12/17/2014

I want to start Mia's Journal Blog with a "heads-up" for everyone: I am going to have Carpal Tunnel surgery on my hands (Yes, the plural is intentional - Yikes!) on Friday the 19th.  Lauralea will be here helping for a few days.  Anyhow, I'm taking a break from the Daily Journal Blogs to give my hands a good chance to heal.  This is the last one until Monday, January 5th.  (Mia just left for Big Sky at noon.)  So with that in mind, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  The Blog will return on January 5th!

Mia ate peaches and half of her biscuit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of baked beans, bites of dinner roll, ate peas, and pineapple.

Cooper is home sick today so it was just Mia and the two babies at Daycare.  (I think she kind of likes the undivided attention she gets when it's just her!!)  She had a good morning and played well even though she was pretty amped-up about going to Big Sky.  "Going to the mountains!  Going to see Julie and Eddie!"  "Going to their house!"

She spent a lot of time talking on the phones this morning as well!  She said, "I gotta call someone!!" She was at the sink and I asked her who she was talking to.  "I'm not talking to anyone!  I'm washing my phones!"  LOL  Oh, ok!  I guess I'll just assume the constant chatter was to herself!!  Then she was on the phone talking to Jamie; Cooper's Mom.  "Hi Jamie!  It's Mia!  (I like how she always identifies herself!)  Is Cooper sick!?!"  Then she was on the phone talking to Cooper's Doctor - verifying his illness, I guess!!  :)

We did stamps at Art Time.  Here's a picture of what happens when you buy ink pads that are scented!!  Ha ha ha!  Mia had her nose in them sniffing more than once!  (I probably should have checked her tongue too, right!?)

Like I mentioned earlier she was a bit excited this morning!  She was headed down the hall after going potty and asked me, "Can I run like a crazy woman!?!"  Sure, why not!  :)  Hope you have an awesome time at Big Sky Mia!

12/16/2014

Mia ate two servings of waffle and ate hash browns for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of cheese and chicken quesadilla, ate a large serving of carrots, and a large serving of oranges.  At the breakfast table something must have reminded Cooper of halloween because he started talking about it.  I said, "what? - can you tell me more about it?"  (Trying to figure out what he was talking about!)  So he thought for several seconds and said, "bats - ghosts."  Ha ha ha.  Mia jumps at that and said, "I had halloween too - I get candy!!"  Then a moment later she said, "It's NOT halloween now!  It's halloween AND Christmas!!"  Ha ha ha!!  Love these guys!!

Mia yelled to alert me that I needed to take care of Cooper's nose!  "Gary!!  Cooper's nose run!!  Will you fix it!?!"  They were playing in the igloo and so I ask Cooper if he needed me to wipe his nose; "No, I'm good!"  :)

If you've followed these blogs for any length of time you know the hole in the center of the table in this picture has provided the kids (for lots of years) with an endless amount of entertainment.  Today they were playing with the food toys and taking turns dropping "hot dogs" on top of each other.  When Mia was on the floor she said, "Put your eye in there!!"  :)

Cooper enjoys doing "animal play" with Mia and it's a good thing because I think she could play "pretend animals" all day long!  (That's her "default setting!"  When boredom sets in, just be an animal!)  She's usually a puppy, horse, or wolf!  Today she was bringing bones to her Cooper puppy.

At Story Time the picture in the book showed three bears walking in the snow and Mia said, "Bear Prints!" while pointing to their footprints.  I was impressed!  Nice observation Mia!  Cooper said, "No!  Dinosaur prints!!"  LOL  Uhhhh, no Mia got it right; those are bear prints.

12/15/2014

Mia ate several bites of cheerios and ate banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of cheese sandwich, drank a large serving of tomato soup, and had bites of lettuce salad.

It is so nice to have Cooper back from his trip and Mia is totally thrilled that he is here!!  They jumped right into playing together without missing a beat!  She was saying, "Let's go hide Coop! Let's go hide!  Come on Coop, come on!!"  So I took some pictures of them "hiding" and here is one of the pictures.

They were playing with the phones and Mia had to call her Mom and let her know Cooper is here!  "Hi Mom!  It's me and Cooper!!"  Ha ha!  Then she made another call - "Hi Kimberly!  It's Mia!  Are you having a good time?"  :)  She always greets Elliott's Mom, Kimberly, so I'm assuming that is who she was talking to!

She was happy to be at Day Care this morning; she walked around the Daycare room looking at everything and said, "I like your house; it's so beautiful!"  And the way she said it was so sweet - very peaceful.  I'm thankful to share it with you Mia.

I told her I liked the Christmas ornaments on her shirt and she said, "Cooper called them beans!"  And he did.  (Which was a couple of weeks ago maybe.)

We decorated a couple of Christmas Tree ornaments at Art Time using different kinds of stickers - some about Christmas and some other ones as well.  Then we read lots of Christmas books too.  Cooper said, "I looovvvve Frosty!!"  And he said it so sweetly and right from his heart.  :)

12/12/2014

Mia ate oatmeal and two servings of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, half of elbow noodles topped with shredded cheese, ate a large serving of peas, and a large serving of applesauce.  She was mimicking all the sounds Elliott was making at Lunch Time and he was totally delighted!  And he kept doing it over and over.  I told Mia, "He loves that Mia!"  She said, "So do I!"

