Thanksgiving

We traveled to Detroit for Thanksgiving this year to be with the Caporale side of our family. Mia had a blast. She warmed right up to everyone and loved being around all the different people in her family. She just loved her great grandma and kept calling Papa "my papa". I love that she can identify them by name. Wednesday we spent the day at great grandma and great grandpa's. She loved playing the piano and loved when Aunt Sue played songs she knew. Thursday we traveled up to our cousin Kathy and Tony's for Thanksgiving. Mia loved hearing the family play guitar hero Beatles and eating up all the yummy food they cooked up. She didn't nap and did pretty good. She did fall asleep going back to Dad's house but she was still able to sleep fine at night. We forgot our pack n play so after a failed attempt at a makeshift floor bed, she ended up sleeping in bed with mom and dad. It actually was sorta fun sleeping with her but we are sure this will not become a habit (when we got home on Friday she slept great back in her crib - phew!). Thursday night we watched Charlie Brown's thanksgiving (she watched most of it until he became boring to her). Friday on the way home we were able to meet up with our good friends Dave and Brenda and Mia's BFF Ella. It's so great to see both girls getting to big. They say each others names but still hardly interacted until the very end, gave each other a very sweet hug. They just need to hang out for a few days and they will be playing in no time. We are glad to be home but it was a great trip. Dad and Aunt Christie also ran in the Turkey Trot - the 5K run in Detroit. They both meet their goals and had a great run.

21 months and symphony

Yesterday Mia turned 21 months - she had a big day! We went downtown to attend the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's children program "Mother Goose". We were a little worried thinking Mia wouldn't make the entire program because she is so young but she did GREAT! She kept saying "muusick, mussick" when they started to play. The show was great with storytelling mixed in with the music. Before the show there were several activities for all of the children - we found the cushions and storyteller the best! This was a great treat from Grandma that she will take us to each year. Mia even fell asleep on grandma's lap at the end of the show. Then we went to Greek Town (Santorini's our favorite!) for a birthday lunch with Uncle Brian. We all ate too much but had so much fun! Then we caught our train back home and relaxed the rest of the evening. What a great day! Thanks again Grandma (or as Mia says "grackah"). Mia really seems to love music and she enjoyed walking up close to the orchestra to check out all of the instruments...wonder which one she will want to play when she is older?

She is doing really good. We had a cold last week but we seem to be better now. Her food likes change every week but she is still a good healthy eater. Yesterday she wouldn't stop eating her greek food - we had her saying on the way home "i'm polish, i'm greek, i'm italian" it was so cute. She is such a european mix!

It's so hard to always know what the right thing to do as a parent is. This season's debate about whether or not to have your child vaccinated for H1N1 has been a hot topic. Even if you do decide to get the vaccine, can you even find it? We have been going back and forth about this over the last few months. Going from NO WAY is Mia getting this shot to feeling a panic about She HAS to get this shot. It's terrible; do you get the vaccine, if you can find it, and let her receive all those perservatives that are not good for her or do you chance her actually getting the virus? After some friends of ours, some family members and a student in my school came down with this virus, it really sent me into a panic that we HAVE to get Mia vaccinated. Plus, my OB strongly suggested it not only for me becauase I'm pregnant but for Mia because she is so young.

So after phone call after phone call to cook county, dupage county and our own pediatrician (who just informed us last week they will NOT be getting it at all) we finally found a clinic that will take both Mia and I on 11/29 in DuPage county. Yes it's a drive, about 45 mins, but so worth it. I am anxious to get this shot over with. And to think I debated the seasonal Flu shot last winter, now it's not even a second thought about Mia receiving that. Oh being a parent is such a hard thing sometimes when you are forced to make such important decisions. You always have to go with your gut, mommy's insticts are usually 99% accurate.

We had a quiet weekend. Mia was just getting over her cold when I came down with a bad cold. We did manage to get some fresh air on Saturday at the park and did some shopping. But on a good note, Daddy finished his Sears Tower race in 23 minutes on Sunday. Mia was excited when he brought her home a medal to wear.

