potty!

i've been trying to sit mia on the potty everynight before her bath and encourage her to pee there instead of on the floor or in her bath. she hasn't been into it at all but at least she's not screaming anymore...

tonight when i put her up there you know what she did? she peed! in the potty! on purpose!

and though i know that this isn't the start of her actually being potty trained at 15 months - it's a start. guess who's getting her own little potty when we get back from vacation?

why always when dad's gone?

tonight josh went to a king's game (good for him, glad he had a good time) while i stayed home with mia and did laundry. and more laundry.

after going to bed like an angel mia woke up 2 hours later covered in vomit. head to toe. and all she was concerned about was the one sock that had come off. "sooock..."

one more thing she doesn't need us for

mia has a bedtime ritual we're all pretty happy about:

5:00 dinner while mom cleans the kitchen
5:30 bathtime with dad
5:45 bottle while she wanders the house or sits in mama's lap on the couch
6:15 read books with mom and dad while finishing off bottle
6:30 bed (after saying goodnight to what seems like every item in her room, turning off the light and snuggling with mama some more she is laid down and given her blanket).

last night she prompted every move. wanted in her highchair. asked for a bath while still in her highchair. grabbed bottle and book. and here's the thing that had mama near tears...

before the lights were even off she wanted in her bed. she grabbed her blanket, said goodnight and went to sleep. no hugs necessary.

mama needs her hugs, mia!

shots and santa and magnets, oh my!

after mia endured the doctor visit i dropped her off weepy and sleepy at daycare about an hour before santa was to make his grand entrance. mia is normally ok with weirdos - she just give them a suspicious stare and stands completely still. but after the shots and the tylenol and her molars still coming in she was in no mood for the big fatty to get all up in her space. apparently there was screaming. and pictures! i cannot wait to get the photos and share them with you all!

josh's parents came up last night for a little pre-hannukah dinner. we didn't get dinner but mia did come away with some fun time with babi and come cool magnets - good times.

she's here to represent the lollipop guild...

today we had mia's 15 month dcotor visit. here are a few highlights:

1. there are fish and big kids in the waiting room. both are super cool and get the wide eyed stare with grin.
2. paper on the exam table can be unspooled for a long time - and it makes a really funny noise.
3. mia does NOT like having her head measured. she cried like a baby.
4. mia does NOT like having her teeth examined and simply will not let you do it.
5. 2 shots - both were awful but you get stickers on your legs and that's pretty cool.
6. tylneol tastes really good and she would drink the whole bottle if i let her. i didn't let her.

stats are as follows:

• height - 29" (10th percentile)
• weight - 20 lbs 13 ounces (10th percentile)
• head - 18.5" (75th percentile)

mia is officially shaped like a lollipop. shut up.

peek a boo and other funny things.

mia's a big fan of the peek-a-boo but either doesn't want to miss any of the action or doesn't quite get the point...she covers her mouth instead of her eyes.

if she stands still waiting for you to tickle her long enough that in and of itself becomes hilarious and she runs away laughing.

spitting is the latest craze. wait for it - she'll get you.

"no."

that's right, mia's mastered "no." good times, i tell you.

it's all she says to charlie anymore (think we say it a lot to, maybe?). poor charlie.

mia, do you want to take your jacket off? "no." (takes off jacket)
mia, would you like some milk? "no." (takes milk)
mia, it's time to take a bath. "no." (walks to bathroom)

and on and on it goes.

1...2...

mia has a love for climbing. and is full on testing the limits of "no" right now. there is an exercise machine in our family room (shut up, we'll use it!) that is her own little jungle gym. yesterday she was perched on top when i told her to get down and she wouldn't. none of the usual tricks worked so i started counting (which we've never done) "1..." and mia give me a naughty grin and says "2!" covering my giggles i count to 3 (which she ignores) and remove her from danger. she went directly to "think time". hee hee.

think about what you've done, mia!

too big.

as of today mia is officially too tall to walk underneath the desk in our office. she learned this fact slowly as she walked into the desk over and over. oh, mia.

road trip!

whew! we're hoooome!

