8/30/2013

Mia ate a large serving of oatmeal and most of her dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hash brown casserole, biscuit, and mandarin oranges.

Riley and Mia were playing in this cozy corner for at least 15 minutes and they cuddling their babies, talking on the phones, and having another of their discussions about all their owies and bruises.  When I took this picture Riley had just kissed Mia's finger that was needing a love.

Well we gave the bath foam another go at art time and this time all three of the girls had fun exploring with the feeling and texture.  The last time we tried it, Mia was the only one who even touched it!  :)

So here's a picture of Mia showing Nora some other options how to use it.  Nora was not impressed and was saying, "Oh oh, Oh oh!" And pointing at Mia.  Mia meanwhile was busy yelling, "I want more Gary!"  :)  This bath foam is non-toxic in case that is a concern to anyone!

The kids had fun outside doing their usual play with the bikes, trucks, balls, climbers, and ice cream carts.  They also watched the mailman, neighbors, and the garbage workers.

8/29/2013

Mia ate whole wheat french bread and three servings of cantaloupe for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey slices, crescent roll, green beans, and two servings of dried mangoes.

All three girls were snuggled on the big bear, but as soon as I grabbed the camera Riley quickly left!  Right before I took the picture Nora been reading books in the big box.  She had every book in there and when she'd read one she'd toss it outside the box.  Well Mia started reading the discarded books and Nora was yelling, "Mine Mine!"  Minutes later they were best buddies on the big bear!  :)

Here's a picture of the three girls doing one of their favorite outside activities; dissecting leaves.  Riley has solved the problem of only two seats in the play house; she's sitting on one of the big balls.

One of Mia's favorite books in this set is "Little Spot of Color."  So we're doing the signs for every color in the book and also the color poster on the wall.  She was pointing at the different colors on every page and yelling, "YELLOW!"  :)

Riley was pulling Mia in the wagon and it looked so cute.  Mia was sitting in the wagon sideways with her feet dangling over the side and her head resting on the edge; looking totally relaxed.  (Except we know Mia, right?  Relaxed & Mia...hmmm, those two words just don't go together for me!)  :)

Riley and Mia were sitting on the floor examining and discussing their owies and bruises.  They had their pant-legs pulled up and looking at their knees, etc.

8/28/2013

Mia ate two servings of whole wheat toast and ate mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham, crackers, two servings of bean & bacon soup, and ate kiwi.

I thought it was very cute when Riley was reading to Nora and Mia.  It was after I posted the picture that I noticed the poster in the background that says, "Learning Together."  It seems like a very fitting background for our picture.

And here's a picture of what the kids did at art time.  It was the first time we've used these dry-erase spiral notebooks and they had fun making marks in them.  As they get older there are letters and numbers in the books that they can trace around or copy.  Mia was using both hands like a switch-hitter!

Nora bumped her toes on the big box and held up her foot for me to kiss it.  Me: "Hey Mia!  You wanna kiss Nora's owie on her foot?"  :)  So Mia gave it a kiss and Nora held up the other foot to be kissed too.  I told Nora to say "thank you" and of course Mia immediately says "thank you!" and does the sign too.  :)  Thanks Mia!  You saved me!!

I like how Mia says 'snuggle' every morning.  It's part of our morning ritual.  "I wanna suggle!" (snuggle)  It's almost always before anyone else arrives.

Mia and Nora played on the teeter-totters, climbers, and Nora gave her rides in the wagon.  Mia was also thrilled when a jogger went by with their dog.  "Doggie doggie!"  She doesn't give a rip about the jogger, just the puppy!  :)

8/27/2013

Mia ate whole wheat bagel and most of her dried apricots for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, a big serving of whole wheat elbow noodles with peas topped with shredded cheese, and two servings of applesauce.  "Want more sauce!"  :)  Cracked me up!  She must have been hungry because she was shoveling it in and huffing & puffing like a steam engine!  It was so cute!

