Elia July 2015. What an irresistible little girl. She listens and understands, you talk and she responds, just that little communication has been amazing. The cutest thing has been that she has learned to nod – for those of you without kids, or those of you who have forgotten, nodding is a learned response, and until now, Elia had always shaken her head for “yes” or “no.” Curie nodded with her whole head pivoting at the base of her neck and her shoulders going up when her head went down, sometimes she still does. Elia nods more deliberately nodding with her whole torso with a dip of her chin usually with one single nod rather than the bobbing of the head you would be used to.
Elia’s non-verbal communication has become more sophisticated; in addition to nodding, she points more deliberately: when she sits down, she will point next to her to insist that you sit next to her. She also signs with more meaning: for instance, two index fingers together now means milk specifically. But it is her verbal communication that is starting to pick up now: she babbles full sentences, and in the most recent days she says “ro ro” for train or rail road, and after her experience in the Beach ball pit, says “ah-bub-ble” for those balls. Upon sliding down the slide, she will say “again, again” or a reasonable facsimile of that.
Most impressive is her musicality. She will sing back little snippets of the Echo song and ABC’s and if you play music she will try to sing along. She pumps her fists to a good beat and has started to twirl to “Let it Go;” at first just holding her hand over her head like a ballerina teetering back and forth, and now in the last few days, will actually turn when the music comes on.
On the Elia Project front: early in the month she started waking up waking up with a dry diaper and waited to potty. She will go if you put her on the potty regularly now and will go reflexively if you put her on the seat. To note, she potties better with Albert than Erin right now, but that could simply be because he spends more time at it than Erin.
Elia has become far more assertive and opinionated now insisting on things and crying dramatically when she can’t have them. She slides down the slide by herself and understands that you have to walk around and go up the stairs again for a second turn, however if Curie is in the way she will try to squeeze by her or if Curie is already at the top of the slide, Elia will push Curie down the slide so that she can have her turn. Curie thinks it is hilarious – fortunately (not so hilarious was their big fight over an umbrella).
Elia’s memory has always been remarkable, but recently we have seen it in action in new ways, she practically flipped out when she saw a merry-go-round in the mall – even though she hadn’t ridden a merry-go-round in months, and when we were in New York riding the ferris wheel in Toys R Us two months after we had ridden it for the first time she pointed with a very worried look on her face while in line at a specific car she wanted to ride (on our first ride we spent the time in line talking about which car we would get). On the topic of Times Square, there are panhandlers there now dressed up as giant babies; this blew Elia’s mind. She pointed very deliberately making strong vocalizations that all was not right with the world.
Elia had to stay home from school with Albert one day recently and the two of them had a daddy-daughter day. After that day, she now loves to be picked up by Albert, and when Curie wants to be picked up by Mommy and she is already holding Elia, Elia voluntarily will reach out for Albert to switch. It is adorable to watch and irresistible for Albert. We spend our times making memories of moments in anticipation of the days when most of our lives are behind us, and these will be left, the pictures we take every day, and the hours we spend writing these moments down document these, the best days of our lives.