Life seems to go faster and faster these days. Blink, and we have been in our new house for a year already, blink and Curie is almost done with kindergarten. Blink, and Elia is a little girl and no longer a toddler. Try as we may, and we have many a staring contests to prove it, even if you try, eventually you blink.
The secret is to cherish each and every day, and kids, if you are reading this years from now saying, that we have already written this, I am sorry, we will likely write it again and again.
This month was hard, Albert had a Board meeting, we went to Erin’s conference in Ottawa, and in general haven’t gotten enough rest or had time to relax, but in between the busy things we have had a great time.
Elia has been saying great things. When we go to sleep we try to get the kids with heads on pillows and feet facing toward the other end, but things don’t always end up that way. We tell them that they need to be crayons in a box and Elia will say “I the yellow crayon,” Curie will say “I am the purple crayon,” and they will tell Erin she is the blue crayon and Albert the black crayon. Then Elia will say “I the yellow crayon, good night blue crayon, goodnight, purple crayon, good night black crayon!” And even before this we had said we are a sandwich with mommy and daddy being the bread and Elia the cheese, and Curie the meat. Afterward Elia said “I love you bread,” to which we replied, “I love you cheese.”
Elia loves to drink carbonated drinks and not just the sugar (diet) sodas, she loves sparkling water even though we tell her it is bad for her teeth (Curie loved sparkling water too). The other night we asked if she was drinking seltzer, she said “no, I drink Perrier, I the Perrier monster.” So brand is important too (she can tell Perrier has littler bubbles.”
We saw the live-action Beauty and the Beast twice in the theater with 3D glasses, and the kids left them on both times. Elia in particular has been captivated by the movie insisting on wearing her Belle dress, a tutu with Belle and Phillpe on the front. She used to run around telling Curie or Albert “you my prince,” nowadays, she tells Albert “you my Beast.” When it came time to reward the kids for their behavior in Ottawa, Curie wanted a Belle doll which then became a Wonder Woman doll that she saw in the store. Elia initially also wanted a Belle doll, but when it came time to buy it, she changed her mind and wanted a costume instead and for days now has been wearing the yellow Belle dress. Oh my how far we have come since Curie wanted an Elsa dress.
Here is the thing, Curie is older now and understands the “anyone who smiles is pretty” lesson pretty well, and lo and behold, her little sister has been listening this whole time and absorbing everything, because one day she says to Albert from the back of the car, “I beautiful, look, I smiling,” capturing the essence of “anyone who smiles is pretty.” Now they understand that “beauty comes from your actions,” but they don’t always get there, especially if they are tired.
At school, she plays with her new friend Eva every day and they play mommy and baby or plays soccer with her, even though they don’t have Soccer Shots there. She and Eva get along so well, Elia will say “E like Elia, Eva, and Mommy!” She also is ready to do martial arts and tells us she will join Tiger Tots when she is four. She is willful and adorable, especially if we forget and let her have chocolate before bed time. She wants to play all the games we do and will play twenty questions and can even do the alphabet game a little when driving in the car. She is wonderful and fantastic and very considerate, even when she wants what Curie wants. When Curie wanted to be Elsa, Elia said, “I Lego Elsa, Curie is Big Elsa, I Lego Elsa.” We are biased, but we have the greatest kids and we are so proud of them. Elia the other night was so cute, we were playing with her Harry the Bunny and pretending to save him. She said, “you save Harry?” to which we replied “yes.” She thought a moment and said “you save me too?” Makes you want to smile, laugh, cry, all at the same time. “Of course we will darling, always!”