4/30/2015

Mia ate two servings of raisin english muffin and ate blueberries for breakfast.  She ate all of her lunch: turkey sandwich, green beans, and strawberries.

Cooper was playing with a phone talking to "Momma" and Mia grabbed a phone and started talking to her Momma;  "Hi Mom! No, I'm not getting in trouble!"  Ha ha ha!  Funny!  Not necessarily true, but still funny!  :)

Cooper asked for a tutu so he could do some spinning with Mia.  They spun so much and so hard that they were soon getting dizzy.  It's hard to capture that in a picture (although you can see Mia's hair flying a little), but the next picture shows what happens when you get too dizzy!

Elliott was getting a big chuckle out of watching them too and he also started spinning with them as well.

I love watching the kids use their creativity!  For example they play with the building blocks just about every day and it's amazing how many scenarios they come up with!  Today the blocks were their "ice cream stores."  Cooper, of course, was intent on ordering only "green ice cream."

As most of you probably already know, Mia will be starting at a Pre-School on Monday.  (She's going to be here for a half day tomorrow.)  So today will be Mia's last blog.  Many of you have expressed your appreciation for this Blog and I'm glad you all enjoyed it.  I will miss many things about taking care of Mia.  I know it's time for her to move on, but it's never easy.  It was such a privilege for me to love and care for this precious little girl.  She'll always have a special place in my heart.

4/29/2015

Mia ate three servings of jelly toast (the girl loves her jelly toast!) and ate mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate beef & bean burrito, two servings of sweet potatoes, and ate tropical fruit.  At lunch Mia asked, "What's on Cooper's nose?"  I said it was probably a flipping booger!  So she asked Cooper the same question; "What's on your nose?"  He answered, "A flipping booger!"  :)

These next two pictures are essentially the same, but I wanted to show Mia and Cooper doing a good job (usually - and with my help) of allowing Elliott to be a part of some of their activities.  He's handing legos to them for their project.  He's really not intentionally destructive with their building activities and that's the primary key to him being included in the process.

Mia and Cooper were both very engaged with "building our playground!"  Cooper said, "This is for the slide!"  I love how their play gets more complex and detailed as they get older.  Cooper, of course, gets a healthy dose of that with two older sisters at home as well!

Speaking of "more detailed" here is another example.  They moved their legos building project to the table top and then decided to rest from their labor.  :)  They had included legos puppies and it's all in the picture under the blankets.  Cooper said, "Ok, let's go to bed now!"  Mia stuffed the puppies under there as well and said, "goodnight my sweeties!"  Then they went through their usual routine: "Is it morning yet?" Cooper asked.  And Mia gave her usual answer, "I haven't went to sleep yet!"  So they went to sleep and Mia yells, "Oh No!!  We've got a bigger problem!!"  And she went on with a long monologue which basically said that something went missing while they were sleeping!  :)

They were having a discussion about "teeth" and Mia said, "I got my sharp teeth from the dentist" and Cooper agreed that was the place to get some sharp teeth.  So I said, "Maybe I'll get mine sharpened!"  Mia has an answer for most everything; "Noooo! You have gold teeth!"  True.  :)

4/28/2015

Mia had three servings of cinnamon roll and ate canned prunes for breakfast.  For lunch she had bites of scrambled eggs, hash brown, cheese, and sausage combo.  She ate her waffle and cantaloupe.

Mia built with the legos, played with the vacuum cleaners, jumped and ran with Cooper, and played with the food toys.  She found a "brownie" that had some issues; "Gaaarrrrreeeeee!!" She yelled.  "I have a problem!!"  Ha ha ha!  "He chewed on it!!"  "He" was Elliott and the brownie had drool all over it!

I just happened to be holding my camera when I spotted an arm coming over the top of the changing table.  Mia had pulled out her ponytail holder and was depositing it on the table.  :)  And then she was peering over the top at me!  Yes I saw you Mia!  Your ponytail almost made it to breakfast time!

Mia and Cooper were pretending to sleep and Mia was giving orders: "Let's go night night!  Turn off the lights Coop!  Turn the sound on Coop!"  Cooper was more concerned with rounding up the food toys he wanted.  He said, "I can't find the green (favorite color for those who may not know) bowl anywhere!!"  Mia said, "Then use the red bowl!!"  Cooper's response was immediate and forceful; "NO!!"  Ha ha! His color green is VERY important to him!

