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!  :)