The Queen of Hearts

Mia is learning how to sort things. Sarah cut out lots of hearts in pink and purple and had Mia sort them into separate bowls. Mia was quite intent on her task.

Love at First Bite

Mia's paternal grandparents sent her the cuddliest panda bear ever for Valentine's Day. A chocolate chip cookie and your very own panda bear. What could be better?

My Funny Valentine

Mia was supposed to wear something red or pink to preschool on Valentine's Day. Sarah found this coral (close enough) jumper. A hand-me-down, I have to admit it hadn't been worn yet. From the amount of leg that is showing, it looks like we got to it just in time.

The Stuffed Menagerie

Mia has always had a favorite plush animal that she took to bed with her. At first it was little "blue bear", then later "lambie". (We aren't very creative with names in our house.) She also has a Pooh bear and a big brown bear (whom we call - what else - "brown bear") and a panda that hang out in her crib, though neither has the sacred status of lambie or blue bear. (It could happen for the panda one day.) More recently, she has wanted her baby doll with her at night.
Now, Mia has gotten quite particular about having ALL of her favorites in bed with her. And when we take her out of her crib in the morning, she often tries to scoop them all up in her arms so that they can join her on the changing table. I think it is pretty adorable, but then I'm her mother.
Last night, I put her to bed with lambie, blue bear, and the other lesser bears. As I left the room, I heard her little voice say, "baby doll." I realized the preferred baby doll was downstairs but, a-ha, her other slightly larger baby doll was in her room. Tired of tramping the stairs, I decided to put baby doll #2 into the crib. After all, Mia was just barely awake, she surely wouldn't notice.
As soon as I put #2 in the crib, I heard Mia's tiny voice saying, "LITTLE baby doll" in that plaintive tone that tells you a tantrum is on the way if you don't get her what she wants, and fast. She might as well have said, "Busted!"

Goodnight, Moon

It finally happened. Mia has fallen in love with one of my all-time favorite children's books, Goodnight, Moon. She wants to read it every day, many many times. First thing in the morning, when I get home from work, last thing at night... She knows it so well now, I only have to say the first couple words on each page, then she fills in the rest. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing her say, "Cow jumpit ore da MOON" (she is still working on pronouncing that line) or "Goodnight nobody, goodnight mush" (which she pronounces perfectly). The more times we read it, the more new details we both see. She points to the bunny's slippers next to the bed and says, "Crocs." One night I explained that mush is the bunny's oatmeal. Ever since then, she proudly points to the bowl and shouts, "Bunny's" when we get to that page. She has this thing about the young mouse. For a while she would point to it and say, "hurt mouse" for some reason that makes sense in her toddler worldview. I, of course, would respond by petting the mouse and saying, "We don't hurt the mouse, we pet it gently." Mia responded by ASL signing "pet." I just hope she doesn't run into a real mouse in the house one day.
And here is another interesting pattern we've gotten into. When I get home from work at night, Mia greets me with her command, "Under covers and read!" That means she wants me to march upstairs to the master bedroom, get in bed with her, and read her some books. It is actually a lovely way to wind down from a hectic day at the office. Once in a while I'll be really hungry and need a snack before I go upstairs, which is not popular with Miss Mia. Even if I share my snack.
On weekend mornings, the three of us often read in bed together. Periodically, Jeff and I look at each other in something like amazement, as if to say, "Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, imagine this?"

A Different Kind of Romance

We had a lovely Valentine's Day dinner. Nothing fancy, just a good Italian restaurant. Still, we were elated because Jeff found this day care center that has drop-in babysitting EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT!!!!!!! No more being at the mercy of teenagers who have to be booked 6 weeks in advance, then call you on Wednesday to say:

Babysitter: "Mrs. N, I'm so sorry but my Mom put my swim meet on the wrong date on the family calendar so I thought it was next Saturday but it is really this Saturday so I'm not free this Saturday night after all. "

Me: Oh, all right. Then can you babysit next Saturday night?

ex-Babysitter: Ummmm .... No...... I'm sorry........Ummmm.....I'm not free.