I got a little Christmas Tree Art for Mia to work on and she colored one of the pieces and did Dot Painting on the other piece.  Then we put them together.

Mia was very pleased with the final "product."  She said, "Look at it Gary!  It's so awesome!!"  :)

She was trying hard to use the masks like a purse.  And the stuff kept sliding out of them.  Mia said, "Hey!  Will you give me a hand here!?!"  LOL  She was full of one-liners this morning!  (See below!)

I gets lots of joy and pleasure listening to Mia talk - and as you all know - there's never a shortage of talking!!!!!!  Aren't genetics cool!?  Hee hee!  (I may be in trouble for that one!)  So here are a few from this morning!  As I've mentioned several times, Mia never forgets something she's heard!

     "What!?!  You talking to me!?!"
     "Chocolate, Gary!!  I found some chocolate!!"  The pantry door was open and she spotted a
          container of powdered chocolate Nesquik.
     Baby Sophie was laying on the floor and getting a bit fussy.  "Shhhhhh!  It's just me!"
     We were talking about Santa.  "He's not coming this year!"
     Waving bye to Nora at the window.  "Bye Nora my friend!"
     "Gary, you love me don't you?"  How sweet is that!?  Yes I love you Mia!
     Manners - Where'd they go?  (I asked Mia)  "In my pocket!"  Ha ha ha!
     We were reading "Humpty Dumpty" and I was pretending to cry when they couldn't put him back
          together.  "It's ok Gary; you don't have YOUR head broke!!"

12/11/2014

Mia ate blueberries and half of whole wheat english muffin for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of turkey sandwich, ate a large serving of green beans, ate strawberries, and two servings of bananas.

Mia was feeding her baby (and singing "Baby Beluga") while I was feeding Sophie - and she burped the baby, changed it's diaper, and played the "walk, trot, gallop" game with it.  She's pretty "tuned-in" to what I'm doing with Sophie and knows the basic routines.  I'd fed the baby and later she started to fuss.  Mia said, "She's ready for bed Gary!"  You're right Mia!

Mia said, "Sophie's a nice baby!!  Not Elliott!!"  I asked her, "Why not?"  Mia said, "He grabs people!"  And she proceeded to list everyone he grabbed;  primarily the Day Care people.  Little does she know - it won't be long and Sophie will be doing the same thing.  :)

Mia asked me what her shirt said.  So I read it to her - You can't spell AWESOME without "me."  She said, "I'm a track star!"  And she told me that probably three times this morning.  (And today was not the first time either!)  Nice work Daddy!!  :)

Mia and I went downstairs while the babies were sleeping and laminated the poster we made yesterday.  The paper we used was a bit too lightweight and it wrinkled pretty bad so we're going to do it over, but still use some of the same pictures.  She also did some "stamping" at Art Time and she was loving it.  I need to get some more ink, but she still managed to cover her paper with lots of different dinosaurs, bugs, and snowflakes.

12/10/2014

Mia ate two servings of jelly toast and ate mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of beef & bean burrito, ate a large serving of sweet potatoes, and a large serving of tropical fruit.

I told Mia, "You crack me up!"  She said, "You crack me up - we both crack up!"  :)  Then she verbalized it another way; "I crack you up; you crack me up!"

I had to take a picture of Mia and Sophie getting acquainted.  Mia's practicing being a Big Sister.  And doing a nice job of it I might add!

We made a Christmas poster at Art time and glued some pictures (from old Christmas cards) onto some paper.  Tomorrow we'll laminate it after it's totally dry.  Then Mia did some letter and number stickers.  When we were done she said, "Are we having fun!?!"  Ha ha ha.  I said, "Well I am and I hope you are as well!"

Almost every day, shortly before it's time to leave, Cooper will ask, "Where's my Mom?" or "Mom pick me up?"  And I give the exact same answer every time; "Mom or Dad will pick you up after they're done working; Until then I will take good care of you!"  And occasionally Mia will ask it after he's done and I give her the exact same answer as well.  Today after Art Time Mia asked, "Where's my Momma?" and immediately asked, "Are you going to take good care of me?"  :)  Yup I will Sweetie!

We read lots of books together, Mia read books by herself, we practiced some sign language, and we sang songs.  I'm going to add some more signs to learn - she totally has these "down pat."  When she started reading books this morning she picked up the ones that she ended with yesterday before leaving.  Three of Dr. Suess; "The Shape of Me and Other Stuff,"   "The Foot Book," and "The Shape of Me and Other Stuff."

12/9/2014

Mia ate two servings of apple muffin and ate dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she had bites of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and cheese combo; ate waffle, and ate melon mix.

