Curie September 2014. The world just gets better. When you are three, you can reach more things, pretend better, laugh at more sophisticated humor, understand nuanced conversation, make up funny words, do word play on names, say “I love you,” without being asked, and hold more stuffed animals in a hug. With a rollicking laugh you ease the stress of a parent’s terrible day. With a heartfelt hug you bring a grown person to tears. What a wonderful age it is to be three.
Curie is constantly checking to see if Albert is feeling better after a little incident he had. She tells him to eat or drink and wants to know if he is better (he is better BTW). We consciously do not hide if we are sick to her, though Albert remembers wondering if parents ever got sick.
Curie loves her pre-school, she is so proud of being there and has so much fun. She has long watched Caillou, a Canadian cartoon on PBS, where the main character, who is four, goes to pre-school; and when she chooses episodes, in general, she chooses going to school or going to the doctor. Going to pre-school is a coming of age thing for her.
Potty training continues to go well, though she is becoming ashamed of not making it to the potty; as a parent, you never want them to be ashamed of anything. She covers her eyes when she gets her diaper changed after she poops. Everybody poops. But when she is having fun she chooses not to go to the potty, she doesn’t forget, she just chooses. What a kid.
We have been limiting Curie’s TV time, or screen time, in today’s parlance. This means on drives we have been playing more games. The picnic game, the car sscavengerhunt game, egg game, Erin’s stories on cars, and of course I Spy. When we see trucks we all scream “AHHH!” for big trucks, and whisper “ahhh!” for little trucks. We duck our heads with a hand over our head when we go under bridges or through tunnels. At home, Albert has been playing trains more with Curie who sees this as very valuable time; frankly, it must mean Albert does not spend enough time with her at home. Playing has become more valuable than watching something.
There is that study that Facebook makes you feel like everyone else is having a better time than you, and lately, Erin has worried that we are not giving them the same summer memories because we did not go to the beach or go away like many families on Facebook; but this September alone, Curie had three birthday parties, a trip to the Baltimore Science Museum, apple picking with the Tamanahas, a visit with firemen at the condo association meeting, eating at the “choo-choo sushi” restaurant, playing on the river front on K Street, going to Tim’s Rivershore, eating at Ben’s Chili Bowl followed immediately by “dessert” pho at a Vietnamese restaurant and a bit of something at IceBerry. And then there was the spontaneous staycation at the Sheraton Premiere in Vienna, where she proclaimed: “I love this place!” We do love that place. We do all right.
Its pretty wonderful being three, but for parent-to-be or young parents. beware. They say “terrible twos” but the threes are no walk in the park, and maybe even worse than twos. Fussiness, tantrums, testing boundaries, having friends outside family, having favorites between parents, all par for the course. And still it is all outweighed by the fact that they are starting to understand what love is, and what family is. What do you say when your daughter pulls everyone for a big hug and says “we’re one big family, ‘wight?” You say, “yes Curie, that is right.”