After that they were playing with the stuffed rabbits and calling them their dinosaurs.  Mia grabbed one and said, "Here's a T-Rex!"  Cooper said, "Nope!  That's a stegosaurus!!"  Ha ha ha!  Then he wanted to know "Where's the triceratops!?"  Mia yells, "Here's one!"  (another rabbit!)  :)

4/24/2015

Mia ate two servings of oatmeal and ate canned prunes for breakfast.  She ate everything at lunch: meat loaf, pita bread, carrots, and apricots.  Cooper and Mia were very engaged in conversation at breakfast.  I tried to figure out what it was about, but Mia just informed me that "We're just talking!!" Ha ha!  It was something about, "I win I win, I get a trophy!"  "So what are you racing?"  I asked.  Mia said, "Spoon!" and Cooper said, "Tractor!"  :)

Then at the lunch table Mia said, "I love you Gary!  And Cooper responded with, "I love you Gary!" Mia said, "WE love you!  You're my best Gary!  And so does Elliott and Sophie!"  It was so sweet!  And people try to tell me this job doesn't have benefits!!  :)  (Apparently those people are blind!)

Elliott had actually been packing blocks (four or five) over for Mia and Cooper (handing them off to Mia) as they were building a block tower.  Mia is standing on the arm of the chair in the picture below and Elliott is handing blocks up to her.  Elliott then moved on to the legos table, but Mia was yelling for him to come help them some more!  "Come and help us Elliott!"  :)  So Cooper went over and started trying to drag him back!!

Elliott grabbed Mia's blanket and sprinted off before laying on it!  :)  Cooper was trying to help get him off Mia's blanket (following Mia's instructions from the chair!).  I asked Mia, "What do you think of Elliott laying on your blanket?"  Mia answered, "Not terrific!"  Ha!

As most of you already know if you've been around children very much (especially this age of children) they're not adept at masking their expressions.  I looked at Mia's face and said, "Ok, what'd you do!?"  Her immediate response; "Nothing!"  And she immediately followed that up by saying, "I took out my pony so you can put in two ponies!"  That has become the daily ritual!  :)

4/23/2015

Mia ate a big breakfast: three servings of cinnamon toast and two servings of grapes.  For lunch she ate chicken, dinner roll, hash browns, and two servings of mandarin oranges.

I took this picture yesterday afternoon after we got the teeter-totters out.  They had fun on them and immediately worked them well together!  And that lasted, ohhh about 5 minutes maybe!!  :)  But at least I have proof they can do it together if they choose to!

I was able to purchase another 25 of these blocks (not easy to find this brand now and we've searched!) and Mia and Cooper had a pretty good wall of towers built this morning.  Elliott was trying to push their towers over so I had to barricade him on the other side of the room.  (for his own safety as well!!) Cooper asked, "Can we put Elliott in the Box!?"  Ha ha!  I'll just block him out Coop!!  Later Elliott was grabbing Cooper's sandals and Cooper told him, "That's NOT a baby toy!!"

Mia puts some legos pieces together the same way almost every day and that is her "computer."  Lately she's been "doing her blogs."  Ha!  So cute.  She's frequently awake when I'm starting to work on the blogs at Nap Time and she'll watch me download these pictures before going to her nap mat.

4/22/2015

Mia ate whole wheat bagel and peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of mac-n-cheese, ate ham, two servings of corn, and ate apple pieces.  Cooper and Mia were having a serious "discussion" about Riley's spot at the table and Nora's spot at the table!  And of course it was the same spot!  :)

I mentioned before how interesting it is when the "older" kids actually "see" a milestone which one of the little ones has accomplished.  And sometimes it's many weeks later!  For example, this morning Mia excitedly exclaimed; "Look at her!!  She's going around and all over the house!!"  She just "noticed" that Sophie was actually crawling!

We were reading books from this toy exchange and like I've mentioned previously Cooper (and sometimes Mia) loves the "I Spy" books.  Some of the pages are full of little items to identify.  We were looking at a Castle and I asked, "Do you see a girl falling off the wall?"  (age appropriate picture, right?)  Cooper answered, "The Knights did that!"  There were lots of "Knights" on the wall as well, but I've never used that word here.  He LOVES those books and we looked at that one book for a long time!  Mia was bored with the book and had gotten down and was running around and after we were done Cooper asked Mia, "Will you read this to me?"  And she usually does, but not today.  No more of that book today!!  :)

Cooper and Mia were "camping" and playing with one of the houses in the Big Box (picture below).  They were going to sleep and Cooper yelled, "Morning Time!!"  Mia said, "I didn't go to sleep yet!!  Why'd you wake up so early!?!"  Ha!

Mia and Cooper were playing and hanging on the front of the igloo and Mia said, "Gary, Elliott, and Sophie!!  Look at me!!  I'm upside-down!"  (Elliott and Sophie are especially impressed Mia!!  Ha!)  Later Elliott was drooling (he does a LOT of that!) and Mia said, "You keep your spit in your mouth!!"  :)  Uhhh, he's really not spitting!  (Although I've gotten on his case for spitting and he rarely spits now!)

