She's talking! Mia has discovered that she has the ability to make her parents explode with delight by playing with her new friends, consonants and vowels. Her cache of words now includes "mama, dada, kitty cat, Reggie, baba, and fffffttttthhhhbbbbsstttt (one of her faves). At times, it seems that she is so intent on telling us about something, that she produces every sound she knows, one after the other, and it all comes out sounding like a little story she created. Mia is excited by her new ability, especially because she knows how excited we become when we hear her experimenting with language.
In addition to her new talking skills, she is officially on the move. Ms. Mia Hana Rose has developed a look of quiet determination and when she wants something, she goes for it. Her crawl is not an ordinary one. She keeps her hands and left knee down at all times, but pushes with her right foot. Josh and I were debating whether she'd ride a snowboard and surfboard goofy footed like we do. Ultimately, we decided she'd probably be able to go fakey* at a whim, due to her superior sense of balance!
One of Mia's favorite pastimes currently is pulling herself up on everything. She's beginning to prefer standing to sitting and loves scaling the couch or coffee table. We were recently talking about how incredible it is how far she has come in such a short time. It's difficult to even remember the days when she couldn't sit on her own, or when she stayed in one place when placed on the floor. We have officially arrived at the time for cabinet locks and baby gates. We found out the hard way that Mia could (and would) open the cupboard to the garbage can and learn how fun it could be to grab the bag and pull it over. Fortunately, Reggie was at the ready to help with clean-up.
Speaking of Reggie, he is Mia's new best friend. His favorite time is meal time when Mia plays "Fun with Physics" and "The Gravity Game." She loves dropping Cheerios and bits of banana as Reggie sits at the ready, waiting for a small snack. I had no idea how much I would grow to appreciate him and his ability to lick up even the most microscopic crumb of food. Yes, we have tongue tracks (as my mom calls them) on the floor. Yes, he occasionally licks Mia's fingers when they're covered with avocado. Is this a battle we want to fight? I think not.
Mia still has her big, blueberry eyes and everyone seems to thinks she's going to keep them. Her hair is slowly starting to fill in and her little muscle body is still long and lean--although she is developing a little tummy that absolutely requires kissing. She has four teeth, two on the bottom and two on top and her smile continues to dazzle even the most unlikely of folks when we are out and about. Her favorite toys are still the rattling types, especially ones that make a good sound when whacked on the wooden floor. She loves measuring spoons and measuring cups, jingle bells, and anything that lights up and makes noise. She's learning how to turn the pages of her board books, and she giggles with glee when she hears Mary Travers singing "I'm Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor." She loves bath and shower time, but does NOT love laying on her back to have her diaper changed. I've actually noticed my heart rate rise as I struggle to control her wiggling.
We made a quick trip to Bend for some fun in the snow with Auntie M and Chad toward the end of the month. Unfortunately, the trip was cut short because Mia came down with a bit of a cold and decided she didn't want to sleep at all. Fortunately, we still got some good sledding in.
January was a month of transitions for our whole family. I'm back to work full time (quite a shock) and Mia is in daycare three days a week. She seems happy with her new daily routines and is adjusting beautifully. She has little baby friends and, when Josh drops her off in the morning, she lunges out to get down to the business of playing. We think about her constantly while we are away at work and we count the days until the weekend.
Mia is a joy to be around and, while we are now both away from her more than we'd like, it makes us appreciate her and cherish the time we have with her that much more.
*switch to her non-dominant foot
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