My wife went to the East and brought back a different child!

Krys left me this past weekend! Okay, only for four days so she could visit Pennsylvania and introduce Norah to all her relatives, but still. It was quite traumatic.

She left last Wednesday at 10.30 at night. She was a bit worried about Norah flying, but apparently the little one did fine on the trip (coming back was a bit of a different story). The nice thing about it was that I got Thursday and Friday "off" because Mia was at school. I still missed them both, because it's kind of boring around here once Mia goes to bed.

Mia and I had fun during the day on the weekend, though. On Saturday we went shopping, which always amuses Mia. On Saturday evening we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch part of the Ohio State-Penn State game with some OSU fans. That was no fun (Penn State lost 37-17), but Mia was very happy to be out and she ate chicken tenders very well. On Sunday she got a haircut and we watched the Eagles game together (well, she played on the floor while I sat next to her and watched the Eagles game). It was quite nice hanging out with her, although it's always difficult to figure out what to do with her. She did some walking, some sitting up from a prone position, and she kneeling (which she does not enjoy). But other than that, it's hard to do stuff with her. Of course, the fact that it was almost 100 degrees here over the weekend (what the crap is up with that?) means that we couldn't even go outside very long. Stupid Arizona autumn!

Krys, meanwhile, was enduring lots of rain. Which she loved. She wanted the weather to be crappy because she wanted to dress Norah up in winter clothing. Then she complained that she didn't want it to rain that much, and I laughed at her. Be careful what you wish for! She didn't have the greatest time, mainly because on Thursday morning, a few minutes after arriving at her grandmother's place, she stepped off a high curb and injured her foot. She's still not sure if it's broken, because she needs to get an MRI here (X-rays were inconclusive, because she has an old break in her foot that she never had fixed). I asked her why she can't step off a curb, and she said it was because she was carrying Norah because she was by a busy street. I pointed out that Norah is perfectly capable of walking and she doesn't wander off if a parent holds her hand, but Krys didn't like hearing that. So she didn't have as great a time as she might have.

Of course, things were hectic in PA. None of her relatives ever come to see us, so they all wanted to see her and Norah and monopolize her time. Her grandmother is 91, and Norah feared her. She's very nice, but she's also very loud and wanted to chase Norah around trying to hug her. You can see why Norah feared her! Inexplicably, she also feared Krys's father, who's also very nice and doesn't chase toddlers around. Krys also got to see her sister, who's quite cool but really needs to go on What Not To Wear, and her old friends from high school. So it was hectic, but Norah enjoyed herself and so did Krys, to a degree. Seeing her family always tires her out.

Norah didn't enjoy flying back as much as flying out, as she was quite grumpy all the way. They got back around 8 on Sunday night, and we got home just as our babysitter was putting Mia to bed. So Mia got to see Mommy before she went to bed, and she was quite happy, even though all weekend she said "no" whenever I asked her if she missed Mommy. Of course, she says "no" to pretty much everything. Norah loves our babysitter (she's Mia's occupational therapist, so they see her every week), and she ran into Mia's room and gave her a hug. No hug for Daddy, however!

Krys took Monday off because of getting in so late, and we discovered that Norah had been replaced by a doppelgänger. She wanted nothing to do with Daddy! She clung to Mommy and actually cried when I said something as simple as "hello" to her. She ran away from me and whined for Mommy, and she got very upset if I tried to hug her. It was quite bizarre. Krys told me she was talking about Daddy all the way home and sounded as if she was excited about seeing me. So what happened to my friendly little girl?

I told Krys that I didn't really care, because Krys was going back to work on Tuesday anyway and Norah would be stuck with me! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I actually didn't care that much, because I figured she would get over it. Today she woke up after Krys had left and seemed normal. We spent a very nice day together, and it was as if yesterday never happened. She was fine. I don't know where that Evil Twin came from or where she went, but I'm glad my friendly girl is back!

So Norah had a nice time in Pennsylvania, and Krys's relatives got to meet her. That was nice for them. We'll probably visit again next year sometime, and this time we'll take Mia. She'll have a grand time.

Finally, here's a nice picture of the girls. This was taken the day before Norah left. I'll have to get a photo of Mia with her new haircut and post it later.

Parent-teacher conference!

This past Monday we had the first parent-teacher conference for Mia. We were very keen to go, because we're very interested in keeping up with her education. The teacher told us that she's doing quite well. They make her identify letters and numbers over and over, and make her write letters and numbers over and over. That's what she needs, because she can learn through a lot - A LOT - of repetition. So she's doing pretty well in school. She is slowly getting better at the work, and who knows how long it will take, but at least she's making progress.

The teacher did say that she has occasional discipline problems. We don't mind too much, because she's 5, and that's what five-year-olds do! In her regular kindergarten class, she sometimes makes too much noise during story time. She also rocks a lot, which vexes us quite a lot as well. If she doesn't stop, her aide simply turns her around so she can't participate in the circle. This makes her grumpy, because she likes to be involved. We're kind of interested to see how she progresses with that, because we have put her in timeout in the past, and that worked very well. She learns slowly when it comes to letters and numbers, but she learns fast when discipline is involved!