4/21/2015

Mia ate pears and three servings of waffles for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tuna and crackers, most of sweet potatoes, and ate canned cherries.  (She and Cooper ate those canned cherries first thing again; they love them.)

Thought you all might enjoy this picture of Cooper checking out Baby Layla this morning.  He did this on his own initiative; pushed blocks over to the changing table and got up where he could see her.  And he did that two or three times.  Mia joined Cooper in looking at Layla and was making sure Cooper knew that was her sister.  Then Mia said, "Ohhh, look at those little hands; and that BIG head!"  LOL!  Silly Mia!  It was also VERY sweet the first time Mia saw me holding Layla. She said (in a super sweet voice), "ahhhhh, Gary's holding Layla; so sweet!"  Thank you for sharing your sister with me Mia!

Mia used her blankets and built this "bridge" for her and Cooper to play.  At first, Elliott was peeking around the corner at them and then he crawled into the legos table and grabbed the pillow that's holding down the corner of the bridge.  A little later Cooper and Mia were sitting in the chair (you see in the picture) reading books and Elliott kept coming up behind Cooper grabbing his arm.  Cooper wasn't impressed and that's all the encouragement Elliott needed to continue terrorizing him.  So I got Elliott moved away and distracted with playing in another area.  :)

For a long time Mia has been calling her pretend horse "Clementine."  (I'm not sure when that started, but it's been going on for a long time.)  They were playing with Clementine and Cooper was also using that word except that was the name of his dump truck.  Ha!  I asked him, "Who's Clementine?"  And he points at his truck; "This!"  :)

4/20/2015

Mia ate several bites of chex cereal and mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of roast beef sandwich, sips of tomato soup, and a bite of lettuce salad.

Mia enjoyed the toy, book, and puzzle exchange.  She and Cooper played with the food toys for a long time and Mia had her purse full of cookies and brownies.

We also got out the play houses you see in the picture and they filled the houses full of people, animals, and furniture.  They were saying, "Good night everyone!" and "It's time to eat!" Mia came over to Cooper and asked him, "Do you have a toilet where I can go potty?!?"  (There actually is a toilet in one of these sets.)  Cooper just stared at her and never did answer.  Ha ha!  (I was a little concerned as well as to her intent!!  Ha!)

Mia and Cooper also played with the dress-up clothes and wanted help putting on their tutus.  In the middle of that activity Cooper suddenly said, "I'm a boy!!"  (self affirmations!?)  Yes you certainly are all boy Cooper!!  Now pull up your tutu!!  :)

This was a typical Toy Exchange Monday Morning!  The kids are always very engaged and busy and I do lots of observing rather than offering other activities.  We did have our regular Story Time and they played with blocks and jumping off the igloo as well.  Cooper and Mia wanted to go off the igloo backwards, but it proved to be a bit too scary.  They'd go off kind-of backwards and then twist themselves around to watch their landing.  :)

4/17/2015

Mia ate brown rice and two servings of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of hash brown casserole, ate biscuit, and a large serving of mandarin oranges.

This picture pretty much illustrates what a game of "Hiding from Elliott" looks like.  :)  Cooper and Mia are hiding and Elliott's not even aware of his involvement in the game, but that really is irrelevant to them and their fun!

This story is a little more about Cooper than Mia, but I thought you might all get a kick out of it as well.  (Cooper's Grandpa and Grandma live on a Farm.)  Cooper and Mia were playing with the "front-end loaders" and using the buckets for "digging treasures."  It was really cute and I was enjoying watching their imaginations play.  They drove the tractors for a long time and then Cooper came over to me and said, "My Mom doesn't drive a tractor; only Dads can drive a tractor!"  Ha ha ha.  So I said, "I think Grandma drives a tractor.  Does Grandma drive a tractor?"  He answered, "No!  Grandpa drive a tractor!!"  Cooper has those roles established!!  :)  (Actually Cooper's Grandma ran the combine several days during the last harvest!)

Cooper and Mia were also going camping and they kept repeating, "let's go camping, let's go camping!"  They arrived at the campsite and Mia said, "Let's camp here Daddy!"  A couple minutes later Cooper sneezed and Mia laughed and said, "That's funny Daddy!"  So, just like the average dad, he did a few fakes sneezes for more laughs!!  :)

4/16/2015

Mia ate three servings of cinnamon toast and ate melon for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey, bites of dinner roll, green beans, and a bite of mangoes.

Our Mia girl just keeps getting bigger!  She still likes to play on this toy shelf, but she's really filling it up now!!  She and Cooper like to pack as many toys into the area where they are playing as well; sometimes the big box, the legos drawer, this toy shelf, etc.

