4/30/2015

Mia ate two servings of raisin english muffin and ate blueberries for breakfast.  She ate all of her lunch: turkey sandwich, green beans, and strawberries.

Cooper was playing with a phone talking to "Momma" and Mia grabbed a phone and started talking to her Momma;  "Hi Mom! No, I'm not getting in trouble!"  Ha ha ha!  Funny!  Not necessarily true, but still funny!  :)

Cooper asked for a tutu so he could do some spinning with Mia.  They spun so much and so hard that they were soon getting dizzy.  It's hard to capture that in a picture (although you can see Mia's hair flying a little), but the next picture shows what happens when you get too dizzy!

Elliott was getting a big chuckle out of watching them too and he also started spinning with them as well.

I love watching the kids use their creativity!  For example they play with the building blocks just about every day and it's amazing how many scenarios they come up with!  Today the blocks were their "ice cream stores."  Cooper, of course, was intent on ordering only "green ice cream."

As most of you probably already know, Mia will be starting at a Pre-School on Monday.  (She's going to be here for a half day tomorrow.)  So today will be Mia's last blog.  Many of you have expressed your appreciation for this Blog and I'm glad you all enjoyed it.  I will miss many things about taking care of Mia.  I know it's time for her to move on, but it's never easy.  It was such a privilege for me to love and care for this precious little girl.  She'll always have a special place in my heart.

4/29/2015

Mia ate three servings of jelly toast (the girl loves her jelly toast!) and ate mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate beef & bean burrito, two servings of sweet potatoes, and ate tropical fruit.  At lunch Mia asked, "What's on Cooper's nose?"  I said it was probably a flipping booger!  So she asked Cooper the same question; "What's on your nose?"  He answered, "A flipping booger!"  :)

These next two pictures are essentially the same, but I wanted to show Mia and Cooper doing a good job (usually - and with my help) of allowing Elliott to be a part of some of their activities.  He's handing legos to them for their project.  He's really not intentionally destructive with their building activities and that's the primary key to him being included in the process.

Mia and Cooper were both very engaged with "building our playground!"  Cooper said, "This is for the slide!"  I love how their play gets more complex and detailed as they get older.  Cooper, of course, gets a healthy dose of that with two older sisters at home as well!

Speaking of "more detailed" here is another example.  They moved their legos building project to the table top and then decided to rest from their labor.  :)  They had included legos puppies and it's all in the picture under the blankets.  Cooper said, "Ok, let's go to bed now!"  Mia stuffed the puppies under there as well and said, "goodnight my sweeties!"  Then they went through their usual routine: "Is it morning yet?" Cooper asked.  And Mia gave her usual answer, "I haven't went to sleep yet!"  So they went to sleep and Mia yells, "Oh No!!  We've got a bigger problem!!"  And she went on with a long monologue which basically said that something went missing while they were sleeping!  :)

They were having a discussion about "teeth" and Mia said, "I got my sharp teeth from the dentist" and Cooper agreed that was the place to get some sharp teeth.  So I said, "Maybe I'll get mine sharpened!"  Mia has an answer for most everything; "Noooo! You have gold teeth!"  True.  :)

4/28/2015

Mia had three servings of cinnamon roll and ate canned prunes for breakfast.  For lunch she had bites of scrambled eggs, hash brown, cheese, and sausage combo.  She ate her waffle and cantaloupe.

Mia built with the legos, played with the vacuum cleaners, jumped and ran with Cooper, and played with the food toys.  She found a "brownie" that had some issues; "Gaaarrrrreeeeee!!" She yelled.  "I have a problem!!"  Ha ha ha!  "He chewed on it!!"  "He" was Elliott and the brownie had drool all over it!

I just happened to be holding my camera when I spotted an arm coming over the top of the changing table.  Mia had pulled out her ponytail holder and was depositing it on the table.  :)  And then she was peering over the top at me!  Yes I saw you Mia!  Your ponytail almost made it to breakfast time!

Mia and Cooper were pretending to sleep and Mia was giving orders: "Let's go night night!  Turn off the lights Coop!  Turn the sound on Coop!"  Cooper was more concerned with rounding up the food toys he wanted.  He said, "I can't find the green (favorite color for those who may not know) bowl anywhere!!"  Mia said, "Then use the red bowl!!"  Cooper's response was immediate and forceful; "NO!!"  Ha ha! His color green is VERY important to him!

After that they were playing with the stuffed rabbits and calling them their dinosaurs.  Mia grabbed one and said, "Here's a T-Rex!"  Cooper said, "Nope!  That's a stegosaurus!!"  Ha ha ha!  Then he wanted to know "Where's the triceratops!?"  Mia yells, "Here's one!"  (another rabbit!)  :)

4/24/2015

Mia ate two servings of oatmeal and ate canned prunes for breakfast.  She ate everything at lunch: meat loaf, pita bread, carrots, and apricots.  Cooper and Mia were very engaged in conversation at breakfast.  I tried to figure out what it was about, but Mia just informed me that "We're just talking!!" Ha ha!  It was something about, "I win I win, I get a trophy!"  "So what are you racing?"  I asked.  Mia said, "Spoon!" and Cooper said, "Tractor!"  :)

Then at the lunch table Mia said, "I love you Gary!  And Cooper responded with, "I love you Gary!" Mia said, "WE love you!  You're my best Gary!  And so does Elliott and Sophie!"  It was so sweet!  And people try to tell me this job doesn't have benefits!!  :)  (Apparently those people are blind!)