I had to take a picture of Mia with her baby.  She worked and worked trying to get the doll to sit up at the table.  I finally helped prop it up, but you can see the problem!  That baby needs a high chair!  Mia was wanting to feed her some food, but now the baby's mouth is not accessible!  :)

We were all down at the fence watching the neighbor girl play with her wagon.  I was sitting on one of the bikes backwards and I hadn't noticed that Mia started doing the same thing.  Nora, on the other hand, noticed; "Oh oh, oh oh!!"  Riley came over and joined us; sitting on one of the bikes backwards.  Nora looked at her like; "what? you too!?"  :)

Nora always has a certain way in her mind how everything is supposed to be and it better all be that way, or else!!  Mia, on the other hand, doesn't really give a rip one way or the other!  They were pushing the bikes, dump trucks, and ice cream carts down to the gate and Nora wanted them lined up a certain way.  Mia kept looking at her like; "What?!!?  I'm getting them down here; what more do you want!?!"  :)   So....the potential for conflict is always there!  :)

Mia and Riley played with the dolls, blankets, and doll bottles for a long time; in the big box and then in the chair.  They were cuddling their babies and feeding them and talking about it all.

8/26/2013

Mia ate bran cereal and half of her dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of her cheese pizza, ate corn, and tropical fruit.

Just about every time Nora said, "Oh oh!" this morning it was about Mia!  (I just wrote the same thing in Riley's journal too!)  Poor Mia!  She can't get away with anything!  Nora spotted her trying to get the covers off the wall plug-in; "Oh oh!"  Mia had my pen and notepad (notes to do these journals); "Oh oh!"  And on it goes!  Nora and Riley will make good classroom monitors someday!  Well, actually, I guess they already are!  :)  I had to grab the camera when they were saying "Oh oh!" about the pen and notepad.  Mia doesn't look too concerned does she?

I haven't posted a picture of Mia in a mask in a few weeks have I?  :)  The three girls were wearing the masks from the Three Little Pigs story and they were all looking at themselves in the mirrors.

Mia spotted this moose and said, "horsey!"  So I got her to say "moose" and she did real well at it; deliberately adding the 'sss' sound at the end.  BUT, she was still determined it was a horse.  :)  Which made me laugh!  During story time here was another moose in another book and this one had big horns; "horsey!!"  :)

Mia has been watching Riley and Nora wash their hands at the sink and this morning she had to copy what they do and start scrubbing the edge of the sink after drying with their paper towel.  So, the outer edge of the sink gets cleaned frequently!

8/23/2013

Mia ate malt-o-meal cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of her ground beef with spaghetti sauce, most of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate lettuce salad (she always eats the salad first with this meal), and mixed fruit.

Mia and Riley were playing their game of poking food toys through the hole in the middle of the table.  As you can see from the picture Mia was on the floor and she was poking "carrots" back up through the hole.

Here's the picture of Mia doing her finger painting.  :)  Is that cute or what!?  Darcy, Thanks for letting me post this picture on the other kid's journals.  Here's what I wrote on the caption:  I am posting this picture of Mia with permission from momma Darcy.  I thought other families would enjoy seeing Mia's finger-painting technique differs slightly from Riley and Nora!  :)  This was causing Nora a fair amount of anxiety:  "OH OH, OH OH!!"  Nora was somewhat appalled!

All three of the girls were lined up at the gate outside watching the new little neighbor girl across the street (four or five years old) play with her puppy.  They watched for awhile and then packed leaves to the play house.  Crumbling the leaves has been a favorite outside activity for several weeks now.

Mia had a pretty good morning Darcy even though you said she woke up a bit out of sorts.  Her nose did run all morning (bummer) so that may have been the cause of her being grumpy.  She was pretty funny whenever Cooper got close to her this morning: "Oh oh, Bubba!"  She said it like, "Oh no, here he comes again!"  I guess she's judging him from previous encounters!  :)

8/22/2013

Mia ate two servings of blueberry english muffin and ate blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate about half of her chicken and crackers, ate sweet potatoes, and two servings of canned cherries.

Nora and Mia are always awake before Riley and Riley is always asleep before them too.  And I've always told them to be quiet when walking past Riley's nap mat.  It's so funny because now both of them put their fingers up to their mouth and go "Shhhhh...." when walking past Riley's mat; whether she's awake or asleep!  It looks like they are doing it to tell Riley to be quiet....but maybe they're just reminding themselves.  :)

During story-time I will frequently let them "fill in the blank."  It's a fun way to get them actively involved in the story too.  It especially works when there is a 'repeating phrase.'  This morning in the "Speckled Frogs" book the repeating phrase was "Yum Yum" and Mia was getting it almost every time.  Another way I actively involve them in story-time is by using their names instead of the book names.  And they love it.

