Elia March 2018

Erin found a nice video on Facebook about how this is a crazy time but a time to be cherished, a feeling that we share; the time feels even shorter especially because the years seem shorter than they did when we were young ourselves. There is something undeniably amazing about children at this age, the near-unconditional love is something that sadly will disappear, so the importance of relishing it while we can, even at the expense of personal autonomy.

Elia and Albert share the kind of bond that Curie and Albert did before Elia was born, when both girls are tired though, they want Mommy. There is another meme circulating where the kids are on a little sofa chair with the mother while the father sits by himself on the sofa in a robe with a pipe. In our family the roles are reversed minus the pipe. It is a joy to be sure, but at the same time Elia at her age is less likely to respond when you ask her to do something she doesn’t want to do, Albert spoiling them with attention might contribute to this a bit. . This was the same with Curie at the same age, so it is a phase, we know.

Curie’s reading is coming along and as a result Elia has started trying to read at a much earlier age as she wants to copy Curie. Her drawing too is coming along well. The milestone list at the doctor’s office had kids drawing people at age four, and we had not seen Elia do it, but one night while we were drawing (and this was causing Albert stress), Elia just started drawing people. She did not draw stick figures either, but people with clothes. Albert has been drawing more for the girls (his mother had been asking him to) including the pictures of the girls for when they are married – when they actually get married, we will have to show them the pictures.

Ever since the Tamanahas gave the girls dresses for Christmas, the ones that would become their New Year’s dresses, we have been going to Costco for Chinese New Year’s dresses, Easter Dresses and so on. The result has been very fancy dresses for school and likely a raised eyebrow for everyone else, but we don’t care (Erin dressed Curie in a Superman t-shirt for the end of pre-school when they asked us to dress them up). In addition to the new dresses, they have also gotten a Moana dress costume that they took turns wearing to school. The other thing is that we found that Elia can wear Curie’s dresses, as long dresses.

This month Erin went to North Carolina at the same time that Albert went to Harvard and we had to ask Erin’s parents to watch the kids for a couple of days, the first time both of us were away. Neither of us were comfortable, but everything went well and the kids had a great time. After Erin’s parents left we made dumplings for the first time. Albert’s family used to make dumplings every week and so we decided to start doing it at our house as well. Curie made the dough with Elia’s help and we all made some dumplings. Each kid made some of their own which is pretty amazing when you think about it.

We went to a few parties, Nora’s and Bobby’s and found out that Bobby is Elia’s BFF at school; we had known that Bobby likes to hold Elia’s hand, but this was the first time we heard Elia call Bobby one of her BFFs (Curie was listing her BFFs and Elia followed suit). Most of our other activities were local, Top Golf, bowling – the kids love both, and an amazing bakery we found in the Mosaic district.

Elia had some deep grooves in her teeth that the dentist filled and she was great getting it done. She now brushes her teeth in more earnest, though she sometimes forgets and needs to be reminded.

Elia likes to watch movies where Curie is more into TV shows; this is likely because Elia watches movies with Albert when they are up at night or together by themselves. They have watched Tintin, the Little Prince, and most recently Leap, the ballet movie. Elia was entranced and though Erin doesn’t want them in ballet because of her experience, Elia really takes to it – to the point where she jumped off the stairs like Felicie does in the movie right after the movie ended.

Elia is a darling and terribly cute at this age, she is unflinching in her opinions, wiling to throw tantrums when she doesn’t get what she wants. She will playact romance and dance scenes, dance ballet and contemporary dance in our dance parties, She genuinely cares if you are okay, and made it a point to tell us she missed us when we were gone. When we returned she sat in our laps for a very long time, and at night when she has nightmares, most seem like fears of us not being around. She is adorable and it fills our hearts to see her continue to develop her caring and consideration while being an irascible four year old at the same time.