Dia de Mia Vol. 1 No. 47

Hello again....

Mia turns one month short of 1 year this week. After a few quiet weeks, another big one folks. But the big news that trumps all: she's officially walking. Not well yet, so it is still fun, and not so much extra work. Mommy and Daddy still, for the moment (and we really mean moment because two days ago she wouldn't even take a step), choose the time and place of the walking. When we set her up, she'll walk the length of room (about 14 feet in this house) and then stage dive onto Mommy or Daddy or even doggy. And she laughs the whole way -- she really knows she's doing something extraordinary.

Other news: Hung out a lot this week with our friends Allen and Elaine and their son and Mia's best friend outside of daycare, Owen. We went to a nice brunch at their place where Mia had her first french toast (the best french toast Daddy has ever tasted - he will distribute the recipe as it becomes available.... Elaine?). We the went to a DC city park where Mia and Owen had a great time. Interesting fact -- we can't find any parks with swings inside the DC border -- some insurance thing? We don't know.

We ended the week at the Baltimore aquarium again with Allen, Elaine, and Owen and friends Stephanie and Jess (two of Mia's --and Mommy and Daddy's -- favorite babysitters). This place is awesome, even having been to all the aquariums on the West Coast.

Mia continues to become more aware of everything that goes on around her. We think she really enjoyed the aquarium. She really liked bellying up to each and every aquarium to look at what was inside. She learning her signs a little better and is learning (maybe unfortunately) to point. She is looking at her books page by page now, and not always tearing the pages out. She has developed a bit of a devious sense of humor (something that runs deep on both sides of the family). Upon hearing "no" she usually turns around to the one saying it with a little smirk (thats' right, smirk). She still ultimately listens to Mommy and Daddy, but it is just a matter of time.

All in all, it gets better every week....

Enjoy the pics...

Love,
Cleo, Ulla, Brad, Marlo, and Mia

1.) Criusin' with Owen
2., 3.) DC park
4.) Walking!
5.) Checking out the view of the sub
6.) Hey pal, you here to see the dolphins?
7.) Big fish!
8.) Turtles
9., 10., 11.) A walk through the rain forest
12. Dolphins
13.) Reading

Dia de Mia Vol. 1 No. 46

Hola everyone!

Due to a(nother) couple of colds in the house (not Mia though - yay!) it's been another fairly tame recovery week around these here parts. Mia is really enjoying her new room and teacher at daycare. Apparently she loves water and eating and playing with bubbles and taking walks.

Mia took two more solo steps this week and continues to get faster on all fours and anything she can grip to climb. She's had a great time this week playing with her new toys and has even started to like playtime in her very own room. She's starting to learn the names of things and can sometimes pick out "dog", and "monkey", "book", and "ball" out of her toys. And she has started to be able to answer "What sound does a monkey make?". She doesn't quite have it mastered yet but it is loads of fun when she gets it. Oh yeah, and she's really finding her laugh these days - enough that she actually cracks herself up every now and then.

Enjoy the pics!
Love, Marlo, Brad, Mia, Ulla, and Cleo

PS: No teeth yet, but the bumps are getting more prominent.

1.) Playing in my room
2. & 3.) Playing w/ stuff in the kitchen
4.) Driving my new custom hippo ride w/ my personalized AZ plate
5. & 6.) Jamming on the Ukulele
7. & 8.) Matching fauxhawks
9.) Riding Daddy's shoulders and gouging his eyes out (unfortunately this has started to be really funny for Mia)