8/30/2013

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

Riley and Mia were playing in this cozy corner for at least 15 minutes and they cuddling their babies, talking on the phones, and having another of their discussions about all their owies and bruises.  When I took this picture Riley had just kissed Mia's finger that was needing a love.

Well we gave the bath foam another go at art time and this time all three of the girls had fun exploring with the feeling and texture.  The last time we tried it, Mia was the only one who even touched it!  :)

So here's a picture of Mia showing Nora some other options how to use it.  Nora was not impressed and was saying, "Oh oh, Oh oh!" And pointing at Mia.  Mia meanwhile was busy yelling, "I want more Gary!"  :)  This bath foam is non-toxic in case that is a concern to anyone!

The kids had fun outside doing their usual play with the bikes, trucks, balls, climbers, and ice cream carts.  They also watched the mailman, neighbors, and the garbage workers.

8/29/2013

Mia ate whole wheat french bread and three servings of cantaloupe for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey slices, crescent roll, green beans, and two servings of dried mangoes.

All three girls were snuggled on the big bear, but as soon as I grabbed the camera Riley quickly left!  Right before I took the picture Nora been reading books in the big box.  She had every book in there and when she'd read one she'd toss it outside the box.  Well Mia started reading the discarded books and Nora was yelling, "Mine Mine!"  Minutes later they were best buddies on the big bear!  :)

Here's a picture of the three girls doing one of their favorite outside activities; dissecting leaves.  Riley has solved the problem of only two seats in the play house; she's sitting on one of the big balls.

One of Mia's favorite books in this set is "Little Spot of Color."  So we're doing the signs for every color in the book and also the color poster on the wall.  She was pointing at the different colors on every page and yelling, "YELLOW!"  :)

Riley was pulling Mia in the wagon and it looked so cute.  Mia was sitting in the wagon sideways with her feet dangling over the side and her head resting on the edge; looking totally relaxed.  (Except we know Mia, right?  Relaxed & Mia...hmmm, those two words just don't go together for me!)  :)

Riley and Mia were sitting on the floor examining and discussing their owies and bruises.  They had their pant-legs pulled up and looking at their knees, etc.

8/28/2013

Mia ate two servings of whole wheat toast and ate mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham, crackers, two servings of bean & bacon soup, and ate kiwi.

I thought it was very cute when Riley was reading to Nora and Mia.  It was after I posted the picture that I noticed the poster in the background that says, "Learning Together."  It seems like a very fitting background for our picture.

And here's a picture of what the kids did at art time.  It was the first time we've used these dry-erase spiral notebooks and they had fun making marks in them.  As they get older there are letters and numbers in the books that they can trace around or copy.  Mia was using both hands like a switch-hitter!

Nora bumped her toes on the big box and held up her foot for me to kiss it.  Me: "Hey Mia!  You wanna kiss Nora's owie on her foot?"  :)  So Mia gave it a kiss and Nora held up the other foot to be kissed too.  I told Nora to say "thank you" and of course Mia immediately says "thank you!" and does the sign too.  :)  Thanks Mia!  You saved me!!

I like how Mia says 'snuggle' every morning.  It's part of our morning ritual.  "I wanna suggle!" (snuggle)  It's almost always before anyone else arrives.

Mia and Nora played on the teeter-totters, climbers, and Nora gave her rides in the wagon.  Mia was also thrilled when a jogger went by with their dog.  "Doggie doggie!"  She doesn't give a rip about the jogger, just the puppy!  :)

8/27/2013

Mia ate whole wheat bagel and most of her dried apricots for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, a big serving of whole wheat elbow noodles with peas topped with shredded cheese, and two servings of applesauce.  "Want more sauce!"  :)  Cracked me up!  She must have been hungry because she was shoveling it in and huffing & puffing like a steam engine!  It was so cute!

I had to take a picture of Mia with her baby.  She worked and worked trying to get the doll to sit up at the table.  I finally helped prop it up, but you can see the problem!  That baby needs a high chair!  Mia was wanting to feed her some food, but now the baby's mouth is not accessible!  :)

We were all down at the fence watching the neighbor girl play with her wagon.  I was sitting on one of the bikes backwards and I hadn't noticed that Mia started doing the same thing.  Nora, on the other hand, noticed; "Oh oh, oh oh!!"  Riley came over and joined us; sitting on one of the bikes backwards.  Nora looked at her like; "what? you too!?"  :)

Nora always has a certain way in her mind how everything is supposed to be and it better all be that way, or else!!  Mia, on the other hand, doesn't really give a rip one way or the other!  They were pushing the bikes, dump trucks, and ice cream carts down to the gate and Nora wanted them lined up a certain way.  Mia kept looking at her like; "What?!!?  I'm getting them down here; what more do you want!?!"  :)   So....the potential for conflict is always there!  :)

Mia and Riley played with the dolls, blankets, and doll bottles for a long time; in the big box and then in the chair.  They were cuddling their babies and feeding them and talking about it all.