Mia and Cooper played on the climber, built towers, painted at Art Time, and played on this toy shelf. They also did lots of spinning....well actually Mia did lots of spinning and Cooper was wanting her to help him with a tower.  So his technique was to sit in the middle of the floor with his legs spread out trying to disrupt Mia's spinning!  :)  Mia was thrilled because I kept telling Sophie and Elliott to "watch Mia spin!"

Mia looked out the window this morning and said, "There goes Mike and his dog!"  Ha!  I think it's so cute that she knows the names of the neighbors!  And remembers their names!  I said, "Do you his dog's name?"  Mia answered, "Yes, his dog's name Buddy!"  Yup.

After lunch I was putting food away and she said she fell off the bench and hurt her leg.  (Not crying; just making conversation!)  Ha!  So I told her I was going to call the Doctor and see if he wanted me to take her to the Doctor's Office so he could kiss her leg!  She laughed and said, "GARY!!"

4/15/2015

Mia ate two servings of breakfast: whole wheat toast and canned prunes.  For lunch she ate ham, crackers, half of bean & bacon soup, and half of strawberries.  At breakfast Elliott was making silly laughing sounds and Mia said, "He thinks he's funny!!"  Ha ha!  Yes he does and actually he is really funny!  :)

Mia and Cooper played for a LONG time taking turns in this legos drawer.  I timed Cooper the first time (and it was the longest) and he was in there (with the drawer shut) for 15 - 20 minutes!  He finally said, "Get me out of here!" and Mia pulled the drawer open.  Mia was in there for almost five minutes and that's a long time for her!  Cooper was using his head to shut the drawer - again!!  I guess that's one way to use your head!  :)

They were primarily playing with the legos, but they jammed bears, dolls, and food toys in the drawer as well. It was starting to get quite crowded!  We also sang songs, read books, did some signs, and identified shapes.  Mia was so engaged with all of those activities!  I was very impressed and it gives me lots of hope for her with the upcoming Preschool!

I've mentioned so many times how I love Mia's advanced use of language!  She has an amazing grasp of language - both in how she uses it and remembers it!  If she hears a phrase, she's got it and repeats it in applicable situations.  She said, "I've been looking for that phone for 20 years!!"  LOL  I was getting ready to read a book and I asked what this one is about and she said, "Bill Grogan's goat was feeling fine."  And that's the first line of the book.  

4/14/2015

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

This is more about Cooper than Mia, but she was there the whole time and has been reacting to Cooper being afraid of bugs as well!  (Pretending like she's afraid too!  And she never has been.)  I've been teaching Cooper how to "chase, scare, shoo, etc..." bugs away!!  :)  Yesterday as soon as we went outside Cooper came running and whimpering to the patio; "Bug on climber!  Bug on climber!"  So I said, "Scare it away!"  So he stands there, thirty feet from the contaminated climber and tries to "scare" it!  "Rooooaaarrrrrrr!"  LOL!  Uhhhh, that won't work so let's do this together and I'll show you how to do it!  Cooper, Mia, and I went to the climber and found the bug (house fly) still sitting there.  I took Cooper's hand and swatted at it to chase it away.  Look!  It flew away!  You scared it!!  Good job Cooper!!  :)

Cooper and Mia did lots of playing with the blocks; building towers and sidewalks.  They also played with the legos trucks and Cooper built a "house" with "Momma" inside.  Cooper and Mia had blocked off a corner by the block shelf and were "hiding" from Elliott.  When I took the picture below they were yelling, "Help us!  Here comes Elliott!!"  (Ok, but I have to get a picture first!)  Mia is peeking around the corner and Cooper is in the picture, but harder to spot!!  (And of course that is Elliott in the front.)  Did you see Cooper yet?  :)  He's there!

The picture below: Mia was being the Doctor and using the tools from the carpenter's tool belt in the poster!!  Ha!  (She must be a bone doctor - orthopedist!)  She was asking Cooper, "Are you sick or hurt!?"  Good question!  ""What hurts?" She asked.  Cooper answered, "My leg."  Mia said, "Hold still!  hammer, hammer, hammer!"  Hey, all she had was carpenter tools!  :)

4/13/2015

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

Sometimes I will tell the kids a "story" rather than read one and they really like that.  Mia and Cooper were sitting on the chair and Mia was "telling stories."  Here are a couple examples of what that sounded like: "What kind of story do you want?"  Cooper said, "Chicken!"  Ha!  So Mia went with it!  "One time there was baby chickens trying to grow bigger!"  Her stories usually lasted one - four sentences.  "Ok, now what story do you want?"  Cooper said, "Tree!"  Mia said,  "There was a boy and a girl eating an apple in a tree!"  She probably told at least five stories!  Nice creativity Mia and use of your language!

