New and Improved

Mia keeps adding new words and skills. On Friday, Sarah surprised us with a report that Mia now recognizes 10 different and 10 colors. Sarah had brought a set of flashcards on Monday, and they practiced all week. We lay out the 10 shape cards and say, "Mia, where is the crescent?" and she points to the crescent card. She can also say some of the shape names. My favorite is hearing her say "heart" in a soft, tentative little voice. (Yes, I would have to say my heart melts.) As for the color cards, she can not only pick out the colors (with 100% accuracy for Sarah, 80-90% for her parents), but she says yellow, red, blue (OK, it usually sounds more like "boo"), and purple ("purr pah").
On Saturday, while Mom caught up on some work, Daddy took Mia to the zoo. He said she was very social, waving to people. She made a point of visiting a Chinese family who was sitting in the cafe. When they got home, I asked Mia, "Did you go to the zoo?" to which she nodded very seriously and said "roar" in a tiny little voice. It's funny, she always uses her tiny voice when she says "roar." It is as if the word is too scary to say loudly.
We rounded out our weekend with daily trips to the swimming pool. Mia is getting much more courageous in the water. Tonight, we tried out her water wings (those little inflatable arm things) again. She'd rejected them a month ago, so we've been using a bouyant vest instead. Tonight I forgot the vest, then I remembered those inflatables were still lurking at the bottom of the beach bag. At first she didn't want to let us put them on her arms, but within a few minutes she was rejoicing that she could let go of us and float on her own.
We've probably told you Mia likes to watch the divers. Last night I decided to see how she'd react if I dove in. (To call it diving is generous, actually.) As I'd hoped, she was ecstatic when she saw me on the diving board, and when I came up for air she was already saying "More."