My parents left to Sri Lanka in March after staying with us for nine months! I loved having them here to help with both Alera and Zelda, and just to be able to spend time with them. I wish they could stay. Alera loved having Archo and she knew exactly when to ask Seeya for things. Seeya would of course do whatever she wants (within reason) while her Mama, Daddy and even Archo would have said no. She caught on to a few words in Sinhala here and there and figured that “api young” meant to go downstairs because my parents would say it to each other and then go downstairs to their room. She’d tell Seeya “api young” expecting to go downstairs with him and ask him to put on nursery rhymes on TV. The phrase actually means “let’s go”, but we knew what she was trying to say. :)
With Archo and Seeya leaving, Zelda had to start daycare. ☹️ It wasn’t my first time, but gosh it was still tough. I took her with me to pick up Alera from daycare a couple of times and had her get used to the space and kids a bit. With her needing a hearing aid in her left ear, I had to show the daycare provider how it all works, change the battery, take it off for naps, etc. She is now a pro. The fact that Zelda now keeps it on for the most part really helps too. We have been on this hearing loss journey for over a year and I’m now starting to not even think it’s a big deal. She has a great audiologist who puts my fears at ease. Also helps that she is babbling and “talking” like her big sister did at her age. The first few days at daycare were rough because she was so used to being at home, but she was comforted when she saw Alera there with her. It certainly helped me knowing that big sister was there and even though she was just two, she would definitely go to her sister if she heard her crying.
Mitch got a new job still with the bank, but in a different area that is of growing importance to the company. He doesn’t even apply and gets asked about it....he’s cool like that. 😉 He’s smart and others recognize that. Some days I understand what he does and other days, I think we must work for different companies. It’s going well for him and I am glad he got this opportunity because he likes being challenged and doing new things. The girls and I rode the light rail (their first time on the rail) to go visit Daddy at work. They loved it and since we ate in the building he works out of, Alera now thinks that’s what “work” is. Haha if only kid.
We had a lot of adventures, including many trips to the grocery store, bike rides (Mitch got us sweet bikes for my birthday), pool time, day at the lake, time out in the yard where Zelda ate mud a couple of time and both “helped” rake leaves and shovel snow. Everything is fun in the eyes of two toddlers and through them, we have a chance to remember to have fun doing some mundane things. It certainly isn’t all fine and dandy everyday because temper tantrums are real, but we are so blessed to have two little girls who mostly just love being silly, eating cold pizza like Daddy, rice and curry like Mama and having a fabulous time just living life.
Cheers to many more adventures in 2019 and hearing more random things like “aye aye Captain Mama” from both Alera and Zelda!
~Di