10/31/2014

Mia ate a large serving of oatmeal and ate plums for breakfast.  Mia and Cooper both love these canned prunes/plums!  For lunch she ate hash brown casserole, half of biscuit, and ate her mandarin oranges.

I think it's accurate to say (judging by her level of rowdiness) that Mia was happy to have Cooper back today!  She was bouncing off the walls!  Figuratively speaking and also literally a couple of times!!

The kids are pretending to sleep in this picture!  (Although, I guess it looks more like I'm teaching them to pray!!)  They were "snoring" and then yelling, "Wake up!!" back-n-forth at each other.  :)

Then it was on to some jumping off the igloo!  But in preparation for that they were taking off their socks and in the picture below Mia has just finished helping Cooper get his off.  After the igloo jumping they started spinning when I turned the music on.  And for a long time!  For awhile they both were spinning really fast and getting pretty dizzy.  (Which was quite entertaining!)

And another picture of Cooper and Mia experimenting with a new way to look at their books!  At nap time they were both asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillow!  Very busy morning.

Mia yelled, "I'm a Pirate!" and then got down on her hands and knees and started "pawing the earth!" It was hard to follow and quite confusing!!  A pirate that behaves like an Angus Bull!  :)

We were reading "Today is Monday" during Story Time.  Mia knows the book of course, so I said, "Now we're going to try it backwards!"  (Meaning I would be starting with Sunday and going back to Monday!)  So Mia stands up beside the chair and turns around with her back facing me!  LOL Oh man, I roared!  Always the literal interpretation!!  Love this age group!

10/30/2014

Mia ate toast and three servings of cantaloupe for breakfast.  I was tightening her bib at breakfast and got some hair caught - it's hard NOT to do that!!  I said, "Sorry!!"  Mia said, "Not your fault!"  Ha ha! Very cute.  She says some of the funniest things!  I knew she wanted some cinnamon/sugar on her toast and she was trying hard to remember the right words.  "I want I want I want..french toast!"  LOL!   For lunch she ate LOTS!  :)  Turkey burger, dinner roll, two large servings of green beans, and two large servings of mangoes.

I was giving Baby Sophie some tummy time in front of the mirror and Mia got her blanket and laid on it too.  She said, "I'm laying on my blankie too!"  I've been giving Mia lots of extra loves this week - those new babies take lots of attention!  Mia has been doing so good all week and I'm very proud of her.  Especially considering Cooper has been gone too.  Today Mia randomly said, "Cooper will be back on halloween!"

Mia decorated her mini-pumpkin at Art Time.  She colored on it for a few SHORT moments, then put tape and stickers on it.  I have some more for her and Cooper to do again tomorrow.  (Thanks to Baby Elliott's Mom.)

Some Mia quotes from this morning:
     I told Lauralea that I found some gross legos yesterday in the legos drawer where Baby Elliott had
     "spit up!"  Mia heard me say that and she was playing with some legos!  :)  She said, "Which one
     is grosses - I'm using the legos right now?!?!""
     I examined her hair after I fixed it and said, "I did a nice job on your hair!"  Mia replied, "Yes, it's
     beautiful!!"  Ha!  We were in full agreement!
     She was trying to be pouty and I said she needed to put on a happy face.  A minute later she
     replied, "I'm happy as a lark!!"  Ha!  (From one of our Special Books - "I'm as quick as a
     Cricket!")

10/29/2014

Mia had two servings of whole wheat toast and ate mixed berries for breakfast.  Her breakfast conversation went like this; "I like berries!!"  "What your family doing today?"  "What my family doing today?"  :)  For lunch she ate ham, crackers, half of bean & bacon soup, and a bite of strawberries.  I took the strawberries out of the freezer first thing this morning and they were thawed-out, but apparently still too cold.  Mia said, "Too cold!!"  Ok, I'll remember for next time!!

Mia picked up the chew toy that Baby Elliott was using on his sore mouth (those new teeth!) and asked, "Is that a dinosaur foot!?!"  :)  Then she answered her own question; "No, it's a hand!"  Ha! I said, "Well, I guess it's a foot, but those are some mighty short toes!!"

Mia played with the food toys, did lots of jumping, and played with her baby (the pink bear in the picture below) a LOT - basically copying everything I was doing with Baby Sophie.  She was feeding her baby and then changing it's diaper.  And talking all the time - "Diapers, wipes, cream on the baby."  "Ewww! His poopy!!"  (wipe wipe wipe)  "Got some more poop out!!"  Then she went over and got out a BIG stack of books and was sitting and admiring them when I took this picture.  She said, "That's a lot of books!"

