We have been reading a lot more to the kids recently (studies show that reading to kids is one of the best indicators of success in school later on), and Elia has been having us read more and more difficult books, not because she wants to hear the story necessarily, but because they are books the Curie has had us read to her. Most recently she has had us read the chess book that we got to start teaching the kids chess. She has enjoyed playing checkers her own way at Cracker Barrel stacking checkers and taking from each other, but recently Albert bought a nice checker set and began teaching Elia to play. She still is guided to where to move her pieces, but she loves to win.
One of the best things about Elia at the moment is how she will laugh at the smallest things and when she does she holds her hands in front of her mouth in an almost “that is so funny/oh my goodness” look. It could be as simple as Albert putting a dress on his head after she asks “can you put this on?” when she means “can you put this on (me),” or making a robot smile (not a smile). There will be a time where it is harder to make her laugh or cheer her up, but at the moment it is precious. Elia has been more hungry and fussy after a long day at school lately. It strikes us as we write this that Curie around this time would have a snack at school around 5:00 PM which did help. Elia will burst out into tears if we are not going to the basement for pick up, or not using the computer at checkout, but after a little food in the car she is fine. The problem is that she will keep asking for snacks that she effectively eats dinner in the car.
On the drive Elia will sometimes get bored with watching unlike Curie and want to play a game, or look out the window and yell “bowling!” when we pass by the bowling alley, and then tell us that we didn’t yell “bowling!” like she did or if we are late, she says “you didn’t see it.” She shakes her head side to side and makes nonsensical sounds, and still when she says a word wrong and you ask her to repeat it, she will get a little embarrassed, as if she is unsure of the word, even if it is because she was quiet earlier. It happens less and less, but she will get stuck trying to think of the word to say also. Her diction and vocabulary continue to improve though and it is an adorable part of her personality, the nonsensical words may be because she can’t think of one to say.
In the car still, when the sun comes in at the right angle and hits her in the eye, she will yell “sun!” and Albert will use his hand and the rear view mirror to find where the sun is coming from and shade her eyes from the drivers seat. Erin has taken to trying to do that from the passenger seat to make it safer for Albert to drive. Elia will use her “binoculars” to see things in the car with her hands much as Curie did at the same age, which we don’t know if Elia learned it from Curie, somewhere else, or if Elia learned it herself.
Elia has said recently “this will be lovely for my holiday,” which is not only too much Peppa Pig, but very much like Curie when she was watching a lot of Peppa Pig, saying “holiday” and saying “wee-o, wee-o” for ambulance noises. Elia has become quite sophisticated in her pointing out important things, like: “Daddy, you can’t say potty words,” when Albert used “pee,” and “if you fall asleep and drive, that’s not good.” One evening after seeing that Curie was writing a letter to her teacher, Elia wrote one of her own. In it she described herself as, “I am smart and I am helpful.” And one day, after asking her what she wanted to eat she told us that she will have Old MacDonald’s food on one side of her belly and the pizza on the other.
During Curie’s birthday party, Elia wanted her own birthday party and Curie didn’t mind, so we invited some of Elia’s friends and had her own cake at Curie’s party. Curiously, Elia picked a number “2” candle instead of a “3” or “4” candle for her cake, but did have a great time with her blue lion from Voltron as part of her present and really loved seeing Sophia and Robbie again.
This past month Elia fell in front of Albert at school and hit her nose on her water bottle. There was quite a bit of blood but nothing broken. Her face, clothes, hair, and albert’s hands had blood on them, but after the initial crying she looked at the blood in an almost curious and “proud that she was not crying” way. It helped that Albert was calm and laughed with her at how much blood there was. Later she had a little left on her cheek after running to the classroom together to wash it off, and had eaten chocolate and had that also on her face. Albert would ask “is that blood or chocolate?” and she would laugh. It is remarkable to have such bravery in Elia at such a young age. We are ever grateful for our kids and continue to be thankful for our time together.