So with Curie taking the bus to kindergarten our routine has changed and the new normal is taking some time to get used to; each parent has to now pick up a different child from a different school with Albert picking up Elia from day care, and Erin picking up Curie from after school care at martial arts.
The silver lining to this is that each parent how has some more alone time with a child and it is evident that the children love the attention and focus. In the car, Elia, whose favorite song recently (and like her sister before her) has been “Wheels on the Bus!” Elia delighted when Albert changed the words to “Wheels on the Car!” and used the actual windows and windshield wipers (and horn) to sing to the song and of course she loved: Elia in the car says “ha ha ha!”
Elia has been saying more sophisticated sentences like: “dat car like us!” meaning “that car looks like ours!” And “my lock red,” meaning “my door is unlocked.” Even more, she has found that she can use her toes to unlock the door if she takes off her shoes and makes Albert re-lock it manually (because the electronic lock is broken). She also loves to share pretzels with Albert insisting he eat one if she does. Now Erin and Curie are also spending more time together which has meant three sugar cookies from “old MacDonald’s” after her martial arts class and singing the songs she learned from Ms. Best at kindergarten in the car.
Both kids are having adjustment issues with Elia hitting recently and pulling hair. She knows she can’t ride the school bus and misses her “Jie-jie” in the car. This is not to say that she has become a terror, but she is definitely pushing boundaries and testing what is acceptable and not. We have recounted her wanting Minnie to be buckled in the car and her learning to go to school on her own, it is two weeks still so it is early days yet.
Elia has had trouble understanding birthdays as well. She knows that Curie had a “big” birthday and got a lot of presents and attention. We gave Elia some small presents for her “little” birthday which she liked, but the very next day she said that it was her “big”birthday now. Fairness is a critical thing at this age, but fair in the kids minds, not the adults. Elia also tells Albert that after her birthday it is Albert’s which is totally true.
Besides the Rey costume, Elia has asked for Captain America shirt which we bought but did not make the collage, we will post it separately. It has a hood built in, very cute. She also has a mad face now; it is not her real mad face, it is another pose she has. She has her pose, the cute one, a super hero pose, her Elia freezing pose, and her mad pose (the one in the picture).
Elia is still fearless and can climb ladders on jungle gyms by herself (something Curie won’t do yet) and giving us heart attacks. She recovered quickly from a fall with Erin recently, and likes to jump down two stairs (and considers three) at a time.
Because of her time with Albert in the car, she has begun sleeping with him again. She will go up with Erin but cry for Albert some times and they will go to the guest room to sleep through the night. It also helps Albert in that he can’t binge watch Netflix or Amazon and midnight snack. There is something wonderful that Elia and Curie can tell when you move away from them when they are asleep; they will call to you in their sleep and quiet down when they feel you near them again.