Speaking of books, we were reading some special Stories and when I started on the book, "Happy and You Know It" Mia got off the chair and was doing the actions.  We got to the page, "If you're happy and you know it jump around..."  she was standing beside Elliott and she easily jumped over him.  GASP!  "Uh, you can jump over the blocks!"  :)

Before Lauralea left for work Mia asked her; "Are you gonna hang out with us!?!"  :)

10/28/2014

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

Yesterday afternoon I was "testing" Mia's jumping ability and I had her stand in front of the mattress and jump up onto it.  Yup, I was impressed!  :)  That's at least 10 inches straight up and she did that easily.  So I took several pictures (until she was fairly tired of the process and went and laid down in the igloo.  Ha!) and I liked this picture the best.  (She nailed the landing too!)   :)

I am very proud of our Mia girl and how she has cooperated so well as I have been adjusting to having a new Baby.  That always changes the dynamics of the group and she has been "going with the flow" very nicely.  Thank you so much Mia!!  You've been a great listener!

Both Babies were sleeping and I was reading Stories to her and then we were talking and she looked in my mouth and said, "I wanna see gold in there!!"  Ha!  It's been quite awhile since she's asked to see the "gold!"  Hey!  Mia, those crowns are costly so I'm more than happy to show them off!!

Mia asked the question, "Where's Cooper?" and then answered her own question; "At the farm...it's just Mia, Gary, Sophie, Lauralea, and the fishes!!"  LOL  Poor Elliott was not on the list, but Lauralea made the cut!  (He was sleeping and Lauralea had not left for work yet.)

Mia called Jamie on the phone and it went like this: "Hi Jamie! Are you at the farm? Oh, good!  Is Kenzie at the farm? Oh, good! Is Riley at the farm? Oh, good! Is Cooper at the farm? Oh, good!!  Bye!"  It was soooo cute!  When she was done she said, "Kenzie is a Cline Kid, Riley is a Cline Kid, Cooper is a Cline Kid!"  She loves her Cline Family!

10/27/2014

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

Sophie (Nora's Baby sister) started today.  Here's a picture of Mia talking to her - very briefly!  Mia was interested to a point; looked at her and just went back to playing.  Here's what it looked like to me: "Oh good, that's nice, take the picture so I can go play again!"  :)  The Daily Journals may be posted a bit later than recently.  If they are not posted, just check back later and hopefully I'll have them done.  Like I've mentioned before, I will have the journals done sometime between 12:30 - 2:30.

Also, Cooper and his sisters are with their Anderson Grandparents at the Farm this week.  (Or at least most of the week.)  Mia had a good morning regardless of the changes and I am proud of her.  In this picture she is pretending to write on the dress-up boot with one of the spoons.  I took this picture to show you how she's been using the hats in this toy exchange.  She filled two of them with toys every day last week and again this morning.

Lauralea was eating breakfast and asked Mia a question.  (I don't remember what the question was about.)  Mia ignored the question, looked at Lauralea and said, "Don't talk with your mouth full!!"  Ha!  That made me laugh! I bet Mia's heard that a few times!!  :)

She played with the ice cream and the cones and the rest of the food toys.  She had them all set out on the table nicely and was calling it her picnic.  She'd turned the yellow bench upside-down and was using the bottom as her table top.  Then during Story Time we were reading a story about playing in the snow and Mia said, "Papa Rick and Mia are going to go skating!"  :)

10/24/2014

Mia ate oatmeal and several raisins for breakfast.  She ate all of her lunch; A large serving of ground beef, a large serving of elbow noodles topped with shredded cheese, apple pieces, and mixed fruit.

All three of the Cline children were here this morning and they left for the Farm at noon.  Everyone had lots of fun and listened so well.  Good job children!!  Here's a picture of Kenzie giving Mia some swimming instructions.  :)  It went something like this; "First you bend over....hands on knees.....squat down.... JUMP!!"  Later Kenzie was collecting some data about Mia; "What is your favorite animal?"  "Favorite food, favorite ice cream, favorite color...?" And on it went...  Mia answered the ice cream question; "Purple!"  "No, I didn't ask you your favorite color!!"  Ha!

Mia was baling off the top of the igloo and Cooper was jumping off as well.  (Although one level lower.)  They worked pretty hard all morning and were hungry and tired by Lunch time.

