Elia turns two; she’s 22 pounds, two feet eight inches tall, proud, and opinionated. The transition from bundle of joy to dynamite in a small package has been no more apparent than in her communication and her desire to be represented in every facet, whether it is taking a turn at whatever Curie is doing (regardless if she is too small) to wanting to eat what everyone else is having. If she can’t have it she will let you know with everything from “pease?” to her angry dance which can only be described as the “Jack Black dance” where she rocks her whole body from side to side as she stamps her feet.
She has gotten to four word sentences now with “Dada eat noodo pease,(obviously Daddy, eat your noodles please)” and “Mommai, no, Yeh yeh peas (Mommy, stop those are my peas).” “Elia” is “Yeh yeh” and refers to herself in the third person even though she very much knows “my” and “mine,” which she had used until discovering her name. “Dada” and “Mama” has become “Daddai and “Mommai,” in her effort to make it “Daddy and Mommy,” like Curie calls us. She has also learned the “K” sound, and where it used to be “mou” for milk, now it is “mou-kkkk” or “ne-kkkkk” for necklace, and it is more like she is practicing the sound than just using it in a word. She also has been doing this scary, almost demonically possessed, monster voice for fun. She also likes roaring like a lion and growling like a bear.
Her counting has improved where she can now count to ten, minus four numbers – “won” “tu” “fo” “fi” “nye,” “ten!” She reads entire books in her own language outloud to herself or to us, she sang “Rock-a-bye-baby” with Curie unprompted, and held her hands clasped together (holding the baby) and swayed. She dances and twirls in her new cape, does somersaults and jumps with Curie, and recently pretends to fish with Albert and Curie. We say, we’re going fishing, and we pretend to cast and make the sound like the line zinging out from the rod. Then we reel in the fish, which since she has not context of a reel, thinks it is like “Wheels on the Bus.” which in turn means she does a whole body churning of her arms and body to reel in her fish. Then she holds out her hand and says “baby” for the baby fish she has caught.
As we mentioned in Curie’s post Elia LOVED Christmas, followed Curie’s lead, and was caught up in it – in the magic. She still says “Ho ho” for any Christmas related decoration or treat. She became obsessed with guitars and received ukuleles from her Uncle Bernard, and her Grandmom. On her birthday, she received her rocking horse (she LOVES her horse) from her Ah-ma and Ah-gong and her parents, the same one the Suephy has in her house. She had a blast when everyone at the Vietnamese restaurant, including most of the waiters, wore her “Mou” party hats. She too now has a bow and arrow set, and though doesn’t understand the mechanics yet, has figured out that the arrow goes in the bow and somehow comes out, so she loads an arrow and swings around the bow until the arrow comes out. Smart deduction even if not quite right.
She is indeed more opinionated, and will insist on going on the potty even if she has nothing, and will make all the noises to see if it works, then she claps for herself and motion us to clap along whether she is successful or not. She continues to serve herself a lot of food, but won’t let you eat any, she likes water more than soda, wants to drink “tea (water out of a mug)” when you do, will push your hand away to walk down stairs until she stumbles and then reaches for your hand. She can finally take off her shoes, and put on her boots, and loves to climb into tubs or boxes. Unlike Curie, she likes her stroller, but like Curie, would rather push it or ride on the toddler board in back. In fact, at the store, she wants to push the cart more than ride, so sometimes she walks along and pushes the cart from the bottom, but more often than not we are holding her like a sack of potatoes under an arm letting her hold the handle of the cart and trying to push with the other hand.
She is a two year old, playing with Curie in earnest now helping each other climb up on the top of the couch to jump off with abandon, she is outgrowing her bucket seat and will get a new car seat this week. She stayed up for New Year’s Eve and watched the fireworks, though we almost got hit by an errant mortar. She loves animals from far away, but is scared of cats and dogs up close. She let’s Curie change her diaper and loves to wear “dess,” dresses. We are proud of her and love how she has grown. We love when she will come up to you and hug whatever she can, usually your legs; when she taps the space by her side for you to sit next to her; we love when she takes your hand just to hold it and when she reaches up to you when she is scared. We love that she is so close to her sister, and that she unconditionally wants to be with you. We love our little girl, we love both of our little girls from their smiles to their pouts, their laughter to their tears, the eye rolls, and the giggles, the tentative hands and tight hugs – that feeling of being saved when holding them, especially if the day does not go as we planned. We, as all of us who have little ones (and no longer little ones) in their lives, love them and are grateful that we have this time together.