Two or Three Things about Elsie









Mom and Dad have had lots of parties of late. Here is Elsie awaiting her sitter Lucy and getting ready for a party of her own. While her parents weren't attired in a Charles Bukowski T, pirate hat, and tutu accessorized with a magic wand, they did unfortunately bust a few similar moves that may just have them low on the list for next year's invites. Let's just say that Friday night was a late one and Saturday was a long one.

And Elsie.... what can we say about Elsie here as 2009 wanes. She is wilful and exuberant, pouty and generous, demanding and passionate--she moves quickly and speaks amazingly fluently. She blows us away and drives us up the wall--and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Elsie is physical--she can climb and she can run fast. When she dances, she likes to kick quite a bit--a choppy kind of kick, more Beckham than Rockette. Her swimming has taken off--she can swim a lap and come up for breaths and stroke her arms and dive to the bottom of the pool. She adores Ms. Teresa, her instructor, and loves to jump right in to any water, splash into any pool, and slam into any wave--no matter how cold, no matter how deep. Next up, Elsie has been telling me she wants to do ballet--which strikes fear into her soccer playing mother, but perhaps Elsie can teach me a thing or two about tutus.

Elsie is into letters and words. She can write her name and her sister's. She recognizes many letters and numbers. She asks about the meanings of lots of words. The other day, she explained to me that there was a picture of a "chimpanda" on her paper plate--it was a chimpanzee, but I saw that the representation was a bit hybrid. At school, they have done a great job of teaching her to count on her fingers and I love to see her poking out each chubby digit as she counts things out. On occasion, we also hear her insert some of the other languages she has been introduced to at school like Japanese or Spanish--there may be more but how would her insular folks know. Hopefully, she'll teach us a thing or two about other languages.

Elsie isn't a cuddly kid per se. She loves to do "run hugs" where she runs from afar into your arms--more about the running then the hugging. She'll kiss on command. She is stingy with her kind words sometimes. But then she surprises us--she adores her sister and loves on her so fully and so thoroughly, too hard at times. And she loves Antonio and George, our lawn guys--who she greets with huge hugs and open arms, that recently brought tears to George's eyes. This morning, Elsie was desperate to get out of the car at school to give the school owner Ms. Mary a big hug before she got out of her own car and surprised Ms. Mary with the force of her embrace. Elsie talks about missing her grandparents, cousins, her Nonie when they are not with her and eagerly anticipates seeing them soon. Her independence and inquisitiveness sometimes supersede her need for my wings. She has definitely taught me a thing or two about how best to love her and how impossible it is not to. I am amazed at how she can fly already and cannot wait to witness how high she'll go.