friday night we headed to LA to visit some friends we met through flickr and a couple cousins. we figured it would be a good test run for the trip to new mexico in a couple weeks.

mia did pretty damn awesome, i gotta say. we drove mostly around her sleeping times so it wasn't too bad on her but even when she was up and going from car to restaurant to hotel to strangers' houses she was upbeat and having a good time. she even fell asleep in her stroller (which is no small task)! hooray for mia!



sadly, every time we pulled into a gas station, parking lot, etc. she would, every so sadly, say "hoome". but no, we weren't home. again. poor baby.

josh found the secret for getting her to sleep in the hotel (as she requires complete darkness and silence) - observe:



sunday we went to hang out with mama's cousin dave and his lovelye wife, kate. good food! and the ocean! woo hoo!



all in all a very good time. but we're glad to be hooome :)

stick!

mia is in love with the post it notes in our office. and stickers. anything that sticks. she'll stick it to you, the dog, the floor - just not her. it grosses her out to stick it to her skin. so it's really funny to stick them onher face :)

she found an old purse on my closet floor. you know the ones with your initial on them? and look! it's an M - for mia! she wandered around with that little purse on her arm so happy. except that her arm had to be in the air to keep it on since it was stuffed with toys. too cute, that girl.

stick!!

photos and more photos

saturday we took mia to get her photos taken at jc penny at the request of our friend (her daughter goes every month and she wanted the two girls to have one done together). we fought the crowds dressed mia up in her holiday best and oh, what fun.

you would think that with all the photos we take of mia that she would understand "smile!" but no. there is no smiling. there is only suspicious staring and trying to climb off of the platform. ah well.

tonight we had pur photos taken for the synagogue directory and she did much better (probably because she was on my lap and there weren't 50 other kids there - but whatever). while we were there the photographer asked if we'd had her picture taken with santa yet (um...remember where we were?). hee hee. no. but we really should. but ugh - the crowds! how'd you do it, mom?!

"muh"

what? you don't know what "muh" means? it's "please", silly. we ask mia to say please over and over again just to giggle at her when out pops "muh". she can say so much - but she can't master the "l" yet. ah well - due time.

shopping!

i took the day off early today and dragged mia to the super big old navy outside of town. she was such a good sport about it. she sat in the cart and said "hi" to everyone she saw - too cute. at one point i parked her by some fleece scarves and she held them to her face (obviously in heaven) and said "ni ni". and then yelled at me to take it off the hanger and give it to her "git!"

towards the end i let her out of the shopping cart and hot damn she's a fast little bugger. thought i was gonna have to go all "code adam" on her she disappeared so fast. remember when she didn't move? ah, those were the days :)

toddler mystery #8,512

tonight mia chose broccoli over jell-o. orange jell-o, people! after tasting both not only did she choose the broccoli but she didn't want anything to touch the jell-o. as though it might contaminate the rest of her dinner.

switched at birth, that's all i can think.

uh oh, i peed on you.

ok, this wasn't today...but whatever...

mia had some issues with her poo the other day (too much turkey, not enough veggies...) and was a crying mess. so there we were - her naked from the waist down and crying and me rocking her in the glider, trying to calm her down. after a while she stopped crying and simply laid her head on my shoulder and snuggled. how sweet, i know.

then she stood up on my lap, looked me in the eye and gave me a sad "uh oh". then she peed on me.

so yeah, gross. but also? she seems to know that a) she was going to pee and b) she shouldn't have done it on me. so it's looking like potty training in the spring/summer might just be an option!

shoe soup

right now i am watching mia pretend to eat something out of her shoe with a spoon. complete with loud "mmm"s and sharing the goodness with the dog and i.

it's the best shoe soup i've ever had.

happy thankgiving!

a super long weekend! mia got to spend thanksgiving with her super cool big cousins (and the rest of the family, but we don't really count - we're not as cool as the big kids) and learned all about cars and developed some new wrestling techniques. it was awesome!

today was spent shopping for hours and hours...finally ending up at the playground at the mall (what? your mall doesn't have a playground?) where she got to play with all the kids and stare in awe at the ones who could JUMP off of things and RUN and SCREAM! then it was on to sushi where mia ate and ate and ate (she gets that from her dad, you know) and then turned her nose up at ice cream (wherein we assume she was switched at birth).

