Our Little Secret

The week before Christmas, someone at work asked Jeff what we were giving Mia. He thought for a minute before saying, "I don't know." That night, he related the incident and concluded, "That didn't reflect well on me as a father, did it? They must think I am uninvolved in this decision, letting you do all the shopping." I assured him he shouldn't worry - maybe they just thought he was one of those guys who doesn't start Christmas shopping until December 24 :)
To tell the truth, I hadn't been planning to put anything under the tree.

1. We'd replaced our TV a month ago and Jeff and I agreed it was our family Christmas gift to each other. (OK, Mia wasn't consulted on that, but she's been watching it.)
2. We were flying to MN, and I had enough to pack with carrying gifts for our relatives. (In past years, I just ordered everything online and shipped them ahead of us, but this year's gifts didn't lend themselves to that.)
3. There wasn't a natural time to have an alternate Christmas Day. We put up our Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving knowing that we'd have to take it down by December 20 because our kitchen remodel was starting while we were away. (Un-decorating the tree is bad enough - Who wants to have to dust all their ornaments before they can pack them away?)
4. I knew Mia would get lots of gifts from the relatives, so moreo would only overwhelm her.
5. I'd purchased a few toys for her several months ago thinking she'd grow into them about now, but they are a bit old for her yet.
6. She doesn't understand Christmas yet, anyway.

While I think my rationale was perfectly sound, I did buy 2 teensy (and very practical I might add) little things for Mia in the last couple days before Christmas, only to be 100% sure I wouldn't feel like a bad mother later.
It all turned out fine, by the way. She got 8 or 10 really cool toys and books from our relatives. We let her play with some of them in MN, added a couple more since we've been home, and one or two have been held in reserve for another day. And that Kettrike that has been sitting idle since we bought in November? She has suddenly taken an interest in it.

But, Is She An Obama Girl?

Jeff took Mia out for a bit tonight so I could complete some chores. When they came home, Jeff announced, "Mia has a new word for you!"
Jeff: Mia, tell Mommy your new word.
Mia (grinning): Nope
Jeff: Come on, tell Mommy your new word.
Mia (grinning bigger): Nope
Jeff: Mia, can you say Barack Obama?
Mia (obviously enjoying this): Nope
Jeff: Well, she said it in the van.
Me: I'm sure it was really cute. Mia, can you say Barack Obama?
Mia: Bock O-Momma

By the way, while Jeff and I thought Mia learned lots of new words during Christmas vacation, Sarah is of the view that Mia doesn't have more words, she is just saying a lot of words more clearly. Either way, it is progress.

The Name Game

Over Thanksgiving, Mia had taken to calling her paternal grandparents’ “Boppa.” (We referred to them as Grandma and Grandpa. Mia is not able to pronounce G yet.) She invented her own ASL sign, which was the sign for father except her thumb was on the side of her head instead of her forehead. It took us a while to realize that “Boppa” was not gender-specific, meaning either Grandma or Grandma.
We wondered what Mia would do when confronted with the question of what to call Donna’s parents. Again, we referred to them as Grandma and Grandpa. She called them both “Boppa,” though at times I thought I heard a slight variation, with grandma called “Bappa” and Grandpa called “Boppa.” We encouraged her to try “Nana” and “Papa”. Mia wasn’t having any of that, but after 5 days she suddenly called my mom “Gammy” just once. We were all delighted, but then when she said it again, it came out “Dammy.” I think my mom was just happy to be called something other than Boppa.
We noticed Mia made a lot of progress with her language during our visit. New people, places, things, and routines mean she hears new words, which she tries to emulate. She perfected (Aunts) Paula and Lisa, and later (cousin) Emily and (Uncle) Scott. She can approximate “baby Jesus” fairly well. She also has been saying a lot more 3-word phrases, many of them referring to herself in the 3rd person, like, “All done, Mia.” (Fans of Project Runway will remember a designer by the name of Suede who did the same. It is way cuter coming from her.)
And this last part I can't explain. A couple of days ago, Mia started using the sign for "Don't Like" while saying "Don't bite" and grinning devilishly.

Cousins

Here is Mia with her cousins and their 3 dogs on Christmas Eve. Mia wasn't in the best of moods. We had to remove her from the fray for a while after this photo was taken. After about a half hour of alone time with her mom and dad, she returned to the party refreshed and ready to open gifts.

The second photo is her cousins on Christmas Day. Mia (not pictured) was sitting with the adults; maybe next year she can join the cousins at the children's table. Christmas crackers (and the paper "crowns" that reside within them) are a big tradition when we go to Paula and Mark's house, as Mark is Australian.

