12 Month Update

Our internet has been down at home and with Insight struggling to get regular cable back up after the ice storm, we are a low priority! Anyway, Mia got to spend lots of time with Nana and Papa Wilson during all that mess, since daycare was closed for the rest of the week. Cousins Sam and Emie were there too, and she loved that! Emie makes her laugh a lot.

Mia has moved to her “girlie” room. Granny and Grampy got her new bedding for her birthday and she’s surrounded by pink! Her walls are chocolate but the bedding and accessories are pinks, blues and oranges. I’ll take a picture when I can. Her former bedroom has been turned into a playroom. I have never seen Mia as happy and excited as she gets while playing in that room! She loves it! It’s baby proof so she has the run of the place. All her push toys, books and games are in there so she goes to town. We put up the baby gate so the dogs can’t get in there and it allows us room to roll around and play with her. We can also take showers or do other chores while she’s in there without worrying about what she’s getting into.

Some of Mia’s new tricks:

• She loves to open and close doors. Luckily none of ours are heavy so they don’t shut on her hands.
• She loves to hide behind things (chairs, doors, blankets). I’ll say, “Where’s Mia?” and she’ll “pop” out, laughing her little head off every time.
• She’s standing for a few seconds at a time and will take one or two steps before dropping to her knees. She walks the house holding onto things, but isn’t as interested in walking on her own yet.
• She’s figured out how to turn around her push toys once she walks them into something.
  The other day I pulled out Mia’s shape sorter box. She loves to dump out all the colored shape blocks and has had no interest in trying to figure out where to put the triangle, the star, etc. She’d rather carry them around or bang them together. I decided it was time to work on this skill, so I sat her on my lap and handed her the circle. I asked her where the circle goes. Imagine my shock when she grabbed it out of my hand and pushed it right into the circle spot! So I handed her the square and asked her where the square goes. She put it right into the square spot. No trying the other spots or anything! Then she got mad because she really just wanted to dump them out, so we were done for the day. I asked them if they had that toy at daycare and they said no. I was impressed by my baby girl!
• I finally got rid of Mia’s toddler tub and she’s bathing in the full size tub. I really have to keep my eye on her because she loves to crawl around in there and sometimes tries to stand. Even though I put so little water in there it doesn’t even cover half her legs, it’s still enough to be slippery for her. But she enjoys the extra room and loves to “swim” after her toys.
• Mia talks and talks and talks! She loves to carry on “conversations” with us. Nothing gets my day off to a better start than waking up to her talking to her toys. Usually I’ll lay there until I hear her say “Nah Nah”. That’s my cue to get her. When I walk into her room she get so excited, waving her arms up and down or holding onto her crib rail and bouncing up and down. No morning is a bad one when it starts like that.
• Mia is crazy about the dogs. She loves to feed them her dinner, chase them, let them lick her and she even tries to give them her paci.
• She also gives us her paci. One of our little games is that she gives it to me and I put it in my mouth backwards, then she takes it out of my mouth with hers. She thinks that’s funny. I also go up and take it out of her mouth with mine and pretend I’m going to give it back but pull it out again. That’s funny to her also.
• Tooth number 9 (one of the “fangs”) is about to make its appearance.
• When she’s ready to go to sleep at night, Mia will snuggle up on my shoulder. We’ll lay there with our noses together as she drifts off. My favorite time of day.