Mia's Blog

January 28, 2008 - Longmont Times Journal:

Hallo, hallo, Mia here having fun with water - so it's not Hawaii and the beach, but the fire place I'm sitting in front of is as warm as the sunshine.

All of Monday was warm and we had two stroller walks; one in the AM, one in the PM. Since I don't take too well to laying down, (that reminds me of going to sleep and I fight it with tooth and nail,) Omi places me into the stroller sitting up. Once we keep walking it doesn't take long for me to fall asleep and then she lowers the back of the stroller.

Lots of talking going on again, I just can't help it and Omi keeps up with me - you should hear the two of us.

Opa gets all my food ready: mama's milk, cereal with banana, sweet potatoes, smashed pear. I drink little sips of water now and then all through the day. I like lunch time because I get to sit with the grown-ups. I eat first and then watch the two oldies munching away while I play with the paper napkins. So much fun to tear them into tiny pieces and then let them fall like snowflakes onto the floor - no, I don't clean up, what an idea.

Wednesday will be another day at the Longmont house. There is a new picture book I like and I am paying attention to all the German words. Luckily, Omi understands that a baby's attention span is very short. On to the next interesting thing, that's my motto; but it doesn't always have to be a new toy. Playing with fingers, hands and toes makes for great fun. Diaper changes are fun too, I get to exercise my legs so much and try to put pants back on me - I dare you.

January 9, 2008 - Longmont Times Journal:

A new year, a happy one to all who read this, and a new toy. How does it work? I need a little help here! Ach so, that's how that goes. Can you see me? Easy to get the rings off - on is another story, but I managed to put back the orange one and Opa and Omi went wild.

Another biggie for the day: I held my sippi cup by myself and even took a drink, but just one sip because otherwise I would have had water all over me. Drinking water is good for you.

The walk in the snow was fun for Omi, I slept through it. When we first started out there was no snow, then the snow flakes kept falling, we kept going. The stroller kept me from getting wet; the blankets felt soft and warm.

I am ready for my next adventure - guess where I am going? To Hawaii, with mama and baba, gogo and grampa, uncle Johnny, uncle Danny and aunt Janel. Great fun will be had!!!

December 19, 2007: Longmont Times Journal:

Another Wednesday and that means time at Omi and Opa's house. It's always a long ride from Denver to Longmont, but I usually sleep through it.

Once we are in the house, I have to inspect all the familiar places and check out the new stuff like the Christmas tree (Tannenbaum) and all decorations. Lots of presents under the tree, wonder what's in them.

For lunch I sat at the table with the grownups and had broccoli and fennel, washed it down with some water. My long afternoon nap was in the stroller, Omi walking for 45 minutes while I was snoozing. Later I had a banana snack and later yet some milk again. Total of 5 1/2 ounces of milk for today and quite a few diaper changes due to the yummy solid foods. Good thing, potty training is a long time off.

December 18, 2007: Boulder Free Press:

Don't tell them, but the Boulder fossils had me worried when they disappeared for over a week. It turns out they went to a conference in San Francisco -- without even asking! Probably good that they didn't ask because I really don't think I approve of that sort of thing -- unsupervised at their age. Anyway they are back and I had them jumping through hoops again today -- pulled out all the stops from the jumperoo to piano lessons, sitting up to play with the poker chips, reading books, eating pureed squash, mama's milk, a long walk over the snowy streets, new mp3 player with Gregorian chants and Ladysmith Black Mombasa for my naps. scrunching up Christmas gift wrapping paper and bows, a nice bath sitting up in the kitchen sink. Granny Franny Gogo and Papa Ben should sleep well tonight. In short, we all had fun and there were no cardiac incidents.

The really exciting news is that Zia Lidia called this weekend all the way from Rome to comment on how much she and the cugini Romani love the blog. The Italians are especially enthusiastic with my first word being in Italian -- "mama" of course. Sometimes it seems that I can just smile and make the whole world happy.