Mia was watching out the window and excitedly said, "I found a doggie!!"  So I went to the window to see a woman jogging by with her dog.  :)

Mia was trying to talk Lauralea into eating some "food" she'd prepared.  Lauralea said, "I just ate."  Mia answered; "Well eat some more and you'll feel better!"  Ha ha ha.  (That's Mia's Modus Operandi!)  Lauralea said, "Ask Elliott if he's hungry."  Mia said, "NO!  He's got slobbers!!"  LOL  She's always got an answer!!  Later in the morning, after she'd informed me; "I'm Starving!!" she was fixing me some "food" too.  She kept saying, "You have to eat; it's your only chance!!"  :)  (Hopefully she's not a Prophet!)  :)

Cooper always gives Lauralea a hug when she's leaving for work - Mia does occasionally.  This morning Lauralea asked Mia if she was going to give her a hug and Mia said, "Gary will give you a hug!"  Ha ha ha!!

Here's a couple of pictures from this morning.  Mia wanted to do stickers and I asked if she wanted to do Christmas stickers on the "stockings" you see in the picture.  Nope, she wanted the paper so she could make a "map!"  :)

In this picture she has some keys in her hand and this is where they always pretend to drive their car.  They like this spot because it's got a place for their keys.

12/8/2014

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

It's going to be a bit slower around here this week with Cooper gone to Disneyland!  (If they can fly out of foggy Missoula!!)  However, Mia had a good morning and stayed busy.  It really helped that this was Toy Exchange Weekend!  She was thrilled to see the Big Bad Wolf mask!  Except the babies slept a lot this morning so there was no one else to growl at!!

She played with the cell phones and keys.  They always empty the block shelf and use that for their car when the keys are out.  She said, "Bye bye!  I'm going to get blueberries!!  See you tomorrow!!"  Tomorrow?  Where are you going?  She said (quite indignantly I might - like where else would I go to get blueberries!), "The store!!"  Ok!  I just didn't realize it was an overnight trip!!  :)

I asked Mia if she'd get my "sweat cloth" off the chair for me.  She asked me, "Why?  Are you cold?" Ha ha ha!  Uhhh, not really!  I need to wipe some sweat off my brow!!

We're listening to Christmas songs and reading Christmas books!  Mia heard the song come on the iPod; "Twelve Days of Christmas."  She got all excited when she recognized the song; "From Christmas book, Christmas book!!"  :)

When Mia got here this morning Lauralea asked her what she was eating.  Mia answered, "Toast!"  It was actually a waffle, so I said, "It's an awful waffle!"  Mia then said, "It's not a waffle awful; it's a awful!!"  :)   (Read that one again!)

12/5/2014

Mia ate a large serving of brown rice and two servings of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate meatloaf, bite of pita bread, ate carrots, and apricots.  At the lunch table Mia was pretending to cough and then saying, "I'm ok!"  (That one came from Cooper's Momma Jamie!)  Then she said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you!"  (She locks in everything she hears and she's heard me say that a few times!!)  She repeated it over and over and Cooper started copying her except shortening it a bit; "Do that if I were you, do that if I were you."  :)

The kids put stickers on a couple of Christmas Tree ornaments at Art Time.  Then I had them "pose" for this picture later.  And that was kind of a hilarious fiasco!  "Point at your pictures," I said.  So Mia waved both hands over them and said, "like this!?!"  Cooper stuck his elbow on his picture and said, "Like this!?!"  LOL  So I changed my instructions!  "Show me your favorite sticker!  Thank you!!!! You can go back to playing now!"  :)

Mia randomly asked Cooper this morning; "Where are your manners Cooper?"  Ha ha ha.  (I told you everything sticks with her!)  I asked her, "What are manners?"  "I don't know!"  "Can you give me an example?"  "I don't know!"  Then I told Mia that Cooper was going to Disneyland and her response; "Ohhh, Cool!!  Does it got some movies on it!?!"  Ha ha ha.  Then she said, "Daddy's iPad is broken; that's why I have to watch movies on TV!"

Almost every day Cooper will ask, "Music on Gary, music on."  And I have the hardest time understanding the word "music!!"  You'd think I'd recognize it already!!  So today he was saying, "Music on Gary, music on!"  I asked Mia, "What'd he say!?!"  She answered, "Mia be gone, Mia be gone!"  LOL  Thank you Mia; I feel better!

I heard Baby Elliott (on the sound monitor) waking up from his nap and he started talking.  I told Mia he was talking to his "crib mates."  She said, "Noooo!!  He don't have a phone!!"  :)

12/4/2014

Mia ate cinnamon toast and grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her chicken, a couple bites of dinner roll, ate a large serving of hash browns, and ate cherries.  About half way through lunch she was totally sitting and just staring and then said, "I'm getting tired!!"

I had a piece of bubble wrap with the large bubbles for the kids to play on this morning.  They were examining the bubbles and trying to pop them with their fingers without much success.

But it worked good when they ran and stomped on the bubbles.  Lots of popping and snapping!

Mia and Cooper both love dinosaurs so it wasn't really a surprise when Mia said, "Run Cooper!!  It's a meat eater!!"  Baby Elliott was headed their way!!  LOL  It was so funny!  Then she said, "Let's go ROAR at him!!"  So they did and it pretty much had the opposite effect of what she may have been thinking!  Elliott loved it!  He has a brother at home that (according to Mommy Kimberly) does animal sounds at Elliott all the time.  He was totally amused by it all!