Mia played with the Big Bear and Panda Bear while I cleaned up after Lunch.  It was pretty quiet because it was just Baby Elliott and Mia.  She said, "Kenzie Riley and Cooper go bye!"  Yes they did. "Are they going swimming in the ocean?!?"  Uhhh, no.  They're going to the Farm.  :)

Kenzie was being the Doctor and working on Mia (who, I must say, was laying and cooperating very nicely).  After the examination Kenzie said, "Now you scream for a bandaid!!"  LOL  That's funny stuff right there!!

10/23/2014

Mia ate whole wheat english muffin and two servings of blueberries for breakfast.  She ate all of her lunch: chicken, crackers, sweet potatoes, and three servings of cherries.

We were getting ready to do some dot painting and Mia asked me; "Hey Gary!!"  What?  "Is Cooper mad at me?!?"  I don't know; you can ask him.  So she asked him; "Cooper! Are you mad and sad?!?"  (Cooper essentially just ignored her question. Ha!)  So Mia said to me; "He NOT ask (answer) me!!"  She just cracks me up!  :)  I'm guessing everything is just fine with those two; within 30 seconds they were playing and laughing.  Mia said, "Hey Gary!"  What?  "Cooper and me are playing together!"

Before Cooper arrived Mia was calling Jamie on the phone; "Hi Jamie!...Sophie getting bigger and bigger...coming daycare!"  She frequently calls "Jamie" on the phone.  The kids were waiting at the window to wave bye to Jamie, Riley, and Kenzie.  Mia said, "I love Cooper!"  Then looking at him she said, "Do you love Mia!?!"  How cute is that?

The kids asked to do some puzzles this morning.  And there are some dinosaur puzzles in this set.  Life is good.

Here's an example of "word association:"
I was reading them a story and and I frequently let them fill in the "blanks" to see how much they remember.  The sentence read like this; "A pod of Orca whales."  So I said, "A pod of ____?"  Mia said, "Pea!!"  Wonderful guess Mia!  (Except there was a picture of the whales!  :)  However, I love the word association!)

Another example of Mia's strengths - words and memory!  One of the songs on our iPod is "Iditarod Trail" (By Hobo Jim - A great Alaska ballad about the dog race!)  The chorus goes like this; "I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail!"  So I was reading an Alphabet book I brought home from Alaska this summer and the Letter "I" reads like this; "I is for Ice worm Ice-skating under Iditarod Trail."  Mia said, "I did, I did, I did!"  Love it!

10/22/2014

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

I took this picture yesterday afternoon when I was playing with Baby Elliott; covering him with a blanket, then pulling it away and saying "boo!"  Mia said, "I want to do that!"  So she came over and laid beside Elliott, but he grabbed her nose so she moved back a little.  Then Cooper wanted in on the fun as well.  When I was ready to take the picture I asked Mia if she'd move closer and she said, "No! He'll get me!"  :)  I love how Cooper is snuggled in beside the baby.

Cooper brought a halloween pop-up book today and here's a picture of him sharing it with Mia and she is reading to him.  If you'll read to Cooper he is way more likely to share!!  :)

Cooper fell against the shelf and hit his back a little bit.  I was giving him loves and Mia heard me asking him how his back was feeling.  She said, "Cooper hurt his back?"  Yes Mia.  "Can I hold him?!?"  Uhh, I think he's doing ok at the moment.  :)

I was messing up all of the kid's names and I said it's a good thing there are only three kids!  Mia started counting kids.  "One two three."  She was doing one-to-one correspondence; not just counting, but pointing to each child (including herself) as she counted.  (After a child starts talking you can teach most of them to "count" to ten, but it's rote memorization not "real" counting.)  Anyhow, so I then said to Mia; "There are three kids here now.  How many kids will be here after Baby Sophie comes?"  Mia thought about that for a few seconds and answered, "Four!"  Wow!  Good job Mia.  (She did that without any coaching from me.)

10/21/2014

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

Mia and Cooper were playing with her blanket and she was leading (uh, dragging) him around - with Cooper being the puppy.  He quickly got tired of that and moved on to something else.  Mia asked him, "You wanna pull my blanket?!?"  So it evolved into more of a tug-of-war thing, but they were having lots of fun with it.

For Art Time I got out the etch-a-sketch for them to play with.  Those are not really a favorite right now so I rarely get them out.  And this time wasn't much different!  Cooper lasted twice as long as Mia did, but that's not saying much.  She was done in 60 seconds!  :)   (I was ready with my pocket watch to time them!)