Elliott had actually been packing blocks (four or five) over for Mia and Cooper (handing them off to Mia) as they were building a block tower.  Mia is standing on the arm of the chair in the picture below and Elliott is handing blocks up to her.  Elliott then moved on to the legos table, but Mia was yelling for him to come help them some more!  "Come and help us Elliott!"  :)  So Cooper went over and started trying to drag him back!!

Elliott grabbed Mia's blanket and sprinted off before laying on it!  :)  Cooper was trying to help get him off Mia's blanket (following Mia's instructions from the chair!).  I asked Mia, "What do you think of Elliott laying on your blanket?"  Mia answered, "Not terrific!"  Ha!

As most of you already know if you've been around children very much (especially this age of children) they're not adept at masking their expressions.  I looked at Mia's face and said, "Ok, what'd you do!?"  Her immediate response; "Nothing!"  And she immediately followed that up by saying, "I took out my pony so you can put in two ponies!"  That has become the daily ritual!  :)

4/23/2015

Mia ate a big breakfast: three servings of cinnamon toast and two servings of grapes.  For lunch she ate chicken, dinner roll, hash browns, and two servings of mandarin oranges.

I took this picture yesterday afternoon after we got the teeter-totters out.  They had fun on them and immediately worked them well together!  And that lasted, ohhh about 5 minutes maybe!!  :)  But at least I have proof they can do it together if they choose to!

I was able to purchase another 25 of these blocks (not easy to find this brand now and we've searched!) and Mia and Cooper had a pretty good wall of towers built this morning.  Elliott was trying to push their towers over so I had to barricade him on the other side of the room.  (for his own safety as well!!) Cooper asked, "Can we put Elliott in the Box!?"  Ha ha!  I'll just block him out Coop!!  Later Elliott was grabbing Cooper's sandals and Cooper told him, "That's NOT a baby toy!!"

Mia puts some legos pieces together the same way almost every day and that is her "computer."  Lately she's been "doing her blogs."  Ha!  So cute.  She's frequently awake when I'm starting to work on the blogs at Nap Time and she'll watch me download these pictures before going to her nap mat.

4/22/2015

Mia ate whole wheat bagel and peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of mac-n-cheese, ate ham, two servings of corn, and ate apple pieces.  Cooper and Mia were having a serious "discussion" about Riley's spot at the table and Nora's spot at the table!  And of course it was the same spot!  :)

I mentioned before how interesting it is when the "older" kids actually "see" a milestone which one of the little ones has accomplished.  And sometimes it's many weeks later!  For example, this morning Mia excitedly exclaimed; "Look at her!!  She's going around and all over the house!!"  She just "noticed" that Sophie was actually crawling!

We were reading books from this toy exchange and like I've mentioned previously Cooper (and sometimes Mia) loves the "I Spy" books.  Some of the pages are full of little items to identify.  We were looking at a Castle and I asked, "Do you see a girl falling off the wall?"  (age appropriate picture, right?)  Cooper answered, "The Knights did that!"  There were lots of "Knights" on the wall as well, but I've never used that word here.  He LOVES those books and we looked at that one book for a long time!  Mia was bored with the book and had gotten down and was running around and after we were done Cooper asked Mia, "Will you read this to me?"  And she usually does, but not today.  No more of that book today!!  :)

Cooper and Mia were "camping" and playing with one of the houses in the Big Box (picture below).  They were going to sleep and Cooper yelled, "Morning Time!!"  Mia said, "I didn't go to sleep yet!!  Why'd you wake up so early!?!"  Ha!

Mia and Cooper were playing and hanging on the front of the igloo and Mia said, "Gary, Elliott, and Sophie!!  Look at me!!  I'm upside-down!"  (Elliott and Sophie are especially impressed Mia!!  Ha!)  Later Elliott was drooling (he does a LOT of that!) and Mia said, "You keep your spit in your mouth!!"  :)  Uhhh, he's really not spitting!  (Although I've gotten on his case for spitting and he rarely spits now!)

4/21/2015

Mia ate pears and three servings of waffles for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tuna and crackers, most of sweet potatoes, and ate canned cherries.  (She and Cooper ate those canned cherries first thing again; they love them.)

Thought you all might enjoy this picture of Cooper checking out Baby Layla this morning.  He did this on his own initiative; pushed blocks over to the changing table and got up where he could see her.  And he did that two or three times.  Mia joined Cooper in looking at Layla and was making sure Cooper knew that was her sister.  Then Mia said, "Ohhh, look at those little hands; and that BIG head!"  LOL!  Silly Mia!  It was also VERY sweet the first time Mia saw me holding Layla. She said (in a super sweet voice), "ahhhhh, Gary's holding Layla; so sweet!"  Thank you for sharing your sister with me Mia!

Mia used her blankets and built this "bridge" for her and Cooper to play.  At first, Elliott was peeking around the corner at them and then he crawled into the legos table and grabbed the pillow that's holding down the corner of the bridge.  A little later Cooper and Mia were sitting in the chair (you see in the picture) reading books and Elliott kept coming up behind Cooper grabbing his arm.  Cooper wasn't impressed and that's all the encouragement Elliott needed to continue terrorizing him.  So I got Elliott moved away and distracted with playing in another area.  :)

For a long time Mia has been calling her pretend horse "Clementine."  (I'm not sure when that started, but it's been going on for a long time.)  They were playing with Clementine and Cooper was also using that word except that was the name of his dump truck.  Ha!  I asked him, "Who's Clementine?"  And he points at his truck; "This!"  :)