"wah ou"

the heart, it bursts.

party animalllalal!

dad's birthday means a party for everyone - happy birthday, dad! saturday afternoon we had friends over and almost everyone had kids - it was crazy! ranging from 12 months to 12 years it was madess in the backyard with all the whooping and hollering (shut up, that's totally what they were doing!). the little ones just sat and stared at the big kids for a long time before working up the nerve to get into the mix. it was great.

mia's really working on words with "l" in them right now. it's hilarious - her tongue gets all tied up so she ends up just tossing it around in her mouth before it finally just falls out. josh and i ask her to say balloon and animal all day - it's that funny (well, to us, anyway).

thanksgiving feast

mia had a "thanksgiving feast" at daycare today. it was a disaster. after scheduling it an hour past their regular mealtime and 1/2 an hour into their nap time the toddlers were little zombies. josh and i went (as we're good parents who do anything involving our girl) and were instantly wishing we hadn't. we were the only parents there and mia lost her damned mind when we showed up. after 30 minutes of her crying, not eating and not taking a nap we left her crying with her teachers.

there was pie later - she forgot all about us.

2 more teeth!

they're coming in so fast now there's no keeping up with them! she does seem to be grasping the "ouch" concept a bit more, though. she pointed to her cheeks and said ouch last night. without hitting herself!

ouch?

mia's been injury free for days and days now! woo hoo!

she seems to be missing it a bit, though...whenever she hears the word "ouch" (and sometimes she'll jsut say it randomly) she hits herself in the head with both hands. what the hell? italked to her teacher to see if she had been doing it at school (we don't use the word ouch at home) and she looked at me like i was crazy. and of course mia wouldn't do it in front of her.

"sometimes babies just turn out awesome"

those were the first words out of dad's mouth today as mia tried to climb up his leg and get a hug. he's right. she's awesome.

cake makes her crazy

we hosted a birthday party for mia's friend, katia, today and boy was it ever fun! people! boxes! CAKE!

now, mia doesn't get any sugared food, really. fruit is about it as far as sugar goes. but hooboy - a little piece of chocolate cake and she was a crazy person for hour after everyone left. mama and daddy just sat and watched her run around the living room babbling and spittling on herself. for an hour. it was so funny and all we could do was viedo tape it (hopefully it'll be posted on teh vimeo site one day) and wait for the crash.

and crash she did. no more cake!

molars!

two teeth in two days!

friday morning mia woke up at 3:15 and just wanted to be held (who is this baby?!). for an hour she rocked with mama, wide-eyed. finally mama needed to lie down so off to the big bed they went. the thing is that mia doesn't really sleep in the big bed. she plays. she never did fall back to sleep but for the next hour she was content as long as she was lying on mama's throat.

and that was it...a look in her mouth later that day showed one upper molar coming in and the next morning there was another one on the other side.

what a trooper, huh?!

a-hoo

imagine this being said in a sad little toddler voice. it's the cutest thing ever and it only happens becuase mama makes fun of mia.

when mia starts in with the crying for no reason (food not coming fast enough, etc.) mama makes fun of her crying. and so now when mia starts in with her whining "for no reason" it quickly turns into a sad little "a-hoo" and then she giggles.

cutest. thing. ever.

can you say spoiled?

oh man, we're in trouble. mia is totally spoiled at her daycare. seriously. they're going to have a hard time when she's in preschool and not so squeezable (yeah right, she'll always be squeezable).

it seems like someone is always holding her. or that she is spending time with one of the assistants (the awesome ms. jenna) in the office. they all call her their favorite and have been told by the owner that they can't say that in front of other parents. only they did the other day when mia was being dropped off...so embarassing. she's just too darn cute! and sweet!

apparently the funniest things in the world are mama's legs. she's got to crawl in between them over and over again, giggling. and when mama swings them in the air? oh she could giggle for 5 minutes straight on that one! silly girl.