I was playing with Mia and poked her in the tummy.  She said, " No! That my baby!!"  She got a ball and tucked it under her shirt and said, "That my baby in there!!"  Ha!  It's been like that for years - whenever we've had a pregnant Mommy in our Program the little ones (mostly the little girls) will tuck little balls up their shirts.

Mia and Cooper played with the ice cream again today.  Here's a picture of Mia using one "cone," but lots of scoops of different flavors!

Baby Elliott had drooled a little bit on one of the building blocks and Mia yelled, "Oh oh Gary!  Water!!"  :)  Then she went to the fence where his burp cloth was hanging, took it over and wiped it up for me.  And I had not even asked her to do that.  Thank you Mia!  Good helping Gary!!  (She's getting some training when her Baby Sister is born!!  -  or maybe Baby Brother!!)  By the way, she has been doing very well with being gentle too!!  Some more good training!

10/20/2014

Mia ate cheerios and two servings of banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of cheese sandwich, drank her tomato soup, and had a couple bites of lettuce salad.

Before the Cline family arrived this morning Mia was singing, "Ohhhhh Coooooper....Where arrrrrre youuuuu!?!"  It was really quite cute and delightful!  Here's another Mia story from this morning I think you'll like: They were doing stickers at Art Time and Mia dropped one.  She was under the table searching for it and found a Cheerio from breakfast that I'd missed during clean-up.  "Look Gary! A Cheerio!!"  Then before I could say anything she popped it into her mouth and said, "It was mine!"  LOL  Oh Good, that makes it sanitary!

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and Mia was very busy all morning.  Mia and Cooper were both thrilled to play with the ice cream.  (They do ice cream play all the time without the toys!)  There are eight different flavors/colors of ice cream and I'm thrilled as well because they have the colors labeled and stamped on the inside.  (Which should be another Federal Law by the way!!  Ha!  Just kidding - Hold those emails!)

Mia was playing with the dress-up clothes as well.  She has three or four layers on top.  I have to be quick to get a picture of this - she doesn't keep it on for too many seconds!!  :)

I was feeding Baby Elliott and Mia was hanging out with me in the Lunch Room.  (Just for a few minutes because she was scaring Cooper by her insistent animal growling!!  LOL)  Cooper went over to the gate and they kissed (on the lips!) through the gate.  I didn't say anything and they just went back to playing. It was so stinking cute!!  (It's OK Daddy Matt - Totally normal, harmless, age-appropriate behavior!!) Just kidding - well kind of - that sort of thing has been known to make a new Daddy nervous!!

10/17/2014

Mia ate half of her breakfast:  Oatmeal and dried cranberries.  For lunch she ate several bites of ground beef, elbow noodles, sweet potatoes, and ate her applesauce.

Darcy;  Mia really wasn't herself all morning, although she played pretty well and didn't complain too much.  She asked me the same question probably about five times; "What's wrong with my ear?"  (Her right ear.)  Poor sweetie.  And she was very tired.  She was asleep within a minute or two after her head hit the pillow!

At 8:30 this morning she was already making plans for what may happen this afternoon: "When Mom pick me up, I get Happy Meal!"  LOL

Cooper and Mia were playing side-by-side with the legos toys for a long time this morning.  It's fun to observe how they decide to play with them.  I like how Cooper is perched right on the table to get close to his work!

I bought a few silly halloween things at Walmart last night.  Thank you for cooperating Mia, even though you didn't feel too much like doing so.  :)

And another silly one!

Mia got one of the phones and said, "I'm gonna call Jamie!!....Hi Jamie!..(jabber jabber)...Yes, I have a whale!!"  :)  She was holding one of the little stuffed whale animals.

10/16/2014

Mia ate whole wheat english muffin and blueberries.  For lunch she ate large servings of every thing: turkey sandwich, green beans, and strawberries.

I took this picture of Mia at the mirror just minutes after she arrived.  And the caption she provided for the picture?  "I have sharp teeth in here!!"  LOL  She does and says some of the most random things!!

The following picture is an "action" shot.  :)  It's kind of hard to capture the essence of what they were doing, but this is the end result - falling down from dizziness!  (Look at her eyes!)  After breakfast Mia and Cooper started spinning when we turned on the music.  They both worked pretty hard at it and got pretty dizzy.

They went from spinning to having a tug-of-war with Mia's blanket.  Well maybe it was more like just dragging each other around the room.  Then it was on to flopping backwards onto the mattress. They both put one foot out to kind of catch themselves, but they are essentially falling backwards.  Things calmed down a bit as we moved into Story Time and then Art Time.