The smoke cleared a little by 10:30 so we went outside for about 40 minutes.  Mia played with the bikes, trucks, ice cream carts, and on the climbers.  They also waved and said, "Hi Daddy" to every plane that flew over.  That originated with Riley and now all three girls are saying it!  :)  Riley has been to the airport to pick up daddy from a trip and now he's on every plane!

The kids always go to the patio bench to get their shoes on when we're going out to play.  When they got seated this morning Nora put her arm around Mia's shoulder and said, "Hi!" like they'd just saw each other!  Pretty cute.  And Mia said, "Hi!"

During art time this morning Mia slowed down and did some very deliberate marks (for a few seconds anyway).  It was pretty cool and it was basically the first time I've seen her do that.  It's around this age when they begin to do some 'representational' type of drawing.

8/21/2013

Mia ate two servings of breakfast: biscuits and peaches.  For lunch she had two servings of baked beans, ate dinner roll, peas, and two servings of pineapple.

Mia was thrilled to have Riley back.  She followed her everywhere and mimicked all of her play.  By the time we went outside I think Riley was wanting some room to breathe.  :)  Mia is talking on the phone (saying, "Hello!" and "Hi!") and Riley is feeding her.  (Showing her how to multi-task!)

They were playing with the dress-up clothes and I thought Mia looked cute with these work boots on. She was constantly moving and I got several blurry pictures!

Mia was reading books and she likes the "Silly Sally" book in this toy exchange.  Silly Sally walks backwards and upside down.  And she's upside-down on the cover picture too!  Mia tries to "fix" it and looks at the book upside-down.  Which I think is very funny and cute!

Mia looked at Lauralea this morning and said, "Hi Gary!"  Then later she needed help and said to me, "Help me Lauralea!"

Outside the girls spotted a squirrel and some crows.  Mia and Nora also played on the teeter-totter.  Mia had crawled toward Nora on the teeter-totter and then crawled back to her spot.  Then, Mia and Nora sat at each end of the teeter-totter yelling to each other, "Ove Ack!!"  (move back) over and over and doing the sign for "move back."  I'm not sure what they were expecting each other to do!  :)

8/20/2013

Mia ate two servings of waffle and ate hash browns for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her beef & cheese quesadilla, ate carrots, and oranges.

After breakfast the two girls (Riley will be back tomorrow) piled all the food toys in the box.  They played together with those toys for at least 30 minutes.  It was very nice to have them that engaged and not even screaming "MINE" at each other.  Good job Mia and Nora!  :)  They also talked on their phones and then Nora was desperately looking for a pocket to tuck her phone into!  But there are no pockets on her shirt or shorts.  :)

We stayed indoors this morning and we probably will this afternoon also unless the air quality improves significantly.  The air quality report said it's unhealthy for selective groups and under the age of 5 is one of those groups.  I go by visibility also and I know when I can't see the closest mountain (Blue Mountain) that it's not healthy for the kids to be outside.  I guess I would rather error on the side of being too cautious.  Please discuss this with me if you would like.

Nora and Mia have both been assisting me when Cooper does his screaming thing.  :)  They both start saying, "Baa baa baa.."  Good job girls!  We're trying to give him other sounds to mimic rather than just screaming and yelling.  It's always neat when the 'older' ones pick up on that and try to help out.  I call it positive peer pressure!

I probably mention this frequently, but I find it fascinating to watch how their temperaments and personalities affect the way they play, make choices, and interact with each other.  Here are a couple of examples from this morning;  We colored and then did stickers at art.  Nora is very deliberate and will choose a place for her stickers and the tape we were using.  And she's looking for an open spot on her paper.  Mia couldn't care less; she sticks it on the paper and sometimes isn't even looking to see where it's going.  Just hurry up, get it done, and on to the next thing!!  The other example that comes to mind is when I am doing their hair and they get to choose the pony tail holder.  The container has 6 choices and Nora will move her finger back-n-forth over the top of them and take several seconds to decide.  Mia immediately points to one.  It's funny because now 2 of the spots are empty and most of the time Mia is pointing to an empty slot!  Because she always points to the same spot!!  :)  LOVE IT!!

