Guess what we are doing right now? We are watching Mireya on a video camera. She is laying in her toddler bed (her crib with the front rail removed.) We decided that we didn’t want to risk her climbing out of her crib, potentially hurting herself in the process; and with the camera installed, we can watch her to make sure she stays in bed and doesn’t get into trouble.
She has been doing great! She had a nap earlier and stayed in her bed the entire time. Now, she is sleeping for the night and didn’t put up a fight what-so-ever. She’s such a good girl. She is so excited about it, too! All day, she has been putting her stuffed animals and dolls to bed in her new toddler bed. She’s so cute!
December 10th was our 3rd Wedding Anniversary. We decided to spend it celebrating as a family. We were in Lehi for the weekend, so we decided to go to The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. It was so much fun!!!! We spent hours and hours walking around staring at all the amazing fossils in complete awe. Mireya LOVED every bit of it. For the first 30 minutes, she was as excited about all the other kids as she was the actual fossils. She was shy and nervous being around so many people, but once she warmed up, she ran around screaming in delight. It was so funny to see her that excited and silly!
There were a lot of fossils and other things that you could interact with directly.
We all put our hands on a dinosaur footprint.
Mireya played for a long time at the Erosion Table. It was a blast!
Mireya 'riding' a dinosaur.
Mireya got to dig for fossils just like an archaeologist!
Mireya was so excited and she would run from one dinosaur fossil to the next pointing and saying, “Wow! Oooooo… Wow!” We know that she is still very young, and she probably won’t remember the museum when she is older, but it was something that neither of us will ever forget. They joy on her little face as she went through the museum was priceless.
Mireya and Mommy having fun!
Mireya and Daddy under a gigantic dinosaur!
Mommy being eaten!
After we went to the museum, we wandered over to get lunch and in the main area of Thanksgiving Point, there was an ice sculpture and a couple of Santa’s Reindeer!
Guess what Mireya just did. She brought Lane a diaper and said “please.” She had a poopy diaper and needed to be changed, and she knew it, and wanted it! It was so cute!
Tonight, I had a first. I was changing Mireya into her pajamas and she was being less than cooperative. I had her standing up as I finished doing up her snaps, when out of nowhere, she bit me on the shoulder…hard! I let out a yell and Lane came to check it out. Instantly, you could tell that Mireya felt sorry and wanted me to hold her. For the rest of the evening, she kept snuggling up to me and wanting to be with me. Right as we were putting her to bed, she did the cutest thing. She kissed my shoulder, the one that she had bitten, and then poked it and said “owie.” You could tell that she felt really bad for it, which is an awesome development – her knowing that she caused me pain and that that wasn’t okay, and that she was sorry for it.
We’re so excited about all of the new things Mireya is doing. She is learning at such a rapid rate that we can hardly keep up.
Mireya can now point to 11 body parts that we name without any difficulty and there are several others that she almost has down. She can take you to many things in the house when you ask her where they are, including knowing each of our cats by name. If you ask her where a door is, she will go to the nearest one and knock on it. If you ask her if she wants a snack, she will take you to her snack cupboard and point at it. If you ask her if she wants milk, she will go to the fridge.
She will now follow simple instructions. She will put books away in a bookcase, take things to Mommy, place dirty clothes in her hamper, give a cat’s toy to one of our cats…
She still loves to dance and has even figured out some new dance moves. She will twirl in circles, shake her head back and forth, and bounce up and down while squatting down a little. She picked up on a rhythm of one of her BabyFirst TV shows, Mio Mao.
She loves to do things that will make us laugh. One thing she does is she will squint her eyes and smile big. She thinks it is so funny and will laugh at herself. She also has a mad face that is so adorable and hilarious. Sometimes she does it just to make you laugh, but she usually reserves it for strangers that get too close. When she gets something she really wants, she laughs this scary gremlin sounding laugh. She will also now grab her own nose and make a snorky sound.
When she’s not doing all of these cute things, she’s usually getting into trouble. For her birthday, she got a tool bench with a toy hammer. Lately, she will hammer on things like Daddy’s computer and our dining room chairs. She also enjoys shutting Mommy in the pantry. Mommy doesn’t appreciate it too much. She actually goes around and shuts all kinds of doors, sometimes closing herself or others into a room.
Her two favorite things right now are dogs and her bright orange ball. She will “woof” at pictures of dogs and out windows at neighborhood dogs. She also plays with her orange ball. She picks it up and lifts it over her head, then drops it and watches it bounce. She kicks it and chases it around the house.
When she is eating something with her hands, she has to pick everything in front of her up all at once, using both hands. She ends up with huge handfuls of food that she can barely keep hold of. She is also very suspicious of food. When we give her something new, she will examine it thoroughly, touch her tongue to it and take her time before finally accepting or rejecting it.
At the end of the day when she has completely worn herself out and has eaten until she could pop, she will grab her blanket from her crib and will curl up on it on the floor, ready for bed. Thankfully, her night terrors, or whatever was going on before, have gone away. She’ll have an occasional bad dream, but usually sleeps without any problems all night long. Let’s just hope that continues.
I am a happy Daddy. I love my daughter so much! She does the cutest things to make me smile. Lately, she has been squinting her eyes and smiling big. It’s so cute! I could squeeze her ’til she pops! I love her so much and am so happy to be her Daddy.
Mireya was just walking past me in the office, when she stopped, turned to me and said “Hi Dad.” I kid you not! Lane heard it too. It was so awesome to hear. It was the first time I’ve heard her say that phrase.
Now that Mireya took her first steps, we have been encouraging and working with her to walk more. Today, she took her first stroll around the house. She walked all around the kitchen by herself, with us just guarding her so she doesn’t fall and hurt herself on the hard tile. She’s catching on so fast! I’m sure she’ll be zooming around the house in no time.
Mireya is 9 months old. She had her wellness visit with her pediatrician and he said she is doing very well. Her weight was on the low end, but he said that was normal for a baby her age, because she is so mobile. These are her statistics:
Weight: 16 lbs 9 oz, 12 percentile
Height: 27.5 in, 47 percentile
Head Circumference: 17 in, 26 percentile
Mireya is doing so many new things these days. As mentioned in a previous post, she has started to scream – loudly. It’s not because she’s upset. She’s usually happy when she does it. Well, we were at Joann’s Fabric Store the other day, and she decided to start screaming, and wouldn’t stop. We ran into a woman with a preteen son who said “They never stop. It’s cute at that age, but not so much at this age.”
She also mimics other kids, like when we’re at the grocery store. She’ll hear a kid cough, so she’ll start coughing. Or, one will babble, so she’ll start babbling.
Mireya can clap! She loves it. She claps all the time now.
She is waiving hello and goodbye. She first started by just putting her arm out, sort of reaching with her hand. Then she started waving her whole arm up and down. Now she waves with her wrist.
Let’s see…what else…Oh, she has almost walked. She has been pulling herself up to standing in her playpen for weeks now. Lately, she has been walking around the perimeter, holding on to the side, sometimes with one hand. Well, she now will let go and just stand there, with no hands. She’ll then plop down on her behind. She’s tried to take some steps while not holding on, but hasn’t really done so yet.
