we're alive!

we're just getting back to our normal routine after a short vacation with friends and a visit from mia's aunt jessica. boy are we ever tired. tired, i tell you!

aunt jess is the coolest!

jessica came to visit for 10 days and mia now has a new idol. within the first day i had been pushed aside in favor of "an jayca". it's amazing how similar teenagers and toddlers can be: they both giggle non stop, need naps in the middle of the day, eat like horses or not at all - but you never know which one it's gonna be, and completely wear you out.

aunt jessica is queen of the night-night game and i love her for it. it started back in december when we went home for christmas and has since evolved to a more complex game that includes "hiding". everyday since jess left mia runs into the living room as soon as we get home, lays her dog shaped pillow on the ground and throws a beanbag chair over her head. "nigh nigh. my hiding." followed by giggles and demands that you get under the beanbag chair with her. such a nerd.

jessica left on monday and we've been sad and lonely without her. mia is bored and i'm tired of crawling under the vinyl beanbag with her. please send her back, mom and dad.

to the beach!

we have been dying to get to the beach since we were invited months ago and the day finally arrived. we all piled in the car and drove the 5 hours straight to aptos, ca.

mia's a HUGE fan of the sandbox at school, loves the water and loves her friend, josie. sounds perfect, doesn't it?! umm...no. turns out our kid hates the beach. the water's too cold and the beach sand sticks to your body OH MY GOD GET IT OFF!!!!! sigh...maybe next year.

we spent one perfect and exhausting day with the kids at the monterey bay aquarium - i couldn't believe how much they loved it. we thought that they would acknowledge the fish but not be too overly excited by them and proably fall asleep in the stroller. man were we wrong.
there was running and screaming for "more fish! more penguins! shark!!" they even got to hang out in a giant penguin egg - how many of you can say you've done that?!

if i could take mia there everyday i would. it was that good.

ah but we had to go home. :( we spent our last day on the coast between santa cruz and san francisco. there was a lot of time spent in the car and mia didn't nap. she was cranky and whiny (which is odd for her, really). by the time we got home that night she was done with us all and ready for bed. as i was changing her into her pj's i thought she was a bit hot and dusted off the thermometer (she's never sick, you know).

103.7

holy. crap. so we loaded her up on tylenol and she sweat out whatever little bug she'd managed to pick up. thank goodness.

other things

barnacle - i think a week out of daycare really threw her for a loop and she ended up attached to me for nearly a week. and the whining, oh my god, make it stop! i even had to send her to her room the other day:

mia: waaa...
mom: stop whining or you can go to your room. do you want to go to your room?
mia: yes.
mom: ok, go to your room, see you later.

at which point mia went to her room, played for 5 minutes and came back a happier baby. hasn't happened since.

"i want it" - not quite as sweet and cute as her "thank you" but still pretty cute. except when it's combined with theh whining. then it sucks.

playdoh - mia's discovered playdoh. but playdoh isn't for making things. oh no. playdoh is for taking out of the container and putting back in the container. over and over again.

"red!" - everything is red. if you ask mia what color something is? red! what shape it is? red! what it IS? red!

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i will leave you with a photo of mia and her friend, owen. the cutest kids in town.