8/19/2013

Mia ate cheerios and banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her cheese sandwich, drank tomato soup, and ate half of her apple pieces.  At lunch I told Mia to "be careful" with her tomato soup and to use two hands on the cup.  Several minutes later she said, "I careful!"  And she was being very careful and didn't spill any!  I'll bet she said "I careful" 20 times before lunch was over.  I was impressed with how she changed the wording and made the application.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend.  The girls were playing in the box with the cell phones.  I thought it looked like a modern daycare; texting their friends at other daycares.  :)  Mia read lots of books and was freaking out because Cooper was trying to get her books.  So I told her she could take her books into the big box (in the picture) and Cooper would not be able to get them.  She did exactly what I suggested.  Good listening Mia!

Mia and Nora were lining up all the toys (with wheels) on the sidewalk starting at the gate.  It seems like all the kids have liked to do that, but this morning the girls were intent on getting all the toys down there!

Mia joined Nora at the window waving bye to Daddy Pat this morning.  Mia was yelling, "Bye Daddy!" and it was making Nora furious.  HOWEVER, Nora kept right on waving and blowing kisses and yelling, "Mine mine mine!!"  She stayed on task!!  :)

Nora and Mia played on the bikes, played on the climbers, and found apples they could reach through the fence.  They also were on the teeter-totter and I was getting a kick out of watching them.  They both would finally get seated and then Mia would get off, go play, come back for more, get off, and on and on.  I started timing them to see how long Mia was staying on.  This one time I thought, hey, that was pretty long!  Looked at my watch and it was 19 seconds!  :)

8/16/2013

Mia ate oatmeal and half of her dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat elbow noodles with peas (topped with shredded cheese), and two servings of applesauce.

Nora and Mia were watching the crows in the yard.  Some kid's music was also playing so they were dancing while watching.  :)

Here's proof that we made it to WalMart's dairy department!  Note the bananas and yogurt in the wagon.  :)  The girls were very friendly to the checker and said "hi" and waved to lots of people in the store.  I guess it would be correct to say they were quite charming to everyone!  And everyone thought they were pretty cute in the wagon!

On the walk to the store we saw lots of birds, stopped and looked at the water in the irrigation ditch (and watched the water-skipper bugs), stopped and looked at flowers, waved at people in cars at the cross-walk, and I ran (while pulling the wagon) through the sprinkler that was hitting the sidewalk with some water.  :)  And they both waited to poop until we were back at the daycare.  Yes!!

Darcy:  Lauralea and I were discussing and examining Mia's ear after you left.  When it initially happened I assumed that Nora had just scratched it.  But as bruised as it looks today we are fairly certain that she bit Nora's ear.  That's about the only way it could be bruised like that and there is a small puncture wound too.  It's frustrating because those up-close conflicts like that happen so quickly and it's hard to prevent all of them.  I was not looking directly at them when it happened and I just assumed it was a scratch.  I will continue to monitor it closely and try to prevent all that I can.  They are both at the stage right now where their favorite word is "MINE."  They were even doing it at breakfast today; pointing at their respective cups of milk and chanting, "Mine, mine, mine..."   Ok ok, enough already!!  :)

Mia also used her words in a more acceptable manner at breakfast.  :)  She wanted more oatmeal and said, "Want more Gary!"  Good job Mia!  Then at the store she was calling me "Lauralea."  The girls were handing me the bananas and yogurt and Mia was saying, "Here Lauralea, here Lauralea!"  :)

8/15/2013

Mia ate most of her breakfast: blueberry english muffin and blueberries.  For lunch she ate turkey sandwich, green beans, and two servings of kiwi.

This is where the girls lined up to do some dancing to the music.  It looked so cute and they continued for several minutes.  It looked like they were standing on an award's podium.

Nora was saying, "Ow ow!" and pointing at her foot.  So Riley got down, kissed her foot, and everything was good!  Mia witnessed that entire exchange and then held out her foot and started saying, "Ow ow ow..."  Riley just looked at her like "You've got to be kidding!?"  :)

We were watching the crows out the window and then we watched them again outside; and listened to them too.  I watched one crow catch five different worms and this other crow stole the worm four times.  I told the kids; "these crows kind of remind me of you guys."  If someone else has it, then I just have to have it.  Maybe they were toddler crows!  :)

Mia and Nora were in some conflict and Mia's ear got scratched pretty good.  I asked Riley what happened and she pointed to Nora and said, "That!!"  :)

The kids like to take leaves into the play house on the patio, crumble them, and spread them around.  Then Mia decided to spread them on Cooper's head.  So I redirected that play to something that probably wasn't quite so much fun for her!  :)  She continually had a leaf hanging out of her mouth this morning!  I was like; "Honey, those are dried and yukky!"  But she seemed to like it!  :)

8/14/2013

Mia ate two servings of jelly toast and three servings of dried mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her beef & bean burrito, most of her sweet potatoes, and ate topical fruit.