Cooper started building this sidewalk you see in the picture and he and Mia finished it up with minor interference from Elliott!  They played with these blocks a LOT!  Elliott was sitting in the block toy shelf and Cooper was "getting" him and Elliott was cracking up.  It was so cute.  Mia had all the stuffed bears in a pile in front of her.  She and Cooper were "sneaking" up on the bears and she said, "I see LOTS of bears!"  :)

We did a few changes on our picture poster in the "lunch room" and put up-to-date pictures of Mia, Cooper, Elliott, and Sophie on it.  They had fun helping with that.  We also did some stickers at Art Time.  Cooper and Mia spotted a new book (I bought this weekend) on the changing table and were excited for me to read it.  (Animal book - you never go wrong with another animal book!)

4/10/2015

Mia ate malt-o-meal cereal (a large serving) and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of ground beef, bites of elbow noodles topped with shredded cheese, ate apple pieces, and mixed fruit.

Cooper and Mia played with the stuffed bears for a long time using them as their "babies."  Mia is jamming her baby in the hole you see in the picture and Cooper said, "this his bed!"  Then Cooper told Mia, "Your baby's sick!"  Mia looked at her baby and yelled, "He's alive, he's alive!"

You could never guess what kind of play the picture below represents.  It was very random!!  Cooper is Santa Claus and Mia is the reindeer and the Panda Bear is Santa's sleigh!  Ha ha!  Mia left to see what I was doing and Cooper yelled, "Go to the sleigh reindeer!!"  I was impressed that he remembered to call it a "sleigh!"  Then he yelled, "Be a reindeer Mia!!"

She and Cooper watched the Mailman, Garbage workers, and a neighbor walking a dog arrive in front of the window all at the same time.  Mia is pretty funny when someone walks by with their dog. She ALWAYS asks, "Can I pet your dog?"  Which is fine, except many times they've already walked past.  She will also pound on the window and yell that even when we're inside!

Cooper was laying on the floor and Mia was pulling off his socks.  She asked me, "Do you wanna see Cooper's purple toys?"  (He got his toenails painted last weekend when his sisters were getting their's painted and Mia's been intrigued with that all week!)

4/9/2015

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

Two quotes when Mia arrived:
Mia - "Where's Sophie at?"
Cooper - "Her Momma pick her up!"  (Which is what happened the last time he saw Sophie!)
Cooper - "Let's go running around!"  As he sprints across the room.  :)

I asked the kids what they were doing and they answered, "Getting bad guys!"  Hmm...Staplers would not be my weapon of choice, but I guess it's better than nothing!  :)  Maybe Cooper's having second thoughts about this plan!  :)

Cooper and Mia played with the food toys and did some camping as well.  They were also talking on the phones and it kind of went like this; "Cooper! Where are you?" (repeated over and over)  "Uhhh, right here!"  (repeated over and over)  "Cooper!  You in Texas!?"  Ha ha!  I asked them what they were doing when I took the picture below and Mia answered, "We're hiding from Elliott, Sophie, and Gary!"  Ha!

In our sets of stuffed animals we have several that have twins, pairs, whatever!  :)  Cooper and Mia were pretty excited today when they spotted the "matches."  Mia said, "Found a match, found a match!"  Cooper said, "I found a match Gary, I found a match!"  It was like they'd noticed for the first time, and maybe it was!!  :)

4/8/2015

Mia ate biscuit and peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of baked beans, ate dinner roll, peas, and two servings of pineapple.

Mia and Cooper had fun doing the "golf ball" painting at Art Time.  They both decided to use their hands to finish up their art work!

Cooper and Mia were playing with the dress-up shoes and Cooper said, "Those fit on my feet!"  Mia was saying, "Ho ho ho!"  And Cooper said, "You're not Santa Claus!"  :)  Then those two were reading some books and Mia yelled, "Read my Lips!"  (And she repeated it several times!)  Ha ha ha!  I asked her where she heard that!!??  And she finally said, "Hercules Movie!"  (That phrase was made "famous" during the campaign of the first President Bush.)  You can thank me later when you answer some trivia question!

Cooper and Mia (especially Cooper) were quite concerned that Elliott was "getting" Baby Sophie! Cooper yelled, "Help, He's getting her!"  The cute part is this - Sophie is a very spunky little girl and she can hold her own!  Yesterday I was just about to say to Elliott, "Don't grab her binky!" when Sophie reached up and snatched his binky!  Ha!  So today it was a similar scenario; Mia and Cooper probably should have been just as concerned about Elliott.  He was grabbing her legs and when he got within reach she grabbed a handful of his hair!  :)

4/7/2015

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

I wonder how many pictures I've posted of Mia reading books to Cooper?  It's always been one of their favorite activities!  She's reading to him and also quizzing about the book.  And when he'd answer correctly she'd say, "Good job!"

