Elia is at an amazing age where everything is learning, testing (boundaries too), and experimenting. She is finding her identity partially by doing things that Curie doesn’t do, like full movies for instance, or that she is not scared when Curie is scared, or doesn’t like the same food that Curie likes, “robin (ramen)” when Curie says “udon.” She also wants to do whatever Curie wants, like be queen instead of princess, or play with that particular toy, or read that particular book. And then again, she will do what Curie asks, be the king, or prince, or husband, or daughter, or older sister, because in the end, Elia idolizes her sister. She is her best friend, the one she loves the most, and the one she wants most to impress; no wonder second children are so shaped by their older siblings.
Both girls, but particularly Elia are obsessed with the Greatest Showman, most particularly the soundtrack. They started when Curie had seen the trailer for it at school or martial arts, and recognized the song “This is me.” But this translated into the entire soundtrack after watching the movie, which both did without being too scared.
When she talks about the characters she will talk about the singer, the wife, the kids, and the one who marries the wife, the one who runs into the fire to save the one in the fire. It is fascinating to see how she sees the movie and internalizes it. Elia was most entranced by the singer in the movie and wanted to be her sparking a desire to hold the microphone and sing when they do shows. Both girls will belt “Million Dreams” from the movie, but it is amazing to hear Elia sing it by herself in the car. Most recently she has been singing “Rewrite the Stars” as her song. She also won’t let you skip “Come Alive.” She has even referenced the movie when watching other shows or cartoons. She said “there is a trapeze (on the Magic School Bus revival) just like on the Greatest Showman (though she says it Greatest ShowMAN).
Erin’s favorite thing recently is when Elia knows she is doing something wrong and tells you “Mommy, can you just not watch me for a minute?” She will have a pair of scissors and a doll and say “don’t look, okay?” She even does it to Curie, “Curie, just ignore me.” When you ask her to stop or she doesn’t get what she wants, she will cry immediately, something she learned from Curie at a particular time (Curie has become more helpful almost as a reaction to Elia not wanting to help). She bows her head down and stands there crying and will flop to the ground, almost in a frog/fetal faced down pose and cry when having a tantrum. It is very interesting because she logically knows the “you get what you get…” concept and can recite the “… and you don’t get upset” language, but as she gets tired (or hungry), she becomes less and less able to control her emotions.
It doesn’t help that Albert indulges her with trips to the vending machine, or little Target, or grocery store, or gas station store before going home. The time they spend together going to school and coming home from school has meant that Elia is very closely bonded to Albert and will want him to pick her up or console her or play with her. When she is in most distress, she will want mommy, but otherwise lately it has been Albert.
Like all kids, she is trying very hard to grow up, at a time when she is the most cute and you almost want to freeze time to relish and preserve the moments, part of the point of these blogs and our pictures and, most recently, videos (something Bernard recommended). The other day Elia heard Albert tell Curie to slow down to learn something and Elia, unprompted, immediately started practicing her “k” sounds from “tookie” to “cookie,” something that Albert had been working with her in the past. Then she makes insightful comments like “When it is hot you eat cold, when it is cold you eat hot,” which is right, but can also be a problem when you are ordering in a restaurant and she doesn’t want anything hot. Aren’t kids the greatest?