Some more Mia-isms from this morning:
She brought her ukulele with her this morning.  She asked me; "Do you have a ukulele?"  Nope, I do
     not!  "Where is your ukulele!?"  :)
"Gary, what's your dog's name!?"  Mia, do I have a dog?  "No!"  LOL
Baby Elliott was coughing.  "What's wrong with that guy!?!"  LOL  "His teeth hurt!?"  (He does have
     several teeth coming in at the same time!)  She is so funny!

10/15/2014

Mia ate three servings of jelly toast and ate mangoes for breakfast.  Instead of asking for more toast she'd say, "Want more jelly!"  :)  For lunch she ate beef & bean burrito, sweet potatoes, and two servings of tropical fruit.

Cooper and Mia were being pretty creative with the building blocks and making little "forts" to "hide" in.  And of course they did lots of running and being crazy.  Mia said, "Come on Cooper!  Follow me!!"  They were racing around and around the table.  Cooper had the cutest look on his face and he was looking back at me on every lap saying, "running round!"  "Yes you are! Now watch where you are going!!"  (As he narrowly missed the changing table - Again!)

When Lauralea was leaving this morning she said (to me) "I Love You!"  Mia said, "NO!!  You don't love him!!  Cooper and I and the fishes love him!!"  LOL  Oh man we roared!

I took this picture of Mia playing with the frogs.  She and Cooper lined them all up in the window and then added some dinosaurs.  Cooper held one up to show Lauralea and she said, "That's a nice frog."  Cooper said, "Cool!"  LOL

I get such a kick out of some of the things that come out of Mia's mouth!!  Here's a sampling:

She was scrubbing her eyes and said, "Ohhhh, what a NICE day!!"
She was running, stumbled and slipped, caught her balance and then said to herself, "Good save!"
"I'm a wolf!!"  Oh really - what's a wolf do?  "Blow house!!"
I started singing.  "I want music!!"  LOL  (She's a little "picky!")
I moved a strand of hair away from her eyes.  "My hair beautiful!"
"You wanna see my owie?!?"  Uhh, ok. You showed it to me yesterday and it's getting better.  "Yes
     it's getting better.  I'm tough!!"
Where does your Daddy work?  "Uhh, Football!!"  So asked her again; Where does your Daddy
     work?  "At work!"  What does he do at work?  "Play in BIG game!"  Ha!

10/14/2014

Mia ate two servings of breakfast: cinnamon roll and plums.  For lunch she ate several bites of scrambled eggs, hash brown, and cheese combo; bites of waffle, and she ate her apricots.

Mia had a good morning with a great attitude.  She being a good listener (saying, "ok Gary" when I had to redirect her), following directions, and being a good friend to Cooper.  Well done Mia!!  Right after she arrived I asked her if she had ate pancakes at home.  Mia said, "I don't have no pancake!!  Mommy eat them all!!"  LOL  No pancake?  She said, "Not really!  Just bagel!"

I took this picture of Mia before anyone else had arrived this morning.  She was making pretty impressive sounds into the microphone; kind of a cross between a police siren and the bugle of a bull elk!  Again I say, "Well done Mia!!"  :)

Cooper was laying his blankets on the blocks and using the blocks for his pillow.  Mia jumped on that and was kissing him "night night" and being the "Mommy."

And then a follow-up picture after Mia talked him out of one of his blankets!  (These are his special blankets.")  I offer this as proof that he really does love Mia!  :)  He shared this blanket with her (he keeps the spotted one of course - that's his really special one) and let her play with it until breakfast.  Thank you Cooper!  That was being a good friend.

Mia was really focused at Art today and during free-draw she was drawing horizontal lines across the page.  (You will have to check it out when you pick her up.)  And a different color marker for every line!  She said, "Make rainbow!!"  Very cool.  Then she put a few Halloween stickers on her paper and some pieces of new tape that Elliott's Mom gave me. Mia said, "Make a map; are you going to make a map Cooper!?!"  Every thing has been a "map" lately.

10/13/2014

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

Mia was kind of "bouncing off the walls" this morning; figuratively speaking and literally speaking! (Which I have come to somewhat expect when her weekend schedule is so different.)  So I just kept reminding her that the rules at Gary's Daycare are still the same; especially in regards to gentleness to Cooper.  When she is acting that way I usually will do more "teacher-directed" play; rather than "child-directed" play.  (She didn't seem to be focusing on any one thing for more than a few seconds.)  Examples of teacher-directed play would be Art, Story Time, Sign Language, Singing, me getting on the floor and playing with the toys appropriately, etc.  I know she was tired because she was asleep about as soon as her head hit the pillow!