The kids did some new Christmas stickers at Art Time.  I left the sticker containers on the table to go in the back room for some more paper.  As I was leaving the room I asked (being silly), "Can I trust you?"  Cooper said, "Nooooo!"  Ha ha!  Then we read several Christmas books; "Jingle Bells, 12 Days of Christmas," etc..  By the way, Lauralea (in her Santa costume) will be here about 4:30 today.

They played with the blocks, did LOTS of jumping on the mattress, and played various kinds of animals that didn't involve Elliott.  :)  Cooper had a carrot in his mouth and Mia was saying, "Bring it here boy, bring it here.  Good boy puppy!"  (Except that didn't end too nicely because she yanked it out of the puppy's mouth before he was ready to release it!)  Ouch!  Mia also played with her doll, feeding it one bite and feeding herself three or four bites.  :)  And she talked on the phone to Mommy again.  "Hi Mom! It's Me!!...jabber jabber jabber!"

12/3/2014

Mia ate whole wheat bagel and peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham, large serving of mac-n-cheese, two servings of corn, and ate apple pieces.   Mia was coveting Cooper's large serving of corn at lunch (which he hadn't touched and her plate was now sitting empty) and I asked him if she could eat some of it and he immediately started picking out kernels to eat (with his fingers).  LOL  Good strategy Cooper!!

Mia loved the feel of Lauralea's "velvet" shirt!  "Oooohhhhh! Soft!!....Where you got it at!?!"  I guess she's going to run out and buy one for herself!!  :)

Mia and Cooper were playing in the igloo and Elliott wanted in on the action.  As you might guess from the picture they were doing some animals growls to try to deter him.  Personally, I think it has the opposite effect!

Cooper and Mia had a blast playing on the two Big Bears.  It's so fun to watch the kids as they experiment with every possible way to play with them!

And another angle!  After the bears they were building with the blocks and Mia made Cooper a "motorcycle."  A few minutes later I was putting a ponytail in her hair and Cooper was tearing the motorcycle apart!  Mia said, "I'm not building Cooper another one!!"  LOL  (She's probably heard me say that to her a few times!)   :)

Mia was sooo cute talking to Mommy on her cell phone (made of legos).  It went something like this; "Hi Mom!!  Are you at work!?!...(pause)....good!  Is Dad at work!?!.....good!!"  Then she went on to describe what's happening at Day Care; "Gary feeding Baby....Elliott sleeping...I work at (legos) computer....Cooper under table!!"  :)

12/2/2014

Mia ate waffle and pears for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tuna, crackers, a large serving of sweet potatoes, and ate her oranges.

I love this picture - it's the "Modern Family!"  Mia has her "computer" at the dinner table.  (Her legos "computer" has been her sole use of legos lately.)  She looked up from her computer and said to Cooper, "Don't play with your food!"  Ha ha.

During Story Time Mia was holding a legos which she'd been using as her phone.  So while I'm in the middle of reading a book she holds it up to her ear and loudly said, "Hi Mom!!"  So I said, "New rule for Daycare Story Time!  All cell phones must be turned off!"  :)  Mia totally got a pouty look on her face!

Cooper and Mia did LOTS of jumping and and then running laps around the igloo.  Over and over.  Cooper ran into something and Mia was immediately there to assist him and she asked, "Are you ok Cooper my Brother!?!"  That was a first!  It was really cute and funny!

Mia was in the bathroom and then I could hear her running down the hallway.  Cooper said, "Sound like Mia!"  Ha ha!  I hope so because she's the only other person here who can walk!!

We have some scented (cinnamon scent) pine cones by the dining table.  Mia said, "They smell good!  Can we eat them!?!"  Ha ha ha!  (Actually I see her point - anything that smells that good should be edible!)

12/1/2014

Mia ate half of chex cereal and ate mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of beef sandwich, had a couple drinks of tomato soup, and ate a few bites of lettuce salad.  I asked her if she was ready for lunch and she said, "Actually, I want a lunch!"  Hee hee!  

Mia actually (I just re-read this and I guess I use the word "actually" a lot!  Ha!) did pretty well this morning considering she was returning from a four day weekend.  It was very apparent she needed a nap by nap time, but overall we managed just fine and she was glad to be back in her routine.  Right after she arrived Lauralea let her use the rolling pin to help crush some graham crackers.  I was preparing some food in the kitchen and started singing and she said, "Hey! You HAVE to stop singing!"  Ha ha ha!

Mia and Cooper were watching Lauralea use the lint roller on her pants and wanted to give it a go.  The stickiness of the roller became the primary attraction.

The kids had lined up their "motorcycles" and were pretending to sleep.  I asked Mia what she was doing and she said, "Go away, I'm sleeping!"  Hmmm, I wonder if she's heard that before.  :)

After Baby Sophie woke up from her nap Mia said, "She smell better!"  LOL!  Oh really?  That cracked me up!  I had not changed her diaper, she wasn't poopy, I had not sprayed my cologne on her! But apparently a little nap helped her smell better!  :)

11/26/2014

Mia ate whole wheat toast and two servings of mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham, crackers, bean & bacon soup, and most of her strawberries.  After lunch Mia had already went potty and was on her nap mat when I was changing Cooper's diaper.  He was kind of concerned because he didn't know where she was at.  "No Mia Anywhere!?!"

