Mia

A simple plan

On the way home from daycare today, we were listening to the Corinne Bailey Rae song "Put Your Records On" in the car. Mia noticed that the song starts with "Three little birds sat on my window" and thought that was amusing. A minute later she tells me, "I think we should ask a bird to come into our house and he can eat the crumbs on the floor so we don't have to vacuum."

I laughed. "I think that's a great idea," I told her. "But wait," I added, "what if the birds need to make poopoo?" 

She thought for a moment. "They can make poopoo in the toilet."

"Hmmm... I think the birds will have a hard time using the toilet. They don't really know how. Maybe we should ask them to make poopoo outside when they're done."

The questions begin?

On our way home from daycare yesterday, Mia startled me with a question: "Where does water come from?" Uh, excuse me? I tried to think of a reasonably simple answer as fast as I could, and came up with the semi-cop-out "It comes from all over." She prodded, "Does it come from the ocean?" I expanded, "Yes, some of it comes from the ocean. And some of it comes from rivers and streams and ponds and lakes, and some of it falls from the sky as rain, and some of it comes out of the faucets in our sinks." There, that ought to do it for now. Thank goodness she didn't ask where babies come from. 

"I had to rock out a little bit."

There was a beer bash at work yesterday and there was going to be a band there (The 88), and so N and I picked up Mia a little early from daycare and brought her over. We sat on the grass in the courtyard with our snacks and drinks, and Mia watched the band intently. I don't think her eyes ever left the stage even as she stuffed herself with two bratwurst, a roll, and the contents of a giant plate of grapes. As she was munching, she sat on her knees and kind of bounced and swayed to the music. A friend stopped by and sat with us, and I mentioned that Mia looked like she was rocking out. Our friend said to Mia, "Are you rocking out?" to which Mia earnestly replied, "I had to rock out a little bit."

Tchaikovsky's carousel music

Mia went to the carousel at Zeum on Saturday and had a blast, riding with Mom two times, Dad once, and Lisa once.

Today on the way to day care, I turned on the classical music station and Tchaikovsky's waltz from Eugene Onegin was playing. It's a very symphonic and up-tempo waltz. Mia said immediately "This song looks like the carousel!"

We've got #2

First poopoo in the potty today! When we picked Mia up from daycare today, she'd had a dry diaper all afternoon, so as soon as we got home we put her on the potty. She peed, we did the potty dance, and then had dinner. Just before we were about to go get her ready for bed, she asked to sit on the potty "Right now!" I wondered if it was a stalling tactic, but no, it was real -- her first poop. After she wiped herself, we all admired it for a bit. I noted that it looked just like mommy's and daddy's poopoo, and she looked at it a little harder. We did an extra special potty dance after that. 

Heaven on Earth

This morning, Mia started saying there was a "heaven" in the kitchen. N kept asking her to repeat herself, but she kept saying there was a heaven. At first he thought it was the oven, but later she started running to the kitchen and saying there's a heaven there, but then when he asked more, she said it said "It's OK Mia." 

Later she pointed to the fireplace and said there was a heaven over there but it said it wanted to be friends. 

Either we have ghosts or she's got a lot of imaginary friends now.

Then before nap, she said there was a heaven in her crib getting it ready. I asked her if it was a pretend person, and she said, "yeah."

It's my potty

The report from daycare today is that Mia sat on the potty for the first time. Apparently one of the teachers always offers the potty to the kids, and usually there aren't any takers in this class of mostly two-year-olds, but this time Mia took her up on it! 

We're told she sat there for a while, happy as a clam, while the other kids washed their hands in the sink next to her. The teacher wasn't sure since there was a lot going on at the same time, but thinks Mia might have made a small contribution since the water was a little yellow after she got off. 

Napa

"Do I want the homemade carrot gnochetti or the fingerling potato salad..."

For my sister-in-law's birthday we all took a trip up to Napa for the day. The first stop was Ubuntu, where we had a really fantastic biodynamic vegetarian lunch. Mia particularly enjoyed the chickpea fries and the cauliflower in a cast-iron pot. In addition to the food, the rest of us enjoyed the understated zen-hip decor and very accommodating service. 

We also went to Stag's Leap vineyards, where Mia and I hung out on the terrace while the others did some tasting. Actually, it was more like chasing back and forth and climbing up and down than hanging out, but I did manage snap a good photo or two. 

From the mouths of babes

Mia's vocabulary to date, roughly in order of appearance:

daddy, mommy, grandpa, Mia, me, Shasha (Lisa), Dora, Erin, Cris (Dis), Dane (Jane), Emmy, Darwin, Bertha, Francine, Olga, Niles, Sophia

nose, eye, mouth, cheek, chin, hand, arm, elbow, knee, leg, foot, toe, tummy, back, bum, teeth, bottom, neck, thumb, face,

sock, shoe, shirt, pants, diaper, hat, sweater, jammies,

down, up, no, yes, more, mine, again, uh-oh, hi, hello, bye, night night, on, off, thank you (dat doo), poopoo, peepee, potty, washcloth (shopof), bath, open, closed, push, jump, zip, big, cough (daff), sneeze (neeneeze),

doggie, kitty, bunny, duckie, bear, baby, bird, mouse, hippo (booboo), bee, ant, tree, flower, bamboo, frog, penguin, woof, meow, moo, quack,

water, milk (mama), apple, banana (nana), strawberry, berry, cracker, toast, pita, dip, meat, fish, turkey (didi), tofu, spoon, cup, wipe, trash, avocado (avodavo), pumpkin, peas, oh (as in Cheerio), waffle (affle), eat, yum, applesauce,

phone, car, airplane, chair, sand, swing, jump, owie, book, train, truck, fan, balloon (moon), shovel, rake, sit down, kiss, hug, ball, outside, stamp, picture, friend, icee, box, apron

I do, Mia do, all done, Mia eat, Mia see, where, boom, do re mi, opposites, one two three go, one two five seven eight nine

Nice

When I picked Mia up from daycare on Friday one of the teachers told me this incident that had happened earlier in the afternoon. One of the other kids had been asking for icies (frozen teething rings) and then "losing" them and making the teachers go find them. The teachers got tired of this game, so the next time they didn't fetch it. Mia ran outside, found the icy, and brought it back to the other girl, who on seeing it, gave Mia a huge smile.