I set up the easels outside and they all had fun painting.  And the clean-up was pretty easy out there!  Mia had the bottom of her paper full, so I swapped ends with it and she painted the other half!  :)  (Riley had her paper full and she was watching Mia paint.)

Mia was looking at a book and then wanted me to read it; "The Cuddly Kittens."  Well, she was determined to find a dog in there somewhere!  But it has nothing but cats!  :)  So she resorted to pointing at the cats and saying, "puppy!"  Cracked me up!

We were talking about dogs and I like how she pronounces her dog's name; "Ti Ti!"  (With a 'long' i sound for those who haven't heard it.)  She asked, "Where Ti Ti?"  I just looked at her for a moment and she answered her own question; "At home!"  Very good Mia!  Then Nora was saying; "Ti Ti."

Mia managed to get Cooper's shoes off within five minutes of his arrival.  (This is actually the first day he has worn shoes.  Maybe she thought he doesn't need those things!)  But it came at a cost; there were quite a few hairs sticking out of her ponytail before she was done pulling off his shoes!   :)

8/13/2013

Mia ate two servings of cinnamon roll and ate dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of scrambled eggs, ate waffle, bites of hash browns, and ate cantaloupe.

Lauralea had brought her breakfast to the daycare room again (with extra slices of cheese for the kids) and the kids immediately went begging for some.  :)  Mia was saying, "a bite, a bite.." and Nora was saying, "bi, bi, bi,..."  (bite)  And they were both doing the 'more' sign; very emphatically I might add!  Then Mia said, "want more cheese please."  Just as plain as that!  And she said it again a minute later.  Yup, we were impressed.  :)

Mia was in the big box and she found a small hard-shelled beetle-like bug.  I stood back and watched them and she kept trying to be brave and pick it up and then she'd quickly put it right back down.  Riley was laughing, squealing, and jumping up and down.  Nora was standing way back yelling, "Oh oh, oh oh!!"  Riley found it all very entertaining and that's probably why Mia kept trying to grab it.  (It was still alive.)  :)

All three of the girls were playing in the igloo and taking turns going out of the igloo and drumming on the sides.  Watching this age group play "together" is quite entertaining and sometimes challenging.  They all have their own agenda and sometimes it coincides and sometimes it doesn't.  :)

Mia and Riley also played with the dress-up clothes and Mia mainly played with the shoes.  I rarely help them with the dress-up clothes; unless they have been trying for awhile first!  I always tell them the same thing; "Those are just for you guys to play with, have fun with, and try to get them on by yourself."  Mia was working hard to get the shoes on and she was having success and I applauded her for that.  Good job Mia!  And outside she got one of her own shoes on too!

8/12/2013

Mia ate half of her kix cereal and ate mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of ham sandwich, ate peas, and three servings of mandarin oranges.

All three of the girls were engaged with the legos and it's fun to get a picture of them together.  Mia was sitting on the edge of the legos drawer and was having fun kicking the legos around.  :)  She and Nora were also playing with the jingle bells you see on the table in front of them.

First thing this morning she was stretched out on the floor and leaning back against the big bear and then she pulled it's legs around her.  It was very cute, but like I told Lauralea, if you're going to get a picture of Mia doing something cute like that you'd better be quick!!  And she's off to something different!

She played with lots of food toys, read books, and was jumping onto the mattress with Riley.  One time before she jumped she said, "Ah jump!!"  :)

Mia was over by the fence outside and managed to find an apple.  And immediately it went into her mouth.  :)  Riley and Nora both sounded the alarm: "Oh oh, oh oh!!"  Riley was not satisfied until I'd also wiped the mess off Mia's face.  :)

Riley was giving Mia rides in the wagon.  At first she was just pulling it and Mia was trying to push the wagon.  But, as you can imagine, that was not going to work!  Mia immediately gets into high gear and has the wagon plowing over the top of Riley.  So Riley was willing to give her a ride instead; maybe out of self-preservation!

