So Elia starts kindergarten. We pause for a moment and recognize what a big change this is for her. When Curie went to kindergarten Elia cried when Curie got on the bus because she couldn’t get on the bus. Elia was nervous and Curie told Elia that she was nervous when she got on the bus the first time, something she never told us. But Elia was a trooper and had a great first day. Albert wrote in Facebook that on the drive to work that he was sad that Elia wasn’t in the car anymore and that he missed her. Both of us had tears in our eyes as the bus pulled away. Tears of pride and sadness as the girls grow up and continue to grow up.
Elia likes to be funny, it is part of her finding her identity. One day when she was acting up Albert took her aside and asked her why she was intentionally annoying Curie. Elia replied it was to be funny. Albert then told her that she didn’t have to try to be funny to be Elia, but we do think that she is carving out who she is in the family and as herself. What we don’t want is for her to find her identity in what Curie is not – they both can be funny or intelligent, or responsible, or whatever, they don’t have to be one because the other one is the other (get it kids? When you read this years from now just because one of you was good at one thing doesn’t mean the other of you shouldn’t also be good at it). Of course we don’t have a lot of control over it – Erin danced so Julie sang, Suephy was good at math and science, so Albert felt that he only had English, Bernard may have bounced the other direction), Albert didn’t want to share his picture of hair styles with Bernard because he wanted to be the artist (sorry Bernard).
In any case, Elia likes to be funny she says stuff like “Mommy, my brain and my stomach both say they want more chocolate cake” that is unintentionally funny but loves the attention, and says stuff like when Curie wanted Elia to do something so she said, “It’s now or never, Elia” and Elia looked at her deadpan and said, “It’s never, Curie.” Which we can’t tell if she is trying or not. And then she says stuff that is really funny and she intends it to be like when Albert showed Elia a photo of her in a fake moustache and asked, “Who’s this?” She said, “Mr. Moustache. It is you when you were a little girl.” And then she goes around saying “look at my booty.” Or randomly goes around dabbing.
Elia is remarkably adorable still cuddles on the couch with you and smushes herself in beside you to get close (so does Curie, just because one is adorable doesn’t mean the other is not…). She is working hard on her reading and math because she sees Curie working on reading and math. We took them shooting with the Watts, and they were able to shoot on their own. Albert told Elia that they were talented in archery and Elia immediately called out and said, “Curie, we have talents!” As if that was a revelation to her. It shows how much they want to do well.
Elia loves to dance, and has a propensity for it. Erin didn’t want the girls to do ballet because of her own experience in it, but watching Elia dance, it makes us wonder whether or not we should let her. She loves learning new dance moves from Glitter Force, or from anywhere. Starting kindergarten means she started martial arts at EMA too. She had been dying to start at EMA and would tell us that she was going to be a tigers (the preschool class for EMA), but she started in the after school program and loved it. As a result she has begun incorporating martial arts into her dancing and ki-ya-ing with every kick.
September means Curie’s birthday and we had her party at Scramble. Elia got her little cake again and sat next to Curie to blow out the candles. For her birthday Curie wanted the Clock Tower from Hogwarts (more than the main hall) because it was a big set and Curie is very proud of being able to build entire sets. Elia got her own present for Curie’s birthday, but was a little sad when Curie was building her clock tower, so Albert helped her build a big crazy doll house out of the Lego box showing her that she could “free build” anything she wanted. Funny how they call it “free building” now when, when we were little it was just called playing with Legos.
There is so much to watching your kids grow. The hopes and fears of parenting can take its toll on you but the joy of watching them find joy is remarkable. We do worry about whether or not we are doing enough, but in the end you can only try to do as much as you can and hope for the best. When things happen you adjust and try again. Social media is a new thing for parents and what to do as they grow is a new territory that we did not have as children ourselves. So you know as readers, every time we post something these days, Elia will ask, “how much loves did it get” on FB, or “how many Ooohs did it get.” Frightening, but not exposing them to be responsible about it would also be irresponsible, wouldn’t it?