Mia freaks us out a bit.

Everyone who is not Grandma- bear with me. This post is probably gonna sound pretty braggy- but this kid...

She is two months shy of three. I haven't tried teaching her anything yet. She's always one step ahead of my expectations, so I end up just always being surprised by what she already knows. I think we all have similar feelings about one or more of our kids. (Yeah- so far the twins are hitting milestones on a nice, relatively slow schedule.)


We call her to dinner. "Just a minute, mommy. Let me get to the point. Okay, now I'm coming!" Hee hee (okay that's the opposite of what I'm trying to illustrate here, but it makes me laugh when she uses phrases without having a clue as to what they mean.)

After showing her a few pointers on buttoning a shirt: (imagine a suck-uppy sappy voice) "Thank you. Thank you for teaching me, mommy." *blink blink* *waiting-for-you to-gush-over-what-a-cute-thing-I-just-said face*

We stopped at each place once, and the next time we drove by: "Look- Dairy Queen!"
"Look- Applebees!"
"It's Bob Evans!"
Every week: "Meijer! We're at the store! We like Meijer."
"Walmart? We don't like Walmart! I want to go to Meijer." She closes her eyes, purses her lips, and nods thoughtfully. "Don't you want to go to Meijer, Mommy?" (that was the day we got the stickers.)

My favorite: You know how you're trying to make dinner, and your kid is pulling on your pant-leg and whining to come do a puzzle with them? I'll try and show her how fun it could be to play "duck, duck, goose" with the babies, we both get frustrated, and she usually ends up in time-out for playing "whack, whack, yell" at the babies. I showed her one morning how to go from the desktop to PBSkids.org. She has done it every day since. Now I'm like- "Why don't you go play on PBSkids?" And once on there, she navigates the site and succesfully plays every game she comes across. (Including Rosita's Spanish recognition game, we discovered the other day, "Look! I found the sol!") And I am completely liberated to stir my macaroni and cheese in guilt-free peace.

Not my favorite: she knows how to plug in her CD player, start the music, and skip forward to her favorite songs. She does know to keep the babies away from the plug if they head for it, but again- not my favorite.

She finished learning her upper ABC's around 20 months, lower-case around 2 and a half. Now she's teaching herself to sign the alphabet- by asking me. She loves to sign her name. She loves to write her name. She loves to read her name. (She loved it when Pizza Hut advertised "Pizza Mia," for that matter ;-)

What's even more amazing is that she's not even that amazing these days.

Is it just me or does each generation trump the next just a little bit? I'm just amazed by the things I hear kids accomplishing so young. Either kids are getting smarter, or our expectations have just gotten lower- but I can't help but be surprised by every new thing she comes up with. I don't know which is stronger- the joy I feel witnessing her desire to improve herself and accomplish things, or the worry I feel that I might ever do (or not do) something to hold her back. I know it's early. But it's like an origin point, you know? Just because she hasn't traveled far down a path doesn't mean she's not on one. Until she turned two, it was more like dealing with the responsibilities of an animal trainer. Feed her, keep her healthy, keep her feeling happy and secure. But now I think I'm feeling the weight of true parenthood for the first time.

What a long row to hoe- off we go!

Carrie-oke

Don't get me wrong- I'm still an Underfan. But my sister and I decided that Carrie Underwood's "Independance Day" is a little on the shy side of a true cover. Really, when all you do is take out the original vocalist and sing the exact same runs and phrasing to a sub-par instrumental, you might as well be in a bar looking at the words flashing on a screen. Its like the whole purpose of this song was just to say "See? I could have made this song famous. Move over Martina. Red has had it's day- blonde is on the way."

Maybe there's some history behind her reasoning for doing this. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Whatever- I am still a fan of both their incredible voices.

Vogue

Wishing Coralee taught Mothering 101

Something must be said about the parents of a man who has turned out like the one at our house. While spending time and energy on the demands that give even single med students a run for their money, he is also heading up a household of four females whose devotion to him is only surpassed by their gratitude for him. He's not just succeeding at both, he is excelling. Here are just the latest reasons we think our "Man of the House" is excellent.

E- While he was studying from home he let me sleep in so many times, I think I made up for the sleep deprivation from all three babies. He just got up with all three of them, gave the babies their bottles, changed them, and waited til I woke up around 7 or 7:30. Sometimes 8. Okaaay, a couple times 8:30. He never woke me up unless he was going to be late for something.

X- In the rush to get ready Sunday, I missed breakfast. So when we got home from church and put everyone down, I zonked out, too. I came downstairs after thinking in the mirror "Hmm- good eyelash day." He had cleaned the whole downstairs while we were asleep. And then he looked at me closely and asked me if I had started using my new mascara.

C- If I don't know what to make for dinner, he does. And sometimes he makes it, too. And it always tastes good.

E- He can give all three girls a bath. And wash their hair.

L- He's never told me a baby had a stinky diaper. If he notices, it gets changed.

E- While putting Mia to bed, he sings Disney songs per request.

N- He doesn't waste time.

T- We know, without a doubt, that we are the most important part of his life.