Current mood: exhausted
Happy Friday Everyone! Today is a bitter sweet day. Its sad that my Dad went back home for the final time today. His work here is done, I am finally healed enough to hold and somewhat carry Mia again. I am so sad to see him to home, but I am so happy and feel so loved for all he has done for all of us these past few weeks. He will be missed dearly but I can't wait for future visits. The sweet thing is I can finally pick up Mia with no to little pain!!!! YAY! Thats HUGE!! I have not been able to hold her or carry her in almost a MONTH! its been pure torture for me since I love holding my little butterfly princess. Well with all that being said, its time to start the weekly review!
The week started with Mia cleaning out her very first pumpkin!! Well kind of... I had set up alittle area in front of the front door where the tile is so Mia could make a mess. I put up plastic and even put a gate around it so she couldn't run off with pumpkin guts and mess up the carpet or walls. When the time came and I gave the pumpkin to Mia she didn't know what to do with it! She didn't want to even touch it at all! Instead she had more fun banging it with her spoon. So I let her beat the pumpkin for awhile. I showed her the guts but she wanted nothing to do with them and when I started scraping out the guts with a spoon she got all upset! Maybe she thought I was killing the poor pumpkin! haha Eventually we finally got her to put her hand inside but only after putting a piece of candy for her to search for and get. I got alot of cute pictures of her, especially since she was wearing one of my old shirts and it was like a gown on her!
The next day was Halloween! My Favorite day of the year. This would be Mia's second Halloween and she did so good. She was dressed in her Tinkerbell costume and we trick-or-treated at the mall and for the first time, around our block. Everyone commented on how cute she looked and she really was. She was the only Tinkerbell we saw all day so she was special. She did good in the mall, she liked to run around and dance. Once she broke free from Adrian's hand and ran into a store just to dance to their music, it was too funny and cute. She did good around the block too, only it did take some encouragement from Daddy to walk up the driveways but once she was there she didn't want to leave!! haha The only time she got scared was with a fog machine. At first she seemed curious about it but as soon as it started to engulf her she took off running and eventually fell in the grass... oh no! haha She got lots of candy and goodies but her favorite of all were smarties. She even learned how to bite through the plastic and get to the candy inside. She ate so much candy that day which was a real treat for her since we NEVER let her eat candy. She was having a good time and at one point she even helped Daddy hand out candy but putting one piece of candy into everyone's bucket. Overall the day was awesome and lots of fun, I can't wait till next year.
We got to eat at Red Robin TWICE this week which was a huge treat. The first time she was treated like a princess. The waiter got her a balloon and later the manager came by and made her a rose out of her napkin. The second time we went was with my Dad and again she got a balloon and colored like crazy. She is such a good girl at the restaurants and I feel so lucky for that. The only bad thing is she doesn't like their food. We have tried almost everything on their kids menu and she hates it all. Yesterday we ordered her a pizza (for the first time) and she spit it out as soon as it hit her tongue, however, she did like the pepperoni on it haha
We also got to check out a new park down the street. Grandpa and I took Mia there and we all had tons of fun. Mia slid down the slide with a couple of new friends she met there (with Grandpa's help), ran around all over the place, found some leaves, walked around the basketball court, played with the toys on the jungle gym and chased bubbles we blew for her. The trip was lots of fun but the best part was watching Grandpa push Mia on the big girl swing. They didn't have a little kid swing there so she had to graduate to the big kid swing a bit early. She did good though and had lots of fun, so much that she didn't want to get off and when we finally had to leave of course she started to cry... oh no! haha Another thing we noticed at the park and we tested it out too, is that if you let her run free she won't leave our area completely. She will always look back and make sure we are near before she continues and if she goes to far she always comes back towards us on her own. She never just takes off, she always makes she she isn't too far from us at all times. I hope the always does this and never gets lost! haha
We all learned a valuable lesson this week too, especially Grandpa. You can never take your eyes off Mia not even for a second. Once Grandpa did and it literally wasn't long at all but she managed to climb the stairs on her own (First time) and was playing in Adrian's room when I found her! Wow I was impressed by her being able to scale the stairs but worried that it doesn't take long before she can do something like that. You always have to keep you eyes on her always. After that Grandpa really kept his eyes on her like a hawk....she never left his site again.
We also found out that Mia needs to be entertained when she eats!!! She was getting way to much TV lately so I cut it out for a couple of days. Thats when we noticed that she started to refuse to eat unless she had the TV and it had to be one of HER shows (Gabba, Elmo, etc) or she would fuss and not eat. When I realized this I really cut out her morning TV before she became to dependent on it. How did we get her to eat you ask? Well, with me I have to make eating a game. Either act like the spoon of food is something fun .ie bumblebee and then crash into her mouth. With Grandpa we found out he has to sing "O McDonald" to her before she will eat! haha Little Mia, can't be without her entertainment!!!
I have also realized and learned something BIG this week. Space! I need to start giving Mia some space to explore and have fun. I do let her run around but I am always right there with her, I never let her just take off or go more than 15 feet from me. At the park I was right on her and it wasn't until my Dad told me to let her go and explore on her own away from us (of course not too far) He reminded me how much she needs that and how its good for her to feel independent. So I did, we never let her roam to far away but just enough for her to feel alone. She LOVED it! and was so beyond happy and when she was done she always came right back to us. I have tried to incorporate this concept with the house too. I am always right there next to her all the time but now I finally give her some space. Though I am always watching her like hawk, I let her go into a room to play. I will be close but not right next to her. She seems to like the new found freedom. She plays quietly and explores things. If she gets into something she shouldn't I quickly swoop right in like a eagle and snatch it away, but thats rare and I don't always have to do that, thank goodness. She is usually pretty good. Its still hard not to be an over protective Mama though.. that is something I need to work on. I don't want to smoother little Mia.
Thats about it. Again it was a sad day that my Dad had to leave but we are so happy that he got to spend all that time with us. I can't wait for future visits. As for me I am off to get some rest, I am really tired and the couch is looking very inviting. Night Night...