8/9/2013

Mia ate half of her brown rice and ate raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate meat loaf, french bread, carrots, and half of her dried apricots.

I have three pillows in the chair that I use for my back when I sit down.  The girls all grabbed a pillow and were running with them and we made a fun game out of it.  And of course Mia thought it was the best game ever!

Nora and Mia did their daily routine with the books; Mia sits in the chair and looks at books while Nora empties the book rack and puts every book in the chair beside Mia.  Then when Mia is done with one book she throws it on the floor and Nora picks it back up and puts it on the chair.  The game that has no end!  :)

Mia had sneezed and Lauralea didn't say anything so Mia said, "Bless you!"  And she kept saying it until Lauralea finally said, "Bless You!!"  :)  Then she went to the window to wave bye to Julie (Lauralea's sister.)  Mia said, "Bye Gee Gee!"  (say "GG")  (Julie)  Love it!  :)

Mia handed one of the jingle bells to Riley and I instructed Riley to tell Mia "Thank you!"  Well, here's how it always goes;  As soon as Mia hears me say that, she does the "Thank you!" and the sign too.  It always makes me laugh.  Silly kids!

8/8/2013

Mia had two servings of cinnamon toast and three servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of her baked chicken, ate dinner roll, hash browns, and two servings of cherries.

The kids have played with these airplanes in this toy group a lot.  There are little people that fit inside them too and they work hard to get those 'passengers' in there.

Riley spotted a "BUG" on the patio like she always does.  And they always scare her and then Mia pretends to be scared too.  Except this time it was a big one; a bald-faced hornet.  (At least that's what we've always called them!)  So I was unsuccessfully flailing away at it with the fly-swatter and the girls forgot to be scared and started giggling.  :)

Mia read lots of books like usual, played with the dolls and blankets, and then was playing with the food toys and singing, "Night night coffee" again!  She randomly sings it when she's playing with the food toys.  Then I turned on Cooper's sound monitor because I'd laid him down for his nap.  Mia heard his sound machine and started singing, "Night night Cooper!"  This time it was really "Cooper" and not "Bubba."  Rats! I love the "Bubba" thing!

The kids love pushing toys up and down the sidewalk (one of their favorite outside activities) so I got out the ice cream carts.  (exchange for the lawnmowers)  And that's basically what they did all morning during outside time; push them up and down the sidewalk!  :)

8/7/2013

Mia had two servings of breakfast: whole wheat bagel and peaches.  For lunch she ate bite of ham, ate mac-n-cheese, lettuce salad, and corn.

Lauralea brought her breakfast into the daycare room again and the three girls were like little birdies waiting to be fed.  All of them kept doing the "more" sign.  :)

The kids were having fun doing "golf ball" art today.  The ball is at the bottom of the pan in this picture and Mia tips the pan so the ball rolls around through the paint.

Mia was sitting on my lap (it was early; before breakfast and she still had her binky) with baby Cooper and he reached out and grabbed her binky and stuck it in his mouth.  Mia looked at him with a very puzzled expression.  I've seen Kenzie and Riley both steal his pacifier so maybe he thinks that's normal procedure!  :)

Mia really likes the "puppy" and "doggie" everywhere she spots one!  We may be looking at a book with a picture of 20 animals, but if there is a dog in the picture that's all she sees!  She frequently spots one out the window going past the daycare.  All the stuffed animals in this toy exchange are doggies so she's a happy camper!  :)

I enjoyed watching Riley and Mia pulling and pushing the wagons around the yard this morning and it was fascinating to me.  It's quite a contrast in styles how they approach a job like that.  Mia endorses this approach: Full speed ahead and plow through the obstructions!  :)

8/6/2013

Mia ate two servings of blueberry waffles and ate pears.  I noticed at lunch time the back of her hair has a bit of syrup from breakfast in it.  :)  For lunch she ate bites of tuna and ate her crackers, ate sweet potatoes, and two servings of oranges.

We did a toy and book exchange and Mia was very engaged in looking at everything, but as soon as Lauralea sat down to put on some makeup Mia was right there!!  :)

Riley joined them for a minute or two, but it was mostly Nora and Mia reading the books.  Nora obviously spotted something in Mia's book that she liked.  I love her expression in this picture!

