Christmakah 2011

Christmakah was hosted by Dave and I for the 2nd year in a row. In attendance were: Mary (aka "grandma"), Libby, Matt, Harold, Jeremy, Mattie, and Randall (and of course our family of 4). Mary and Libby stayed from 12/23 to 12/26 and "the boys" as I like to call them stayed from 12/23 to 12/29. We did so many things (decorated cookies and gingerbread houses, celebrated Hannukah nightly as well as Christmas, went to the park, went ice skating, went to the Franklin Institute (a science museum) and saw Mia's first movie, an IMAX, and even went to the Crayola factory). There are so many good pictures that this small collection hardly does any justice but without further ado here is a peak into how we spent this holiday season.

Libby, Gavin and Dave

Libby with a sick, cold and unhappy Mia (she was sick throughout Christmakah)

The guys!

Mattie eating a sugar cookie he had just decorated.

Twas the night before Christmas and in Mia's room 5 adults read aloud this book to 4 excited children.

Christmas morning, "he came!", Jeremy shouted with glee (Mia isn't pictured because she was so sick she was still sleeping and after waiting patiently for awhile we decided just to wake her up but she didn't and later Dave carried her downstairs, still asleep in his arms :(

A peek in her new doll house (courtesy of Grandma) that she plays with everyday

Grandma and Gavin investigating a stocking stuffer

Mia looking much more lively after she discovered the trampoline (okay so this trampoline was positioned right at the bottom of the stairs and they all walked over it to get to their presents not even noticing that there was a trampoline in the room for a good solid hour)

Gavin and mommy giggles

Gingerbread house making. Dave definitely would have won if there was a contest, but that is no surprise and the kids would have won the eating contest if there was one but again there was none.

Our best attempt at a group shot (taken automatically). There were goof offs, those that didn't want to be held, sickies that were in a general funk, show offs, wandering eyes and adults mumbling "is this one going to be good enough" beneath their breath. Okay I made this last one up but I was definitely thinking that!

Randall and Mia giggling their tushies off at the hand dryer at the science museum. Sheesh, we could have saved a lot of money and just hung out in the bathroom!

Randall and me taking a break ice skating (he was very good!) to stop and see dada on the bleachers (he was watching Mia who wanted nothing to do with that slippery stuff)

Mia and daddy at an arts & crafts table at the Crayola Factory

Cousins shot (minus Gavin)

Channukah 2011

Mia had her first night of Channukah before Gavin's because he fell asleep early. My mom had bought her a menorah and book about Channukah this year and we had been reading the book nightly (at her request) eagerly anticipating the holiday. The book described that on the 2nd night of Channukah you have latkes, on the 3rd night jelly doughnuts (Sufganyiot) and Dave surprised me by actually making those things on that night. Of course both symbolize the oil that burned longer than the Macabees had anticipated it would since both are fried foods. We Skyped with my mom and dad (Bubbe and Pop Pop) almost every night of Hannukah including prayers, reading parts of the menorah book, singing Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel and Don't Let the Lights Go Out, and of course present opening.

Mia in her first night's present (a pink tutu) bought by Bubbe with her crayon menorah and children's Hannukah book.

Gavin joins us for the 2nd night of Hannukah (his first!)

Whoa!

Skyping with Bubbe and Pop Pop

Jelly Doughnuts compliments of Dave, a fabulous chef as well as baker!

Christmas tree

Picking out our tree at Linvilla

Here is Gavin with our "naked" tree at home.

Note how he sports one of Great Grandma G's Christmassy bib

Dave stringing the lights, which makes me wonder how people decorate Christmas trees without tall family members?

Mia decorating the tree. She put 4 ornaments on the same twig :)

Here is a picture of her first ornament.

Here is the finished product. There will be more lights and ornaments once Mary comes into town (she is bringing hers).

more Mia

Mia and I went on a "just girls" date to a choir concert that a friend of mine was singing in. It was 90 minutes long so naturally I was scared about her ability to just sit there quietly watching a group of people stand in one place and sing songs she didn't know. I came armed with some snacks but that was it. We rode the train there, went pee right when we got tickets and then sat at the end of an aisle. She was so excited! The snacks definitely helped because hungry or not she was munching on them the whole time. About halfway in I could tell she was getting ansy and since we already saw the children's choir (what I thought she would like the most) I offered for her to leave and she was adamant that she didn't want to go. Personally, I think she was afraid that if we went home it would be bedtime but maybe that isn't giving her enough credit because despite getting a bit restless (I gave her the program and a pen in my purse to cure this) she did fantastic and sat there quietly for the full 90 minutes and was sad when it was over. I am thinking our next "just girls" date could be high tea at a fancy hotel!

So we found a really good deal (Groupon) for 4 music classes at our local Gymboree and we used them Oct-Nov. Mia really enjoyed it and even Dave joined us for one of them. Here they are playing the big drum, which they pull out to mark the beginning and the end of class. Now we've done gymnastics and music. I think next we will sign her up for art classes at the art museum. You have to be 3 yrs old for those but her third birthday is in just over a month!

