"think time"

monday mia put herself in "think time"* twice.

she had been climbing on the eliptical trainer (hey, someone's gotta use it) and slamming a dresser drawer closed over and over again - both strict no-no's. i talked to her calmly about it and tried to direct her attentin elsewhere but she was just in a trance with the bad behavior. so i counted. "1...2..." it was here that she stopped what she was doing and sat herself down with her back against the wall. i told her she didn't have to go into "think time" and we'd just go and play something else. but no. she sat perfectly still for about 30 seconds and then exclaimed "all done!" and we moved on to the next activity.

how weird is that?

* "think time" is her daycare's term for "time out"

one thing i'll regret teaching mia...

...telling her to wipe her hands on her pants when she tells me that they're dirty.

melmo?

in mia's classroom elmo was painted on the window for as long as she's been there. well last week they took him down and everyday since then mia's been going to the window and asking "melmo?" and then looking under thte table for him. because you know, he probably just fell off of the window.

little baby no sleep.

last night mia went to bed a little fussy around 7 and slept like a rock until exactly 11:04. at this time she decided that she needed her mama and nothing else would do. she screamed her head off until i picked her up. then she snuggled into my chest, asked to sit in the rocker and giggled. after an hour of trying to get her back down i finally took her to bed with me (josh being out of town there was lots of room for her to squirm). after an hour of not sleeping her her giggling i took her back to her room. after another hour of trying to get her down (and i tried it all!) i took her back to bed with me again. she snuggled right up with me and slept restlessly until 4 when she finally settled down. at 6 i got up to tell work i wouldn't be in anytime soon (because just because she was sleeping well with her feet in my gut didn't mean i was) - sensing i wasn't in bed she freaked out and we had to start all over again. we gave up completely at 7.

mia's in high spirits. mama has a migrain and a pinched nerve in her back.

what the hell happened to my perfect little sleeper? i can only assume a growth spurt has her brain on turbo and she can't sleep. great.

how single parents do it is beyond me!

mia's weekend adventures

bits from our weekend with mia...

run! run! run!

everyday on the way home from daycare we drive by the local highschool track team running through our neighborhood. mia gets so excited and screams at them to "run! run! run!" while waving at them all. saturday she was out in the front yard with me while i did yard work - all bundled up in her parka - when a woman jogged by the house. "run! run! run!" i told mia "that's right, run!" and off she went. down the drive way, into the street and after the jogger. "run! run! run!"

pee goes in the potty

mia's been pretty interested in the toilet lately so we went out and got her one of her very own. that first day she took me to the potty, had me strip her down and PEED in the potty. twice. awesome. she's not potty trained by any stretch of the imagination and we probably won't really be working with her on it for a while - but still - pretty cool.

we even have a potty song already. it's the elmo's world theme song. her potty is directly across from out toilet so we sit there and "la la la la" the time away. take that, melmo!

"ba ba"

ah, the catch all phrase - and one of the reasons we won't be serious about potty training for a while...

depending on the inflection given to the above phrase it can mean: bubbles, bottle, potty, or outside.

hot hot hot! and cold, oooo, cold!

suddenly all of mia's food is very hot. all the time. even her yogurt and applesauce. all food must be blown on before consumption. every. single. bite.

and it's terribly cold outside! at least according to mia, anyway. every time she goes outside she's all over the full body shiver and "oooo". cuz baby, it's cold outside!

the new kitchen

josh's parents had gotten mia a kitchen for hanukkah but it was just "that much" too big and dangerous for her. so - while at target exchanging it we found the exact same one scaled down and it's perfect.

and she loves it.



out to lunch

sunday we wrapped up the weekend with coffee, beer and danishes at a local cafe. mia's really pretty good when we eat out. really. this time, however, she opted to not sit in the highchair at all. which would be ok if we paid more attention to her, i guess...twice she tipped the chair over and nearly cracked her face on the table. and then josh tried to give me a break and hold her for a while...



but then we hit the park and all was right again.

no poop here

mia didn't poop yesterday at all. which means that she is working on something that will no doubt split her in two. poor baby girl. yesterday we sent her to school with prune juice and orders for her to only have milk at naptime - the rest of the day is water and or juice. she wouldn't touch the stuff.

thinking i could get her to drink it at home (because i'm smarter and prettier than those daycare ladies, and what do they know, anyway?!) i took the juice home and gave it to her in her favorite cup with a straw. she took a sip, made a funny face and then handed it back to me "thank you!" i told her to have some more and you know what she did? she pretended to drink it, exclaimed about how "yummy" it was and then gave it to me. she tried to trick me into drinking the prune juice. she is too smart for me.

