Mia is a girl who marches to the beat of her own drum in pretty much every way possible. At 4.5 she is a girl with a large personality and high expectations of herself. She lives life to the fullest every day.
She is determined and disciplined when she wants to learn or master a new skill-especially if it's something her big brother can do. The first time she saw Isaac climb to the top of our rope swing she wanted to do it too. She was outside every morning after school drop off trying to make it to the top. Sometimes she would get halfway and her arms wouldn't be able to hold on any longer. So she would climb down and say "Well I guess I'll just have to try again." This girl is no quitter. After a few days of hard work she finally made it to the very top, and proudly showed off her muscles after.
She has a very active imagination and loves to make up stories and play out scenes from movies or books. She loves pretending to be a mom, taking her baby dolls on pretend trips to the park or the grocery store. On any given day she could be a princess, a baker, or a doctor and she is thoroughly committed to her role. Often she lets Scarlett play with her and one of my favourite things is to watch them imagine scenarios together.
Mia loves to sing and dance, especially when decked out in full princess attire, and has this weird obsession with the band KISS.
This girl is always ready for a photo op and knows how to strike a pose.
In so many ways she is itching to grow up (to use her phrase "When I'm bigger and a mommy.."). She talks about wearing makeup, and her wedding, and how I'm going to be a grandma when she's a mom. One evening I was going to a get together and she wanted to come. I told her it was for bigger people and she emphatically stated "But mom I'm foooooouuuurrrr. I am bigger!" She is always asking me when her birthday is "Mom, tomorrow it's my birthday?" or "Mom on my next birthday I'm going to be 5? Then on my next birthday I'm going to be 6? Then on my next birthday I'm going to be 7?" She will keep going on and on until we reach 20 or 30 with me just saying "yes. yes. yes." over and over. I've already had about 20 versions of the birthday cake she wants pitched to me.
Where her big brother was sharp and aware, Mia has a sweet state of innocence and naivete. She has such a different perspective and way of looking at the world that is completely free from the pressures of time or social norms or routines. Admittedly it's a fine line sometimes between refreshing and adorable to infuriatingly frustrating-especially if we are trying to get somewhere on time. But I'm grateful for her childlike innocence that provides us with so many opportunities to laugh-like the time she referred to her neck warmer as a "neck tumour".
I have a phone that allows me to say "ok google" and bring up the search engine and speak into it hands free. Mia got the wrong impression about the extent of what this feature allowed her to do, because one day while we were driving she yells from the back seat "Ok google I want chicken nuggets and fries!" and was very disappointed when google didn't produce her a fast food bag from thin air.
One day she was looking at pictures and she says " Mom I want to play with those guys again. I want to play hide and seek with those guys." After a few minutes of her talking about "those guys", I looked at the picture she was looking at (below). I burst out laughing as I explained to her that they
were "those guys".
I've been trying to teach the kids practical info that they might need to know in case of an emergency (mom and dad's names, address, cell phone numbers etc). For some reason Mia cannot grasp or remember that I have a name besides "mommy". She had no problems remembering daddy's name but whenever I would ask her "What's my name?" She would be dumbfounded, and then say "Gordon Nish?", then I would explain that was daddy's name, and she would try "Mommy Nish?". After months of having this same conversation over and over, she was finally able to give me the correct answer a few weeks ago...once. She seems to have forgotten again.
Mia can be quite the firecracker. She can be snappy and stubborn, and specializes in slamming doors and acting like she's 10 years older than she is.
She loves playing outside and can make friends with just about anybody no matter their age or gender. I literally have kids come up to the park and ask me if they can play with her, and I can't even count the number of times parents of her friends have told me their child always talks about Mia at home and says she's their best friend.
Mia is also my pickiest eater by far. I'm amazed this girl is more than skin and bones. She has to scrutinize and sniff every mildly unfamiliar food that gets put on her plate. Even if there is one offensive strand of mozzarella hanging off her pizza it fails her inspection. She loves most things dairy and is fairly good about her fruits and veggies as long as it's not leafy and green. But she isn't a meat eater by any stretch, unless it's chicken nuggets or occasionally ground beef in the form of taco meat.
One phrase that Mia typically says multiple tines a day is "I'm okay!". This almost always follows some type of trip, fall, or stumble that's so characteristic of this girl.
She is, for the most part, a really wonderful big sister to both
Scarlett and baby B. She is affectionate and inclusive, and a really big
help to me.
Life would truly be boring without this loving, goofy, super fun girl in our lives.