Yesterday Cooper asked for the Panda Bear, but it was too late in the day to get out something new.  But he didn't forget I had promised it for today!  :)  They had lots of fun wrestling and rolling with the big bears.

Mia asked, "Can we look at the puppies?"  Ok, it's been several days since we've looked!  (And they now have their eyes open!)  We also looked at a hummingbird nest and two different owl nests; one in the Missoula valley and one in the Charlo valley.  Cooper said, "Let's check out the hippopotamus!" And there are some web cams from Kenya; African water hole, Safari web cams, etc.  But it was too late in the evening there and too dark.

4/6/2015

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

Almost every morning Mia will pull out her ponytail and ask for two ponies.  And she always tugs hard at her hair and gets the holder off, but strands of hair as well.  And then whimpers at me if I pull it ever so slightly!!  Geez!!!  :)

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and Cooper and Mia played with the sets of keys and phones first.  They like to use the block toy shelf for their car and so they immediately emptied it and were using their keys, driving their car, with their phones beside them.  :)  It's so interesting how they'll pick something like that toy shelf to be their "car" and then it's that way for a long long time.  And they remember it from the last time we had the keys out...and the time before...and the time before that!

I liked how they were playing in these drawers.  Cooper was actually doing it first and kept telling Mia to "shut the drawer!"  She was wanting to open it and he wasn't ready to come out yet.

Like I've said before, these two don't mind being in tight places!  Mia is a pretty big girl and there is not much room in there!

Mia spotted Cooper's painted fingernails and that's all she wanted to talk about.  She was hammering him with questions!!  :)  WHO, WHY, WHERE, WHEN...  She apparently wasn't getting answers that satisfied her so she turned to me and started asking me.  I said, "You'll have to ask Cooper!"  So she tried again, but didn't learn much.  She said to me (quite disgustedly), "He doesn't know GARY!!"  :)

4/3/2015

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

Cooper and Mia jumped and jumped and jumped!  Lots of great exercise!  Then they were taking turns laying on the floor between the igloo and the mattress (see picture) and saying, "jump over me!"  Silly kids, but it was safe and I was monitoring closely.  They got more exercise at the end of story time because we read "Toddlerobics."  They followed the activities amazingly well - at least 25 different ones!  And Mia could frequently remember which one was coming next.  She has an exceptional memory!  

Mia and Cooper had their blankets, some books, and other toys and were playing in the Big Box. Today was the first day Elliott figured out how to crawl into it when they were in there.  It was momentarily widespread PANIC!  "Oh No!  Elliott's in here!!  :)  

Yesterday when Mia and Nora were playing together everything was "sweetie."  And Mia carried it over to this morning as well.  "It's ok sweetie," she told her baby, "You'll feel better.  I put you to bed."  In this toy set the puppies are always their babies, not the dolls.  

Yesterday at snack time there was a lot of talking between Mia and Nora.  They sat down and Nora asked, "What do you want to talk about?"  So cute.  Mia said, "Tell me a story."  So Nora proceeded with a story about "Sofia and I went on a walk and found out we were lost."  Mia said, "Tell me a dinosaur story!"  Ha.  Nora said, "I will tomorrow!"  So Mia said, "I tell you a story.  One time I was walking with Layla.  We saw a T-Rex!  And we have a super hero!"  :)

4/2/2015

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

Nora is here visiting today and Mia had lots of fun playing with her this morning.  Nora spent most of the morning being the "Mommy" and I took a picture of Mia's napping spot.

I took this picture a few minutes after the above picture.  Mia had gotten on the floor and Elliott climbed up and got her blanket which she'd left behind.  That's one of his favorite tricks.  He'll grab their blanket and run like his life depends on it.  (And it just might!!)  :)  Mia spotted him and jumped back on the table to rescue her blanket and I took this picture when Elliott was giving her a cheesy look.  :)

Baby Sophie was laying on the floor and I had my head on her chest and she was giggling.  Mia said, "Gary, stop messing with Sophie!"  :)

At the breakfast table Mia and Nora had some very cute conversations:
M: "You come to my birthday?"
N: "I'll have to ask my Mom if I can!"
M: "No, I already have my birthday!"
N:  "I'm going to have another one!  You want to come to my house?"
M:  "I'll ask Mom and Dad.  If they say "no" I can't.
N:  "I know."
N:  "What do you want for breakfast?"
M:  "I want a broccoli and some salad!"

4/1/2015

Mia loves her jelly toast!  She ate three servings at breakfast and ate her mangoes.  For lunch she ate most of beef & bean burrito, bites of sweet potatoes, and ate most of tropical fruit.

