Mia is 18 months old this week and is constantly on the move. Yep, she's fast and every now and then, a talking machine. Her personality is really showing these days: she is a comedian, a thrill seeker, an animal lover, and most of the time follows directions incredibly well. And as it turns out, she is a pretty darn stubborn and determined little girl.
We don't have too many photos from this week for several reasons: 1.) It was a pretty rough week -- our dog, Ulla, ended up getting very sick. We had to shuttle her back and forth between pet hospitals just to keep her alive. No one could figure out what was wrong, but, without going into too much detail, she just stopped sustaining her own life. It was pretty sad and scary for a while. Mia was always so sweet calling out Ulla's name and running up to pet her when we'd go and visit her at the vet. Luckily it has a happy ending: Ulla is going to be fine now and we can all relax and have some fun! It is just nice to have her back home.
2a.) We forgot the camera a few times when we did fun stuff. Probably a function of 1.), see above.
2b.) Some places just don't allow photography. We got yelled at.
And 3.) Mia went back to daycare. Mia's transition back to school was a bit rough because she had been home with Mommy for six weeks and with Daddy for a week. So getting back into the swing of things was a little more challenging than usual. She is a new classroom with a new teacher, Ms. Lilian. This classroom is way bigger and has more interesting things, such as a small slide. Mia took a few days to warm up to her new teacher and got better every day as her little friends started coming back from their summer vacations. Ms. Lilian, a Spanish teacher on the side is also giving her some lessons in Espanol as well, but Mia hasn't shown us any bilingual-ness yet.
We went to the Greenbelt Labor Day festival with Jackie and ate lunch at the New Deal Cafe (named so because
Greenbelt is one of the first cooperative communities that Eleanor Roosevelt helped plan in the New Deal Era). Mia loved her very first carnival ride, the "Dizzy Dragon" (same idea and physics as Teacups, but with big dragons instead!). Even though Mia, Daddy and Jackie got a kick out of the spinning, Mommy almost got sick! We enjoyed walking around and watching the softball tournament that our friend, Andrew, was in charge of. It was a great day to spend the day but we left the camera at home...bummer.
We spent Labor Day outside by taking a trip to the Wings of Fancy Butterfly Exhibit. We'd been there a bunch of times before but still can't get enough of it. This time, Mia invited her new pal, Luke (age 3) , Claire and Andrew his parents, who just moved here from Oregon. Mia and Luke have been getting to spend a lot of time with each other since they live about 2 minutes away. We had a fun time chasing the butterflies and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
We survived Hurricane Hanna yesterday and even though we didn't have power in the morning, that certainly didn't stop us (it may have even motivated us) from doing something fun. We took Mia to the Jim Henson exhibit downtown with Luke, Claire and Andrew. Mia loved seeing Bert and Ernie but most especially liked the
Mahna Mahna puppet with the Snowths. There were large puppets and felt body parts to make faces with, a puppet studio, and bean bags. Mia could not get enough of daddy spinning her 'round and 'round in the bean bag (looks like we'll have to get one for Christmas!). Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any photos.
Later in the evening, we went to Claire's birthday party where Luke, Mia and Owen had the full run of the house and played with trucks, scooters, play-doh, and gobbled up ice cream!
While, again, don't have many pictures from this week, we do have some cute ones! These are of Mia reading the newspaper (the travel section, no less) on the potty (don't know where she learned that reading the paper is an integral part of going potty... Daddy?). Yep, she's starting to grow up and even though she's not quite ready to be potty trained, she isn't opposed to sitting on it. We're noticing every day just how much she's growing up right before our very eyes. She can say many words, combine words to make phrases (one of the most common is "Tank You Dada") and she's even a big help around the house (most of the time). She can help us unload the dishwasher, sweep the floor (with extreme supervision) and she helps mommy push the clothes into the dryer. We can't wait to see what else she can do later this week!
HAPPY GRANDPARENT'S DAY! Today, we'd like to send out loads of love, kisses, and hugs to Grandma and Grandpa Brown, Abi and Tata Camacho, and Grandpa Perry. Mia doesn't quite understand it yet, but without you she wouldn't even be here! We love you!!!
