3/11/2014

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

I took this picture of Mia playing with her "baby" which she was carrying around in this fanny pack.  The three girls played with their babies a lot this morning.  (Riley said, "My baby puke up!!")  So they were washing their babies in the sinks!  Nora said, "My baby crying!"  Mia bellowed (very loudly I might add), "OH NO!!"  Now I think the baby is totally frightened!  :)

Here's a picture of the girls doing some painting on the floor.  These sheets of paper were a bit too large to fit them all on the table.  Mia painted for awhile and then started putting her paintbrush in her mouth.  (Don't worry - it's nontoxic!) Some kids are very oral (that would be Mia) and they like to experience everything through their mouth.  Of course I will ask her to remove it, but that's always her first inclination!  One obvious problem with that -  the oral children, and we've had LOTS of them, get sick the most because everything goes into the mouth!

Mia was in a great mood and doing lots of jabbering this morning.  She was saying several things I thought was quite comical so here's a couple of those things!
     Playing with the phone; "Hi Mommy! I'll call you!"
     Before Cooper even arrived;  "Where'd Cooper go?"
     I showed her the skunk picture in the viewfinder again.  Yesterday she said, "Panda!"  Today she
     said, "Cartoon!"
     I thought I heard something (it happened to be the phone) and I asked "What's that?"  Mia said,
     "Gary phone running!"  LOL!

3/10/2014

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

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids had fun exploring everything.  They all enjoyed the drums and were gathered around the table beating on the drums singing their own separate songs.

I moved the climber into the middle of the floor and we were singing songs and the kids were running around and around the climber.  You really don't have to change the environment very much for this age group to enjoy a completely "new" play area!  This is a picture of them playing on the climber after circling it dozens of times!

Mia comes with a binky, but gives it up before breakfast and then I put it on her cubby until she leaves for home.  This morning she took her binky out, handed it to Nora and said, "Here binky!" So Nora says, "Ok! And she heads for the gate to give it to me!"  It was pretty funny; Mia was busy and knew Nora would handle it for her!

This set of toys has another set of those viewfinder toys (I don't know what else to call them) with animal pictures.  I was holding them up to Mia's eyes and loving her answers.  She actually does know her animals pretty well and we frequently work on them.  But here are a couple of funny ones from this morning;  It was a close-up of a squirrel - "Horsey!"  A skunk - "Panda!"  (love that one!)  A close-up of a large toad with huge eyes - "Owl!!"

3/7/2014

Mia ate a large serving of malt-o-meal cereal and ate raisins for breakfast.  She ate most of her food for lunch: ground beef (I mistakenly forgot to buy pasta sauce), elbow noodles topped with shredded cheese, lettuce salad, and mixed fruit.

I was flossing my teeth this morning and Nora was walking around pretending to floss her teeth so I asked her if she wanted some floss; and of course Mia needed some too.  I thought it was cute how they went right to the mirror to floss.

We played with the bath foam at art time and of course Mia loves to experiment with things like that and kept tasting it and declaring it was great!  :)  I like how she's keeping an eye on Cooper as she prepares to smear a little foam on his head!

I was a little concerned about the foam getting in her eyes so I got swim goggles for her and Cooper.  Well that didn't last more than a few seconds of course and then she was smearing the bath foam with the goggles and holding it all up to her face!  LOL  Silly girl!  But she was having fun and enjoying the process!  She rubbed a bit on Cooper's head too and Nora was appalled;  "NO MIA, NO!!"

She was very engaged in different kinds of play this morning and I was happy to see her so involved.  She said, "Build sidewalk!"  And she did build a sidewalk with the big blocks all by herself.  Good job Mia! She did lots of jumping on the mattress and "Going to the store Gary!"  What are you getting at the store?  "Gum, ice cream, and ice cream cone!"

3/6/2014

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

Mia was wearing the same dress-up clothes that she has been wearing all week and you've already seen several pictures of them.  But I thought this was cute how it was hung-up on her ponytail and she didn't notice or didn't care.  :)

Then later she was wearing these dress-up pants and she was so proud of herself for getting them on.  She told me, "I did it!!"  And in typical Mia fashion I knew I had better take a picture quick if I wanted to document it.  Sure enough, one jump and off came the pants.  :)

We had built a platform beside the climber for the kids to stand on.  They played on it for awhile, but I think they had way more fun destroying it.  Once they had it scattered all around they were pretending to "swim" through the blocks.