Indian Summer

What a great Indian Summer we had this weekend. The weather was amazing. We tried to stay outside as much as we could. Mia and Dad walked to the library on Saturday morning. She walked the entire way! We took the dogs for a long walk and Mia had her nap outside in the stroller while we did some fall clean up outside. We also took a long walk in Izaac Walton on Sunday afternoon. Again Mia walked the entire way (if we asked her if she wanted us to hold her she would just say "no!") for about 2 miles. We collected different leaves then looked them all up when we got home to see what kinds of trees we saw.

She was so funny this weekend, everytime we went somewhere she'd say "where going (sounds like 'whergoing'. Then we'd respond then she'd say "why?". Most of our car ride out on Saturday night and coming back home went like this:

Mia "where going?"

Mom/Dad "we are going out for dinner."

Mia "why?"

Mom/Dad "because we are hungry."

Mia "why?"...then it kept going on and on..then finally when she was happy with our answer she'd say 'yeahhh!'...then about 2 mins later, it would start up again with "where going?".

She insists on putting on her own shoes and socks and coat, although she can't by herself, but I love the independence. She will either insist on me reading ALL her bedtime stories or insist on having Dad read them...either one not both. She is amazing to watch grow and is getting so smart!

13 week check up

What a busy few days! Mommy had parent conferences Thursday night until mid-morning Friday. Grandma came to spend the night so that she could help watch Mia. Friday after mommy got home we headed downtown for our 13 week check-up. The baby looked fine, Dr. McGee did an ultrasound "just for fun" as she put it. The baby was moving all around, I saw the fingers and toes, too cute! It's amazing there is a little baby moving around inside and I can't even feel it - yet! Dr. McGee also wants me to get the h1n1 vaccine - so since the office has it, I will do it next visit. She also pretty much convinced me to have Mia vaccinated - so thanks to our friend Stef, I found a clinic near by that has the vaccine. So I will call first thing Monday morning and I hope to get Mia's shot scheduled asap!

After our visit we walked over to visit daddy at work. Mia loved looking out of the big windows that overlook the city. She wasn't scared and kept leaning on the glass. She walking around and seeing lots of daddy's co-workers. We visited for awhile then headed back home. We said bye to grandma and took the train back - Mia took a nap on the way home which was nice.

opps....20 months

Ok so I missed it. I thought I posted but with the baby excitement and Halloween, I missed it! Mia turned 20 months last October 21st. Here are some exciting highlights dad and I just adore:

* Talking - Mia is starting to segment two words together. She will say "where daddy?" or "wha dat?" or "I know" or 'where charee". She says "peas" and "tank oo" when prompted. She is silly when she helps me empty the dishwasher she hands me plates and tells ME 'tank oo'. She will sing and talk to herself for a long time before bed, unless she is really tired. She will sit and read to us or read to herself. Her talking was very delayed but she has really taken off with it these past few months and we just LOVE hearing her talk. She is saying a ton of new words and repeats very nicely.

* Language Arts - Mia can recognize some letters in the alphabet. Mostly letters from her name and middle name. So far, a, b, c, d, o, t, m (her favorite letter), i, r...I think that is all for now. She recognizes her first and middle name too when she sees it. She can identify most primary colors: blue, brown, green, red, orange and yellow. sometimes purple and pink, black and white too.

* Math - numbers are not a big interest to her. She can say random numbers, she loves the number 2 but everytime I try to get her to count she says "NOOO". But if we count she often will say what number comes next. stinker. She can recognize some shapes, circle, triangle, square, heart, star and rectangle and can say most of their names (I can understand it).

There is a ton more she is doing that we notice each day. She is very particular, likes to help clean up most days and really is a sweet girl. She loves to say hi to people when we are out and has the saddest tone in her voice when she says "byyyeee".

She is so cute we could eat her up!!

Leaves!

Mia insisted on going 'outside' to help daddy rake the leaves. She has a blast falling back in the pile of leaves and throwing them up in the air. It was hard to get her back inside for lunch.