8/26/2013

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

Just about every time Nora said, "Oh oh!" this morning it was about Mia!  (I just wrote the same thing in Riley's journal too!)  Poor Mia!  She can't get away with anything!  Nora spotted her trying to get the covers off the wall plug-in; "Oh oh!"  Mia had my pen and notepad (notes to do these journals); "Oh oh!"  And on it goes!  Nora and Riley will make good classroom monitors someday!  Well, actually, I guess they already are!  :)  I had to grab the camera when they were saying "Oh oh!" about the pen and notepad.  Mia doesn't look too concerned does she?

I haven't posted a picture of Mia in a mask in a few weeks have I?  :)  The three girls were wearing the masks from the Three Little Pigs story and they were all looking at themselves in the mirrors.

Mia spotted this moose and said, "horsey!"  So I got her to say "moose" and she did real well at it; deliberately adding the 'sss' sound at the end.  BUT, she was still determined it was a horse.  :)  Which made me laugh!  During story time here was another moose in another book and this one had big horns; "horsey!!"  :)

Mia has been watching Riley and Nora wash their hands at the sink and this morning she had to copy what they do and start scrubbing the edge of the sink after drying with their paper towel.  So, the outer edge of the sink gets cleaned frequently!

8/23/2013

Mia ate malt-o-meal cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of her ground beef with spaghetti sauce, most of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate lettuce salad (she always eats the salad first with this meal), and mixed fruit.

Mia and Riley were playing their game of poking food toys through the hole in the middle of the table.  As you can see from the picture Mia was on the floor and she was poking "carrots" back up through the hole.

Here's the picture of Mia doing her finger painting.  :)  Is that cute or what!?  Darcy, Thanks for letting me post this picture on the other kid's journals.  Here's what I wrote on the caption:  I am posting this picture of Mia with permission from momma Darcy.  I thought other families would enjoy seeing Mia's finger-painting technique differs slightly from Riley and Nora!  :)  This was causing Nora a fair amount of anxiety:  "OH OH, OH OH!!"  Nora was somewhat appalled!

All three of the girls were lined up at the gate outside watching the new little neighbor girl across the street (four or five years old) play with her puppy.  They watched for awhile and then packed leaves to the play house.  Crumbling the leaves has been a favorite outside activity for several weeks now.

Mia had a pretty good morning Darcy even though you said she woke up a bit out of sorts.  Her nose did run all morning (bummer) so that may have been the cause of her being grumpy.  She was pretty funny whenever Cooper got close to her this morning: "Oh oh, Bubba!"  She said it like, "Oh no, here he comes again!"  I guess she's judging him from previous encounters!  :)

8/22/2013

Mia ate two servings of blueberry english muffin and ate blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate about half of her chicken and crackers, ate sweet potatoes, and two servings of canned cherries.

Nora and Mia are always awake before Riley and Riley is always asleep before them too.  And I've always told them to be quiet when walking past Riley's nap mat.  It's so funny because now both of them put their fingers up to their mouth and go "Shhhhh...." when walking past Riley's mat; whether she's awake or asleep!  It looks like they are doing it to tell Riley to be quiet....but maybe they're just reminding themselves.  :)

During story-time I will frequently let them "fill in the blank."  It's a fun way to get them actively involved in the story too.  It especially works when there is a 'repeating phrase.'  This morning in the "Speckled Frogs" book the repeating phrase was "Yum Yum" and Mia was getting it almost every time.  Another way I actively involve them in story-time is by using their names instead of the book names.  And they love it.

The smoke cleared a little by 10:30 so we went outside for about 40 minutes.  Mia played with the bikes, trucks, ice cream carts, and on the climbers.  They also waved and said, "Hi Daddy" to every plane that flew over.  That originated with Riley and now all three girls are saying it!  :)  Riley has been to the airport to pick up daddy from a trip and now he's on every plane!

The kids always go to the patio bench to get their shoes on when we're going out to play.  When they got seated this morning Nora put her arm around Mia's shoulder and said, "Hi!" like they'd just saw each other!  Pretty cute.  And Mia said, "Hi!"

During art time this morning Mia slowed down and did some very deliberate marks (for a few seconds anyway).  It was pretty cool and it was basically the first time I've seen her do that.  It's around this age when they begin to do some 'representational' type of drawing.