all the boys love her.

there is a little boy in the preschool at mia's daycare center named angel. angel has a little sister a bit older than mia but she doesn't go to daycare with him and i think he really misses her during the day because when we leave the daycare each day and he's playing outside he will drop whatever he's doing to come over and love on mia. then he follows us to our car and talks to her through the fence, trying to make her giggle or stop crying. he loves her.

today a little boy in her class, avery, was insistent that he give her hugs and kisses. she put up with it for a second or two, even giving him a kiss on the face. but when she was done she yelled at him. yelled. that's my girl!

another ouch report today. sigh...they told us that "if she would just stop climbing on things she wouldn't get hurt." oh well, not gonna happen.

dat?

that would be mia's new question? does that count as a saying? she says it all freakin' day. ah, the things we pick up in the toddler room. "dat?" (little finger pointing to whatever "dat" is) all. day. long. so far it's still cute...ask us again tomorrow.

accident waiting to happen

we have a friend who suggested that we keep a sign in the house counting down our "days without injury" - not a bad idea. seriously - this kid can't go a day without getting an "ouch report" at school. of course this last one was totally our fault.

mia's between sizes right now. she fits pretty well into the 12 month pants that she has except that her big ole panza makes them tight around the waist. but the 18 month pants are like 3 inches too long and hang all homey style in the crotch.

mia's a climber and yesterday she was climbing up onto the chairs in her classroom when she slipped and whacked her face on the chair. i don't know if you've ever tried to climb up onto something with your pants around your knees but that's about what it's like for her in these pants.

poor little mia. but until her legs get a little longer or her belly gets a little smaller she's gonna have a busted up face. sigh...

basketball and snot. it must be fall.

the snot has begun it's annual run down the faces of all the kids at the daycare. and this time mia's part of the pack. she's yet to really get sick (small cold last winter) so this first winter off of breastmilk and in the toddler room should be interesting.

last night the bedtime routine that used to involve reading progressed to involve watching basketball with daddy while having the last bottle of the night. and she actually seems to watch it (she's not really much for tv at all yet).

mama is outnumbered.

meow

mia's been saying meow in reference to cats for a while now. but after our visit with josie (who has a cat) it's her answer to any "what does ---- say" question. tonight mama was telling mia that "no" she could not play with the toilet paper roll. mia wasn't listening (because she's only 13 months old). mia's hands were held down and she was asked "what did mama say?"

meow.

sigh...

what mia learned from josie.

the screaming. oh, the screaming. josie has this awesome scream that sounds almost just like a siren. it revs up and is nice and steady. and LOUD. well mia decided that she would try this out since it seems to be working so well for josie. want out of the carseat? SCREAM! done with dinner? SCREAM! don't want your socks on? SCREAM!

no, dude. enough with the screaming.

it really only lasted until half way through yesterday. then mama and mia had a little talk and it seems to have stopped. for now.

look, a giraffe!

so friday we almost got out of daycare without injury. and then ms. mary opened the door and wacked mia in the head. oh well...today mia learned to sit on her butt and spin in a circle with her feet. it is time for a sit and spin, people.

saturday we headed to san francisco to attend the boo at the zoo with our friends and man...it was FUN! mia was a giraffe (of course) and josie was both a ladybug and a ninja (very versitile, that one).



there was screaming and giggling and hippos! and we almost made it out of the zoo without incident until an aver tired mia ran after a peacock (or a duck, all feathered friends are ducks) and fell flat on her face. there was screaming. and blood. she wouldn't stop crying for anythign until mama uttered the magic word..."duck?" the crying stopped instantly and we moved on to find the peacock. i'm sorry...duck.



sunday we went to the dios de los muertos festival in oakland with the josie and her parents - it was awesome fun. we found that if we stopped at a french bakery and a ordered "beignet" without sugar we would end up with a sopapilla and hooray!!! because we know that mama misses her new mexican food.

this weekend mia mastered "thank you". she's been copying it for some time now but this weekend she started saying it appropriately and all on her own. she's a genius.

step off, dad!