Cooper and Mia continued to play with the block structure that Kenzie and Riley started.  They worked at this for probably 20 minutes and were laying out their "puppies."  (I just noticed that Mia has on the pants that do weird things in the pictures.  Compare her pants in the top picture with the picture on the bottom.)

Cooper and Mia did some swinging between the chair and legos table like you see in the picture.  They also played a game that was a combination of hide-n-seek, peek-a-boo, and "Happy Birthday!"  (No way to explain that one!)  And there was a substantial amount of wrestling!  Mia was yelling at Cooper,  "Let go of me!  Let go of me!  Don't grab me!"  She managed to move away and in less than five seconds she went and sat on him!  (Which is why I am very selective about responding to her pleas for "help!!"  Ha!)

Cooper went poop on the toilet (he's in the learning stages) and when he finished he was very proud of himself and kept saying, "I got to tell Mia, I got to tell Mia!!"  She was very busy hoarding toys and trying to keep Elliott away, but she did manage to quickly say, "Good job!" and Cooper was satisfied!  Whew!

3/30/2015

Mia ate several bites of breakfast: kix cereal and mixed fruit.  For lunch she ate ham sandwich, two servings of peas, and ate mandarin oranges.

I like this picture!  We'd been reading books and one of them was one of the "I Spy" books where they search and identify items.  So Cooper and Mia were holding other books in front of Sophie (a bit too close to her face, but in this picture Mia is doing pretty good) and in this picture Mia is asking, "Can you find a bear?"  Ha ha!  (There actually is a bear on the page so at least it wasn't a trick question!)

Mia was lifting up the igloo (against the law) and got her hand pinched under the edge of it.  Ouch!! I was putting lunch on the trays and I heard her cry and Cooper immediately came running and said, "Mia's hand stuck!  Mia's hand stuck!"  Very well done Cooper!  I was impressed.  So I rescued her and after I left I heard Cooper say, "Let's do that again!"  Ha ha!  Mia said, "I don't want to do that again!"  Now that's a good choice Mia!

More about reading books - Mia and Cooper were answering the questions I was asking about the animals and doing a great job.  (It was more like "filling in the blank" rather than me asking the question!)  For example, I read the sentence "The little Panda likes to eat the sweet_____"  And they answered, "bamboo!"  Very good!  It's a fun way to read to this age group and keeps them actively involved in the stories.

I was going to try to describe a couple of other books we read, but I'll just tell you what they call it; "Scanimation."  How's that for a new word!?  (You can "google" it if you're curious!)  Geez - google - another new word!  It's hard to keep up!  Anyhow, maybe these books are partially to blame for Mia loving to play like animals.  :)  They have lots of different animals and they ask questions like this; "Can you gallop like a horse?"  "Can you strut like a rooster?"  "Can you slither like a snake?"  And of course the kids love these books!

3/27/2015

Mia ate most of breakfast: brown rice and raisins.  For lunch she ate two servings of meat loaf, ate half of pita bread, ate carrots, and three servings of apricots.  Or as she put it; "Apricots sure is tasty!"

This is a picture of where Cooper and Mia set up their "camp-site."  They have three plates full of food and three glasses of milk - all nicely arranged.  :)  Then they also have their pile of puppies of course.  Those Puppies represent the rest of their Family!!  They were putting the puppies in front of the heat register when the fan was blowing and Cooper said, "They're cold - warm them up!"

I took this picture of Mia and Cooper working hard at puzzles because they were doing everything together; even carrying the puzzle back to the puzzle rack.  Mia said, "Let's hold it together and put it in the rack."  They did that three or four times at least.  Some of the puzzles have dinosaurs and they were having a discussion about them.  Cooper asked Mia, "You have a dinosaur at your house?"  She answered, "Yup!"  Maybe he was still thinking about that dinosaur egg!?!  :)

Mia arrived before Cooper today and she walked in and said, "Where's Cooper and it sure is foggy!?!"  (All in one sentence!)  :)

They started playing in the swivel/rocker chair so I moved it to the Play Room.  The last time I let them play with it and spin each other - Cooper vomited.  Yikes!  That was before Riley and Nora moved on to Preschool!  Most of the time he was pushing and Mia was riding like you see in the picture.  But I still monitored him very closely!!  They had lots of fun laughing and giggling!