One weekend, when I hadn't yet decided what we should do for fun, Mia was really needing attention and/or she seemed really bored and I was particularly proud of the quick simple activity I came up with to give her something to do while I scoured Philly.com for something fun around town to do with her that day. I just used our snow cone machine that my mom had bought for me and then I filled a spray bottle with water and red food coloring and put the snow in a tupperware on a mirror all on a drop cloth and she made the "snow" pink and ate it a bit (thinking the red stuff was the sweet snow cone liquid) and had her Ariel doll play in the snow.

*No picture for this but Mia's jealousy has been picking up lately. By picking up lately, I mean she is showing signs of jealousy whereas before there were none, zero, zilch. When Dave bottle feeds or I nurse Gavin she becomes a tad more needy and she has been taking away Gavin's toys lately (without exchanging them). She also gets overly upset when he grabs at her though in her defense he can be pretty aggressive with his grabs. Hopefully this is just a little phase but alas I know that all siblings will have their rivalries at times.

A Mia First!

7 months old!

This month you weighed just over 23 lbs so your weight has finally come down from its exponential-looking trajectory. We had to put you in a new carseat (your holiday present from Bubbe/Pop pop) because you were too snug in the infant one already! This month brought on peas, plums, carrots, butternut squash, and water-filled sippy cups. You grabbed your feet for the first time on your back 11/12 at bedtime

and you regularly babble dada (still no mama). You spun yourself around in the exersaucer this month and rolled over tummy to back 3 times in a row. You also sat in a restaurant highchair and shopping cart for the first time.

The latter didn't go so well because Target's carts have reclined back rests so you were slumping and halfway through our shopping trip had to go get the carrier from the car and switch you out. We ended this month with your first Thanksgiving (see other post) at the Miller-Licon household in Newton, MA. Your Bubbe and Pop pop were there and everyone enjoyed holding you, which made mommy and daddy's wrists happy. You love to bang things and we quickly have to clear the field in front of you when you are sitting at a table with us or you will pull everything down and make a mess. You can sit on your own for minutes now

but we're still not comfortable enough to do it without pillows nearby since we have hard wood floors. Can't wait to see what next month brings my strong, smiley Tubbly Wubbly :)

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A note to my son on his 7 month birthday

This is written a day after your 7 month birthday (12/2/11). I recently came down with strep throat but am feeling slightly better. Still stuck in bed I thought now would be a good time to write a note for you to open when you are older. Like you, I am a 2^nd child. My brother, your uncle Matt, was born first and like you and Mia, he is 2 years older than me. My mom (your Bubbe) was so busy holding down multiple jobs putting your Pop pop through culinary school that she didn’t have time to make me a baby book. For years I made her feel bad for this, saying it wasn’t fair that since Matt had one that I didn’t. It wasn’t until I had you, my sweet, loving, easy going baby that I realized how difficult it is to stay on top of things like baby books and blogs (www.michelsonmiller.blogspot.com) with two children under the age of five. I work Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm and feel sad sometimes that I can’t see you more during the week. We hang out in the mornings a bit and then during and after dinner but you go to sleep early (at 7pm) so we don’t get as much time as I would like. I take you all sorts of exciting places over the weekends though! We go visiting people, to children’s museums, the park and playgrounds. When it was warm I put you in the double stroller with Mia but now that it is cold I keep you in a carrier and you love to snuggle tight.

You are such a giggly boy! If I look at you a certain way I could get you going for minutes. And you are so patient. Oftentimes you are in the car while mommy or daddy is running in to get Mia from daycare and you wait patiently in your carseat, easily entertained by some bells or rings. When naptime comes, which is often for you because you prefer many (4 still!) short (30-60 min) naps, we must make sure your lovie and pacifier are nearby. You are such a cuddle bug that you need these things to help you feel like we are right there by your side when you sleep, even when we can’t be. You were just over 23 lbs at your 6 month appointment (my wrists attest) and have been wearing 18 month clothes since before you were 4 months old. It doesn’t help that you have a huge cloth diaper on under there but even in disposables your build demands big- just like your daddy. You have brown eyes like me and though I thought your hair was dark brown like mine it seems to be getting lighter. Your height is just above average (65%) and your appetite for solid foods sometimes seems unrelenting. You really love baked apples but seem to eat almost anything. You recently started to shake your head “no” when you are full and for a while have recognized daddy’s sign for “milkie” (you smile and move your hands similarly in anticipation). You are babbling “dada” like a champ and I wait patiently to hear “mama” (oh and Mia wants you to babble “Mia” soon too though I think that’ll take some extra time).

Your sister loves you endlessly and will, without instruction, bring you a toy when you have none or have dropped yours she will also stroke your face when you are crying saying, “it’s okay Gav-man”. I hope that you two will grow up to be as close as your uncle Matt and I are. Sure we fought as kids but it was always nice to have a buddy with me at awkward adult gatherings and now it is great that you are surrounded by cousins.