Cooper and Mia were finding a new place to arrange the stuffed animals.  Cooper was fetching them and Mia was putting them in place.  And they were pretty proud of themselves.

The kids did LOTS of stickers and decorative tape at Art Time and we read lots of books as well.  It's amazing how many stories and songs both of them know.  I always ask them about the book we're going to read (or the song we're going to sing) and now, instead of one or two words, they both will frequently recite an entire line or verse!  Today we were reading "Mouse's First Day at School" and in one of the pictures the mouse is walking in the paint.  Mia said, "We want to do that!! -- Feet in paint!!"  Hmmm....Why not??!!  :)

Lauralea was showing the kids how to play with this little froggy and they had it going back-n-forth to each other at the table.  Cooper said, "Crack me up!!"  :)

Yesterday or Monday one of Mia's socks had a hole in the toe.  She and Cooper were both pretty concerned about it and Mia said, "My sock's broke!!"  :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  I'm very thankful for all the Children at Little Treasures and for the very supportive families!!  The Blog will return on Monday, December 1st.

11/25/2014

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

I always ask Mia what she did "last night."  For months and months her standard answer has been "Mommy, Daddy, TyTy."  Today she said, "I don't want to talk about it."  Ha ha ha!  Then she was eating on the waffle she'd brought with her and drinking some milk from her cup.  When she was done she asked Lauralea to "Put this (milk cup) in MY refrigerator."  :)

Cooper was eating lunch and spotted the number 3 on Elliott's snow suit.  "Three, three, three!!"  And "Spider Man, Spider Man!"  (Which are on Elliott's snow boots.)  I asked Mia if she'd spotted it too and she said, "Noooo, I'm still looking for it!!"

This picture looks like a conspiracy in the making!!  (Especially if you look at the book title!) Mia was reading books to Cooper and then they were doing this for a long time; long enough for me to get the camera and get a picture!!

Riley informed us this morning the light to the little fish tank is burned out!  (I'm not sure how I survive without you here full-time Riley!!)  So Mia, Cooper, and I took it apart to reach the light.  Now all the parts are in a dish and the kids were especially concerned about the (fake) fish.  Mia asked, "Are they dead?"  I said, "Not when they're in the water!!"  And that satisfied her.

We read lots of books and did some painting at Art Time.  Tomorrow we'll be doing stickers AGAIN at Art.  They love the stickers and ask to do them almost every day.  I try to come up with a variety of things they are capable of doing, but they never seem to get tired of the stickers.  (And I have lots of different kinds!)

11/24/2014

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

Lauralea yawned this morning and Mia had to mimic her with a fake yawn and then said, "ooooh, I had a good sleep!!"  :)  It was pretty funny!

Several times Cooper mentioned Mia's shirt; "She has Christmas lights - look like jelly beans!"

Cooper joined Mia in one of her favorite games - Puppy Play.  Except Mia is usually the puppy!  They both had plates of food for their puppies.  That happens to be celery she's about to feed her puppy!  (In the picture.)  I might be colorblind, BUT that celery looks pretty realistic to me!

Cooper and Mia were having big time fun "hiding" from Elliott; mostly hiding in the igloo.  It kind of went like this; "Here comes the Baby!!"  ---  "He's coming back!"  ---  "Let's get out of here!" --- "Hide hide!  He's coming!!"  LOL  Elliott didn't have a clue he was part of a game!

Cooper and Mia are very excited about a new Dr. Seuss book.  (Just "new" to us of course.  Actually copyrighted in 1963!)  "Hop on Pop"  They both love the silly word combinations.

11/21/2014

Mia ate half of chex cereal and ate raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of ground beef, ate a large serving of elbow noodles topped with shredded cheese, large serving of mixed fruit, and ate her applesauce.

Cooper is hanging out (along with sisters Riley and Kenzie) with Grandpa and Grandma today.  The Grandparents are in town for the weekend - I guess there's some kind of Football Game tomorrow!!  Go Griz!!  :)

Mia did just fine playing by herself this morning and played with lots of stuff as well as reading and doing art.  She asked if she could do stickers for Art, so that's what we did.  She jammed her paper full of stickers!

I haven't included a picture with Baby Sophie lately so here she is!  A sweet and wonderful baby!  Mia is getting lots of good training for being a Big Sister!  We had a little boy in our Program a few years ago (Colt Calahan - Darcy knows the family) and his Mommy was also pregnant with his little sister.  He called one of the babies in our Program his "Practice Sister!"  And that's what Sophie is; Mia's Practice Sister!