3/26/2015

Mia had three servings of cinnamon toast and ate grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of baked chicken, half of dinner roll, bites of hash browns, and ate her cherries.  45 Minutes before Lunch Time I said, "I'm gonna put the chicken in the oven!"  Mia answered with a question;  "What are we having!?"    :)

The kids were having a conversation that totally cracked me up!  Mia randomly said, "I have egg hatching at my house!!"  Oh really?  So I asked her what was in the egg.  She immediately answered, "Dinosaur!!"  Oh man........Now that got Cooper's attention!  He stood motionless and his eyes starting getting huge!  Ha ha!!  He was sooooo impressed!  He asked, "For ME!?!?"  Mia said, "No!  For me!!"  There was a long pause......10 - 15 seconds or more.....Cooper again asked, "For ME!?!?"  And again Mia answered, "NO!  For me!!"  She took off jumping and running and Cooper just stood there, still in total amazement and maybe slightly in shock!  Ha ha!  Finally he looked at me after many more seconds and again asked, "For ME!?!"  Uhhhh, that's not what I heard.  Sorry Cooper!  It was soooo cute and funny.  (And totally serious!)  :)

Yesterday afternoon we were playing and running outside and Mia and Cooper were chasing me.  They were trying to get me to stop and Cooper finally yelled, "The light is red!!"  Ha ha!  We haven't played "Red Light Green Light" here for a long time so I bet he heard that one from his sisters!

I figured everyone would get a kick out of this picture of Old MacDonald Farmer from one of our special books.  Every time Mia and Cooper (especially Cooper) see this page they yell, "GARY!" Ha! Ok, I can see that!  :)

And here's a couple pictures from this morning of Mia and Cooper playing under and on the table.  It got a little wild (hard to imagine, right?) when Cooper was on the floor and he was able to start lifting the table off the floor with his legs.  (With Mia still on the table!)  Ok, that's not safe!  :)

3/25/2015

Mia ate two servings of breakfast: whole wheat bagel and peaches.  For lunch she had bites of ham, mac-n-cheese, ate corn, and apple bites.  Cooper was a little distressed at lunch because he believed Mia when she said, "Gary give you chocolate milk!"  Silly Mia.  :)

Some of these pictures seem kind of silly, but I'm obviously trying to portray some of the activities that held their attention this morning.  They played with their puppies for 30 - 40 minutes.  It started off when they stacked all of them behind the chair.

They kept running to both sides of the chair saying things like, "Go to sleep puppies, go to sleep puppies..."  "They're sleeping, they're sleeping..."

Then they transferred their pile of puppies and blankets to a big pile on the chair.  One-by-one they would drop them off the edge like you see in the picture and chant things like, "Go down ___, go down ___!"  And they'd make up some nonsense word for them.

Mia read lots of books this morning.  "Where oh where has my little dog gone, where oh where can it be......?"  Mia changed it just slightly; "Where oh where is my pup at?!?!"

I've been working with Mia trying to help her accept the play times when Cooper just wants to do his own thing.  She will come to me and usually say something like; "Cooper won't play with me!!"  (And actually this happens rarely!  But it's not necessarily a bad thing, it just happens.)  So I've been encouraging her to join him and play beside him with similar toys, rather than barge in and take control and be bossy.  This morning she did it perfectly and I was watching - I love it when I "catch" them doing something that we've been working on.  He was "cleaning" and she asked, "Do you need help cleaning?"  Well done Mia!

3/24/2015

Mia had bites of chex cereal and ate half of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of roast beef sandwich, drank tomato soup, and had a bite of lettuce salad.

Mia and Cooper were playing with the stuffed puppies and that is their "family."  They pile all the puppies inside the igloo and that is their "home."  Mia said, "how 'bout I be a baby puppy and you be daddy puppy?"  Cooper agreed to that arrangement and Mia said, "Dada!"  Daddy Cooper Puppy said, "What?"  Mia said, "I want some food!"  Ha ha!  Not too far out of character right there!  Yesterday they were playing the same thing and Mia kept asking him questions and saying, "Ok Dad?  Ok Dad?"  Cooper finally said, "I am NOT your dad!!"  Ha ha!  Enough already!

First thing this morning Mia was reading to Cooper and then they switched roles.  Cooper loves reading the "I Spy" book and locating the different objects.  He was reading it to Mia, asking the questions, and then he'd say, "Ok, let's do the next page."

Mia and Cooper were sitting on the igloo surrounded by water!  Cooper is pointing at the "crocodile" to warn me.  "Crocodiles down there!  Behind you!!"  Actually I liked it better today when he called it a "rock-a-tile."  Isn't that cute?

Cooper saw the snow coming down and he ran to the window saying, "snowflakes!!"  Mia had an idea; "Why don't you go outside and catch one!?!"  Silly Mia!  We'd been looking at some "animal cams" and on explore.org there is a new cam of a long-eared owl sitting on her nest somewhere in or around the Missoula valley.  We'd also been looking at the hummingbird sit on her nest.  She was kind of shaking all over preparing to snuggle way down in her nest.  Mia said, "I think she's freezing!"  :)