Mia at Eleven Months

Ok, it's the last day of November so I better do this...

Mia learned how to wave. We've known it's been coming but now she can hold up her hand and open and close her fingers. Every time Grandma comes by we walk her out on the porch and wave goodbye. For the past couple months I've seen the wheels turning in Mia's head but no wave yet. A couple weeks ago she was playing with the dishes in the dishwasher and when I pulled her away and closed the door, I said "bye bye dishes". Mia held up her hand. Now she can do the full wave.

She's not saying many words but she's understanding a LOT. While I'm feeding her, we play a game in which I ask her where my nose, my eyes, my hair, etc. are and she touches them. She also watches and imitates us. One day I found her with Jolie's hairbrush and she was trying to brush her hair.

Another of Mia's favorite games is peek-a-boo. It amazes me how excited she gets when I hide my face or go around the corner and pop out at her. You'd think it was the first time we'd ever played. Sometimes she gets my attention and then turns her head, looks away and then back again. She's definitely developed a sense of humor and playfulness these past few months.

This is such a fun age! This weekend I was going through the photos I've taken of the kids during the year and I realized how each new stage that Mia enters is better than the last.

Martha Would Be So Proud

Especially of the pecan. The pumpkin, I'm not so sure. It has a little extra "love". That's what I call the shrunken crust and the black marks on the pumpkin filling. Still can't figure out how to keep my pastry from shrinking, even though I used the foil/dried beans trick. I guarantee that it's golden brown and very, very flaky, though.

The feast is here tomorrow at 2:00. My floor is mopped, cranberry sauce and pies are made. That just leaves the bird, potatoes, gravy, rolls, green beans (I'm making a new recipe using fresh ones with prociutto and toasted pine nuts), cleaning the bathroom, picking up and vacuuming, ironing my tablecloth and setting the table.

No problem, right?

Gavin's Latest Adventure

There's nothing like snorkelling in November. This morning I talked Gavin into taking his adventure to the bathtub after I broke the news that we couldn't go outside and fill our new blow-up swimming pool which he found in my closet. First, our irrigation water has been turned off, and second, it's fifty degrees out there. He wasn't deterred. He said we could fill up cups at the sink and carry them outside until the pool was all the way to the top. To a four year old, you snorkel in July, in November, whenever!

I guess he's a San Diego boy at heart. Nana and Papa will be happy to hear that.

Mia at Ten Months

I've been procrastinating documenting Mia's latest developments, maybe because I want to stay in denial about her getting bigger. She's been doing so many exciting things this month!

1. She's cruising around with flair: she loves to be down on the floor, crawling, standing, walking around the furniture, and getting into mischief. She often finds tasty little gems on the floor to snack on. Fortunately, most of the time it's just a leaf, a dehydrated vegetable or crumb from Gavin's plate the night before, or a clod of dirt (we consider them carbohydrates).

2. She's making more sounds that resemble words. Her first expression was "Uh oh!" and now she's saying "da da" when she sees Dan as well as another word that sounds like her name "Eeee-ah!". She also says "ma ma" quite regularly, but it's mosly when she's crying or upset. Last week she started to say goodbye, except that she says "da da" instead of "bye bye". I know that she's trying to say goodbye because she uses the same intonation as my "bye-bye".

3. Did I mention that Mia is an active baby? She insists on standing in nearly every situation: while she's playing, while she's nursing, in her high chair, in the grocery cart, in the tub, everywhere. And those seat belts that you find in the grocery cart or the high chair? Useless. Somehow my babies always seem to get out of them. There's really only one place that Mia doesn't like stand: in her $80 virtually-unused-Rainforest-Jumparoo. Despite its five stars and hundreds of positive reviews detailing the fabulous toys, the lights, the sounds, the 360 degree mobility... Mia hates it. She won't stand in it more than three minutes before demanding to be taken out. My mom finally cued me into the fact that Mia's too active for this kind of toy. She wants to move around and explore (great, another hyperactive kid).

