Letting her grow up

Today we had a pay date in the park, and I felt like an over protective mother. Now in my defense, Mia was the youngest of the kids that could run around and play. 

But I felt like I was constantly holding my breath, and on the edge if my seat the whole time. The other moms were chatting and enjoying each others company, while I was trying to keep on eye on Mia.

I decided to give her some space and see how she would do. She ran around with the older kids, and was having a good time. Then I think she wanted to test me…she started climbing up the slide. At first she could just get half way up, then she would slide down. But after a few tries she made it all the way up to the top. She was so proud of herself; she smiled at me, waved, and then sat down, and slid down the slide. Even though I was watching her the whole time, and was ready to jump up at any second, I was glad I let her figure it out on her own.

I think learning when to help and when to let her struggle and learn on her own is going to be a constant struggle for me.

Elephant

Mia loves to make animal sounds, and one of her favorites is the elephant. Now, I know that kids have great imaginations, but I didn’t think a 14 month old would know how to pretend so well. Case in point…today she picked up a link of toy “jewels”, held it up to her nose, and made the elephant sound. This not only made me laugh like crazy, but it also impressed me immensely! She really is smarter than I think, and she amazes me every day!

Precious Moments

Mia, today you backed up and sat in my lap, looking for a bit of a cuddle. Now this is not something new, but today, as I gently rocked back and forth with you, I had a new thought. You will not always fit so perfectly with your little head tucked under my chin. This thought almost had me in tears, as I pictured you growing up; soon to big to want to sit in Mom’s lap. So I took in a deep breath, breathing in the scent of your baby shampoo from last nights bath, and hugged you a little tighter. You will always be my baby, but I want to remember this feeling long after you stop letting me call you that. I love you, Mia Jean! 

Smart Cookie

I have always known that my daughter is one smart cookie, but in the past week she has done a few things to make me stop and think “wow you are smart”!

Since she was about 4 months old we have shown her different signs that go along with things she needs/wants. The first, and most important one being the sign for milk. She understood the sign long before to could do it back to us, but I think she was about 8 months old when she first used the sign to indicate she wanted milk. Over the last year she has learned quite a few signs and can use them correctly. The list of signs she know is: Milk, Eat, More, Done, Change, Bath, Dog, Water, and Book. I think that even knowing these few signs has helped us out so much. She feels like she can communicate, and we are not always guessing at what she wants.

The other day Mia amazed me when she used two signs together! She signed for “more” and then “water”; and then she handed me her empty sippy cup. I was so proud of her! This was her first sentence in sign language.  Another time she impressed us with her understanding of sign language, was when she was watching Sesame Street. They needed to gather eight apples to bake a pie. And as they do on Sesame Street, they were counting the apples as they put them in the pan. They got to six and said “oh, no. we need more apples”. Mia, with her face full of suspense, and bouncing in her chair with anticipation, quickly signed “more”!  If that does not prove her understanding of the signs, I don’t know what would.

Family

One of the hardest things I have had to deal with this year is not being around my family.  I have always hated it that they live so far away, but now that I have a daughter is has been especially hard.  Although it had been hard being apart from them, I am also very thankful that both my husband and the rest of my family understand how important family is.  And we have made a joint effort to see each other.

My parents are so awesome! They drove all the way from Wyoming to Wisconsin to be with me when I had Mia. Even though I was in the hospital the entire time they were here, it still meant a lot to me that they would be with us at that time. Mia got to meet all four of her Grandparents with in 24 hours of being in this world.

Writing this makes me miss my Grandparents. I know they would have loved Miss Mia and she would have loved them too.

In November we took a trip out to Wyoming. I don’t know if I was more excited to meet my niece or have Mia meet her Aunt/Uncles/Cousin. Morgan was about three months old and I was finally going to meet her! It killed me to wait that long, but I didn’t want to fly with Mia when she was so young. As it turns out, she was an AWESOME traveler! I still remember the look on Morgans face when she saw us; she was all smiles!  It was the best greeting I have ever received! What a great family I have.

 

New to this

So. I am not a writer and have never had a blog before, but I  have found myself reflecting over the events of last year and wanted to put some thoughts down so I can share them with my daughter some day. I plan on sharing a lot about my little peanut and our day to day life. I know that some of you may not care to hear about it, and that is fine. But like I said I am doing this mostly for her, and some for myself. I just don’t want to put everything out on FB and thought some of my close friends and family might enjoy the stories/memories/thoughts I have.

For those of you that don’t know me, or just want a recap, I have been married for the last (almost) 8 years. I have a Yorkie/Maltese mix named Ceasar, and a beautiful, smart, funny, daughter that is a year old (July 11). I am a stay at home mom, and love it every day…well almost every day, as long as she is not teething. Just kidding, I do love it every day. There is not a day that goes by that I am not thankful that I get to be home with her and be a part of her life. I am also very grateful that my husbands work schedule is very flexible and that he can sped a lot of time working from home. He has been able to go to doctors appointments with me and help out when she is teething.

One of the highlights from last year was the day our daughter took her first steps. My husband was working from home in the morning and had come up stairs to have lunch. When our little one saw him, she turned from the foot stool, where she was standing, and took three steps to meet her Dad! I was so happy that my husband and I both got to witness this mile stone, that I promptly burst into tears and hugged them both!

I truly am blessed to have such a wonderful husband and daughter!