last night mama was being treated to a shoulder rub while sitting on the living room floor. when mia saw what was going down she sped over, jumped on mama's lap and started beating dad's hands away while screaming at him. we tried to calm her down and tell her that it was ok - that mama liked to have her shoulders rubbed but she wasn't having it. apparently mamas are for kids only! step off, dad!

cuddlebug.

mia has discovered the joy that is charlie. everyday for 10 months now we've come home from daycare and acted so excited to see charlie, hoping that one day she would see how cool he is and love him like crazy. today it happened. when we came home she flew out of my arms to kiss his nose and pet him (ever so gently). hooray!

the poor dog, she won't leave him alone now. he has toes! and ears! and a tail! none of which will he let anyone but mia touch. good dog, charlie.

mia has also discovered the joy that is mama! finally! there are KISSES! and HUGS! last night she just wanted to CUDDLE. the mind reels. we were beginning to think it might never happen. seriously. she's just so busy busy busy and never has time to hug and kiss on us. and when she's tired? she just wants to be put down so she can fall asleep. even as an infant she didn't want to be cuddled. and so mama's a sucker and sat and rocked her and kissed her head until she was nearly asleep. there is no greater joy. yet.

party, party, party!

holy cow, what a busy weekend little ms. mia had!

friday
she's learning how cute she can be and that it can keep her out of her crib at bedtime. she has just recently let us hold her for "no reason" (not transporting her, not feeding her, etc.) and will sometimes even dole out a hug or two! well friday night she was being beyond silly and had mama pick her up for one last hug and walk around the room. just when she was about to give in and go back in her crib she got very close to mama's face and stuck a finger up each of mama's nostrils. and then giggled wildly. goodnight, mia.

saturday
saturday mia woke up to her grandparents in the house. daddy's parents had come to town and snuck in while she was sleeping - what a treat!



she was an angel at the lunch afterwards and charmed the guests. people were amazed at how friendly she was - willing to go with anyone on a new adventure. yes, mia would be easy to kidnap...sigh...

that night mama and mia went to a birthday party for mia's friend, robin. he turned 1 last week! and oh my what a party it was. the party was supposed to start at 5 but didn't really get going until about 6. mia had been up all day with only a one hour nap under her belt and she goes to sleep every night at 6:30. well not tonight! robin's parents are from india and he is their only son. this party was no joke. at 8 mama tried to take the yawning baby home and was told that "no, you cannot leave. robin is tired too and tomorrow is a holiday. she'll be fine. it's robin's birthday. you have to stay!" ugh. so daddy was called came to the party (yay!) we tried again at 9 (just as dinner was being served). no go. and yes, mia was still awake. we all had a great time dancing and eating and carrying on.

we finally left at 11:30.

sunday
mia slept in for all of 30 minutes after her big party night...she's is SO into her sleep schedule! she was actually really good all day, too. she napped and we went to the park - she was in a great mood for having so little sleep the night before.

and then we tried to put her to bed.

there was SCREAMING for 2 hours. and then she woke up screaming in the night twice. poor little one. poor parents.

monday
mia again slept in for 30 minutes today (thank you, honey!) and spent the day home with mama. her sleeping is still screwy from the weekend and she woke up in a terror from her nap and once already since she has been asleep tonight (though she went down without a peep). hopefully this is the last of it. it's like a terrible baby hangover.

she's been working so hard on her speech this weekend. right now everything is "nana". you can tell by the inflection what she means, but it's still all "nana". if you say something really slowly and over pronunciate she will then try to copy you...you can see the tongue moving and her mouth taking on new shapes and then, ever so slowly, out comes "naaaaa naaaa". too funny. today, however, she mastered S and SH. woo hoo!

shopping! and coughing!

the daycare called and said mia should go home because whenever she would lie down she woud start in with the coughing and eventually it made her throw up. and since they can't give her meds at school she wasn't going to get any better there. bummer.

of course when mama showed up mia was surrounded by teachers, giggling. not coughing. and she had acquired a new bruise in her 5 hour stay at daycare. oh, mia.

