Day 1-Storytime

Every (almost every) Thursday, Mia and I go to storytime at Petunia's Place. Teacher "Cilla" (Priscilla) is so good with the kids. Each time, she introduces herself and then goes around the room asking each kid's name. Mia used to just suck her thumb and not answer, but in the last few months, she has gotten much more confident and now says her name clearly and boldly! Today, Mia brought her two baby dolls. She told me their names were Chloe and Kelly. She didn't suck her thumb during the entire storytime! She's getting to be such a "big" girl.

Project 365

We'll see how long I last, but I thought I'd give it a try. One picture a day. Yes, I'm starting in the middle of the year, in the middle of the week, but at least I'm starting. I'm hoping to document and share some of our special family moments.

This is What Happens When I'm Gone

While at Marcy's house one day, Troy sent these pictures and messages from his phone.

"Rule #1-If you leave your kids home with Daddy for the evening . . . make sure you give lots of suggestions and activities that can be done while you are away. If not, this can happen."

"Daddy falls victim. This is fun . . . ouch."

Meeting God

Last night, Mia met God. We went to church last night for the beginning of Missions Month and a group from Fresno put on a concert for us with some great singing, dancing, and acting. For one of the skits, a man was dressed in white robes and represented Jesus or God. Mia tuned in to him right away. She pointed at the stage and whispered to me in amazement, "Mama, that's God!" I hadn't told her anything about what they were acting out, so I was surprised that she caught on. Throughout the performance, Mia continued to point and say that man was God. When the performance was over, Mia asked, "Where's God?" She continued to ask as we walked from the sanctuary to The Cafe. We got some cookies and sat down, but she was still asking where God was, so I told her I would find him for her. I went over to one of the performers and told her about Mia and asked her where "God" was. She told me his name was Dominic and she would find him for me. Well, Dominic came over to the table where Mia was sitting and he is not a small man. He towered over us. He had heard the story about how Mia thought he really was God, so he played along and was really sweet. He shook her hand and asked her name and how old she was. My generally shy little girl didn't turn away at all. Normally, when someone asks her name, she hides her face, but she looked right at him and told him her name. She was so taken with him and it was just precious! When he walked away from our table, Mia looked at me with wide, serious eyes, and whispered, "Mama, that was God!" She was beyond excited! I wish I had thought to take a picture of them together! Oh, well. They'll be at church again tomorrow, I think, so maybe I'll try to get a picture then.

Noah

This year at church Mia has a really neat teacher who creates her own curriculum. The focus is on Noah, with each lesson teaching an element of the story. From August until December, Mia learned many things about Noah. So naturally, when she saw the Christmas decorations start to appear in the stores, she thought that Santa must be . . .

We were driving home from church and passed a Christmas tree lot where they had just put up a very large blow-up Santa. Mia took one look at that long white beard and said, "That's Noah! Hi, Noah!" and started waving furiously.

Well, I wasn't about to correct her because I thought it was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. So for the entire month of December, Mia continued to call Santa, Noah. She waved at him and called his "name", but like every child, she was pretty scared of him. We saw him at Cobb's when we went to get our tree, but she almost cried when he came close. Toward the end of December, Marcy took the kids down Candy Cane Lane to see the lights and managed to convince Mia to let Noah hold her for one picture. At first, Marcy had to hold her to get close enough, but after thinking about it for a while, Mia decided to let "Noah" hold her.

Bedtime Routine

Tonight, Mia decided to take the bedtime routine into her own hands. She turned on the "little" light all by herself and told me to turn off the "big" light. She asked to give Daddy a kiss and hug. What's funny is that when she kisses him, she takes his face in her two hands and turns it so that she can kiss him on the lips. She chose a book and settled into the chair with me, but wouldn't let me read. Instead, she said, "Mia read book, Mama". She read me the Olivia book, telling me all about how Olivia likes to put on her shirt and shoes and "swimmy suit". She told me Olivia "painting" and how she took a bath because "she dirty". When she was finished reading me the story, she put herself in her bed and told me how she wanted her pillows arranged and which blankets she wanted. I turned out the light and asked her if she wanted me to sing a song. She told me she would like the "Baby" song, so I started to sing, but I was interrupted by her request for "Itsy Pider song". I started to sing the "Itsy Pider song" and she said, "Louder, Mama." Of course. You want it louder. So I sang louder, but apparently not loud enough. "Louder, Mama." I finished the song and gave her a kiss on the cheek, to which she said, "Other cheek, Mama". Wow. A little control issue?

Mia's Caterpillar Party

Every night for months, Mia has asked to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. This was a book given to Mia before she was born by Melissa. She has heard the book so many times that she can say some of the lines before we read them. She likes to say, "Pop!" on the second page when the caterpillar pops out of the egg. She can say apples, Sunday, Tuesday, pizza, cheese, and lollipop. She has also added "cocoon" to her vocabulary. When the caterpillar eats too much, she says, "Owie!"

So, it was the perfect fit to have a caterpillar party for Mia's second birthday. I searched the internet for ideas and found that there were a few other people who also threw caterpillar parties. Here's what Mia's party looked like:

I found a large copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar to display with her birthday banner.

Each child received butterfly antennae when they arrived.

The kids decorated their own party bags with caterpillar and fruit stickers. Inside, they received insect flash cards (from the dollar bins at Target), gummy caterpillars (from Cost Plus), bendy straws, and noise makers.

Outside we decorated with a caterpillar made from balloons.

I painted some scrap wood with holes cut for faces and we took some silly pictures.

The food table had all of the food the caterpillar ate and the story was written around the food.

The "cake" was blueberry muffins with red and green frosting and watermelon skin and laffy taffy for the eyes.

Mia wore her green polka dotted dress and bows for the party.