so no poop. and she woke up at 1:30 this morning in tears because her stomach hurt so badly. still...no poop.

in other news...i walked into the kitchen and heard a slurping sound last night. knowing that mia wasn't drinking her juice i was confused and couldn't find her anywhere. finally i see her - she has the dogs water dish between her legs and is dunking her fingers in the bowl and then sucking all the water off. charlie looked like he might just die. "she's got my water!!!" poor dog.

think poopy thoughts for mia today!

rock on, mia. rock on.

i'm not sure how this hadn't happened earlier but mia listened to the violent femmes for the first time this week. and like her mama, she's a freak for them now. a freak, i tell you. it's all about the bass solos for her.

last night we were driving home and she was in a sour mood, pouting out the window and such. i put on a cd and watched her in the mirror. she kept staring out the window and fought the rock for as long as she could but before too long she got her elvis lip on and was kicking her legs wildly and nodding her head. smiling ear to ear.

i love her.

more big news! mia's totally eating with a fork now. and sure, you think - "so what, i eat with a fork all the time." ah, but what if you didn't? people would be talking, that's what. and to keep her from being the kid eating things with her hands in highschool and beyond (bad enough she'll still be wearing a bib) we're teaching her to use a fork. and she loves it. she gets to stab things!

all melmo, all the time.

mia doesn't watch tv at home. she just hasn't been into it at all. i mean sure, she'll stand still for 10 or 15 seconds to check something out - but that's it. but i know that they watch tv at daycare (don't get me started) because she knows who "melmo" is and i witnessed her freak out on a barney video when i picked her up one day (again, dont' get me started on the tv at daycare)...

well the past couple of weeks she's really been learning things - colors, more objects, numbers (well...mostly just the number 2...but it's a start) - so i started recording sesame street yesterday. we had it on as background and watched a bit during her bedtime bottle. i love sesame street - really love. but mia's STUCK on melmo. she thinks they're ALL melmo.

they're NOT ALL MELMO, mia!!! grover is NOT melmo!!! neither is big bird!!!

sigh.

go kings!

josh and i took mia to her 3rd nba game on sunday. the first time she was in utero and unimpressed, the 2nd time she was still an infant and, again, unimpressed. this time, however, she was a walking, talking, wiggling toddler - woo hoo!

she was pretty good about sitting on my lap (but not josh's...) and she developed a serious relationship with the garlic fries and mustard off of my hotdog. and do you know what's cool about mama's beer? bubbles!! dear god - she had her hands in my beer all night long. at one point i thought i would discourage her from doing that by having her lick it off of her fingers (because you know, it'll be gross to her, right?). bad idea. mama's girl, you know...

anyway - good thing it was a blowout because people weren't so loud (mia even started booing like everyone else) and didn't seem to mind a toddler squirming around and interrupting the game. but much to josh's dismay she watches the games like i do...eating and drinking her way through it while people watching and poking him to get his attention. poor josh. maybe the next one will watch with him.

hawoh?

a list of things mia has been doing since we got back from nm:

1. hawho? - it's all about the phone. see, the phone is always ringing at grandma's house and so now life is all about the phone. thanks, jess ;)
2. woof woof - sure, she knew what the dog said but thanks to anthony and grandma's ever-barking dog now everytime she sees a dog she starts in with the woofing (which is better than pointing and saying "NO", i suppose).
3. i don't know / oh no! - she holds her hands up near her shoulders and shrugs. i don't know!
4. begging to go to the potty (bah bah) and then regusing to get on the toilet - she had been figuring out the deal with the potty before we left and grandma had picked up a toilet seat for mia and anthony. mia likes the idea of getting all undressed and ready for action - but doesn't really want to sit on the seat. she shakes her head and walks away like it was a very silly idea in the first place.
5. taking things to bed with her - especially the new dog that maggie gave her. she loves the dog, maggie! there is kissing and woofing, it's very sweet.
6. opting to NOT destroy her books - she's turning pages ever so gently now! thanks, grandma!
7. obsessed with bubbles - thanks to the bubbles in her stocking and all the dishes we did at grandma's she is now completely obsessed. runs crying to the sink for more bubbles all day long. she'll scoop them out of the sink and then you have to blow them off of her hand because "ew! there are bubbles on my hand! get them off!"

oh what a time we had!

