9/30/2013

Mia ate chex cereal and most of her mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate roast beef sandwich, drank tomato soup, and ate apple pieces.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange and Mia played with lots of stuff.  She also spent lots of time sitting and reading books; way more than anyone else!  Before Lauralea left she kept asking Lauralea, "Read book, read book, read book, read book,"  :)  Our regular story time is right after breakfast; it's a little too busy before that.  I reminded her that I would read and she was fine with it.  "I was just going for some extra stories Gary!"  :)

The first picture; The inside of these toys spin when you push down on the top.  Mia is demonstrating a new technique for Riley!  :)  And it works pretty well when she bobs up and down!   I like how she has her left hand on the table bench to keep herself steady.

And the second picture; I put ponytails in her hair and it made me laugh because I got one so much higher than the other one.  It reminded me of a puppy; one ear up and one ear down.  Look at that face! I think she saying; "Ok Gary!  You can quit laughing anytime now!"

Mia was playing in front of the mirror and spotted us in the mirror.  "Hi Gary!"  "Hi Nora!"  And then just kept on playing.  :)  Then we were eating breakfast when Lauralea was leaving and she said, "Bye Gary-Lauralea!"  She makes me laugh so much!  I love you Mia!

An FYI for everyone; all four children here have runny noses.  Not real bad yet, but I wiped everyone's nose several times.  Nobody was excessively cranky or grumpy so that was good.  Mia is taking a nap right now.  She just coughed a couple of times, but that's the only time I've heard her cough all morning.

9/27/2013

Mia ate oatmeal and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hash brown casserole, biscuit, and mandarin oranges.  Sometimes we use the table for our meals and sometimes the highchairs.  If it's a messy meal then it's highchair time.  :)  Mia does pretty well at the table except when she is pestering her neighbors.  i.e., putting food on Nora's plate or taking food off Nora's plate.  (I can hear Darcy laughing about that one!)

Mia and Cooper love each other and I tried to get a picture of his face when he saw her headed his way.  He had a huge grin; "Here comes my buddy Mia!"  But he got distracted by Riley whose hand you can see in the top left of the picture.

Mia had some serious gas this morning!  :)  I was getting her out of her highchair after breakfast and I was certain she was poopy.  She was denying it vigorously and looking at me like I was nuts when I had her climb onto the changing table.  And she was right!!  :)  That was about 9:30 and she finally pooped about 11:00.  Thank goodness!!  Relief for everyone!  :)

Mia watched the garbage men working, watched some crows eating bugs and worms in the yard, and we looked at the baby Panda bear web cam too.  Mia kept asking to look at the bears!  "Wanna see bear, wanna see bear, wanna see bear!"  :)  Ok ok!  The baby bear was totally visible this morning and we watched it for several minutes.  The girls were thrilled (Mia was panting like a puppy) and pointing and saying, "baby baby.."

I happened to mention that we were going to sing some songs as soon as I was done changing Cooper. Mia went to the spot where I always sit for singing and it was like she was being the "leader."  She started singing songs, doing lots of motions, and Nora and Riley sat where the kids always sit.  She was wanting them to participate with her.  It was sooo cute!

9/26/2013

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

Mia did lots of playing with the dolls and was wrapping them up and putting them to bed.  And sometimes, as you can see in the picture, she used the doll bed for herself.  These are the shelves in the changing table that were used for storing diapers and the kids like to clear the toys off and use it for their dolls.  They also frequently use the big box for their playing with the dolls.

Nora, Mia, and Riley were all giving each other loves and it was so cute.  They kept it up for at least five minutes and they were patting each other on the back and saying, "Bye, bye, bye..."  They'd walk away and come right back for some more.  :)  And then Nora bonked her elbow and held it up for Mia to give it a kiss.

I had a hard time not laughing at art time when Mia was doing 'dot painting.'  She looked like she was in a nail hammering competition!  :)

I turned on the sound monitor to listen for Cooper and Mia immediately started singing, "Night night Cooper!"