The Return Trip

Our week-long trip home to Minnesota had its moments. In general, Mia was quite a trooper, accepting the disruptions in her schedule without too much complaint. We stayed at her maternal grandparents’ house, making the half-hour drive to Jeff’s parents’ house several times. She’d come down with a cold the morning we left for MN, and it dogged her all week.
Toward the end of the week, the weather warmed up enough that we could take Mia outside. We had a hand-me-down snowsuit from cousin Connor. We weren’t able to borrow boots that fit, so Mia wore her sneakers. That didn’t take her too far in 4-6 inches of snow.
I have to admit I feel I was relieved to be on the airplane, heading home. Daily, Mia indicated she wanted to go home. Can’t say I blame her. The relatives’ houses are far from childproof, so she heard the words “No” and “stop” an awful lot. (I know she missed Sarah as well. Every couple of days, she'd say, "Sawah, Sawah, Sawah.") The day of our departure, she woke up at 3:45 a.m., announcing to Jeff, “All done sleeping.” Fortunately, after we fed her eggs and cereal, she began to look drowsy again, and I escorted her back to her bedroom.
The return flight was largely uneventful. Mia protested having to wear the special FAA-approved child harness, but she napped most of the way home and watched a DVD for the rest of the way. When we got to our home city, the temp was about 40 degrees warmer than MN. As we waited for our baggage, it actually felt hot. Mia got pretty cranky and insisted on taking off her shoes and socks. Since she was in her stroller, I allowed it. We got some pretty funny looks as we wheeled her through the chilly parking garage. When we got to our van, she was all smiles. "Home, eat." It is the simple things in life.

Pig Tails

Mia is a bit overdue for a haircut. Sarah took advantage of this as well as Mia's newfound interest in hair elastics, and put her in pigtails. It is as if she is a different child! I am not sure why Mia's tongue is blue in the photo at right. Perhaps a popsicle was involved in the transaction.

In Her Shoes, Part II

Didn't I say she usually gets her shoes on the correct feet?

Oral Hygiene

From the beginning, we struggled to brush Mia's teeth. She'd chew the toothpaste off the toothbrush, but would not actually brush her teeth, nor let us do it. When we took her to the pediatric dentist, he characterized her as "orally defensive." He showed us how to brush an orally defensive child's teeth, which involves sitting on the floor with the child's head between your legs, her arms pinned down under your thighs. Not pleasant. especially when Mia realized she could kick me in the face with her feet, which aren't pinned down. Enter Parent 2 to hold down the feet while trying to distract Mia with signing or rhymes.
At her 2-year checkup, the pediatrician asked how often we brush Mia's teeth. I had to admit "once a day." (Could you imagine going through that ordeal more than once a day?) She suggested we increase it to 2 times a day or try an electric toothbrush. I didn't think Mia would go for the electric toothbrush, but it was worth a try. She wouldn't use my Sonicare, so we tried one of those kiddie battery-operated toothbrushes. The one we purchased makes a rather loud buzzing sound, which even I find a little offputting. For the first few days, Mia didn't like it, but we kept trying. All of a sudden, one morning Mia started giggling as we brushed her teeth. I think she has decided it tickles. Now, several times a day she signals she is ready to brush her teeth by using her index finger as an imaginary toothbrush. Not only that, when we are in the bathroom together in the morning, she demands "fwoss" and tries to get into the secured drawer containing my dental floss. So, I give her a length of floss and she flosses. She really likes watching herself in the mirror.

In Her Shoes

Mia is really into shoes these days. Her preschool teachers shared the attached photo. Apparently Mia has a weakness for pink high-heeled mules of the princess persuasion.

If she has a favorite everyday pair, that would have to be the pink crocs with the fleece lining. These function as her slippers. Until we got these, she wouldn't wear slippers in the house, and her little tootsies got really really cold. So one day we went to the Stride-Rite store in the hopes that we'd find a pair of slippers she liked better than their inexpensive Target cousins. She rejected all the darling polar fleece slippers, even the ones with flashing lights. On a previous visit, the clerk had encouraged us to try the crocs but at the same time she'd said, "Once kids try these on, they won't wear anything else." That was not a selling point as far as I was concerned. I had visions of my child never wearing cute shoes again, so I'd resisted. On our second trip, I decided to give it a shot, and she loves them. Most of the time she even puts them on the correct feet.

Scenes from Thanksgiving

Mia's paternal grandparents visited us, and boy did Mia eat up all the attention! She demonstrated her sign language skills for Grandma and her vacuuming skills for Grandpa. She loves our Bissell electric sweeper, so every now again we let her do a little cleanup for us.

Talk Around the Clock

Mia has been talking up a storm. Ever since the visit from her paternal grandparents over Thanksgiving, she has been a lot more vocal. Even her teachers commented on it this week. I don't know what exactly triggered this - I've been wondering whether having 4 sets of ears listening to her instead of 2 somehow inspired her to talk more. She is putting together lots of 2-word phrases and also her pronounciations are improving. I just love hearing her say "pink slippers." It is still rare to hear her say a K sound, so it comes out "peent sippahs."
She is also going through a phrase where sometimes she just starts giggling for no apparent reason. It is really infectious, so it makes us giggle and that leads to more giggles from Mia, and so on.
We're not making a lot of progress on the potty training. She doesn't mind sitting, but she holds it in until we put the diaper back on. One day before Thanksgiving, Sarah tried pull-ups. That didn't have any effect. On Monday, Sarah decided to try putting on some thick underpants with a vinyl outer cover. Since Mia doesn't seem to like being wet, it was worth a try. Sarah reports that soon after, she saw Mia walking kind of funny. You guessed it. We decided to leave Mia in diapers a bit longer. Today on their weekly trip to the library, Sarah found an Elmo potty training video. We'll let you know how that turns out.