As you grow up, my simple hope for you is that you are happy and that you bring happiness to others. Wow, I am tearing up now as I dream about you as a fully grown young man. Please feel free to come to me with whatever concerns or questions you have because my love for you is unconditional and neverending.

""I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be." -Robert Munsch

Love,

Mommy

Mia Update

Note. This update was written a couple of months ago.

Mia's school pictures

Socialization for Mia is getting more complex. She came home upset on a number of occasions saying so and so said she wasn't a big girl and they excluded her from playing with them. She keeps fluctuating between calling these older/bigger girls friends because we've had playdates with them before and talk about them nicely at home but apparently they exclude her sometimes.

Mia also recently asked me to put her hair in pig tails (something she normally hates and fights when I try) so that "other kids think it's pretty". So that is an interesting social perception development. When she came home Dave asked her why she wanted to have a pony tail like the other girls and Mia said, "so I could be happy like them". Interesting answer.

Big words with a bit of sass! When Dave was making pizza dough Mia asked for some and he gave her a bit and she said, "I thought you were going to give me small dough but this is very generous". Then when I was coloring with Mia and her attention started to wander I asked her for help coloring to which she responded, "if you help me, I'll help you".

Halloween horror: late October Mia has become quite a handful. Hopefully it is just that she is a bit sick but I'm not so sure. (updated update: it wasn't just a sickness) She is really testing us by being quite rude, disrespectful and "willful" as Dave likes to put it. We do our best to pick battles and we constantly question whether we are doing enough to ensure she becomes a decent human being but alas I must remember this is all part of her attempting to become an independent person, which is our ultimate goal.

Mia has started fibbing. She chases the cat and says "no I wasn't" all innocently when she's caught. Another time she let milk pour from her mouth and when I asked her if it was on purpose or by accident she said "by accident" and then when I asked if that was the truth or a lie she avoided my eye gaze and when I made her look me in the eyes she admitted it was a lie.

She is talking about dying and death a bit recently. Sometimes we wonder what she is saying from memory from someone else saying or what she actually understands. She said (very seriously) that someone that dies bleeds a lot and she also told Dave that his dad died and that this made Dave sad.

Reading on her own. Although she went through this once before, Mia seems once again to really be into "reading" us books instead of the reverse. She narrates by looking at the pictures and making up the story, which usually ends up being about someone running away or losing something. Interesting yet not surprising themes for a toddler. She loves to read these wordless short stories my mother's friend bought for her in June. And recently when I asked her to draw me an "m" she actually did! She could also draw a "1" and a "3" on command, though not a "2".

Makes up her own language to put as words in familiar tunes or just as she flips through books (as if she is reading). May be from our starting to teach her Spanish words

Mia was cooking with me recently, making cottage cheese crepes, and I let her crack the eggs all by herself and she did all 6 perfectly!!

Mia has become more aware of her vegetarianism lately, through her interactions with friends, families and books that eat or display meat eating. So we try to tell her a bit about why we do what we do as digestible (excuse the pun) as possible for her age. Mainly we say things like, "we don't eat animals" (us) "why" (her) "because we like animals" or "because we don't want to hurt them" (us). One day when Mia and Dave were talking about these things and Dave asked Mia "why don't we want to hurt animals", she took a very long pause and was clearly thinking it through and responded, "daddy, I don't have the words to talk about that", which we both think was very endearing.

In general, Mia is wearing size 4T (but can wear xs girls clothes if they run small) and a size 9.5-10 shoe. She weighs 35.5 lbs (89%) and is 3 feet, 1.5 inches tall (58%). Although she speaks better than most her age and "tebby dare" is now "teddy bear" much to my dismay, she still has some things that are difficult for her to say like: sky is "sigh" and sticky is "sicky". So although she can pronounce the "k" sound she can't combine it with the "s", this is true for many consonant combinations. She also still says "lello" for yellow. I love these tiny windows into the fact that my first baby is still my little one :)

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving Dave and I drove over to Boston, MA (or Newton to be specific) to see Matt and Harold's new, lovely and spacious domicile. It was a special long weekend (W-Su) because we got to meet Harold's mom, Cleo for the first time. Bubbe and Pop pop were also visiting from Miami, FL. Matt and Harold generously let us use their room, which helped with Gavin, while Mia (as usual) bunked with the boys. This led to nightly sleepless slumber parties where kids were heard playing until past 10pm despite waking up every morning at 6am but alas these are the days memories are crafted from. Without further ado, here are our Thanksgiving day memories, which come complete with some wild Turkey sightings too!

Jeremy & Gavin

Mia & Randall

Thanksgiving day "adult" table

The kid table

Jeremy, Dave, Mattie & Mia

Can you spot the 2 wild turkeys?

A daddy/uncle sandwich

Pop pop & Gavin

Everyone was so captured by their conversation they didn't even notice the photographer, of course except for Gavin.

Mia's first time bowling EVER (duck pin bowling, a good invention for toddlers)

Look at that ball go! On a side note: I had no clue bowling shoes came so small!

Back at the house: Mattie & Gavin

Making hand print Christmas tree decorations and play-doh!