So big news in Eleni's life is she is now going to school full time. Preschool, 45 hours a week while we go to work. It was a REALLY hard thing for Ali and I to swallow. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her school and her teacher. Like LOVE, but she is still 2.5 and that is a long time to be at school for such a little tyke. But, it is the next step in her little life. Ali and I, and Eleni, have been SO lucky to have her grandparents care for her these first 2 years of her life. She got nothing but a multitude of love and affection and attention from her grandparents. My mom had her every Monday and they had a blast at Gymboree and playing. And Shahin and Reza had her the other days.
I look at Eleni with SO much admiration for the little girl she is blossoming into. She is so smart, knows so much and is hilarious. She is constantly singing and is just full of life and energy and love.
Her first 2 years gave her an incredible foundation. When people tell me how smart Eleni is and how well she talks, I always tell them it is because my mother in law worked so diligently with her when she had her. They would read tons of books, she spoke to her in English and Farsi and sang songs with her, watched numerous videos on you tube with her, drew tons of pictures with her (her ultimate favorite was Chess, chess, do abru....I just butchered that spelling, but it is when u draw a face and sing a song with it), played music with her and taught her all her ABC's and colors and shapes.
I remember being at work when Shahin called me to tell me Eleni said her first word, "Mama." I will remember that day forever, sad that I missed it but absolutely tickled that her first word was "mama."
There are not many children that are as lucky as Eleni and I am ever so grateful. It bring me to tears thinking of all the hard work these grandparents have put in with our little angel and how much love she has been embraced with. It is truly a blessing.
I am excited and nervous for this next step in her life as I know it will be a big change for all of us, but I know it will only help Eleni to develop into the outstanding human being she is turning into. It will help her to build stronger relationships with her peers at school, get a more structured and consistent balance to her day and have a multitude of fun.
I love how as she gets older, especially now, she remembers a lot and associates so much to different things. Last night we were talking to my mom on the phone and she told her "Yiayia, I'm going to go to bed and get comfy, cozy. You get comfy, cozy too, ok" Because, yiayia always makes her comfy, cozy and likes to bundle her up, to keep her warm. That's what Grandma's do right?
Or today, when we went to the doctor and she got a shot, she cried, then she told me "I got a shot just like my Baba and Shahin got a shot." Because she remembered when they had band aids from their shots and she played doctor to take care of them.
Or last night when we read a book with a kite in it and she told me how Ahbos flew a kite in her favorite Persian movie.
She asks me about random people out of the blue, and what they are doing. Sometimes who she asks about astonishes me and how she associates certain objects or places to certain people.
She went on a field trip yesterday with school to Natural Bridges State Beach. Both her teachers told me how much Eleni LOVED the water and how she full submerged herself in the ocean and LOVED every second of it. All the other kids just put their feet in, but Eleni got in and sat right down. They told me she is truly a water baby, no fear. She is JUST like her Daddy, it is amazing how the characteristics are so the same.
I will have to make a post soon about all the things she does, the songs she says and all her funny sayings.
Right now she is in LOVE with Annie, she sings all the songs, all the time. She could watch it two times a day if we let her. We are taking her to see the play on Thanksgiving weekend and I think she is going to just LOVE it and sit in admiration the full two hours, or so I hope.
In fact, not only does she sing Annie songs but whenever we are in the car and a song comes on that she enjoys she catches on to most of the words by the second verse and always knows the chorus. It truly amazes me. She LOVES the song "Chicken Fried" and "At Last" by Etta James. But she knows that Chicken Fried is only in Daddys Dodge and on Mommy's phone and that my car doesn't play my iphone for some reason.
She was a cowgirl for Halloween this year and she is quite obsessed with her red "cow boots." But it you ask her what she was for Halloween she will tell you very matter of factly that she was a CowBOY and cowboys says yeehaw, not cowgirls. LOL, who knows where she got that from.
She is a complete daredevil and just this past weekend climbed on the arm of the couch and said Daddy watch this, and jumped off, landed, then said TA DA!!!!
She is one of the most empathetic kids at her school and when someone is crying she always goes up to them and asks whats wrong and tries to comfort them. That warms my heart.
She is in love with her dolls, her monkey and her gymbo.
She rocks her dolls to sleep and wraps them in blankies (to make them comfy, cozy, of course) and sings to them and says shh, shh, shh. Then tells us to be quiet because they are sleeping. Pretty awesome watching her be a good caretaker, means we have taught her well for sure.
She loves art, or art projects more than anything. Her and her Daddy painted the pumpkins this year, and then she turned herself into an art project and painted her whole body. Awesome. In fact it didn't even all come off in the tub, took 2 baths to come off completely.
She didn't love Halloween this year that much. We took her trick or treating by my office this year, and the masks scared her. On Monday she told me she did not want to trick or treat so we stayed home and handed out candy, she thought that was super fun.
She also bites her nails sometimes and picks her nose, when I tell her to stop she says "but Mommy I have a BEEGER." Ugh, disgusting. Then she says, "that's disgusting." And scrunches her nose all up with a gross look on her face. Yes, Eleni, super disgusting please stop, and please don't hand me your BEEGER. Keep it in your nose or a tissue, mmkay?
Even with the "beegers," she is still the most awesome 2.5 year old I know and I swear she gets even more awesome by the day. She literally makes me explode with pride, our most important job in this world, we are definitely doing a great job. Our little footprint, is making a great spot on our beach.
Until next time....here are some recent photos
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