She looked at Lauralea's pink comb and said, "That blue-yellow!?"  I always let them choose what color of ponytail holder they want (six choices) and it's always, "Blue-yellow!"  She pointed at a purple one this morning, "Blue-yellow!"  Of course I'm partially color-blind so it all sounds good to me!  :)   (Lauralea was still here to enlighten me this morning!)

I have started doing a journal for Cooper too (birthday #1 today) so you may see a slight change in the times the journals are posted.

9/25/2013

Mia had two servings of whole wheat toast and ate mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham, crackers, bean & bacon soup, and two servings of kiwi.  Mia had the mixed berries smeared all over her face again and Nora and Riley kept pointing at her and saying, "Oh oh, oh oh!"  The two dainty ones cannot figure out why she misses her mouth so frequently!  :)   Hey you two guys ought to try eating at this speed with two hands!!  It's not that easy!!  :)

This is just a picture from yesterday afternoon, but I thought it was cute how Mia was feeding her baby with the 'chocolate milk' and kind of had it headed toward her mouth.  And she continued to stare off into space for awhile.  (Just woke up from her nap.)

And here's a picture of Mia working on a puzzle this morning.  She got two and three pieces in the right place, but then she would mess around with it and not leave them in place while she worked on another piece.  But she had the right idea about where they were supposed to go!

We were singing "Happy Birthday" to Nora and I asked them, "Whose birthday is it today?"  Nora and Mia both shouted, "Mine!" and Riley pointed at Nora and said, "Nora!"  :)

I've been taking Mia into the bathroom with Riley and Riley sat down and tooted and Mia just cracked up.  Then of course she immediately said, "You done!?!"  :)  In Mia's world everything happens very quickly!  :)

Here are some samples of Mia talking this morning:
    Kids were walking to school and using umbrellas.  She called them "um-brew-yellow!"  :)
    She ran over and got into the chair that Lauralea uses; "I'm sitting in Lauralea's chair!"  
    (Wow! That's a really good sentence Mia!)
    She wanted me to read special books and was pointing at them; "Read story Gary, read story!"
    Looking at the Alaska bears on the webcam; "Bear! Ah see bear!"

9/24/2013

Mia ate two servings of whole wheat bagel and ate dried apricots for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, elbow noodles with shredded cheese, peas, and two servings of applesauce.

Yesterday afternoon Micala built the block wall for the kids and we called this their "cave."  So I took some pictures of the kids playing in their 'cave' this morning.  My mode of operandi: when it's a slow morning, take pictures to help with the journal.  :)

We did not go outside because of the rain so it was time for some tunnel play.  All the kids were in the tunnel when I took this picture.  This makes the tunnel look really long!  (It stretches out to almost nine feet; for those that may be curious!)   :)

Shortly after mommy dropped off Mia I said to her, "I'm going to get your hair out of your eyes."  Her answer; "No, Gary, no."  Lauralea and I sure laughed about that one.  She didn't say it real emphatic or anything, just kind of matter-of-fact.  It was funny.  And then I fixed her hair!  :)

Mia read lots of books with Riley and they played on the mattress.  We also sang songs, did some sign language, colored at art, and read special stories.  There are about 10 different signs we use with the children and about 12 colors we "sign" for too.

9/23/2013

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

Mia was following Cooper around picking up his binky when he'd drop it and she'd put it in his mouth and say, "Here you go Coopa!"  :)   She was also reading a book about Hippos and I asked her if she could say, "Hippopotamus."  And she tried!  It was so cute.  Then I was at the changing table and I heard her say it again.

I haven't posted a picture of them doing each other's hair for awhile, but they still do it occasionally!  (Although it's been several days.)  And they were rotating positions over and over; each one had turns in the front, middle, and back.  (All of it initiated by them.)

Riley spotted the "Moon!" and all three girls were at the window looking at the moon this morning.  Then they spotted the dog in the window across the street.  (which they frequently see.)  "Puppy!"  It was laying across the back of the neighbor's couch with it's head hanging over the back.