Just about every day after the snow has arrived Mia will look outside and say, "It snow!"  After she said it this morning I asked her; "Do you know what day of the week it is?"  :)  She answered, "Christmas!"  Hey, good guess!  Then she went to the window and said, "I'm gonna show you the snow - it's Christmas!!"  Prefect logic!  :)

For two or three days this week Mia has been using the same two pieces of legos and "fixing" everything.  She found them again this morning and was "fixing" the table and then tried to "fix" Elliott.  She said, "Elliott don't want fixed!!"  LOL  "What do you have?" I asked her.  She said, "It's my fixer!!"  :)

11/20/2014

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

Yesterday the kids were watching a deer stroll down the middle of the street just outside the big window.  I asked them; "I wonder what that deer is doing?"  Mia said, "He's looking for food."  Cooper said, "Yah!"  :)

Both Babies had just went to sleep so Cooper and Mia went outside to run and play right after breakfast.  It's a little bit warmer this week and they were very enthusiastic about getting outside for awhile.  They lasted almost 30 minutes before Mia said her hands were getting cold.  She's just swatting away some snow in this picture.  (Just in case someone is concerned: I have a sound monitor for one baby and I can observe the other baby through the window!)

And in this picture they're looking for some ice to chew on!  Cooper spotted the "bubbles container" sitting on the step (which I'd forgotten to put away for the winter) and he asked, "Do bubbles?"  Of course they were froze solid!

Mia is busy eating some snow here; but the real reason I took this picture is to show you Mia wearing my knit cap.  :)  Her hood would not stay on and this worked very well for her and kept her toasty warm!!

Mia has been a very good helper lately AND she loves to be a helper!  This morning she even anticipated what I needed and brought it for me before I asked her.  I was very impressed!  I had just fixed Elliott his bottle and was sitting in the chair to feed him and she handed me his burp cloth!  During the day I have them hanging on the gate.  Thank you Mia and good job!

11/19/2014

Mia ate biscuits and peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of baked beans, ate dinner roll, a large serving of peas, and ate pineapple.

Whenever I get out the Big Brown Bear or the Big Panda Bear it's like something new.  I took pictures of them wrestling with the Panda Bear and they were having so much fun.  For more exercise they were twisting and twirling until their eyes were rolling around.  :)  Whenever they start spinning Mia always says, "We need music!!"

I was talking to Baby Elliott and asking him questions about what he did last night!  :)  Mia looked at me like I had forgotten something!  "He DON'T talk!!"  Ha ha!

While I was fixing Mia's hair she was wanting Cooper to pick up her "computer."  (One she'd made with legos.)  She was trying hard to point where it was at and trying to get him to look where she was pointing.  (The funny part was I could hear myself - I've done and said the same thing to them many times.)  It sounded like this; "Look over there Cooper.....look over there!!....look where I'm pointing!.....look at me Cooper - look at my finger!!!"  :)

We read lots of books and they were identifying lots of animals.  When we finished one book Mia said, "I like Wolf!"  Cooper said, "I like Crickets!"  :)  We also did stickers at Art Time and I even found a few little ones for Thanksgiving.

11/18/2014

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

I took this picture of Cooper and Mia yesterday afternoon and they were having so much fun playing on the toy shelves.  They were pretending to sleep and then yelling at each other to "wake up!!"  They were spending a whole lot more time yelling than they were sleeping!  :)

And this morning they were right back to the sleeping game again!  Except they were under the climber today.  After this game they started building with the legos.  Mia said her piece was a "computer" and Cooper said his was a "boat."

Cooper kept saying, "see bear, see bear."  (We haven't looked at the Big Bears in Alaska lately so I got the computer so we could.  Actually the salmon run is long over, but there are some past highlights to look at.)  We watched a bear catch a salmon and then eat it.  Mia kept saying, "poor fishy, poor fishy." I kind of thought so too!  Mainly because the bear started eating at the tail first!!

Cooper sure liked the dinosaur (the one that moved it neck that he was playing with) at Mia's Birthday Party.  He randomly said (again), "Mia has dinosaur!!"

Mia got a book for Baby Elliott, handed it to him, and said, "Read the book Elliott!!"  Ha!  :)  Yes Ma'am!!! I'll get right on that Ma'am!!  :)

11/17/2014

Mia ate half of her cheerios and ate banana serving for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of cheese sandwich, drank a large serving of tomato soup, and ate half of lettuce salad.

Cooper loves the "I Spy" book you see in the picture.  (And Mia likes it as well, just not as much as Cooper does.)  It shows a couple different items on the left page and then you look for those items within the maze of other items on the opposite page.  There are lots of interesting things like airplanes, cars, trucks, balls, animals, etc.  However, I'm including the picture on Mia's Blog so you can see the puppy she chose to play with all morning.

Speaking of Puppies - Mia was in Puppy Mode all morning!!  And I literally mean "all morning!" Silly girl!!  :)  She said, "Call me Mia Doggy!"  Ha!  We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the stuffed animals in this set are ALL dogs and puppies!

I did see Mia playing with the shapes out of the shape sorter and she said she was making a "cake."  I like how she's been arranging everything in a circle lately.  I see it with lots of different toys and in her art work especially.

Cooper and Mia were singing, "Three Blind Mice" this morning and they were doing a good job with it.  (Cooper mentioned that song several times today.)  They also played one of Mia's favorite games; "Let's go to the race Cooper!!"  (Which is an invitation to "race" back-n-forth across the room.)

11/14/2014

Mia ate all of her breakfast: Oatmeal and dried cranberries.  For lunch she also ate everything: ground beef, a large serving of elbow noodles topped with shredded cheese, peas, and applesauce.

