Elia has worn her Belle dress 10 days in a row now, though she did go to Huntley meadows in regular clothes. She has worn the dress so much that the hem is in tatters and the dress is faded from washing; Albert bought both girls a new one in a larger size but they are too long for them at the moment. He wants to buy another size 3 for Elia because she insists on wearing it every day. In an earlier time we would have discouraged this, but somehow it is more cute than revolting now and perhaps the realization that these are fleeting times lets us be more forgiving for the princess industry. Also, knowing that Curie graduated to superheroes helps a lot.
Elia loves to roar a lot and will do so in the car or in the house or a restaurant or anywhere prompting Curie to hold her ears and say “too loud!” This only encourages Elia to do it more. It is quite funny as Elia holds her two fists in front of her and pulls her elbows back when she does it. She roars to be like lions or like dinosaurs or simply to be Elia getting her energy out.
Like Curie, she also loves holding Albert’s thumbs, and climbing up his torso to be flipped over backwards and will do so as many times as Albert will let her. She also loves to stand on Albert’s belly still and jump while holding his hands. The “Hop on Pop,” The best though is how she is really into dancing, initially copying Curie, but more recently being graceful as she dances in any space with music. Much of this is inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but with both girls’ interest in ballet, they are their mother’s daughters.
Part of dancing for Elia is to sing songs so that there is music to dance and she is in that part where she makes up her own songs with very sophisticated lyrics like: “the world is not how it should be, for me.” We are not sure where they come from but it is evident that she is listening to everything and paying attention to everything. Albert plans on writing a little song for Elia just as he did for Curie when she was a baby (Curie asks for that song from time to time, so it only seems fair that Elia has one too).
Right around the time Curie graduated from kindergarten, our preschool asked if they could put Elia into the other classroom so that the older kids were in one and the younger were in the other. Though we were apprehensive, it has turned out well and so Elia graduated into Preschool 2 with new teachers and new friends – her friend Eva went to a new school at the same time. She is very proud of being big and going to the new class.
Because we are taking Curie to camp. we necessarily have had to change our commute once again taking two cars. This has meant Albert is driving Elia to school and Erin is driving Curie to camp resulting in each parent spending more time with each kid. Elia has been saying, “its just you and me” to Albert a lot, especially when Erin takes Curie to reading class on Saturdays. We probably need to address this and spend more time with the other child this summer. Elia is also insisting on having her lesson each night because Erin is working on reading with Curie.
While Curie has been in reading class, Albert has been spending time with Elia building big Lego structures around her and pretending she is Moana and the like. She seemed genuinely sad for a moment when Albert said that Erin and Curie were on their way home, but was instantly delighted when they came through the door, showing us that the kids need our attention and need the attention of each other.
Elia continues to idolize Curie, at the same time pushing Curie as Elia tries to interact and do the things that Curie does. Most of the time though they play mother and baby, or queen and princess or some game together. It is wonderful for them to play together and learn to share, though at times they find themselves in places where they need to work out differences, also healthy.
Both girls loved Sesame Place with Elia loving the first water slide, then tired, was traumatized by the waterfall at the lazy river and then again by the giant waterslide with the raft. She then got over it after playing in the sand box for a while and then getting drenched at the Ernie’s water table. At the end of the day when, again tired, she was overwhelmed by the other water thing with the Count. Both kids loved the park with the rockets being Elia’s favorite ride and though she got her foot caught in the netting, loved to jump on the ropes. We went around the Fourth of July, but Elia remembering the noise of the fireworks at the Hoaglands the year before remarked pointedly: “fireworks are a little scary to me.”
We went to Huntley Meadows with Isabella’s family and had water balloon fights with the fast filing water balloons. She has been having fun with our plants outside waiting for fruit and vegetables to grow. One weekend we found a yellow and a red tomato and picked them waiting for Curie to share them. She initially wanted to eat them both, but when reminded that we wanted to wait for Curie was eager to share. In general, Elia is eager to share.
It is at once both fleeting and full of pride to watch our kids grow. Elia no longer sleeps with pull-ups for instance and has had only two accidents overnight. She talks about her Minnie birthday (we were talking about mini-birthdays, like we had talked about little birthdays for Curie around Elia’s birthday, but Elia heard it as Minnie), where we plan to wrap their existing toys, invite friends and each get one new toy. She is growing and yet she is cute and helps us fill with wonder looking with her eyes. This time is precious and we appreciate every moment and every day we have with our kids.