1 + 1/2 Year

I can't believe it. Our baby girl is 18 months old today. Thank goodness she still doesn't have much hair or I'd be forced to believe that she really is growing up.

Here she is asking daddy "peas" for some cereal

giving me a BIG "CHEEEEZ" for the camera and then running away

Mia is moved into her big girl room now and loves it. Though it's not quite complete, most of the components are there.

One of her favorite things about her new room is that she has a table and some chairs just her size. She is constantly climbing in and out of the chairs and telling us, "eat food!"

Mia got into her Easter basket. Can you guess what her favorite thing was in it?

The maracas? No.
The tambourine stick? No.
The bumble bee bath mitt? No.
Give up?

Her Easter window clings!!!


She played with these for almost 40 minutes

A little pooped, but this was the man that made that room possible. Thanks Daddy!!!
{P.S. - love the ballerina slipper pink paint =) }

Here is the monthly Mia update:

• Stats: Weight - 23 lbs 2oz (25-50%), Height - 31 1/4 inches (50%), Head 31 cm (75%!) Head continues to be well ahead of the rest of her!
• She has all her teeth in, including her incisors. She won't be getting any new ones until her secondary molars come in at 2 years.
• At 18 months old, Mia still fits into most all of her 12-18 month clothing. She can wear some of her 18-24 month clothing, but mostly that's just pj's. She's still got so much in the 12-18 month range that she hasn't worn that we haven't moved her up. She's also pretty much into a solid toddler size 5 now. Her diaper is still a size 3 and it seems like her cloth diapers are starting to fit better around the waist (she's less chunky)
• She's adding onto her family vocabulary. She can clearly say Nini, Papa, Ba and Ong now. I've also heard her say Dean and some contorted version of Jenni and Jonathan.
  
• Some of Mia's favorite phrases this past month:
• Oh shoot. As in, "Oh shoot, gotta go get my shoes." Or "Oh shoot, I dropped it" Though those are just scenarios she uses the phrases in, she can't actually say all that yet.
• This one, I really don't like: "Go Away." I think she was originally taught that phrase to tell the dogs and cats at Nanny's house when they begged her for snacks. Now she's learn the full usage of this phrase and uses it on people. As in, when daddy messes with her in the afternoon for hugs and kisses, "GO AWAY DADDY." Or when I have to wipe her running nose, "NO MOMMY! GO AWAY!" =(
• She likes to play pretend a lot. Most of it has to do with food. So she uses the phrases, "eat food!" and "NACK!" (snack) a LOT.
• Whenever she hears or sees that someone is sleeping, she puts her index finger over her mouth and says, "shhh" Very smart. Hopefully that carries over to when she has her baby.
• She likes to tell us when to take "walks". "Momma, Bubba walk?" Which means I need to take her and Stoli for a walk. She goes, pulls out her stroller and climbs in. And waits for us there.
• Mia really enjoys her sweets. She can say, "cake" and "cupcake". When she hears the Happy Birthday song, she makes a beeline to where the singing is happening. She knows that where there's that song being sung, there is sure to be cake. She's been right every time.
• She's learning how to sing the Happy Birthday song. It's not really recognizable yet, but it is hilarious to listen to.
  
• She loves to blow "bubbles" every evening after dinner. This involves her dipping the wand into the giant jug of solution and waving it around like a maniac in the backyard.
• She's also been heard saying things like, "wipe", "Oy", "Wow", and "Yeah!"
  
• Mia knows so so many of her body parts now. In addition to belly ("benny"), nose, eyes, ears and teeth, she knows: hair, toes, tongue (can't say that one yet) and hiney. She knows you're suppose to wipe your hiney after you go potty.
• Speaking of potty, she's getting much better at telling us when she's gone pee pee or poo poo in her diaper. She still cries wolf a lot though.
• Her favorite show is still "Buh-Bomb". I don't know how that translates to "Spongebob" but it does. She asks for it all day long. And will sit in her chair (little leather chair) and put her blanket on her lap and hold her remote for an episode at a time. The other thing she asks for is "Yo!" as in "Yo Gabba Gabba" but I don't think we have that on our TV.
  
• One of her other favorite activities is, "drawing". She gets a book and a writing utensil (no preference) and starts "drawing". She can sit there and do this for 15 minutes at a time. Most of the time, she is very good at keeping it in her book or on her paper. But sometimes she gets a bug and will throw a tantrum when we tell her not on the wall or furniture. Who knows... maybe she's going to take after her Aunt Cathy!
  
• On that note... tantrums. They have certainly arrived. We get at minimum 2 a day now. 2 is a good day. I'm hoping that as her language and communications skills improve, the number of tantrums will inversely decrease.
• Mia hasn't really learned the art of playing dress up yet. But she loves getting dressed up. Every morning, sometimes as early as 5AM, she'll wake up asking for her bow and shoes. Don't wear pretty things like bracelets and necklaces around her unless you're willing to share. She asks for them all the time and will run around the house wearing them... until they fall off or she gets tired of it.
• She is learning the magic word, "Please" ("peas"). One day at Olive Garden, they brought out our dinner and Mark had gotten a pizza. Evidently, this looked good to her. She picked up her little plate, reached it across the table and said, "Daddy! Peas!" She still won't say thank you.
  
• Mia is so very interested in babies. She loves touching and caressing their skin. She is amazingly gentle with them when she wants to be. But, you have to watch her. She is a baby herself and sometimes does get irritable that you're holding them and not her. Yikes.
  

One parting last shot as we look forward to the second half of this year