Now for the positives

• I’ve been calling Mia Miss Inquisitive lately because she is curious about everything. She points to nearly every object in the house as we make our way around. She’s particularly fascinated by photographs (especially of herself!) and the characters in her bedding and accessories, which has thrilled me to no end. I selected this bedding (it has primary colors, numbers, letters and animals on it) because parent reviews ranked it really highly as an educational tool, and because it was appropriate for either sex. Now I’m glad we haven’t done girly bedding just yet, because she loves to point to everything and have me recite the number, animal, etc. So she’s learning her ABCs, counting and animals.
• Mia loves to talk to us and loves our cell phones. She now picks up random objects and pretends they are phones. She holds them to her ear and actually makes sounds that mimic “hello”, kind of like “ey-yo”. She also thinks she’s having conversations with us. Last night while I was on the phone with Mike, she kept leaning forward, babbling to me like she was telling me something I needed to pay attention to. Then she’d lean back while I responded, and lean forward again to speak.
• Mia loves her push toys. She got several for Christmas and likes to walk behind them. She is also into walking while I hold her hands. She’s not very stable at this point, but I love her fearlessness and determination.
• Speaking of fearless, Mia loves to slide head-first off the couch onto the floor. Since she’s determined to do it, I let her, holding her feet to soften the fall. I figure if she’s going to do it, she needs to learn to fall without hurting herself!
• Mia now has 5 teeth, and numbers 6, 7 and 8 are visible under her gums. I wish I could say I remember to brush them every day but I sometimes forget. Mom got her this large handled toothbrush for Christmas that seems more like a toy. I usually hand that to her and let her chew on it for awhile. Self-sufficient, that’s my girl! ;-)
• Mia got several new CDs for Christmas and we’ve discovered she loves to dance! Once the music comes on, she starts to bounce up and down, clapping her hands. She’s not on the beat just yet, but don’t worry, Mama will take care of that!
• Mia continues to go down to sleep very well (when she isn’t sick, that is). She is like clockwork, and is so easy to read that we can simply look at her and know it’s time. We lay her in bed, kiss her goodnight and leave the room. She may or may not fuss for a minute or two, then she’s out.
• It’s simply a matter of time before she starts taking off her own diaper. She tries to pull at it now and yanks on it as soon as I unfasten it. I’m not looking forward to the days of poopy walls.
• She also has no interest in sitting still while being changed. She loves to hang upside down anywhere, and that especially applies to her changing table. She scoots herself to the end, hangs her head upside down, then flings her arms over her head. Luckily I have a table there with her CD player on it, so the worst that can happen from this is she’ll whack her head or her arms.
• Crawling off the changing table is another story. If she’s not allowed to take off her diaper or hang upside down, she wants no part of being on the table. So she’ll sit up and try to crawl off. We may have to start changing on the floor.