I took this picture because Mia had just yelled at Nora for taking one of the books; like she had none to spare!  Look at the stack of books beside her lap!  They read books like this for at least 15 - 20 minutes!  After the picture was taken they switched places and Nora was sitting in the chair.  She patted the arm of the chair for Mia to sit down.  So Mia crawls up there and does the sign for "thank you!"  It was so cute and funny!

Mia was at the window waving bye to Pat (Nora's dad) and she said, "Bye Patty!!"  Cracked us up!

I teach the kids the sign language for "move back!" when someone is in their personal space, rather than just screaming.  This morning Mia yelled at baby Cooper (who was getting her toys), "Move back Bubba!!"  :)

Mia totally gets Nora's methods of communication!  The pointing, patting, head nodding, and the "uh uh uh uh!"  And she frequently responds to what Nora wants; like switching reading spots in the above story and picture.  Outside Nora was wanting Mia to teeter-totter with her and she went through all the pointing, patting, and head nodding.  :)  And Mia joined her.

8/2/2013

Mia ate two servings of oatmeal and ate dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hash brown casserole, biscuit, and mandarin oranges.  At breakfast I encouraged Riley to just give the plums a 'kiss' bye. ( It's amazing how many times we've seen kids actually start eating something after it's touched their lips and they taste it.)  Anyhow, I looked at Mia and she's kissing all of her food.  :)


Riley and Mia had stuffed animals and were playing in the block shelf.  They did so well all morning with only a couple times of conflict.  Great job girls!  When something would happen I'd ask them, what's wrong?  They'd give identical answers; point at the other one and say, "That!"  :)

They did lots of free play, we read books, crawled in the tunnel, played with the etch-a-sketch, and played with this magnetic button game.  I thought it'd be easier to show it in a picture rather than explain it.  There is glass (plastic) between the handle Mia is using and the buttons she is moving around.  She's obviously working hard at moving the buttons; look at that concentration!

Mia was looking for her "baby" (she'd put her doll in the big box) and Riley was helping her look for it. Riley was calling it like a puppy; "Here baby, here baby.."  :)

Two different times Mia found Cooper's binky on the floor and she'd pick it up and stick it back in his mouth.  Then about 8:30 she was done with her binky.  She says, "Oh oh!!" and puts in on the changing table!  :)  And she's done with it for the day except at nap time.  The whole "Oh oh!" thing cracked me up.  It was like; "Geez, I almost forgot!"

8/1/2013

Mia ate two servings of whole wheat french bread and three servings of cantaloupe for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey slices, two servings of crescent roll, ate green beans, and two servings of dried mangoes.


Even though it was raining we went outside for a little while on the patio.  With only four kids there is plenty of room for them to play and get some fresh air regardless of the weather.  So I'm going to experiment with that and get some 'special' toys for those times.  It was kind of funny this first time.  They were all looking at me like, "Ok, we're out here, but you want us to stay on the patio?!"  They were all pretty cooperative and seemed to enjoy being outside.

Nora and Riley were having some conflict and I asked Nora to give Riley a love.  Of course Mia wanted to give Riley a love then and she wanted to keep doing it over and over.  And Riley was ok with it.  (This picture was taken on the patio and Riley was also ok with loaning Mia one of her coats!)

Lauralea made the mistake of bringing her breakfast sandwich into the daycare room.  Riley immediately asked for a bite, then Mia, and Nora saw what they were doing and of course she needed one too.  Mia was following Lauralea around saying, "More more.." and doing the 'more' sign.  (It was just a few minutes before the kids were eating, so they did not starve!)  :)   Geez, I wonder why Lauralea took off so fast!?

Here are some tidbits of Mia's morning before anyone else arrived:
I have no idea why she said this, but I was drinking my coffee and she said, "Night night coffee!"  Lauralea and I laughed hard at that one!
Right after Mia arrived she went and sat in front of the chair where I do their hair and said, "Pony!"  Ok, let's fix your hair!
I coughed and she asked, "Ok??"  Yup, I'm fine and that was very sweet!
Lauralea was blow-drying her hair and would occasionally point the dryer at Mia.  Mia was giggling and sticking her head out for more.