week in review

This was our first full week back to school/Diane's. It went great. The first few days Mia did a 'pathetic' walk and cry when I left. It was so heartbreaking. But by Wednesday she was off to her seat at the breakfast table and happy as a clam to eat her blueberries and waffles. Such a good thing when she is like that. Makes me feel better about leaving.

She has finally become very attached to some of her stuffed animals. Her big beagle dog she received for her first birthday now has to go with her to Diane's - she has to hold him anywhere we go in the car - it's so cute! She also has taken her farm to Diane's but insists on holding all 6 cow, pig and sheep in her arms in the car too!

Hording - I was just reading in Parents magazine how from ages 2-3 kiddos like to horde objects around the house. This is so true! Mia has taken a likening to one of mom's cabinets with corning and stoneware (yikes and heavy) and loves to line them all in a row in the living room. She also tries her hardest to sit inside one of my TINY TINY TINY Le Creuset dishes and gets so mad when she can't fit in - too cute!

random

Just some random recent photos. Mia is now in her booster seat (high chair is packed away). Here she is eating her first dinner of Chicken Taco soup then after pointing out her play-doh colors. Also playing with Great Grandpa. She was posing for me this morning before church, hence the big smile!

18 months!!

18 months seems so grown up to me! 1 1/2 years! Wow! This morning I took Mia in for her check-up and she did a fabulous job! Seriously, I have heard the horror stories of the 18 month check up (when they are more aware of what is going on) and she did great. The nurse was great and she loves Dr. Townsend so I know that helped. Our big girl is still slim but jumped up to the 30th percentile for height and weight (yah!). Everything looked great and again, always a sigh of relief! They were happy to see that she is talking more and her left foot is getting straighter when she walks which is great.

Monday and Tuesday she came with me to set up my classroom and had tons of fun playing in my room! Then on Wednesday, our last full summer vacation day, we went to the city to visit Uncle Brian. Great Grandpa and Grammy came over to play with us. Then on the way home we picked Dad up from work and got stuck in a HUGE thunderstorm, took us a long time to get home. Thursday she started to go back to her sitters. Yesterday was hard, she cried when I left but when I called to check on her, she was fine. It's so nice now, it's all girls and Mia is the second oldest so now she gets to sit at the big girl table in a booster seat! Mia's friends are Charolette, Avery (who is there just twice a week) and baby Karinna. Today when I dropped her off, not one tear (yeah for me). So hopefully Monday will be an easy transition again.

Mia is liking to say "no no no" lately. She prefers her food in large pieces (like a huge chunk of watermelon) and pulls it apart to eat herself. I love that she wants us to read books to her now - she will demand it! She loves to play with her Little People block set and arrange the dog and people just so. She loves playing with her play-doh and climbing on her little car. She loves going on walks with her stroller and hugging her dolls. She is still obsessed with Old MacDonald and constantly wants to hear any version of the song (Stacy Music, Raffi, Dan Zanes, anything). But will normally insist on Justin Roberts for her other songs. Her and Daddy have a silly dance when she brushes her teeth at night. When Dad gives her a bath I hear him say "do like daddy" and it's so cute, they are both doing this silly little dance together.

wa-wa

Among the many travels we accomplished this summer, one of Mia's favorite things this summer was the pool! Tuesdays and Thursdays we'd go to our local JCC for Tot Swim and met a lot of great moms and kiddos there. In the mornings when I'd say to Mia "let's get on your bathing suit" she'd reply with "wa-wa?" and I'd say yes and she would go right to the door and grab her shoes (yes she'd swim in her pj's if she could). She really loves the water! Today we tried the Splash Pad for the first time. At first she was rather apprehensive but soon she loved it.

This morning when I went to the kitchen to grab my coffee, all ready to sit down and do the bills, I came back and found Mia was already paying the bills for Mama. Our summer is winding down and soon I will be back in the classroom. Then the countdown for Christmas break starts - Congrats to our cousins Jason and Lyndsay - they are expecting their first baby!!! We can't wait to meet him OR her!

Ears Nose and Teeth

We've had another fun but busy week. Tot swim, playdate at the park, library, Brookfield Zoo with Maggie, Lily and Wavy and a rainy day on Friday to do some shopping and baking! This weekend we checked out the Oak Lawn Kids Museum - it was great! We will be sure to get a membership to the kids museums especially for the cold winter months. Sunday Grandma and Papo came to take us out for breakfast and to visit. Mia has had a touch of a stomach bug so we laid low the rest of the weekend (due to the heat wave I didn't mind one bit hanging out in the AC). She does like to literally walk now when we take our after dinner walk. Tonight she stayed in the stroller for half a block then walked the entire rest of the walk! She also has been known to 'call' people lately (you know who you are out there that received an EARLY Sunday morning phone call answered by rustling and toddler noises).

Here is a cute little video I caught of Mia ... if you listening closely at the end she says her name (Mya haha).

vocab update

Over the past few weeks, Mia's vocabulary has finally exploded! For awhile, she wasn't saying many 'words' but lots of babbles and grunts. She is really learning how to communicate with us and it's so great to see her blossom! I am just recording these so I can look back at what she was saying at 17 months.

Words she is saying with meaning: wawa (water), Mama (she hadn't said this for months then finally she is saying it again) Dad/Dada, dog, chiss (cheese), yea/yep yep, hi, bye-bye, more (so funny, I tried to teach her this sign months ago, I gave up since she never repeated it back, just last week she started to say MORE and use the sign language I taught her!), done, cow (sounds more like ca) crakon (crayon), du (duck),ball, toes...MOO like a cow and BAA like a sheep...I know I am forgetting some

and the best...when you ask her what is her name (when she feels like it) she says "MIA" I love it! (although it sounds like Mia with a southern twist)

Papa and Justin

Papa came to visit this weekend. He came out early Friday and stayed until Sunday. Mia had a great time with him. Saturday we headed down to the city early and ate at one of mommy's favorite places as a kid to eat breakfast. Then we spent the day at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Mia loved seeing the giraffes, polar bears, turtles, penguins, sea otters...then she took a nap. By the time we made our way to the Farm in the Zoo she woke up to see her favorites - the cows, goats, pigs and ponies! We made it to the truck before it really started to pour. Later in the day, we tried a new mexican restaurant in Hammond, IN recommended by one of mom's friends. It was yummy and after dinner dad took Papa on a tour of some old steel mill towns (Mia and mom had fun in the back seat). Sunday Papa left early after going to get coffee with dad, their Sunday ritual.

Then we headed back to the city for the Justin Roberts concert at the Retro on Roscoe street fest. It was SO fun, perfect weather and we loved dancing and singing to all our favorite Justin songs (I think mommy had a little too much fun). Mia seemed to enjoy it more that she is older than when we took her last summer. She first sat on dads lap with a look of shock on her like 'are these the songs I know but really loud?" then she got used to it and started to dance and walk all over the place. What a fun weekend we had.