Dia de Mia V ol. 2 Nos. 30 & 31 Enjoying the Fall Weather

We recently went to our last Nats game of the season. This time around, it was much more enjoyable than past visits because it wasn't anywhere near as hot! Mia enjoyed clapping and dancing anytime that the crowd did. She also had an interesting encounter with a lady in the restroom. Apparently, this lady worked in the ballpark, and when we entered the bathroom, she was having a loud conversation with herself. Before I could react, she managed to pick Mia up and hand her to me as I was getting ready to change her on the changing table. Luckily, Mia had just gone number 2 so the lady didn't really want to hold her for too long! Mia handled the situation well and didn't judge her for her missing teeth, after all, they were both in the same situation with teeth!

Mia enjoyed some delicious cupcakes that our neighbor and friend, Sharon made. She couldn't stop giggling as she licked the icing off of them.

We managed to have a play date with Lydia and her parents, Pete and Erica. We had so much fun at the park and the girls really enjoyed eating some muffins and riding down the slides. We took them to the tennis court and they loved splashing around in the puddles and running around crazily.

Mommy kept Mia home on her day off this week. We went to the Brookside Gardens Nature Center with friends, Sarah and Vivian. She was so excited to see the turtles.


Mia sure does love the Halloween toy that Grandma Brown sent her. It makes all kinds of spooky sounds and spins around changing colors. What fun!


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Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No.29: Happy Birthday Mommy!

So it was Mommy's Birthday this week -- she turned 33! And Daddy is happy to report that, just like Mia, Mommy gets more beautiful with each passing day (although in Mommy's case, it's easier just to count years now).

A pretty quiet week overall. Mia loved sharing birthday cake with Mommy, and she had fun with (at least that's our story, and we're sticking to it) two sets of babysitters who helped us go out and enjoy the birthday on Thursday and Saturday; two normal paced meals with adult conversation and a feature length film, in the movie theater! Thanks Stephanie, Jackie, and Jess! In addition to babysitting free of charge, these saints gave gifts to Mia (see below for the drum and percussion kit Mia got from Steph) and bought us dinner and a movie. Awesome -- thanks again!

Mia got her first bout of big girl tummy ache, and that was not too pretty, but we're pretty much over it. She's started talking up a storm (at times of her choosing anyway). She can identify and say some colors (purple and yellow), some letters of the alphabet (A,M, and N), tells us about buses and trucks and cars, can tell us something is "Mia's" and even puts a few words together every now and then. "dada pease", "mama pease", "IIIIIIIIIICE pease" (chewing ice is a new favorite obsession). All are heard pretty regularly. The other day she even gave me the sign for milk, followed by the sign for more, followed by "pease". It was as cute as it was impressive. And of course, she is still running and spinning and falling and climbing and dancing and tumbling, and trying to change her own diaper... (see below) etc.

Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No. 28: Happy Grandparent's Day! Daycare, Butterflies, Muppets, and Dragons!

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!!!

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.