December 3-4, 2007: Boulder Free Press:

I decided to be a lot more talkative than in past visits to the Peoples' Republic. The "cotton tops" seem to like this and mom says it's good to humor them. They keep trying to get me to say something other than Mama, so I squawk to Bailey now and then I tried out "nya-nya-nya" on them. It took them a while to figure out it was just the "Anna" version of "Mama." I'm going to continue to hold out on saying "Dada, Omi, Opa, Gogo, and Papa" for a while. It's fun to watch them beg. I must have been holding forth pretty well; dad even remarked that the house got noticeably quieter when I was busy eating.

To ease their frustration, I posed for a few good photos.

December 1, 2007: West Highlands Weekly

Proof

Just in case you didn't believe earlier reports of my impressive 1.5 word (and growing!) vocabulary:

Vocabulary

Nov 21, 2007: West Highlands Weekly

Skillz!

This post is for all the die-hard Mia fans out there. Those who will wait for an 8mb download to watch me show off some newly honed skills! We'll take these in order of appearance, but have no doubts that what follows is a trifecta of 6-month developmental achievements:

First up, my answer to all the goofy faces you people make at me all day long: Bubbles!
Next, practice for my big Thanksgiving feast with the familia: YUM!
And last but not least, this very evening I showed my folks that all those laughing babies on YouTube ain't got nuthin: hee-hee

Check back soon for other exciting installments. Including (but not limited to):

Vocabulary Schmocabulary: I say "MAMA"
Lay-down, Sit, Stand! (repeat)
scootch-scootch
Mia's "this-ain't-no-pub-crawl" crawl
Daddy installs the safety gate (edited for television)
Mama/Daughter synchronized swimming. Preview

Nov 20, 2007: Boulder Free Press:

Granny Franny GoGo is just a little under the weather today with a slight cold. A likely story. But I decided to take it easy on her --- just in case. I also kept my distance from her --- just in case. On the other hand, it was really entertaining to watch the "Old Gray Ghost" try to keep up for most of the day by himself. I had saved up a few surprises -- just for him -- for a day or so. We got in a couple nice walks today, but it was getting chilly on the afternoon "passagiatta." It's going to be interesting to see what they come up with when it's just too cold and snowy for walks. I'll bet they're hoping I'll let up on them when the weather's bad. Fat (cheeked) chance!!

We all called Great Gramma Edith to sing Happy Birthday to her. She's 89 today. And that's 89 years, not days. Hard to imagine. That's what she says too.

West Highlands Weekly

November 17, 2007

Despite Uncle Danny's best efforts, I am a natural born tree-hugger and I have already chosen my favorite tree species. I've loved to watch and listen to aspens ever since my eyes opened up this spring. A true outdoorswoman! My parents are worried about what will happen now that the leaves are nearly gone and the temperatures are finally dropping, but as long as they're willing to brave the sub-zero temps, I'll be happy outside. Here is a picture of me soaking up the last of the leaves and protecting my eyes from the Colorado sunshine.

Not to worry, though, Danny. I also have some serious athletic prowess Check out this video to see why Mia Hamm would be so proud of little sporty spice: Soccer Practice

Reading is another favorite pastime. My mom took a nice little video of the page-turning skills I learned from Gogo & Omi: Page Turner

Of course, rest is also very important to a little diva. How else can I keep my cheeks so full and rosy?

Nov 15, 2007: Boulder Free Press:

10:30 PM Wednesday to about 9:30 AM Thursday:

Managed to sing, play, talk, grouse, snack, squirm, and grumble enough to keep mom and dad awake most of the night.

5:30 AM:

Played briefly in the "jumperoo" that Papa Ben bought when he thought Granny Franny Gogo was going to leave him alone to baby sit for a couple days last week. Ya gotta placate the ol' man early in the morning.

10:15 AM:

Sleeping peacefully and soundly.

All night partying is not an easy job. Besides I have to save up enough energy keep my Boulder grandparents alert and awake the rest of today.

5:30 PM

I created quite a stir just by saying "MaMa" when mom got back from work and picked me up. All three of the oldsters went bonkers. These people are easily impressed!! So I tried it a couple times later: "MaMa" and sure enough they all started squealing and clapping and dancing. It looks like I'd better try out the new words on them gradually -- I'm not sure the two gray-haired ones can take that much excitement -- especially after I've had them jumping through hoops from 5 AM.