It’s been ages since I’ve posted. Not because nothing has been going on, but because we’ve been so busy. Christmas was absolutely wonderful. Despite the fact that Santa only brought Mia three gifts at our house, her toy room is packed full thanks to her grandparents, aunts and uncles and great aunts. Although she really didn’t get the whole concept of Christmas, she was very excited about all the toys. On Christmas Eve Santa visited at Granny and Grampy’s and at Mamaw and Papaw’s. By the time she woke up Christmas morning, she knew exactly what was coming when we told her Santa had been here and brought her presents. She padded out into the living room and got so excited when she saw her toys. She turned around and exclaimed, “Thank you Santa!” It was one of the sweetest, most sincere things I’ve ever heard. We then went to Nana and Papa’s where she was spoiled some more. I planned to take some of the toys downstairs to pull out later in the year, but there isn’t really anything she doesn’t play with right now.
Mike and I stayed home New Year’s Eve and hung out with Mia. The following morning we all went to the annual pajama party at Lynn’s Paradise Café. Mia was wild, not wanting to sit still. She is definitely a toddler now, curious and independent.
The UK/U of L game was on my birthday. We went to the Smithers’ and Mia was the youngest girl. She was also the only child there without a sibling. I’d gotten her all excited about going, telling her all the kids that would be there. But when we got there, the older girls really didn’t want to play with her because they were doing “big girl” things, and she was so upset she cried. It was the first time I watched my girl excluded and it made me so sad I almost cried myself! It also made me decide that I will proceed with another pregnancy, no matter what the risk of multiples. I want her to have a guaranteed playmate and if it means I also risk going through another loss, so be it.
I’ve followed all the advice I’ve seen in books about toddlers needing routines for comfort and consistency and we now have a pretty set bedtime routine. We start her bath at 6:50 and put on pj’s by 7:10. We dry her hair and brush her teeth, kiss daddy good night, then read two books. We talk about her day and then pick out a book for her to “read” to her babies in bed. She then walks to her bed, I kiss her and put her in and she lays down and goes to sleep. Most nights she will sleep until 6:30 or 7:00. For awhile we were listening to other parents talk about how their kids stay up until 8 or 8:30 so we were trying that. After all, that would allow us more time with her. But she was waking up throughout the night and was getting up sometimes as early as 5. So we went back to this routine and it’s perfect for us.
Over the past few months I’ve watched Mia really grow in her vocabulary and comprehension. She will repeat anything we say and appear to understand it all. She is also getting good at recognizing emotions. I’ve been working with her on empathy, so we look at the facial expressions of the characters in her books and talk about their feelings. Of course like all toddlers, she is struggling with her own emotions now. She is definitely two, and much more frustrated about all the things she wants to do but can’t or isn’t allowed. She throws far more fits now and screams and shrieks when she doesn’t get her way. We are surprisingly patient with her and she gets through them and we move on.
Mia loves to color. She asks to color almost every day. Our stainless steel refrigerator now has crayon marks on it (a quickly learned lesson on our part!) but we still try to allow her to draw and color as much as possible. She also likes to sing and dance and will break into a rendition of ABCs to impress strangers and new friends. Like mommy and Aunt Miss, she also is quite theatrical. She loves to dress up and watch herself in the mirror. She does these grand tosses of her head, and will talk to herself in the mirror using elaborate hand gestures. Last night she was walking in circles around the living room with her arms crossed, eyes closed, rolling her head around and talking to herself. She looked like Stevie Wonder.
She’s back in swimming lessons thanks to Granny and Grampy. She is doing great, even better than last year. She’s now jumping in and turning around under water to reach for the side. She also went underwater to grab a ring last week. I’m so glad she’s comfortable in the water and even more happy she’s learning skills that will hopefully help keep her safer in the future.
Mia amazes me every single day. I find that I’m even more in love with her the older she gets, something I could not have imagined possible. She and I have a special bond, as I’m sure all mommies have with their girls. We have so much fun together. She has an outgoing, silly personality that makes me laugh and she’s so sweet she makes me want to hold her in my arms all day. She loves to play hide and seek with my hair. She’ll pull it over my face and go “Where’s mommy?” then pull it back and go, “Here she is!” and kiss me. She’ll also exclaim, “I wuv YOU!” and giggle. And when she is sad or sleepy or when I get home from work she’ll raise her arms and say, “Hold you mommy.” I absolutely treasure every moment with her, and I wonder if she’ll ever know how much she means to me, how full my heart is with love for her. I guess she will, once she has a daughter of her own.
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