4. Mia is extremely social. Today I took her to Jolie's school because Jolie's been begging me to bring Mia in. She wanted to show her off to her classmates. Mia loved the attention and performed superbly. Studying and admiring other kids is one of her favorite past times.

We love our MiMi!

We're Thinking of Moving to Arizona

I only have one thing to say this morning: I HATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS! I know a lot of people are feeling refreshed and at peace with the universe because they got an extra hour of sleep this weekend. I am not one of those people.

Are mine the only kids who were up at five a.m. this morning? Are mine the only kids who are incapable of allowing others to sleep when they're awake? Apparently so, because we contine to practice daylight savings in this country.

Does anyone know what happens to a four year old after he gets up at five a.m. for a couple of days (or even one for that matter)? He becomes overstimulated, grumpy, and basically a mess. The only way Gavin or any of my three older kids would take a nap, by the way, is if I put them in a dark closet in a straight jacket and sat on them. In some places they consider that child abuse, so I doubt that I'll be doing that. Putting them to bed an hour early is out of the question because tomorrow morning they'd be up at four a.m. instead of five a.m.

Does anyone know who will end up paying for this? You guessed it: ME. That's why I'm thinking of moving to Arizona where they don't practice this stupid thing.

The Boo Crew

We had such a fun Halloween! Thursday night we attended Tristan's school Halloween carnival, and ofcourse, Friday night was the main event. Tristan and Jolie were very specific about what they wanted to dress up as. Gavin wanted to be just about everything I mentioned. We finally found this amazing knight costume and he was sold. Thursday evening I took Mia on a walk in the stroller and Gavin came along, dressed to the nines. We had several honks and waves from passers-by, including a biker who came up behind him as he was prancing around, waving his sword bravely in the air, and said "Trick or Treat!".

Our sumo wrestler went trick or treating with three other boys. It was quite a taste of freedom for him to be on his own between 6:30 and 9:00, covering as much ground as possible. My mom and dad came over to answer the door and when they left at around 8:30 to go home, I suggested they drive by some of the houses up the hill from us that were decorated to the hilt. My mom called a few minutes later to tell us that she saw Tristan and his friends sitting in the rain watching a movie and eating their candy in the driveway of a home that had a scary movie projected on their garage door. Dan and I had actually ran into him near there when we were out with Gavin and Mia (couldn't miss him, even in the dark). He came home right at 9:00 with an impressive haul of candy.

Our little vampiress also chose to trick or treat with a friend. We didn't go last year because we were in Orlando, so the kids have made a big jump between hanging with us and wanting to experience the excitement with their friends. Jolie went with her friend Julia and Julia's dad who was going to "walk behind them, just to make sure they were safe" (Julia's description). We also ran into Jolie while we were out. It was dark and difficult to identify people, but we recognized Jolie by a certain tell-tale scream (Jolie said they were being hyper). They were coming up the hill in the dark, on the opposite side of the street and in the opposite direction. I'm amazed that I recognized her by her scream, but then again, I've heard that scream many, many times before(keep in mind that Jolie is sandwiched by two mischievous brothers).

Thank goodness for our knight in shining armor who still wanted to hang out with Dan and I. Gavin was a delight and the highlight of Halloween. He was so excited and in awe of every bit of the whole experience. He stopped to look at every decoration, he wanted to know who lived at every house, he admired all of the other costumes... he savored the whole experience. Dan and I took Gavin on foot and our little caterpillar in my jogging stroller. Whenever someone complimented Gavin on his costume he pointed out Mia who was behind him in the stroller and he was sure to explain that she was dressed up as a caterpillar. He even asked some for an extra piece of candy "for his baby sister".

Needless to say, we have quite a boat load of candy around here. Dan and I have been rationing it over the past two days and somehow, I'm the only one who's complained of a stomach ache.