I took this picture of Mia first thing this morning.  She frequently crosses her legs like this when she sits and I thinks it's so cute!

Cooper and Mia were walking on these blocks (with the blocks laying on their sides like in the picture) and Mia kept saying, "Be careful, be careful!"  And they were carefully tip-toeing around.  It was really cute, but by the time I got the camera they'd started a different game.  They did lots of crawling and mauling the blocks and each other.

I had the iPod playing our children's songs and Mia yelled, "Nora's song, Nora's song!" before the words even started!  Good job Mia!  About three notes into the song and she knew it!!  (It took me a couple seconds to realize what she was talking about.)  Cooper started saying, "No! My song!!"  LOL Mia let him know the error of his thinking!!  :)

10/10/2014

Mia ate two servings of breakfast: brown rice and raisins.  For lunch she ate meat loaf, half of pita bread, ate carrots, and apricots.  At lunch she said, "This is soooo yummy Gary!!"  Very sweet!

Our Mia girl loves her groceries!!  :)  She needs lots of intake because she has LOTS of output!  She rarely stops moving!  And she moves fast and hard!  She was playing with the food toys and I took this picture and asked her if she knew what it was - "syrup!!"  Yup!  And she loves her syrup too!  :)

Before Lauralea left for work she was sitting beside me and I was holding her hand.  Mia looked at that, got a real cute little grin on her face and said, "You holding Lauralea's hand?"  Yup.  Mia proceeds to try squeezing between us, then looks up at me and said, "I love you Gary!"  Yes Mia, I love you too, but I'm still going to hold Lauralea's hand!  :)

Cooper accidentally (I witnessed it) stepped on Mia's hand.  Mia yelled, "Hey!! That hurt!!  You stepped on my fingers Cooper!!"  He didn't even realize what had happened.  I told Cooper to ask Mia if she was ok.  Mia took off running and said, "I don't want to say ok!!"  :)

During Story Time we were reading Dr. Seuss, "Tooth Book."  Mia said, "My teeth bad - monsters - I brush them!!"  LOL  Apparently your technique is working because she said she's brushing her teeth!!

Then I was changing Cooper's poopy diaper and Mia wanted to watch.  She stacks up some blocks to see onto the changing table.  "Can I watch - I won't touch him!!"  (We've obviously been through this before!!)  So he's laying on the changing table and Mia is grilling him with some questions; "You want some food?!  Some water?!  Some milk!?  Cooper stinks!!"  Well he just pooped and personally I would not be standing that close if it were me!!  :)

10/9/2014

Mia ate three servings of breakfast: Cinnamon toast and grapes.  For lunch she ate half of her chicken, half of dinner roll, ate hash browns, and cherries.

Yesterday afternoon we were playing outside and Baby Elliott was behind Mia and grabbed a handful of hair and started pulling.  He managed to pull those hairs out of the ponytail holder I'd just put in. Mia was not impressed!!  She yelled, "OWWW!!  WHAT WAS THAT!?!?"  I told her it was Baby Elliott and that babies will grab whatever they can reach.  Mia said, "NO!! I don't like babies do that!!"  LOL  I told her she could keep her hair out of baby's reach too, but she couldn't hear that part. She was focused on the fact that "I don't like that!"  :)

Mia was playing on the floor and I almost stepped on her, BUT I didn't!  She yelled, "Watch out where you're going Gary!!"  LOL

I thought it was cute how Mia was playing with this "Shape-sorter truck."  She had it jammed full of dinosaurs!  That one sticking his head out the window doesn't look real happy about it!!

Cooper was at a Doctor appointment until after breakfast and Mia was very engaged with toys and books.  I was at the changing table and I could hear her "growling" like a puppy, but I couldn't see her.  I peeked over the edge and took this picture.  There is a little mirror on the end of the dress-up rack and she was watching herself "growl."  :)

With these warm afternoons this week we've seen quite a few bugs outside.  Yesterday Cooper kept saying, "bug on climber, bug on climber."  And every time it was just a little fly.  He was not impressed and was telling Mia all about the bug!  I said, "You two are way bigger than those little bugs!"  I asked Cooper, "Who is bigger; Mia or the bug?"  Cooper said, "GARY!"  LOL  Later, Lauralea and I were visiting with my daughter in Louisiana and talking about bugs.  "Cooper, be thankful you are not there!!"  Spiders, cockroaches, lizards, and various other bugs were on the list that had found their way into the house!!  Even the occasional tree frog!

