Black Bean Goatee

Mia has become interested recently in using a utensil of one kind or another when eating. A spoon is the most obvious choice. I've been letting her try it after I have fed her the majority of her yogurt. She still manages to spread the little bit left all over her face, hair, arms, etc. She really concentrates on getting the spoon to her mouth. If you praise her for doing it, she smiles big and is so proud. She mostly uses a dipping motion into the yogurt rather than scooping it up. She ends up not having much on the spoon by the time it gets to her mouth, but she doesn't care. By the end, she just dips her fingers in. Dipping sauces are a favorite as well. I gave her some black bean dip and a few chips one evening to see what she would do. She went to town on that bean dip! The notion of just eating the chip hasn't sunk in, though. She would repeatedly dip the same chip, lick off the bean dip, and dunk it again. She's a double-dipper! Or a triple-dipper...anyway. We tried the same thing with a tater tot and ketchup. Once again, it was a success. I think it makes mealtime more fun for her to eat different ways whether it's dipping something or using a spoon or whatever.

Mia with her black bean goatee
Trying out some ketchup on her tot
First attempt with a spoon

Little Chatterbox

It seems that Mia mimics everything we do now. It's amazing how fast she learns things. She likes to dance. It doesn't matter if it's the radio, a commercial on tv, whatever. She stops whatever she's doing and starts dancing. It's like "Stop!...Hammer time..." That's what it makes me think of. I think Mia would look better in parachute pants than MC Hammer, anyway. No grown man should have ever done that.

Mia has really gotten into gesturing with her hands. She points at lots of things. Whenever Xander makes her mad, she shakes her finger at him and says, "No! No!". Wesley also taught her to "raise the roof". That's a good one. She tries to watch me and repeat the motions for Itsy, Bitsy Spider. I love that when we praise her for doing something good, you can tell she is so proud of herself. We have started slowly teaching her body parts. So far, she can point to her nose, belly, ear, eye, and tongue. She likes to point these out on us as well. She insists on raising her shirt before pointing at her belly. I guess she thinks we won't see it otherwise.

Her vocabulary has expanded quite a bit since the last word list I posted. She can now say eye, nose (sounds like "no"), ear, diaper ("diapuh"), mommy (but usually mama), daddy, no-no, night-night, school ("coo"), eat, more ("mo"), good girl ("goo grrr"), and hi. For some reason, "hi" is only said if she has a phone (or remote control or whatever) held up to her ear. She doesn't use it as a greeting yet.

She took a bunch of books into her closet to read.
Mia and Daddy reading books.

Our Mom's Day Weekend

Okay, so it's a little late for this post, but I have a reason. The screen went out on our laptop, so I had to wait a week for it to get fixed. For Mother's Day weekend, the three of us drove to Oklahoma City to see Nana, Keith, and Keith's daughter, Kendra. Uncle Darvey came as well. Keith grilled hamburgers for us all on Saturday, and then everybody got out gloves and baseballs to play catch. Everyone but Mia and I anyway. She and I picked flowers in Nana and Keith's HUGE yard. It was like a dream for a toddler who likes to run all over the place. That evening we all went to the OU/OSU bedlam baseball game at the Redhawks' stadium in Bricktown. Mia loved all of the action. She mostly stared at all of the other fans. She did have some meltdowns, but that's expected when you ask a 15 month old to please sit still in your lap for three hours. Sleep wasn't possible for her unfortunately. There was a lot of noise (cheering, overhead speakers, etc), so she stayed awake for the whole thing. She did well, though, and it was great to spend time with our family. We must have worn her out because she didn't wake up Sunday morning until 9:30! She hardly ever sleeps past 7:30 at the latest. We all went out for brunch at IHOP for a Mother's Day meal before we headed back to Dallas. It was a great weekend!

I've always been an introspective person, but I find that I reflect more on life since I've had Mia. Here are a few things I've learned from being a mom:

1. Before becoming a mom, I had never instinctively stuck my hand out to catch another person's throw up.
2. When going shopping with a baby, always bring snacks unless you want to come home after just 20 minutes.
3. Clorox wipes are the best cleaning invention ever!
4. Unless you want a tantrum, the best place to clip toddler toenails is in the high chair while she's distracted with a snack.
5. A toddler's opinion of a balanced diet is not necessarily the same as mine. This evening she only ate two bites of carrots, all of her fruit, and a fourth of a piece of bread. Some days she eats everything, other times it's just a few bites and she's finished.

She walked around with her hands behind her back a lot that day.
How does she twist her tongue like that?
My mother's day gift was a new charm for my bracelet. I chose the Mother's Love charm this year. It is a heart that is supposed to represent a mother and child facing each other.
One of my favorite pics of Mia and I, in honor of Mother's Day. She is nine weeks old here.
Mother's Day card from daycare made with her little handprint. Precious!
Our first family portrait taken a few months ago when we had Mia's one year pics done.

Princess of the Mountain

Attention, please: We have a climber.

Mia has started climbing onto whatever happens to be near her. My scrapbooking containers are a favorite of hers. She likes to climb onto the ottoman in her room, too. I guess the sofa and armchair are still too tall for her because she hasn't tried to climb on them yet. I tried to explain to her this evening that it would be a bad idea for her to climb on her princess rider since it has wheels. She was trying to stand straight up on the seat of it. She's getting into everything! She opens drawers, peaks into boxes, and shakes anything that is too big to inspect closely. Who needs the gym? I get to chase a toddler. It's way more fun than going to the gym because when I catch up to her I get to give her a big hug! As you can see from the pictures, her favorite toy of the day was this bunny blanket. These days she always has a blankie or toy of some sort in one hand while she's walking around.

Sitting pretty on scrapbooking supplies
Perching on a box of ink padsChecking out the yard from the guest bedroom window. Every time she saw a bird she would say, "Wow!" and point at it.