We played outside and the sun was shining and by the time we were ready to go back inside it was starting to rain, so that was perfect timing.  Mia played on the bikes and with the dump trucks and ice cream carts.  She also rode in the wagon while Riley pulled it.  We did some painting on the easel (inside) right before we went outside, but I was experimenting with a different approach and it was pretty messy.  :)  I didn't rescue any of the 'finished' products because it was VERY thick and runny.  Think lava flow.  :)

9/20/2013

Mia ate malt-o-meal cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef with spaghetti sauce, whole wheat elbow noodles, lettuce salad, and mixed fruit.

Lauralea was flopping the kids on the mattress this morning and I thought it was a good photo op.  Then when Lauralea was getting ready to leave she called me "Honey."  Mia was chanting, "honey, honey, honey..."  And Nora picked up on it too; "Nunny, nunny, nunny..."  :)

We were looking at the momma Panda bear on the web cam and got several good looks at the baby.  It looks like it's not much more than 12 inches long.  The momma keeps it snuggled in her legs up close to her chest.  We also looked at an underwater cam in a river in Alaska and saw several Salmon swimming around.  The kids were all saying, "fishy" and pointing at our fish.  :)

Nora was giving Riley and Mia rides in the wagon.  Mia, of course, was messing around and hanging off the side going down the sidewalk.  Soon, she was too far over the edge and going on over.  Riley had her by the bottom, trying to pull her back in.  :)  Geez, that was funny!  She was really trying, but Mia went on over and out.  All three girls thought that was pretty funny too; judging by their laughter.

Then Riley was pulling the wagon and Mia was all stretched out like she was taking a nap.  Just chillin. Then they switched and Mia pulled and Riley stretched out.  :)

They were doing lots of dancing this morning when I turned the music on.  Nora is the one who dances the most and she wasn't too thrilled this morning about sharing her dance floor.  Like I've said many times, we're not born with social skills and I love being able to teach this age group to be kind and gentle and maybe realize there's others in the world besides ME!  :)

9/19/2013

Mia ate whole wheat english muffin and two servings of blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken and crackers, sweet potatoes, and two servings of canned cherries.

Nora had lots of food toys lined up across the table.  She was ok with Mia joining her, but she did object to Mia taking too much!  :)  Riley soon joined them and it was pretty funny because when they were seated Riley and Nora pushed a huge pile of food toys in front of Mia.  Ok, here's your share!  :)  (I guess they have been paying attention at meal times.)

Sometimes I've been taking Mia with Riley when Riley has to potty.  This morning Riley had just gotten sat down for maybe five seconds and Mia asked, "You done!!?"  :)   And that's basically what happens when I have Mia give it a try; "I done!"  But your bottom hasn't touched the seat yet!!

At art time Mia was intently watching how Riley was drawing and coloring.  And then she started to mimic how Riley was making 'dots.'  Riley is a good one for her to mimic because Riley really works hard at her pictures.  And this morning Mia worked at her art longer than anyone!  Riley and Nora had on their coats and shoes and Mia was still getting after it.

I love how Mia's language continues to grow.  She frequently puts several words together.  She was sitting on Lauralea's lap this morning and Cooper made his way over there and Lauralea picked him up too.  Mia pointed at the floor and said, "Put Cooper down!"  :)  Then she saw I had a book and said, "Ah go see Gary!"

9/18/2013

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

Mia enjoys the legos and was very engaged with them this morning; and here's the picture to prove it! She made several tall towers like the one in the picture.

The kids were also using the legos pieces as their microphones and standing on the table bench singing quite loudly.  As soon as I got the camera they all started goofing off.  I did manage to get one picture of Nora that was very cute, but slightly blurry.

The kids did some painting at art today and we used these small round sponges (with handles) for our paintbrushes.  The sponges actually work better than the brushes for this age group.  Mia, of course, had additional ideas and used her hands and her face to spread some paint around!  Well, that was creative!  :)  I think she was trying to see what it tasted like and ended up smearing it a bit with her face.