10/8/2014

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

Mia has been doing so much "animal play" lately.  She's usually a "puppy" or "horsey."  :)  One day she was really growling and said she was a "wolf!"  Lauralea put this headband on her this morning so I took a picture of a Hippy Animal!

Cooper and Mia were playing in the igloo and bouncing hard and crazy on the mattress. Baby Elliott crawled to the igloo entrance and watched them and then he watched their wild play on the mattress as well.  Mia also read lots of books and played with the dolls.  Here's a picture of her give her "babies" a "bath."

I took this pictures of the kids with the stickers and tape they did at Art Time.  You can see their art work on the wall when you pick them up.  The art on their cubby is from several weeks ago that has been displayed on the wall.  They love having it there and talk about it frequently during meals.

I told you about Mia running to the fence trying to get anyone with a dog to stop so she can pet it.  Yesterday afternoon there was a woman (alone) walking on the sidewalk and Mia yelled at her; "HEY! You got any dogs?!?!"  LOL  So she talked to Mia for a minute and walked on.  Mia yelled again; "HEY!  Where you going?!?!"

I'm sure you remember me talking about the logic of a two year old.  (Brain development in this age range happens to be a favorite topic of mine!)  So you have to forgive me for using this example again, but here goes!  For about 15 years I've been asking 1 - 3 year olds this question; "What does an anteater eat?"  I've never had one child in our Program answer that correctly!  You can easily teach a child the correct answer, but that is not the point here!  I was reading an alphabet book to Mia and Cooper yesterday which had a picture of an anteater (with an ant crawling on it's back) and I asked the question; "What does an anteater eat?"  Mia yells, "POPCORN!!"  :)  Love it!  Thought you might like that!  Keeping this in mind helps me have realistic expectations when dealing with this age group.

10/7/2014

Mia ate two servings of waffle and ate pears for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her tuna, ate crackers, sweet potatoes, and oranges.

I took this very cute picture of Kenzie and Mia this morning when we noticed they were wearing the same shirts!  I took three pictures in quick succession and Kenzie's positioning and expression were identical in all three pictures.  In contrast, Mia was looking in three different directions!  :)

I peeked around the corner and Cooper was sitting on Elliott!  (Elliott was totally fine with it and not even whimpering!  BUT I was instantly thinking about when Baby Sophie comes and later when Baby Larson arrives.)  "Uhh, sitting on the baby will hurt him!" I said.  Cooper said, "Just Mia."  Yes, occasionally sitting on Mia is alright.  LOL  Those two (Cooper and Mia) are quite hilarious together!

Cooper and Mia have frequently been serving ice cream.  And they always specify the flavor or color. "Blue" is the most popular.  This morning Cooper randomly walks up and hands me some and said, "Black ice cream!"  That was a first!  I asked him what black ice cream tastes like.  Mia answered for him, "Brown!"  (And does the sign language for "brown!")  :)  The kids contined getting me lots more ice cream and lots of different colors and each time they went to the alphabet picture poster to get it.  The picture for "I" on the poster is ice cream!

Every time someone is walking by the yard with a dog or dogs on a leash Mia sprints to the fence and is yelling for them to "stop!!" so she can "pet the doggy!!"  She was so excited and came to tell me all about it (and said it backwards); "I pet puppy and I did not lick his hand!!"  :)  Well good girl!!

10/6/2014

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

Mia keeps me laughing with some of the cute and funny things she comes up with!  At the breakfast table she randomly said, "I'm not big enough; I'm little enough!"  (She was trying to tell Cooper she was a little girl, not a big girl.)  Prior to breakfast she'd been gazing longingly at Lauralea's breakfast and said, "I like bagel and cream cheese!"  Which, of course, is what Lauralea was eating!  Then she stuck her face in Lauralea's yogurt and said (with a long and wistful sigh),  "Ahhhhh...I haven't had yogurt this year; just ice cream!!"  LOL

Cooper always recognizes the Dr. Seuss logo on the books.  One of the books in this exchange is "There's a Wocket in my Pocket."  I asked them; "What is this book?"  Cooper said, "Dr. Seuss."  Mia said, "There's a wallet in my pocket!"  LOL

There are lots of different creatures in this toy exchange so I got out the "fish tank" and set it on the sinks for the kids to examine.  The lights, bubbles, and changing colors make it fun to watch and the three fish actually look pretty realistic.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and there are lots of toys in this set!  I also got out a bag of dinosaurs that been "missing" and Cooper and Mia were thrilled with those.  One of the dinosaurs is biting Cooper's finger in this picture.