(this is gonna be long...)

man did we ever fall behind in the mia updates! yes, i know, you're all dying a little inside without her, i understand completely. here, let me help:

we left for NM on christmas eve and both of the plane rides were surprisingly pleasant. not many people fly late in the day on the 24th, apparently. the pressure changes don't bother her ears at all and she was just mesmerized at the view from the window (for about 1 minute and then it was on to reading the skymall catalogue over and over and over).

when we were flying out of phoenix it was dark outside and the look on her face when she saw the city lights from above was priceless "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EARTH?! WHERE DID IT GO?!" ha ha, mia - gotcha!

we went straight to great-grandma moser's house and even though it was really late by mia's standards she had a great time with all those crazy people we call family. uncle phillip is the best peek-a-boo player the child has ever seen and she made austin's day by being younger and shorter than him :)



but then the tired hit and she almost died. but not really.



christmas day we slept late (mia slept in the closet and by god how did we NOT GET A PICTURE OF OUR BABY SLEEPING IN A CLOSET?!) and opened our presents around noon. mia was in heaven what with all the boxes and paper and puzzles and bubbles. it was all very exciting. mostly she just kind of wandered around taking it all in. the mosers? they are a lot to take in, you know. but finally she found her place in the house. sitting on uncle pat's old horse, eating a nasal aspirator and watching grandpa play video games.



a couple days later aunt brandi came down from colorado with anthony! and off we went to the bio park to enjoy the lights. the kids had a great time sliding off of giant potatoes and crawling into giant bird eggs - it was a gorgeous night. but it was another late night for mia and she was none to pleased by the time we got home. to the closet with her!

the next day we took the kids to the zoo and they had a great time. mia is just becoming old enough to really enjoy things like this. she knew what the animals were and could point them out in their environments. and what was her favorite? oh come on, people! it was the ducks, of course!



and then we were off to "the land". i don't think mia has ever seen so much of the outside at one time. there's not a whole lot out there and she just wanted to walk off into the sunset. so ben and jess put her and anthony in a wheelbarrow and off they went.



we didn't sleep very well while we were there between the cold and the cough mia picked up thanks to the dry air, but we snuggled in bed and giggled. mia's new favorite game is "night night" thanks to her aunt jessica. she learned all kinds of fun new things from her aunt and uncle (but more on that later).

the last night we were at the cabin mia started coughing and ended up vomiting all over me (awesome!). thankfully that's all it was and she was instantly better. glad to help, honey. and though she did it again the next night she never did get a real cold or anything - stupid dry air making the baby cough! :)

the best part of the trip for all of us was uncle ben and aunt jess. they were always happy to take mia and play until they all dropped. being around them i think mia realized that she's capable of a lot more than she thought. she's talking more (which is always cool) but she's learned a lot more in the way of context and tone of voice. and volume. what was a clean crisp "no" is now an exasperated screaming sigh of a "noooo!" thanks, ben and jess ;) she's also getting into more around the house. we're pretty good about not letting her see us do certain things but with a ton of people taking turns caring for your kid she's bound to pick some stuff up - but it's great. she's a smart one.

and she loves her uncle ben and aunt jess to pieces. she learned their names and their value quickly. they would carry her around and play with her when mom and dad were tired and boring. they would read to her and take her outside and teach her games and scream and giggle and never put her down for a nap. perfection in any baby's eyes. one night i couldn't get her to calm down and she kept crying for jessica. yes, she was crying out for her aunt jessica after only a week and she has only cried out for me a handful of times in 15 months. anyway...i had to have jess sit on the bed with us while we read a bedtime story and as soon as she walked in the room mia settled down. jess is going to have to move out here for highschool, i think.

she became really clingy this last week, though. if she saw me she had to be in my arms. hugging me. she was so completely different in that respect. it was awesome to have her choose me in a crowd of people but good lord with the clingy!

when we got home (after another 2 great flights) mia wouldn't let me put her down. she had me walk her from room to room and i watched her slowly realize that we were finally HOME. there was this great peace on her face when she walked into her room and played ALONE for 30 minutes with her blocks. and though she didn't sleep all that well the first night and cried and cried when josh dropped her off at daycare the next morning (which she has never done), things are getting back to normal and we're all glad to be home.

we didn't get a chance to see much extended family but if they were as busy as we were it's no wonder. and that is why we have the internets!

happy holidays to you all!