After art we played outside for awhile and they were playing with the wagons and bikes.  I have to monitor the sidewalk pretty close, especially when we first go outside.  Nora thinks the road is all hers and has issues with road rage!  :)  And Mia knows just how to push those buttons!  Never a dull moment here.  Love it!  :)

9/17/2013

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

All three of the girls had a school bus and were driving them around and around the table.  It's quite handy that the table bench makes a complete circle and serves them as a road.  They drive lots of cars around it.  Mia and Riley also spent lots of time filling their buses with little people and other toys.

Mia played with the dress-up clothes and had on three pairs of shorts and two shirts.  It all looked quite hilarious.  She and Riley also had wrapped up their dolls and were using the toy shelves as beds for their babies.

Well the big story of the morning is the worker who is here replacing three windows today.  I wasn't exactly sure of the time he was going to be here so I wasn't able to give the kids a heads-up!  He just appeared!  And Nora and Riley were not impressed with that at all!  Mia, of course, was just fine with it and was interested in what he was doing.  I had to take this picture quick because Nora was at the fence for less than a minute and she was right back to the safety of the patio.  :)

Riley and Mia played with the wagons again!  And riding the bikes.  They also joined Nora in the play house on the patio where she was hiding out from the scary worker.  :)

9/16/2013

Mia ate cheerios and banana for breakfast.  I guess Nora and Riley forgot over the weekend what it looks like when Mia is eating.  They were both pointing at her during breakfast and saying, "Oh oh! Oh oh!"  Myself, I thought she was doing pretty good! There were a couple of cheerios on the floor, but most of it was getting in her mouth!  :)  For lunch she ate half of her cheese sandwich, drank tomato soup, and ate apple pieces.

Nora had pulled Mia's hair and Mia was still whimpering about it and went over and told Riley the whole story.  "Nora pull hair!"  And she was giving Riley a visual demonstration too!  Riley listened intently then leaned forward and kissed Mia's head.  It was so sweet!  Then, Riley pointed at Nora and said, "Be gentle!" Dang that whole exchange was so stinking cute!

We did a toy and book exchange and Mia played with the dolls and blankets, food toys, school buses, and the pop-up toys which sing songs when you push on them.

Outside, Mia and Riley played with the wagons and were taking turns giving each other rides.  They love that game and that's basically what they did all of outside time!  Mia will yell "Help me!" every time she barely gets the wagon in a bind.  So if it's obvious she can solve it herself I encourage her to do it rather than just 'rescue' her.  And she's super good at following directions, i.e., "pull the wagon this way!"  Then I always say, "I knew you could do it!"  And I've noticed she isn't yelling for help nearly as much.  I guess the key is to encourage her when it's obvious she can do it herself or with minimal assistance.  We've always called that "Setting them up for success!"  :)

When we go outside our routine is for the kids to go to the bench on the patio and put on their shoes.  Mia had her shoes on and was trying to help Nora.  She was trying hard to help and I thought it was extra cute because Mia had her own shoes on the wrong feet.  "Ok! I got mine on; Now I'll help you!"

9/13/2013

Mia ate half of her oatmeal and ate dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her ground beef, a large serving of elbow noodles with peas topped with shredded cheese, and ate applesauce.  The noodle mix is one of her favorites; judging by the amount she eats and the intensity of the process!  :)

This picture was taken yesterday afternoon.  We hadn't played in the sand for quite awhile and they had a lot of fun.  They were all engaged for at least 45 minutes.  Cooper just about had the fence tore apart trying to get in there!  So my job was distracting him.  Good luck with that!  :)

Riley was making Mia laugh and Mia was saying, "Look at Riley!"  After being silly with the food toys Riley was banging her head against the back of the chair over and over.  And of course Mia thought that was some more great entertainment!  :)

Those two also played with the dolls and the little play houses.  They were peeking through the windows at each other and Mia was yelling, "Hello Riley, hello Riley..."

For art time we painted using some popsicle sticks; just for something different.  They experimented with them and after one stick would get real messy they'd get a clean one.   Then we went outside and Riley and Mia took turns giving each other rides in the wagon.  They also watched the garbage men working and the kids playing across the street.

