12/10/2013

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

Mia was following Riley's lead and playing with the tools.  (There's a hole in the corner of the yellow bench that the drill fits into.)  If Riley will get engaged with the toys, Mia will almost always do the same.  

The kids decorated another big piece of paper at art time.  So we have our backdrop for pictures with Santa today.  I've been telling the kids that Santa is letting Lauralea use some of his clothes.  And she's going to let them watch her put them on, so we'll see how that all goes.  That will be this afternoon about 4:00.

The girls were soooo funny this morning running and "hiding" from Cooper!  They were running around the table and saying, "Hide hide hide; Cooper Cooper Bubba Cooper!"  He was sitting on the mattress laughing and watching them.  Then later they were doing it again, but this time going in the igloo saying the same thing!  Except now he was playing under the climber and not even aware they were running from him.  :)

Riley and Mia were also building tall towers with all of the building blocks.  And they were proud of what they'd accomplished.  "Look Gary, Look!"  And they were also playing with the dress-up clothes again and saying "bye!"  Mia said they were going to "Riley's farm!"

12/9/2013

Mia ate most of her cheerios and bites of banana for breakfast.  For lunch she had bites of cheese sandwich, drank tomato soup, and ate apple pieces.

Santa Claus is going to be here tomorrow afternoon about 4:00 and we decorated some blue paper to have in the background for Santa pictures.  And tomorrow's art work will be more of the same.  :)  You can see they covered the paper pretty well with the stickers.  I'd sometimes point to empty spots.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange and Mia looked at the books before anything else.  She also played with the shakers, phones, cups, dolls and blankets.

I thought you might get a kick out of this picture of Cooper diving in the Big Box.  Notice that Mia is watching his performance.  The Big Box is a place for the "older" kids to play without the babies bugging them.  This picture proves that no place is safe from Cooper anymore!  How do you like his approach?  And it happens REALLY fast!  So I decided to "bait" the box with those yellow shakers you can see and I had the camera ready.  :)

I guess I frequently call Cooper "Cooper Boy!"  Mia said, "Hi Cooper Boy!"  Then it was; "Hi Gary Boy!"  It was very cute and made us laugh!

12/6/2013

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

I taped some tubes on the legos table (Jamie's idea) and the kids liked doing something different; dropping the pieces through!  It's nap time and the tubes are still in place!  I didn't expect them to last for one hour!

All three of the girls found a new place for their puppies to take a nap.  This was Riley's idea and Mia and Nora picked right up on it.  They started saying "puppy night night!"  When they grew tired of that game they were grabbing each other's hands through the hole.

The primary game this morning was "Bye bye Gary!"  They were sitting on the blocks we'd built in a long line and traveling somewhere.  And with their dress-up shoes on!  Then Nora was also laying on the floor asking Mia to help her up.  So Mia wrapped her arms around Nora and got her up and that evolved into a hugging session.  It was so cute and sweet.  And something of a rarity between those two girls!  With the goodbye hugs being the exception.  :)

The iPod has at least 350 children's songs on it and an additional few that are just fast tempo.  One this morning was going "You gotta move it, move it, You gotta move it.."  Not sure, but I think it's from an exercise tape; anyhow Mia yells, "Move It!"  :)

12/5/2013

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

Darcy, I know you were concerned this morning about what kind of day Mia was going to have.  She actually had a good morning; much better than yesterday!  She didn't act too tired, but around 10:00 she had some struggles getting a big poop out and after that she was a happy camper.  Sorry Mia to discuss your pooping in a public forum!  :)  Such are the indignities in the life of a two year old!

She and Riley were doing some wrestling on the mattress and it was so stinking cute!  They rolled and wrestled around for probably ten minutes and giggling the whole time.  When we had our Group Home (12 kids) we really couldn't let them wrestle too much because it always escalated out of control.  But with 4 kids it's different.  And there's no adult supervision now!  Hee hee!  Don't tell anyone!