There are some combs in this toy set and Mia asked Cooper, "You want a pony?"  "Yah," he said, without much enthusiasm.  (But he was totally content to let her mess with his hair for several minutes.)  She asked, "What color do you want?"  :)  I like how she has a comb in each hand; kind of a dual threat!  Later, Cooper was combing Baby Elliott's hair.

10/3/2014

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

Mia was waiting at the window to wave to Mommy and I sat Elliott on her shoulders.  (Just a little bit of his weight.)  Mia said, "I don't want that thing!!"  LOL

Mia and Cooper played with the legos, food toys, and read lots of books again.  Mia was asking him questions out of the book; "Are you my bear?"  "No."  And after every answer he gave she was saying, "Good!"  They were also making "slides" for the animals and having the different animals slide down.  Cooper kept saying, "Wheee wheee!"   Then Mia was jabbering on the phone to "Mommy" and several other people whose names I did not recognize!  She said, "It good talk to you!!"  :)

I took this picture of Mia when she and Cooper were doing lots of running.  I love the look of delight on her face.  She's such a fun-loving little girl with tons of energy!

Here she is at Art Time with the bath foam and Cooper is just watching and laughing like crazy!  And then he was inspired to play with it in basically the same way!

Cooper decided it was Story Time and went around and picked up my three pillows.  He then arranged them on the chair and started saying, "read stories, read stories..."  Then he sat and looked at me like; "Well, what are you waiting for !?"  One of the books ("One Little Penguin and His Friends") asks questions and then a picture "pops out."  Example: "Who lives in his icy home (igloo)?"  And the little guy pops out and says, "Me!"  Soooo I read "me!"  And now Mia and Cooper always answer "Gary!!"  Cooper answered "YOU!!"  :)

10/2/2014

Mia ate two servings of cinnamon sandwich thins and ate mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey, several bites of dinner roll, ate green bean s, and cantaloupe.

Mia was watching Cooper climb up on the balance beam (you can see him in the mirror) and jump on the mattress.  She got one of the pillows, put it behind her, and was just leaning back giving Cooper instructions!

Cooper and Mia were at peak performance running and spinning this morning.  Mia was saying, "Come on Cooper! Run with me!!  Isn't this fun!?!"  And Cooper responded, "Yah!"  He was sweating like usual and his hair was matted to his head.  :)  Then Mia said, "Let's do some spinning Cooper!!  I'm spinning in circles!"  Cooper was spinning enough that he started getting dizzy.  He laid down beside Baby Elliott and was talking to him and Mia yelled, "Hey guys!! Spin with me!!"  LOL That cracked me up - "hey guys!"  (gotta include the baby!)

In the middle of their running and spinning Cooper was whimpering because he'd hit the climber and he was pointing an accusatory finger at Mia and saying, "Mia, Mia!"  I asked Mia if Cooper hit his "foot."  (It never works to just ask them "what happened?")  Her answer; "No!  JUST his head!!"  Oh good!  I was concerned it might be serious!  Silly Mia!  :)

Mia has been "bossy" at times lately so I've been reminding her who is in "charge."  I heard her repeating this to herself; "Gary's in charge!  Gary's in charge!  Gary's in charge!"  Then she said, "I understand that!!"  LOL  Oh man I roared!  That was so funny!

10/1/2014

Mia ate whole wheat toast and two servings of mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of ham, ate crackers, most of bean & bacon soup, and half of strawberries.

Baby Elliott frequently spits up after he gets fed.  And it's the "norm" for all of us around here!  He burped after I fed him and I asked Mia, "Did he puke?"  She said, "Not yet!!"  :)  And she was right! It wasn't too long before he did!

They did lots of jumping on the mattress and it was fun to listen to them.  Mia said, "You jump and I'll watch you!!  Is that good enough!?!"  "Ready Set Jump!!"  (Constant chattering!)  Maybe Cooper was getting tired of her bossing him around because he finally said, "You jump!"  :) Then shortly after that Cooper was upset about something and Mia asked me, "Did he hit his head or his elbow!?!"  :)

At Story Time we read a large stack of books and about five minutes later I took this picture.  Mia said, "Cooper!   It's book time!!"  I heard her announce that at least three times this morning!  And Cooper went to listen every time!

We did some play dough at Art Time, but that's not really Mia's favorite activity.  (She does like tasting it though!!)  While we were sitting there I sneezed really loud and Mia asked, "Are you ok!?!" She almost always asks that!  (And it always makes me laugh!)  Very cute!