Darcy, when you drove by this morning Mia said, "Mommy go home!"  I told her you were going to work.  Then probably an hour later, again she said, "Mommy home!"  And again I said you were at work!  She said, "Work?"  (In the form of a question.)  And the way she said it was like it was a foreign concept she'd never heard of.  Cracked me up!  :)

9/12/2013

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

We tried looking at the Panda Bear and Baby (from the website Jamie gave us), but mama Panda was asleep like usual.  Lauralea and I were watching it last night and the baby is only a couple of days old and so little.  So we looked at Pandas on Explore.org.  And we watched some bears in a river in Alaska looking for salmon.  When Mia saw the Panda bear she said, "PUPPY!!"

Riley bit Mia this morning on the back side of Mia's left shoulder.  It's not very bad, but any bite is bad!  I can be a few feet away and still not be quick enough to stop it.  Mia LOVES Riley, but she tries to get as close to her as she can and is frequently in Riley's space.  And that's what this was; she was sitting too close and Riley had been trying to get her to back off.  I'd moved Mia once, but she was soon back there.  I just didn't expect the bite!  So I applied a cold cloth and some ice too, so I'll see how it looks after they wake up from their nap.

Mia said, "poopy in potty, poopy in potty.." and she headed right for the gate.  She'd never done that before so I took her back, but nothing happened.  :)  So we'll wait a few days and try again.  She gets so distracted by the time she's on the toilet and she's looking at everything and forgets what she's even there for!!

Mia was trying to give me a heart attack outside.  Riley was giving her a ride in the wagon and Mia decided to try standing up.  Good Grief!  She about toppled over the side, but she didn't!  :)

Hey, here's a copy of the Toddler's Creed I thought you might enjoy:

The Toddlers Creed"

by Dr. Burton L. White
Submitted by Heather Haas 08-04-01

If I want it,
IT'S MINE!

If I give it to you and change my mind later,
IT'S MINE!

If I can take it away from you,
IT'S MINE!

If it's mine it will never belong to anybody else,
No matter what.
If we are building something together,
All the pieces are mine!

If it looks just like mine,
IT'S MINE!

9/11/2013

Mia ate cinnamon roll and bites of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate everything: scrambled eggs and hash brown combo, waffle, and cantaloupe.  For this meal we're doing a scrambled eggs, hash brown, bacon bits, and cheese in cup cake cups and baking it.  It always takes several introductions to something new, so we'll see how it goes.  So far: Mia loves it!!  (That's usually a safe bet!)  No one else is impressed yet!

Here's a picture of a common morning occurrence; Lauralea feeding the little "birdies" bites of cheese.  Mia saw her coming and sprinted to this corner (she knows that's where Lauralea is headed) saying, "a bite, a bite.."   :)

Mia and Cooper were at the window waving bye to Cooper's mom.  Cooper reached up and snatched that container of Mia's cheerios out of her hand.  She looked at him like; "What the heck!?"  He did it pretty fast.  (He's well practiced!)

Outside, Riley was picking up leaves, stems, grass, and random junk and Mia was saying, "Bite bite.."  So Riley was giving her a bite.  And they both thought that was hilarious!  So I had her spit that out, but later she came with evidence of more leaves hanging from her mouth.

Nora was pulling Riley and Mia in the wagon outside.  She stopped on the patio and was moving everything (like bikes, carts, trucks) off the patio and out of the way.  She had a plan!  And she was expecting Mia and Riley to patiently wait in the wagon while she worked.  Mia, of course, was long gone!  Nora turned around and was screaming at Mia and pointing at the wagon.  "You get back in there where you're supposed to be!"  :)  It was so funny to watch them going down the sidewalk.  Mia never stopped moving.  She was twisting, turning, leaning out grabbing the wheels, sticking her arm down in front where the handle is at, etc...  Riley, meanwhile, is just sitting there and basically just watching all of Mia's activity.  :)

9/10/2013

Mia ate two servings of jelly toast and ate dried mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate the filling out of the beef & bean burrito, ate sweet potatoes, and tropical fruit.

There are a bunch of heart-shaped bracelets in this toy group and Mia was putting several (six or seven) on the doll's arm, then taking them off and doing it again.