Mia has been asking Lauralea to "french braid" her hair and this morning Lauralea had the time to do it.  So here is a picture.  :)

Frequently at meal times Mia will ask, "Help me with last bite."  So I decided to take a picture of what her "last bite" frequently will look like.  This is from lunch today after she requested help!!  :)  She'd eaten her applesauce and moved the last of her peas in with the meat and noodles.  You've got several bites there sweetie!!

While Cooper was working on his legos project Mia was jabbering to him and some of it kind of went like this; "Don't play with toys out there, ok Honey?!  Promise!?!"  Ha ha.  Then she went over and started moving his legos around and I reminded her that it was his project.  She replied, "He's my Honey!!"  :)

Cooper's Mom will be returning from Washington DC tomorrow and I think he was missing his Mom when he arrived at Daycare today.  He waved at the window to his family and then just stood there with his forehead resting on the window.  Mia (who was standing and waving beside him) immediately bombarded him with questions (she was very concerned about her Coop); "Are you ok?  Are you sad?  What's wrong Cooper!?!"  And on it went.  Finally she looked at me and said, "He's probably sick!!"  LOL

We were doing Play Dough at Art Time and Mia was pushing hard on her plastic fork into the dough (making cookies) and broke it in half.  Cooper was super concerned about what had just happened and Mia expressed what I was thinking:  "Don't cry Coop!!"  :)

11/13/2014

Mia ate whole wheat english muffin and blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of turkey sandwich, large serving of green beans, and bites of strawberries.

While they were doing Dot Painting at Art Time Cooper noticed the decoration that hangs above the exit door which spells "Little Treasures."  He said, "Letters, Gary, Letters!!"  Then Cooper and Mia together sang all the "ABC" song.  Good job Cooper and Mia!

I took this picture of Mia before Cooper arrived.  She was laying on the floor behind the igloo face-down.  I asked, "Who are you hiding from?"  She answered, "Gary and Cooper!!"  I think this picture is adorable!

Cooper wanted help putting on the Lion Suit, but I was feeding Baby Elliott so I suggested he ask Mia for help.  And she did a great job of helping him.  He'd stuck his leg in through the bottom of the leg hole first, so he was getting it on upside-down.  She recognized what he'd done and fixed that  before continuing the project.  Good job Mia - I was impressed!

Then she put on her own Lion Suit.  You can see Cooper's head in the picture and he'd already taken his Lion Suit off!  It's amazing how often that happens - they'll really work hard to accomplish something and then as soon as it's done they'll move on to something different.  It's usually all about the process and not the finished product!!  I remind myself of that fact frequently when working with this age group!  It's amazing how often their perspective is the opposite of an adult perspective!!

Mia was trying to entice Cooper to eat the breakfast she had prepared for them!  "Sit down at the table Honey!.....Ok?...It time for breakfast - Chocolate - Honey!!"  Cooper was WAY more interested when he heard "Chocolate" was being served!  "Yah!!"

11/12/2014

Mia had three servings of jelly toast and ate mandarin oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate beef & bean burrito, ate sweet potatoes, and two servings of tropical fruit.  When Cooper was sitting down for lunch he was dinking around and slid off the table bench and Mia guffawed, "Whooooaaaa!"  And they both laughed.

Lauralea was helping transport the Cline Kids this morning so things were just a little different.  Kenzie and Riley were here for awhile and Mia went BAM!  That's my acronym for Mia now and it means: "Big-Time Animal Mode!"  :)  She was being a horsey, down on the floor pawing the earth like an angus bull ready to charge, and "neighing" quite loudly!  Riley looked at her and said, "We're not doing that right now!"  Ha!

Mia and Cooper had these spoons from the food toys and were poking them in every hole they could find and then sticking them in their mouths.  "What are you eating?" I asked.  Mia said, "Nooooo! We're getting water!!"  :)

It's been a few days since I've posted a picture of Mia and Cooper reading together.  It's still a daily occurrence and I love how much they both like to read books.  Speaking of reading books - whenever there is a reference to "singing" while I'm reading to them I always sing, "la la la la la..."  Well this morning there was a line in a book that said, "I sing the little baby a song" and Cooper immediately (with Mia joining right in) started singing, "la la la la la..."  :)

Mia was watching me feed Baby Elliott and she always wants to know what he eating.  I told her it was rice cereal mixed with sweet potatoes and I offered her a bite.  "Ewwwww!"  So I said, "I used to feed you baby food."  Mia answered, "I'm not a baby, I'm a girl now!!"  LOL

11/11/2014

Mia ate cinnamon toast and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and cheese combo, bites of hash browns, and ate her melon.

Cooper was hiding under Laurlea's blanket and Mia was under her blanket on Lauralea's lap this morning.  He was saying, "I hide, I hide."  Then Mia started saying it too.

Cooper and Mia were poking toys into the hole in the middle of the table.  None of them would fit all the way through, but Elliott (see him on the floor in the picture) was watching and laughing hard every time they'd poke something in the hole!  In this picture Cooper is using the (attached) drum stick.