we went home and tried to nap but she was having none of it. so shopping we went! you see, with the holidays coming up and the fact that we're going back to albuquerque (yes, that's right, you heard it here first, we'll be in NM for christmas!) and the fact that mia is going to have photos taken with a friend of hers it was time to get the kid a dress. and won't she look cute in this? yes, yes she will.

of course as soon as she went to sleep the coughing started up again and she was up twice with mama. poor little bean. she never gets sick and it's just heartbreaking to hear her cry when all she wants to do is sleep.

all sorts of cool stuff!

mama's cousin jenny sent mia the cutest outfit ever and it came with pink suede boots (all the babies need them!). mia hasn't worn anything but soft soled leather shoes so we weren't sure that a) we could jam her little feet in there or b) that she would like walking in them. success! she not only got in them but clomped around all night long! loves them! we took her outside to get some pictures for jenny and when she heard the neighbors' kids outside she took off down the street towards the noise. can't be left out of the fun!

she also got a goodie package from her great aunt leslie and uncle allen last night - this girl is too blessed, i tell ya. dolls and books and shirts and shoes - it was a good day!

mia is now officially a full-time toddler at her school. no more bouncing back and forth between the infants and the toddlers. the toddler teacher (ms. bonnie) asked if we were ok with her being in the class with the bigger kids (mia's wee, you know) and assured us that she was tougher than some of the boys in the class so we really didn't need to worry. gee, wonder where she got that...

oooh...butterflies!

mia's been much more attentive with reading books the past couple weeks and her new favorite is one she got for her birthday from her friend, noah. it's called "good night, sweet butterflies" and is one of the few books that she will sit still for, turning the pages and giggling at all the bright colors. thanks, noah!

oh yeah, and she spends a lot of time walking backwards. you know, just to test it out. "whoa, look at me, i'm walking backwards!" and then bam, right into the wall. hee hee.

the great napping toddler

mia's been transitioning into the toddler room over the past week (much to the dismay of the infant teachers who swear she's "too little". we think they just don't want to lose mia. who would?). when mama came to get her today she was asleep in the toddler room. on a mat! it was the first day mia was going to be sleeping in the toddler room and the teachers were all very nervous (she hasn't napped well in the infant room. distractions, you know.). well they had nothing to worry about. she laid right down with the rest of the kids and went to sleep. she woke up before the others and laid quietly on her mat until mama came to get her. go mia!!

she did, of course, manage to come home with a large bruise on her face after she fell and knocked it into the table outside...sigh...but what can you do? she's rough and tumble.

the weekend

whoa - so much excitement!

saturday
while dad was at work mia and mama went shopping (well what else are you going to do while dad is at work?!) and then to the park. good times all around. mia loves to go to the store and wander around so we made sure to go really early so that there wouldn't be anyone there. she tore all over old navy and ended up getting the perfect hat. it's really too bad it was so freakin' hot here! while on the swings mia spotted two dogs across the park, demanded to be taken out of the swing and marched across the park. she toggled between the german shephard and the black lab "which do i choose?!" she loved on both, said goodbye. very cute (duh).

when dad got back from work we decided that we both needed a beer. so off we went to the fox and goose. it was early and there were only a couple other people in the bar. but a couple is enough for mia to make friends with...and off she went...she has this funny monkey greeting that she does now. she will walk up to the person she wants to pay attention to her, put her hands up over her head and smack her belly with them. smiling all the while. where she picked this up is a mystery - but it's quite effective.

we're bad parents for not taking the camera when we took the baby to the bar...

sunday
sunday we went to the pumpkin patch where mia picked out the perfect pumpkin to take home. then it was home and back to the park.



more dog action at the park where she was gushed on by two old people for being so gentle with their wee old dogs. look, mia can be gentle when she wants to!

it's never enough

because we're obviously not online enough, and you can't hear enough about mia's life we give you The Blog. deal with it.

mia has started a great stage where everything is new and exciting and she's able to interact with the world around her. she's a toddler now (can you believe it?!) and things change daily. and so to keep those of you who don't have the joy of being with her everyday up to date we'll be recording her daily adventures here.

enjoy.