This drop-in place is the same price per hour as a babysitter, and they have lots of cool stuff to climb on. We dropped Mia off at 5, then hung around for a few minutes to make sure she'd be all right. She started playing and didn't even care when we said good-bye. When we returned at 8 p.m., Mia was off in a big room with about 15 other kids, listening attentively to a storyteller. Of course, when she saw us she started to cry as if cruelly abandoned, just like she does when we pick her up at the church nursery. The ladies reassured us she'd had a good time, which I don't doubt.

Expanding Vocabulary

Mia is turning into quite a talker. Nonstop. Most of it pretty intelligible, if one is sensitive to the context. I haven't counted, but I'm quite certain her vocabulary is over 500 words now, maybe closer to 1000. We've been really surprised at how she now strings 4-5 words together. A few hundred of her words she accompanies with ASL signs. She is really partial to the signs for animals and feelings.
Her favorite toy is without a doubt her magnetic letters and board. Followed by her Leapfrog spelling and phonics toys. She talks about letters all day long. She knows the name of every letter, and she is starting to learn the sounds they make. She asks us to spell words for her with her magnetic letters. Yesterday, she instructed me to spell "Barney" but I couldn't find the B or R. I said, "I'm sorry, I can't spell Barney. The B and R must be upstairs." To which she replied, "Find the letters upstairs." Maybe this isn't astonishing to you, dear reader, but as a relatively new parent I'm often stunned to see how Mia will struggle with a new skill, then have a big breakthrough followed by rapid learning.
We keep one of those magna-doodle tablets in the car, and to amuse Mia I'll ask take the stylus and ask her what she wants me to draw. She used to ask for shapes; now she also asks me to "Spell Mia. Spell Mama. Spell Daddy." Today for some reason she asked me to spell Tail. Or was that Tale? This is when I realize how indefensible the English language is.

A Loss

A lovely woman named Ms. Hu was the Vice Director of Mia's orphanage, Ji'An Social Welfare Institute. We met with her the day after we got Mia, and she answered many questions about Mia's time there. Among other things, she explained that she had chosen Mia's Chinese name, Xing, because it meant "active and smart." Tonight I learned through another family of a Ji'An adoptee that Ms. Hu has died suddenly of what their Chinese interpreter termed "a broken pipe in her brain."
We can surmise from how well Mia was developing that she received excellent care at Ji'An. As you can see from the photo, Mia was clearly very fond of Ms. Hu and vice versa. We intend to take Mia back to Ji'An one day, and had looked forward to re-introducing her to Ms. Hu. It is sad that she will not be able to meet the woman who was our link to Mia's infancy.

In the Doghouse

Last week, Mia discovered she can crawl into the dog's kennel. Since our dog is a toy poodle, this is a tight squeeze. A really tight fit. She thinks it is fun, but I fear she will sneak away to do it sometime when I am not close by, get stuck, and be so traumatized that she will never be able to go in an elevator, subway, or airplane again. I tried to coax her out, but you can see by her face how successful I was at getting her to come out of there. It didn't happen until she was good and ready.

She did it again a couple of days later, this time on Jeff's watch. He tried to coax her out of the kennel by reasoning with her, "It's dirty in there. The dog goes in there." He had no more luck than I did. She did eventually get stuck and needed help getting out. Still, I don't think either one of us thinks this is the last time she'll attempt that stunt at home. Jeff asked me, "This thing comes apart, doesn't it?" I assured him it did, based on my vague recollection that when I purchased it 14 years ago it came in 2 pieces. It did evoke an image something like the Jaws of Life, so I decided that until Mia gets too big to fit in it, we'll just keep the kennel door locked.

All Smiles

While Mia smiles and giggles a lot, it can be hard to capture it in megapixels. Something about having the camera pointed at her by her mother tends to make her freeze up. So, today we celebrate a few of those smiles we didn't miss.