The three girls had the table full of food toys, purses, and phones.  They were like busy little bees working around the table.  Then Nora was covering up Mia with a blanket.  However, she got furious when Mia wouldn't hold her leg still!  :)  So I redirected Nora to a doll to cover up.  I told her; "I think you'll have better luck getting the doll to cooperate and do exactly what you want it to!"  :)

We also did some golf ball art and watched Mia try to turn it into finger painting.  Riley and Nora were sounding the alarm; "Oh oh, oh oh!"  :)

Outside, Riley was giving Mia lots of rides in the wagon.  Then she bumped the wagon into the house pretty hard and it jolted Mia.  Mia cracked up like it was the funniest thing ever!  Silly girl!  So Riley did it again.  Then Nora came over to watch and all three of them are laughing like crazy!  :)

Mia was pushing the dump truck on the sidewalk and crashed, but didn't cry.  I said wow, you're being tough!  She said, "Tough!!"  :)

Then at lunch time Mia was making this contented sound "Ahhhh" after every bite.  :)  Soon Riley and Nora were mimicking the sound.  And even Cooper tried it a couple of times!

9/9/2013

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 two servings of mandarin oranges.

Mia is always up-close watching Lauralea get ready for work.  (Putting on make-up.)  She pointed at Lauralea and said, "eyebrow!" and ran her finger along Lauralea's eyebrow.  Then she was pointing at her painted fingernails and said, "nails!"  and told Lauralea that mom did it.  :)

Lauralea brought out her iPad for them to look at pictures.  (Of themselves on Facebook.)  Riley looked at a picture of herself squatting down and said, "I pooping!"  :)  Mia saw Lauralea coming with her computer and said, "That iPad!"  Geez!  We've got a young spokesperson for Apple!  Love it!  :)  Do you guys have an iPad or is that just from hearing us say it here at daycare?

She was at the window waving bye to Riley and Cooper's mom and saying, "Bye Jeemee!!"  (Jamie)  I love how she was saying it.

Mia was also showing Riley and Nora her fingernails at breakfast time.  They were sitting across from her and she was holding her hands up for them to see.  EXCEPT, she was holding them with the palms out, so the fingernails were facing herself.  Cracked me up.  The toddlers didn't seem to notice!  :)

She played with lots of outside toys and watched the neighbor's dog.  And tried to "Shhhhh.." him from barking!  Oh yes!  I was going to mention that we also did some dot painting.  Mia gets bored with that pretty quick.  We have six different dot painters and I just rotate them around the table and they each have a chance at the different colors.  Mia did ONE dot and said, "I done Gary!"  :)  So I said, "You can do a few more dots if you want," and she did.

9/6/2013

Mia had bites of brown rice and ate most of her raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate meat loaf, most of her french bread, ate carrots, and dried apricots.  I should also mention she ate a lot of Riley's snack before breakfast.  (The snack Riley was sharing with her when you were here Darcy).  She kept doing the "more" sign and saying, "More Riley!"  And Riley kept giving her more.  :)

I thought this was a cute picture that I took yesterday afternoon after snack time.  Coral was hiding under the climber and she'd pulled the big bear in front so she was hidden pretty well.  And she stayed put for several minutes.  Even Cooper was getting in on the search.  :)

All of the girls were playing with the dress-up clothes and Mia was especially going for the shoes and the tutus.  She and Nora also read lots of books together.  They were sitting in the big chair with lots of books piled around them; alternating between reading and playing nicely or squawking at each other.  Then I turned around and they're kissing.  :)  Geez!  A love-hate thing going on!  Silly kids!  So I had to grab the camera for this one.  I should post a picture of them squabbling with each other so there would be the contrast, but I'm too busy intervening or doing preventive things.

Cooper was crawling across the floor and I knew he was getting tired.  He got to Mia's blanket which was laying there and he put his head on it and snuggled for a minute.  His blanket is the same as her's; just different color.

Outside on the patio Cooper was inside the play house and Mia was running around and around the play house.  She was peeking in every window and Cooper was laughing at her.