They did lots of block play and legos play.  They never get tired of those games and always finds a "new" way to use them.  Mia kept saying, "That's Cooper!  That's my boy!!" when Cooper would do something "special" with the blocks.  It was pretty funny!  She sounded just like a proud momma!

I told Lauralea that Baby Sophie has a bad "cold" and is not coming to Day Care today.  Mia said, "Yah, it's cold!!"  Ha!

11/10/2014

Mia ate bites of kix cereal and ate mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of ham sandwich, ate peas, and two servings of mandarin oranges.

This morning Lauralea asked Mia, "What's that white stuff on the ground?"  Of course Mia answered, "Snow!"  So Lauralea asked her, "What do you do with snow?"  Mia said, "Scoop it up!"  And then the answer I expected, "Sled!!"  :)

Mia and Cooper were doing lots of jumping this morning and I included another picture of Mia getting a good jump off the top of the igloo.  Today is the first time I've seen Cooper jump off the top of it too.  He has a good Teacher!!  :)

Cooper and Mia played with the food toys too.  She was asking him, "Are you ready for breakfast Honey!?!"   I didn't hear any answer, but that did not seem to discourage her.  :)  The next thing she said was; "Breakfast time!!"  Ha!  They also had fun at art time and Cooper was painting and making these big swooping finishes at the end of each stroke.  Mia chose to use the markers instead of coloring and she worked real hard at making her "map."  She's been doing that for several weeks now; "Making a map!"

11/7/2014

Mia ate brown rice and two servings of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate meat loaf, bites of pita bread, most of carrots, and ate her apricots.  At the breakfast table I said "Happy Birthday" to the Birthday Girl and Cooper started singing it!!  So Mia joined in singing with him!  :)  She said, "Good job Cooper!!"  Very cute.

I love this picture of Cooper and Mia!  I had combed their hair and was getting them ready for "picture time," and they were being so silly and giggly!!  It was so stinking cute!  We'd just finished doing Art and I was going to take a picture of their art work with the new "Flag" duct tape pieces they'd stuck on their paper.  I started singing "Oh say can you see.."  And they sang the next line ("By the dawn's early light") in unison without my help.  It was actually very cool!  Also during Art Time I said "Batman" when talking about the "Spiderman" duct tape!  Cooper looked at me like I'd lost my mind and immediately said, "Spiderman!"  LOL!!  And again Mia said, "Good job Cooper!!"  LOL (AGAIN!!)

Whenever someone sneezes Cooper or Mia (or both) will usually ask, "Are you ok?"  (Which always makes me laugh.)  This morning Cooper sneezed and immediately said, "I'm ok!!"  Just in case someone was wondering!!  Ha!  :)

This is just an FYI thing to let you know what I've been working on with Mia - "Listening and Answering" (So I know she's at least hearing or responding to me).  It's becoming a habit for her to say, "Ok Gary" when I am instructing her and wanting her to follow directions.  And I like that habit! She's been doing very well with it!  I'm also working hard at having her listen to Cooper as well; especially when he wants her to stop an activity that is irritating him.  For example, she does the animal play (a LOT), which is fine, but it's hard for her to understand and accept the fact that it's not always fun for the other person.  Or that they may not want to do it ALL the time!!  :)

11/6/2014

Mia ate cinnamon toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate everything: baked chicken, dinner roll, hash browns, and cherries.  During breakfast she randomly asked me, "Do you like syrup?"  Ha ha.

Also at breakfast I asked the kids where milk comes from.  Mia immediately said, "The mountains!"  Ha ha!  Then she said, "The cow-moo store!"  Ok, that's much closer!!  Cooper said (in his soft voice), "From a cow."

Lauralea fixed up a couple of bottles for the kids with a mixture of water, cooking oil, and glitter.  Cooper and Mia were very curious about watching the interesting mixture move around in the bottle.  And of course rolling it across the floor was lots of fun too.  (Mia, immediately said, "Let's open them!!")  Silly girl.  The glitter basically stays attached to the oil as it moves through the water unless you shake it vigorously.

It seems like I always pull Mia's hair at least once while I'm fixing it!  Ugh!!  Thankfully she's pretty forgiving.  Today she said, "Gary pull my hair...Mommy pull my hair....Daddy pull my hair."  I don't know if that's necessarily true, but it made me feel better!!  :)

11/5/2014

Mia ate two servings of breakfast: whole wheat bagel and peaches.  For lunch she ate ham, a large serving of mac-n-cheese, a large serving of corn, and ate apple pieces.

Lauralea was going out to sit with Mia while I finished up the Daycare food preparation for the day.  Mia asked Lauralea; "Are you coming out with your breakfast?!?"  Ha ha ha!    (Translation: "I want some!!")  So I just had to take this picture of her drooling on Lauralea's arm!

I started this building of legos and Cooper and Mia immediately joined me.  We got a good base started (then I sat in the chair and watched) while they worked on it for about 30 minutes.  Then they tore it all apart and started over again.

The kids were coloring and putting stickers on these cardboard rings to make "bracelets."  Cooper was WAY more interested in rolling his across the table and also making it roll by just blowing on it. Mia joined in the fun, but they did eventually get their bracelets colored and decorated!  It was fun watching them experiment with different ways to roll them.