Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No. 27 A Fun Week with Daddy

Mommy had to go back to work this week but Mia enjoyed a special week with Daddy. Most days were standard: wake, eat, play, errand, eat, nap, play, Mommy comes home. But one day he was ambitious and took her on an amazing early morning trip to the zoo. The eating hippo and bathing elephant were the highlights and lucky surprises. Being so close to the elephant, Mia was able to speak in elephantese to the big 2 ton baby so that he could actually hear her. We're pretty sure he appreciated the trumpeting noise, as he returned the favor at one point. Needless to say, Mia was amazed. Morning is definitely the time to be there -- all the animals out and about, apes chillin', orangutans flying, lions roaring, hippos eating, baby elephants bathing and weighing in for the day, and zebras doing what they do. A very cool little trip.




Mia also enjoyed taking several walks to the park and she even learned how to climb up the big kids slide. Daddy helped her to figure it out and she just climbs and slides and climbs and slides for as long as we let her. And the static hair she gets is awesome!




One thing that she started doing was playing with the front door. She likes to trap herself in between the front door and the storm door. This has become somewhat of a game as she talks to us through the mail slot and will hide from us while giggling.

Mia also is learning how to drink from a regular cup, blow bubbles (and say "bubble"), care for her baby doll, and she loves to babble even more than before. She can mimic us when we say the alphabet and she can even say her name... MIA! Yeah!




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Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No. 26: Happy #2 Owen!, Alexandria w/ the DeLeons, and Live Music

This week brought many exciting events. First off, Mia had a typical play date that kids in the D.C. area have- lunch in Alexandria, VA with gal-pal Isabel. Isabel and her mommy, Dori, met us in Alexandria one afternoon and we had a lovely time. The girls got so excited every time a plane flew overhead (it is on the flightpath of Regan National so planes fly by every few minutes). They also enjoyed a long walk on the waterfront, playing with and smelling the flowers and of course, LUNCH! After lunch, we went to Ben & Jerry's and this was one of the first times that Mia really enjoyed the cold, sweet tasty goodness of ice cream. She ran all over the store screaming and laughing! Good thing they didn't kick us out!

We took Mia to downtown Silver Spring one night to enjoy some live music. Mommy got her an inflatable air guitar and she enjoyed dancing and rocking out to the tunes. Daddy took her way up front so she could see the musicians up close and she loved it! We love to take her here because there's always something going on and tons of kids around to enjoy it!

Finally... Mia's pal, Owen, turned 2! We all had a great time at his birthday party. Mia especially enjoyed playing with the balloons, chasing Owen, eating cake (and all sorts of other yummy food) and most importantly playing with Owen in the beer cooler. They played with the ice for quite some time and enjoyed moving the beers around. It has been great to know Owen for two years and it s amazing how much he has grown up already! (And we're talking about in general, and not the fact that he tried to give beer to Mia). He really is a fun, adorable kid, and we're lucky to have such a nice friendship with his family.





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Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No. 25 "I Went to the County Fair..."

We had a truly wonderful time at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds with Allen, Elaine and Owen. At first sight of the midway, you could tell that Mia and Owen were super excited. We managed to plow our way through all of the people and rides and stumbled upon Samson, the 2,700 lb. horse. We were all quite amazed at the size of this grand beast. After that we ventured to the livestock exhibits. On our way there, Mia and Owen go their very own fire hats and were able to sit in a fire truck.


The walk to the livestock exhibit was quite long and there was much to see. The kids enjoyed viewing the sheep, goats, cows, horses and bunnies. We saw the fair parade just before we sat down for a tasty meal. Then we headed over to the tractor exhibit and Mia and Owen loved sitting on the tractors, playing with the John Deere toys and even got to slide down a modified tractor/slide. We closed the night by watching the ponies giving rides. This will definitely be an annual visit.
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Click here for more pictures of Mia's trip to the Montgomery County Fair. And for another, perhaps more eloquent and humorous version of the story, check out Elaine, Allen, and Owen's blog here.

Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No. 23 & 24 Abi and Bernadette's Visit

We had a very lovely visit with Abuelita "Abi" and cousin, Bernadette. Mia was so excited to greet them at the airport that Mommy and Daddy could hardly keep up with her. She just sprinted all over the baggage claim area with a huge smile.

On Friday, Abi, Mommy and Mia went to the Shops at Georgetown to window shop and have lunch while Bernadette took a tour of the Georgetown campus. Then we took a driving tour of the Memorials. Some time in the afternoon was when Mia developed a special friendship with a mama tiger and her cub that Tata sent with Abi. The tiger mom sings a little song and Mia just lights up when she hears it. She still wants to take it everywhere she goes!

We had a jam packed day of touring on Saturday starting with a delicious lunch at Union Station. Next we hopped back onto the Metro and went to the Hirshorn Museum. Mia wasn't too impressed with the art and showed it by sleeping through the entire visit. After a couple of hours, we expected her to wake up so we walked over the the Natural History Museum to see the gems and minerals exhibit. We were hoping to show Mia the giant elephants but, she was still not impressed and kept sleeping.

The weather seemed nice so Abi, Mommy and Bernadette decided to walk to see the Lincoln Memorial. Daddy and Mia stayed behind because at some point, Mia would wake up from her nap and need a snack. So Daddy and Mia ventured over to see the Jim Hensen exhibit while the others walked to the Washington Monument. By the time we made it to the obelisk, we noticed that those big puffy clouds we saw were getting larger, darker and wetter. To our surprise, we heard several crashes of thunder. Time to start running! We pretty much got dumped on for the rest of the walk. Luckily, Mia was having a great time indoors with Bert, Ernie and Daddy.

Later that day, we went to Chrisfields Seafood so Bernadette and Abi could have some crab cakes. We were so excited to find a new ice cream joint next door. Mia sampled a few flavors but was really not that interested...yet.

Sunday was the perfect weather day to explore Eastern Market. While we were there, we met Allen, Elaine and Owen for lunch. Lunch was taking forever and we were fighting off nap time for as long as we could and luckily there weren't any meltdowns from the kids (or adults for that matter!). Abi and Bernadette babysat Mia in the evening so Mommy and Daddy could go see the Black Crowes. We had a good time and the babysitters proved to have a successful evening because all was peaceful and quiet on the Western Front when we got back. ;)

Monday was yet another glorious weather day so Mommy decided to take Abi, Bernadette and Mia to Brookside Gardens to walk the grounds and see the butterflies. We had so much fun outside on our walk and enjoyed the geese. The butterflies sure did like Abi (because she's so sweet). She was the only one lucky enough to have 4 butterflies (we didn't have any) land on her.

We were sad to say goodbye to Abi and Bernadette but look forward to seeing them again at Christmas time!

Click here and here for more pictures of their visit.

The rest of the week proved to be quite laid back. Mia continues to talk up a storm. Mostly she says "What's this?", "This is...", and "That is...". She learned how to say "Pwease" (Please) and says "Tank You" when she does something for us and when we do something for her. A polite toddler in the making!

She also got another tooth on 8-8-08. We call that one her Olympic tooth. Mommy is going to enjoy her last week with Mia before going back to work and Daddy is VERY much looking forward to a week alone with Mia before she heads back to day care.