9/5/2013

Mia had two servings of breakfast: cinnamon toast and grapes.  For lunch she ate most of her baked chicken, ate dinner roll, hash browns, and canned cherries.  (She loves those cherries.)

The girls were all very engaged with the food toys and playing at the table.  They had the table all set and then they were cooking and eating.  They went and got dolls and were feeding their babies and filling their purses full of food.  :)

I was stepping forward and Coral was concerned that Mia's hand was going to be stepped on.  Coral said, "Watch your fingers Mia!"  And Mia started staring at her fingers.  Way to follow instructions Mia!  It always makes me laugh because we have so many phrases in our language that Toddlers interpret very literally.  Every thing is 'black and white' at this age.  :)  (Which is nice to know when you're trying to tell them something!)

Mia's free drawing style always makes me laugh too.  She was looking at the lights, out the window, at her neighbors, and continuing to draw at the same time.  However, she wasn't just scribbling wildly, but she was making very deliberate marks and working at it.  She also seemed to enjoy putting stickers on her paper.

And she makes me laugh outside too!  Geez, I think I see a pattern developing here!  She is such an opportunist when Riley or Nora are pulling the wagons.  She races over and jumps in!  This morning it was Nora's wagon, but at least Nora didn't yell this time!  The primary reason I find that humorous is because she's by far the strongest of the group!

9/4/2013

Mia ate two servings of whole wheat bagel and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of her ham, large serving of mac-n-cheese, ate corn, and green beans.

The kids played with some sidewalk chalk outside.  Mia followed Riley around and was doing everything Riley was doing.  She would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Riley and get as close to her as she could.  It was all very cute...well there was one exception.  She was copying Riley sticking her finger up her nose.  And Mia went running to show Riley a 'trophy' she found there too!!  :)

The caption for this picture: "Why should I push it when I can just drag it?!?"  And she was dragging it  up and down the sidewalk!  I think she likes the noise it makes!  :)

And the caption for this picture: "Oh! You want me to push it?  Ok! I can do that!"  And she was pushing it this way up and down the sidewalk.  Even Riley started doing it!  Riley was laughing and thought it was all hilarious!  :)

Mia invited Riley to play with her first thing when Riley got here.  She was making the "come here" sign with both hands and saying, "come here!"  They got rowdy and were going nuts on the mattress rolling around, running around, squealing and laughing.  Then later she joined Riley and Nora and played the "cover with blanket" game.  They were taking turns laying on my pillows and covering each other up.

9/3/2013

Mia ate two servings of breakfast: blueberry waffles and pears.  For lunch she ate tuna and crackers, sweet potatoes, and oranges.  I'd put syrup on Mia's waffle at breakfast and when I looked over there, she was finished, and had both hands in her syrup sliding all over her plate!

We did a toy and book exchange this weekend and the kids were all so engaged checking everything out.  If Mia didn't play with everything, she at least touched everything!  She played with the dolls and blankets, and was following Riley's lead putting on the tutus.  Except Mia had to put on two of them!  I took a picture of her playing with one of the little houses which has some furniture and little people.  (Riley is also in this picture, but she's basically hidden behind Mia.  You can see a bit of her hair at the back of Mia's head.)

Outside Riley was giving Mia a ride in the wagon.  That always makes me laugh; Riley doing all the work while Mia is laying sideways in the wagon with her feet dangling over the side.  Just kind of chillin and taking it easy.  Riley is so little, but she works hard at pulling Mia around.  Then Mia jumped in Nora's wagon, but Nora was not nearly as eager to be the 'work-horse!'

Mia fell on the sidewalk, but her pants come below her knees and that saved her.  There wasn't even a scrape.  I asked, "Are you alright?"  She was still crying and said, "NO!"  :)

There was a young kid (teenager) walking by the yard and I said, "Hello!"  Mia immediately said, "Hello!"  And the boy thought that was really funny.

There are lots of apples laying on the ground in the neighbor's yard under his apple trees.  They are smelling like they are fermenting and the bees are getting active over there.  All I had to do was mention "bees" and Riley is smoking away from that area at a high rate of speed.  And Mia followed her so that was good.