She is the sweetest!

It seems like the months fly by with two busy toddlers, Gordon finishing his masters, and me working 6 shifts a month to keep my license up.

We are counting down the Sundays until Mia is in nursery (only 3!), but since that means she's gonna be 18 months in less than a month, it's a little bittersweet. Where the heck did the time go?

In the last two months she has sprouted only one new tooth, giving her 8, although several are visible and lying in wait to make our girl-and by extension her parents- miserable yet again. She has also sprouted upwards and is now getting too tall for some of her 12-18 month pants. And when you have a bean that can fit into 3 month clothes width wise, it gets a little comical. Luckily it's summer and we can pass lots of her pants off as capris or crops, or she just wears dresses!

Throughout the months, I jot down notes of things she does so I don't forget when it comes time to post. The last two months I've basically written down a list of verbs, and looking at it now-I think it sums her up pretty perfectly.

Mia
-loves: she gives hugs and kisses freely, even to her big brother who is crying because he's in timeout for not being nice to her. she'll go up to him and pat his head and rub his back. sometimes she'll go back and forth between Gordon and I giving out kisses and cuddles. she is definitely a daddy's girl, and sometimes can only be settled by cuddling with Gordon.

-climbs: everything and anything regardless of height. includes swinging from bars at the park, and flipping herself upside down furniture. almost nothing makes her happier than being outside playing at the park.

                               
-screams:  loud and piercing when she doesn't get her way, or when she needs to get the point across to her big brother.

-copies: pretty much anyone doing anything. we've noticed her doing it during movies, when I'm exercising, at the park, and basically whenever Isaac does something.

-nurtures: she's pretty in tune with others' emotions and can recognize when someone needs a smile or hug. she likes to hug, kiss and cuddle her doll and stuffed animals, and even gets Woody and Jessie to have conversations with each other-in her totally made up language- and kiss and hug.

-concentrates: can sit quietly and play, look at books, or other activities (see picture below-BRAND NEW ROLL) for up to 10 minutes. it may not seem like much, but big brother can sit for about 2 minutes on a good day, so 10 is an eternity in this house. she has perfected a very intense concentration look where her nose is about 2 inches from whatever she is looking at or doing.

-sasses: she knows when she's in trouble and either chooses attitude or appear-as-cute-as-can-be to face it.  also includes a fair deal of screaming, and occasionally throwing things.

-provokes:  her older brother. takes his toys...like his most favourite-do-not-touch-ever toys and runs away. doesn't usually end well for her.

-befriends: everyone. she'll go up to a kid or group of kids at the park playing in the sand and plop down next to them, and start playing with them like they're best buds.

-chatters: like everything else Mia does including entering this world, and with the exception of crawling, she's taking her time with talking. she can say (English) words, just prefers to say things like "ducka ducka" "buhdoo buhdoo" which I'm sure is very advanced vocab in Mia-nese. her hesitance to use real words doesn't stop her from chattering away all day long. I'm sure once she decides she's ready, we won't be able to stop the talking.

-escapes: mostly at church. she can somehow slip away unnoticed (the Isaac distraction technique) or charm her away across the pew, even if we're sandwiched between other families, and has managed to make it to the stand a couple times. once Gordon almost had to chase her around the entire perimeter of the chapel during sacrament, but luckily her little pigtails bobbing up and down across the front told us which way she was going. when she has made it to the top (usually during relief society), she likes to stand on the stool, look out over the stand and deliver a monologue into the mic while wearing an enormously cheesy grin.

For your amusement, enjoy the next few pictures portraying Mia's obsession with this cowboy hat (all are separate occasions where I have found her walking around the house with it on)

 

 

The most important word that comes to mind when I think of Mia is sweet. She is the biggest sweetheart, and she balances her big brother's intense personality out, so we get the best of both worlds. Even though completely unexpected, we could not be happier she came to our family as soon as she did!