Mia read lots of books like usual and the first book again this morning was "London Bridge" and she was singing, "Cooper baby safe and sound, safe and sound…"  She also enjoyed sticking the pieces of paper to the glue at art time.  Well, at least for awhile.  Riley and Nora wanted to do a second piece so Mia said she did too, but she soon started smearing her glue all over and making a mess.  Which is just fine, but it was time to move on to something else.  :)

3/5/2014

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

Ok, I know I frequently post very similar pictures of Mia reading books.  However, this is a daily occurrence and it shows what she really likes to do.  She was reading and singing this book with "Cooper baby safe and sound…"  :)

Darcy, I will just continue to offer Mia the opportunity to go to the bathroom every time Riley or Nora ask to go.  I simply ask her, "Would you like to go in and go potty too?"  I am not making a big deal out of it and I will not pressure her; just letting her 1.) know what we're doing and 2.) giving her the opportunity to go too.  Yesterday and today she just simply says, "No."  Yesterday she did ask to go potty at the end of the day shortly before she was picked up.  I'm also wanting to reassure you that we've seen this many times and it's very common for her age to relapse.  Some don't, but many do and it works soooo much better to not pressure them.  And I know you are working hard at that too.  It's not easy to back-off when we know they are totally capable of doing the whole thing!  And regardless of what anyone says ("my child trained at age.., blah blah blah..") she is still young and everything is developing.  Birthday # 3 is kind of the magic moment when everything clicks and we've seen it over and over.  And at that point it's usually a done deal!  There have been lots of children go through our program who didn't start until right at age three and it was soooo easy.

Mia was doing the "sign" for Friend.  (We always call it "Good Friend" just in case you hear her saying that.)  And she was also saying, "Good Friend."  So I asked her, "Who's your good friend?"  And she answered, "Nora!"  Well Nora heard that and said, "No!  Mia!"  (Meaning "Mia is my good friend!")  And that's how the ensuing bickering started and they were going back and forth.  LOL  So I asked Nora, "Who's your good friend?"  She answered, "Mia!"  And Mia yells, "No! Nora!"  And on and on it went!  I love silly toddlers!!  :)

3/4/2014

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

Here's a picture of the kids marching around the table bench while listening to music.  I took this picture quick because Cooper was in a bad spot and would soon need some intervention; Mia and Nora were closing in on him from both directions!!    :)

I was wiping Mia's eye and Nora was watching and asked, "What's that?"  Mia immediately answered, "Goopy eye!!"  Don't panic Darcy!!  :)  It was just some "sleepy stuff" (whatever that is) mixed with a little tear!  :)  But Mia knew what to call it!

Mia read lots and lots of books like usual (the daily "Shoo Fly" and then "Red Light Green Light") and also enjoyed our group reading time along with singing and do some sign language.  She probably knows 15 different signs (including some colors) and can readily tell you what they mean.

They were pretending to eat and Mia was bringing me food.  I wouldn't "eat" anything until she'd tell me what it was.  So she'd think hard and come up with some random food.  I should have wrote them down because she was trying hard to think of different foods.  I remember "cookie, berry, carrot, and ice cream."  And she was thinking of a different one every time.

3/3/2014

Mia ate cheerios and banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her cheese sandwich, drank tomato soup, and ate half of apple slices.

Cooper and Mia were sitting in the big box reading books and leaning back against my pillows.  I always use the pillows for story time and now the kids do too.  You gotta have pillows to read!!

Mia is usually the first one here every morning and she always gets several books to sit and read.  I like listening to her as she usually reads aloud.  She was doing her usual "Shoo Fly, follow me."  I asked Lauralea, "Wasn't that Joslyn's (Callahan - another First Interstate Bank family) favorite book too?"  And it was, but Mia immediately said, "No! My favorite!!"  Then she started reading a Doctor Seuss book about feet; "Left foot, right foot!"  Good job Mia!

When Mia saw Lauralea this morning she said, "Hi Lauralea Lu Lu!!"  Nora was the one who started that, but I think that's the first time I've heard Mia say it.  Nora's Grandpa has a puppy named "LuLu."

Mia played with the food toys, dolls, jumping on the mattress, and the phones.  She was using a phone and said, "Hi Daddy! I talk to TieTie?"  I'm sure everyone already knows, but that would be their dog, Titan!

Mia was standing in front of the mirror and just randomly said, "I be good friend!"  And she was doing the sign for "friend."  Good job Mia!  That's one of my phrases when they are struggling to be nice to each other; "Be a good friend."  Hooking your two index fingers together is the sign for "friend."