She also has gotten on the treadmill occasionally. The school has a treadmill with the upper part of a gait trainer attached to it. The treadmill goes very slowly, and Mia hates it. But she tries to do it, so we're happy. She hated her physical therapist for a long time, and she's gotten over that.

So she's doing well in school, and we think she's picking up a lot, as does her teacher. It's very cool.

Then, on Wednesday, she sat up for her PT. This time she started completely on her back, rolled over to her side, and pushed herself up. She has sat up when she starts on her right side, but this is harder because it's very difficult for her to roll. She did it a few times, and it's very cool to see.

Of course, this morning she went to the dentist. We brush her teeth twice a day and floss her every other day, because she only has a few places to floss. So what does the doctor tell us? You guessed it: cavities! Yes, her molars are cavity-ridden, and the dentist said she'll probably need caps on at least three of them. He wants to take the x-rays and do the work on the same day with her unconscious, so we'll be doing that soon. We figure it's hereditary - neither Krys nor I have particularly good teeth, and Mia doesn't eat a lot of sweets (or a lot of anything, really), so we can't figure out why she has cavities. It's annoying. Norah's teeth are fine, but he did find a couple of weak spots, which means she's going to have cavities too, no matter what we do. Excellent!

So that was Mia's week. We're very proud of her at school, even though she's a bit mischievous. We look forward to her continual progress.

Norah hates insects!

Today Norah was digging through one of her toy baskets. We have three rather large ones in the living room, and she occasionally gets it in her head to pull every single toy out of one (or more) of them, and today was one of those days. I was in the kitchen getting Mia a snack when she walked in with a small rubber ball in one hand, and a dead cricket in the other. I have mentioned before that a while ago, she became deathly afraid of crickets, and would shriek whenever she saw one, whether it moved or not. Recently, however, they've all died out and we rarely see them, so she, we thought, had moved on. But it was not to be!

She was holding the dead cricket by the antenna. I was pretty impressed that she had seen it and picked it up. She looked at me, cried "Crick! Crick!" with increasing volume, and hurled it to the ground at my feet. Then she ran back into the other room and started bouncing her rubber ball, secure in the knowledge that no dead insect was going to spoil her fun.

I thought it was quite humorous. Your opinion may vary.

Something I forgot

I was going to mention this yesterday, but it slipped my mind. Mia now knows two songs: "You Are My Sunshine" and "Old McDonald." She sings them quite regularly. Well, she doesn't really sing them as much as recite the lyrics, but she's pretty good at it. Old McDonald has only one animal on his farm - a cow - but still, it's very cute to hear her "singing" along.

I know, not very exciting. Bear with us - every little victory is huge with Mia!

More Mia mania!

Mia went to see a play yesterday - "Charlotte's Web." Apparently she had a very good time. I won't say more about it because I don't know about it, as she went as a school trip. But I'm sure she thought it was groovy.

Krys has been teaching her the alphabet. I mentioned in my last post that she can spell her name, and she's doing quite well identifying letters. Krys sits with her and a book and asks her to say what the letters are. She doesn't get them right all that often, but she's getting better. It's very exciting.

That's all for now. I know, not very exciting or informative. She is on fall break for the next few days, so maybe I'll have to take some pictures. It's been a while for that!

Things Mia has been doing

Mia sat up! We're very excited about it. I may have mentioned that she sat up once in the past, but it was only one time, and nobody saw it, so we're not exactly sure how she did it. But now she appears to have figured it out. Yippee!

She lies on her right side and rolls kind of onto her belly. It's more of a three-quarter roll - she's not on her stomach, she just leans on it. Then she begins pushing off on her right arm. She manages to keep her legs on the floor, stabilizing her, and she pushes. It takes her quite some time, but she does it. She slowly moves her hand toward her body, pushing all the way. Finally, she gets into a sitting position. She gets her left arm over and she's sitting up. She has only done it a few times, because she's at school so long, but she has done it a few times and seems to enjoy it a lot. We haven't told her physical therapist because he took this week off, but I'm sure he will be happy about it.

Mia can spell! Well, her name at least. She's quite good at it, too. She enthusiastically says "M!" "I!" and "A!" She has done it more than a few times, and only screws up the first letter every once in a while. We're very excited about that, too. We're pretty happy with her progress, because she seems to be understanding more about what's going on. She's very happy about spelling her name, and we think she knows what she's doing. It's nice to see.

Norah is doing stuff, too. But that's for another day. Right now, Mia is doing very well, and we couldn't be happier about it.

Overheard!

I've been taking Norah to Little Gym, and today, one of the mothers said to her older daughter: "Alexa, follow your sister and make sure she doesn't stick her head in the toilet!" The "sister" is the girl in Norah's class. Man, when you become a parent, you come across stuff that you never thought you'd ever encounter!