for the trout at Cracker Barrel, then when Curie wanted a hamburger patty instead, Curie found out that she prefers trout also, leaving us without food for our lunches. The next time we went we ordered them trout and discovered that we love the haddock too. When Curie tried it, she said she liked the haddock over the trout.
Ever since our trip to Japan, the girls have been begrudgingly trying new things. We say to them, “Japan rules,” and they will at least try a bite of what we offer. In Japan, they found new things to like even if it was new. We went to Huntley Meadows and counted frogs and went to an old favorite, Dishes of India for their buffet. There the kids found that they liked the chicken and the shrimp, which was the first time they liked some kind of Indian food. After we went to a new restaurant next door called Yido Ramen, which is owned by the people who own 99c. We had a great time trying their food (we were still full from Dishes of India, which was a buffet), and an even better time drawing the pictures on the wall on our napkins. We even left them our pictures. Unfortunately shortly after the two restaurants were damaged by a fire. We hope their doors will open again soon.
In October, we went to Burke Nursery and had a great time back riding the various slides and the hayride. While the price of admission is high, you do get a “free” pumpkin on the way back. October was also Etta’s birthday at Sky Zone, which became the impetus of Elia’s own party later. Elia brought Kinder Bear and met some of her own friends there. Kinder Bear is the stuffed bear each child gets to bring home from kindergarten and have their week telling people what they did. We also went to Neabsco Creek Boardwalk to do bird watching with Kinder Bear.
We went to the museum with Curie’s friend Natalie with drawing pads. We took the Metro in after going to lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen, where Natalie lost her jacket for the day. We were able to get it back when we returned. The girls had a great time drawing paintings, statues, and plants. We also had dinner with Isabella’s family at It’s Sugar, a candy store restaurant that more focuses on fancy drinks than food.
Curie and Albert went on her field trip to Riverbend Park near Great Falls. On the bus their friends would not stop singing the Coast Guard theme that they were practicing for Veteran’s day. We had a great time at the park learning about the nature in the area and playing a game about deer and resources. On the bus Albert and Curie got to sit on the wheel at the back of the bus. Since then, Curie tries to sit on the same seat on the bus on the way to school. Curie gets on after Elia, and when she is able to find and that seat, she will point to us to show she is on the seat with the wheel.
Erin has introduced the girls to the Bangles, Spice Girls, Cyndi Lauper, and we find ourselves waking up to their songs as the alarm in the morning. The girls love their dance parties and Curie is intent on creating new dances even if they don’t always fit the music. She invented a new dance that she is very proud of and can repeat instead of the one-off dances that the girls tend to do. Curie also loves to make up new songs impromptu, some lasting a short time to others that last a few minutes. The problem is both girls will be upset if the other interrupts, or feels that they do not get a turn. Really, if they start singing songs, it will usually end up with one of them or both of them getting upset that the order was somehow unfair.
In general, we are working on teaching the girls that whining is not the way to get things. It is not their fault though, after all we spend their time as babies to reward crying, it is no wonder that they thing that crying will get them things as children. On the flip side, Curie is becoming more and more independent and while we can see some of her future teenager in her frustration, more often than not she is intent on helping and trying to do the right thing. The other day, Albert and Curie decided to make scallion pancakes, and Albert largely had Curie do the whole thing except for frying them. Curie is proud of her ability to make the dough and roll the pancakes. They made the pancakes, and Elia and Erin ate them.
October is about Halloween and the Hoagland Halloween Party. This year the girls dressed up with costumes from Cracker Barrel. Curie was Cinderella/Fairy Godmother and Elia was Jasmine/Genie. It was Elia’s first Halloween parade at school and they were both beaming as they walked around the field. We had bad weather this year, so for trick-or-treating we went to the Pentagon City Mall. After a nice time trick-or-treating we came home before the storm so were able to trick-o-treat around our neighborhood as well.
This year for the Hoagland’s party we dressed up as the gift shop for their Ghost Ship. We had a booth and souvenirs with t-shirts and boats, and eye patches and LED rings. The girls had a great time for the first half and watched in the car for the second. It was the first time in a few years that we did not go home early because it was too scary. After, we went to IHOP with Julie and Steve.
We got Ring FIT for the Switch, which has been a lot of fun. We had intended on bringing it to Thanksgiving, but we ended up forgetting. Both girls can do the Ring FIT and can do the various exercises for the game. This month the girls had their EMA photoshoot where Curie had an amazing high kick picture (they use angles to make it more impressive), and it was Elia’s first time.
Curie continues to grow, she is small, but is on her growth curve as she should be. She has lost a lot of teeth without new ones coming in yet, though you can see them almost come out. She is definitely is taller and in some pictures you can see the teenager, and young lady she will be. She continues to work at school and we continue to try to help her with her reading and writing. She simply needs to decide it is important for her and she will do fine. Curie has both the talent and imagination to be amazing, she just needs to focus them to get ahead. The other day she said to us , “I dreamed about move and magic cheese and pineapple,” and when she reads with Erin, she likes to do the voices. Curie is kind and beautiful inside as well as out, so long as she has the potential for great things, but so long as she is happy, that is all we really want for our kids.