Mia also did lots of jumping on the mattress.  She participated in lots of singing, dancing, and story time.  I've mentioned this before, but I'll frequently let them finish the last word or two in a sentence to see how much they know the book and it keeps them engaged too.  She could do lots of the words in "Frosty the Snowman."

Mia was sitting in the chair and Nora got hurt and started crying.  Mia jumped right out of the chair and went over to give her a love.  It was very sweet.  (Nora was more mad than hurt and she didn't want Mia to touch her, but it was still a sweet gesture.)  Good job Mia.

12/4/2013

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

We covered the table with paper and put paint shirts on the kids and they had fun painting.  So I thought you'd enjoy a picture of everyone at the table.  (This was Cooper's first time with this activity and he did great.)

Mia read lots of books this morning and then she and Riley were sitting side-by-side reading and it transitioned into a kind of "chanting."  :)  Mia was mimicking everything Riley said and did.

Mia was yelling because Cooper was crawling into the chair where she was reading and pestering her.  So I moved him to the big box and got him distracted in playing with something else.  Within two minutes Mia had moved into the box with him and within another minute was yelling at him again.  Geez!  Perfect example of Infant-Toddler behavior and logic; or lack thereof!  :)

Mia wanted to snuggle a lot this morning so Lauralea was snuggling her while I was finishing up the food for the day.  Lauralea asked her, "Do you like Gary?"  Mia said, "Yeah!  And Lauralea like Gary!"  :)

Before anyone else arrived this morning Mia was reading books and she was asking herself; "One more time?"  Then answer; "Yeah!"  Next book; "Read again?"  Answer; "Yeah!"  Very cute!  :)  She was just checking to see if she really wanted to read them twice!

12/3/2013

Mia had two servings of breakfast: cinnamon roll and dried plums.  For lunch she ate half of her scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon bits, and cheese combo, ate waffle, and most of her cantaloupe.

Lauralea was reading a book she'd brought home about a Christmas Bear.  The kids were loving it and especially the part where Lauralea was pretending to cry.  :)  Mia was mimicking the crying and then mimicking the "Shhhh" sound.

The three girls were doing their "Hide hide hide!" thing again and this (picture) is where they were "hiding" from Cooper.  He'd been pulling Nora and Mia's hair so I had him blockaded on the other side of the room.  Which made their "hiding" a bit easier.  :)

Mia played her "Bye!" game again this morning.  This has been one of her (and all three girls) favorite games lately.  They put on dress-up clothes, or just shoes, and start waving and saying, "Bye!"  I love this age when they start doing all kinds of different 'dramatic' play; reenacting different scenarios they see in their daily lives.

Lauralea said, "I have to go fix me some breakfast!"  Riley said, "With you!  Some cheese?"  :)  So Lauralea and Riley brought some cheese out and all four kids lined up like little birdies getting their bites.  Another one of Mia's favorite activities!!  :)

12/2/2013

Mia ate most of her breakfast:  Kix cereal and mixed fruit.  For lunch she ate ham sandwich, peas, and three servings of mandarin oranges.

Lauralea was sitting in her chair and Riley wanted Lauralea to hold her like a baby and she was all curled up.  :)  The other two girls saw that and wanted a turn so here's a picture when Mia was getting a turn snuggling.  (I had just stole Mia's binky to take this picture and that's what she's looking for!)

Here's a picture of Mia and Nora playing with the airplanes.  They like filling them up with the little people.  (Which fit pretty tight and they usually ask for assistance!)  They also played with the food toys at the table while Cooper was being the "center-piece" and pestering them!

I took a picture so you could see our routine when Cooper wakes up!  The girls run ahead of me and call out his name while peeking under the door.  :)  They've been doing this for a long time, I just never thought about showing you a picture.

All three girls were yelling "Hide hide!" and running for the igloo.  Cooper wasn't even bugging them at that moment, but I guess they were hiding from him.  Then Riley was building tall towers and stacking more blocks around the base of her two towers.  She was wanting me to protect her towers from Mia and Cooper.  (Mia managed to slip through the blockade once and knock one over.)  Riley yelled, "Help me Gary!"  :)