“Mommy, I not a dog.”
“Really, Mia? Why is that?”
“Dog eats bones. I not eat bones.”
“Well, that’s right. But, Mia, if you’re not a dog, what are you?”
“I a Mia!”
“True, but what else are you?” (I’m fishing for “little girl” here…)
[Long pause. The sweetest smile.]
“I a friend.”
This was my conversation with Mia yesterday evening. It’s so amazing that she’s been putting these connections together in her head. As my friend Julie said, “Wow, you can actually start to have a conversation with her.” It’s been such a long time coming!
On the flip side, several of the students she played with and adored last school year have been coming up to me and asking why Mia doesn’t like them anymore. She won’t talk to them. She won’t look at them. And when they reach out toward her she moves away. She’s actually been a bit of a pill in that area.
I just explain to them that she’s rude. And very 2.
She discovered that birthday parties exist and I’m not sure how we’re going to hold her off until February. She has announced that at Maggie’s birthday party (this Friday) that we should eat cake, have candles, and wear party hats. Since it’s not going to be a big celebration I think that we can do all of those things!
Maggie, in her own right, is blooming. She’s walking all over the place and alternates between a gorgeous, full-of-life smile and piercing shrieks of fury. She eats EVERYTHING. It’s amazing.
Yesterday at a soccer game she was completely entranced with climbing on the bleachers. She kept climbing, she kept falling and crying. She would not be dissuaded from her plan of assault. I had to acknowledge to the people around me that Isaiah and I breed intelligence (ha, ha). Or stupidity. My conversation partners tried to make it better by saying it was perseverance. I’m not convinced!
For all of Maggie’s stubbornness, she won the gold stars when we were on the airplane back from Arizona this past weekend. We flew out on Saturday, attended a BBQ, Sunday attended my sister’s wedding reception, and Monday flew back to Oklahoma. It was a whirlwind! Complicating matters was the fact that Mia caught strep throat last week and was just finished with the nastiness by the time we flew. The flight out was perfect, the girls were awesome – of course, they had Grandma and Grandpa flying with them! Then, the flight back. Mia refused to put her seatbelt on.
Four visits from the flight attendants and a special request “from the captain” later and Mia was still screaming that she wouldn’t put the seatbelt on! Finally I just put Maggie in the seat and held Mia on my lap. Maggie thought it was a great adventure. Mia… well, I guess that was an adventure of a different sort!
Isaiah and I are still standing, but barely. We got our students moved in, school started, preseason complete. My mom and dad came out for several weeks in August and, truthfully, we would not have survived if they hadn’t. It was so busy! Every free minute was with the girls, then they would go to bed and we would work until after midnight and get up at 6am to do it again. I realize that there are people who live their lives like this. I give them credit – three weeks was plenty for me!
I guess that’s about all. I’ve been slacking on my updating responsibilities, so I thought something was in order.
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