Hair Obsession

Some folks might think I am obsessed with Mia's hair, or lack there of. I would not use the word "obsessed", but I have been waiting with baited breath for it to grow. So today, she actually let me put it up. We went down to her great grandparents house to show them how cute it was. As you can see from this picture, even Mia thought it was cute!







Granted, we have a ways to go before we can really have an "updo", but for now, this just makes me smile from ear to ear. Oh, and have I mentioned before that her mom's hair was the same way..........got thicker and thicker, but not longer and longer, and now, Jennifer has a wonderful full head of hair! Jennifer's Grannie Barton use to ask us "why do you cut that baby's hair?" every time we saw her, and every time, we had to tell her that we didn't cut it, it just doesn't grow! Of course Grannie always asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee, and I always said, "no thank you, I do not drink coffee" and every time she said, "You don't drink coffee?"..........It just made me laugh. It is ashame that Grannie passed away before she met Mia, and really so long ago that my kids have small memories. She and Grandpa Barton were a hoot! I loved visiting with them!

Jennifer is 28 years old

So when your children get older, does that automatically make you get older? Chronologically, yes, it does, but not mentally, because we can control our mental state. Jennifer wanted to stay home for her 28th instead of going out to eat, so I cooked down at Mom and Dad's house. We had Oven fried chicken, mashed potatoes, creamed gravy, ranch style beans, yeast rolls and brownies with ice cream. My brothers birthday was just a few days ago. I think everyone believes that his birthday and Jennifer's are just practice shots for Mia's upcoming 2nd birthday. Notice in the video she gets to blow out the candles and notice how many candles there are!


Don't pay attention to her diaper, she decided she needed to "sag" them. I tried to keep the camera positioned where she would not be embarrassed some day when she gets older!

Where's the beef?

I should take more pictures. When Catherine lived at home, she was the one who took lots of pictures of Mia, and I just used hers for the blog. She fusses at me all of the time now, because I do not have pictures of Mia here. I am not a good picture taker.

JoelandJenny.blogspot.com


CatherineatBrown.blogspot.com:


and my friend Dorothy Schmidt has an amazing daughter-in-law. I have never really met Brigitte, but reading her blog, gives me a glimpse into her life. She has two very little boys and she writes with such a gift of getting to the point. Her blog is called Spit Up, if that gives you any idea:
Barrettsmom.blogspot.com

I save it on my tool bar as "Dorthy Schmidts babies", but that is because of the bond we grandmothers share..........they are our babies babies after all.

Anyway, the point to this is, Jenny and Bridgett always seem to have a camera ready for great shots. I can not find mine half the time. I need to take more pictures.

Bad mom ! Bad, bad mom!!!!

Truth be told, I did tell Catherine I would send her some "care packages" when she went off to college. You know, home baked cookies, boxes of popcorn, bags of coffee, sweet notes, telling her I love and miss her................

Truth be told, I have yet to send anything..........bad, bad mom.........

I am appealing to anyone who reads my blog.......if you could, please write to Catherine, please be the mom that I obviously am not! I mean well, but, I have so many of those "roundtoit's" that my pockets are full!

Catherine's mailing address is:

Catherine Waldrop
Box 2247
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912

Oh, and this is a secret so please don't tell Catherine I did this.

Thanks a bunch!

The Circus

The circus came to town today. According to the newspaper, if you went a little before 9am you could watch the elephants help set up the tent. We left the house at 8:30am (Mia was knocking at my bedroom door before that, saying, "GG, I ready to go see elephants"). Due to a combination of mis-information and Houston traffic, the elephants did not arrive until 11am. Needless to say, it was a long morning waiting. Mia had a blast running around, playing outside and all, (the photo is of her "mixing it up" with the kindergarten kiddos that came to watch) but it would have been nice to see the pachyderms and get home before 11am.




As it was, we saw the elephants, but left before they helped set up the tent.

This is Mia telling the elephants bye.



We went home and Mia took a much needed nap. A little short for my liking, but she awoke in a fine mood, grinning ear to ear.

We left the house again, a little before 4 pm to attend the actual circus. Mia and her GG, off to see the magic of the circus.

Mia rode the elephant with absolutely no fear. In fact, I had to keep her from cutting in line and explain the whole "wait your turn" concept again.



After the VERY short ride (I apologize for the video. I have some others that are cute, and if anyone can tell me how to rotate a video clip I would certainly appreciate it), we went inside the big top to see the circus. At first, Mia was, as I had hoped, awestruck! (again apologies for the photo, I do not have the same knack that Catherine has for "self portrait" line ups with the camera!)



And then we watched the circus, with interest for about 7 minutes!



And then she said "I ready to go home", took off out of the stands, flew out the circus tent well before GG could catch her! I have no photos of this, for I was grabbing my purse and in hot pursuit of the fastest little legs this side of the Pecos!


I wonder how many times I drug (is this how you spell taking them kicking and screaming kind of taking, it doesn't seem right, oh well, once again I digress) my girls to things they had no interest in, yet took them because I was interested, or I thought they SHOULD be interested. It is possible that the outing to the Circus could be one of those times, but this time I drug Mia. This is not to say she didn't have fun seeing the elephants and riding one. But, she will not remember it. Besides, the clowns scared her. Not afraid of a 2000 lb elephant, but a man with a red nose and big feet sent her skittering behind my back or between my legs. She did not cry, but she did not want them seeing her either!

Oh well, another memory for me to forget (alas, it happens with age). I just hope Mia remembers it fondly some day.......

More babbling thoughts about being a Grandmother

I am having the wonderful experience of watching Mia during the day while her mom goes to school. I, like all new moms, just become overwhelmed with love and sweetness that exudes from my little Mia's pores. So I am going to babble a bit about those little things that make my day with her.

This morning, snuggled together in my bed, her drinking her morning "hot tea" and we were watching Clifford, or Seasame Street,(I can't remember and it does not matter), I was caressing her little arms and hands and looking at the pure sweetness of it all. The delicate hands, so perfect, and the soft skin covering the sweetest arm. I just wanted to eat it up and remember it forever.

Yesterday, while out shopping with her mom and myself, Mia was sitting in her car seat in the back, and out of the clear blue said, "Mia happy". She was smiling such a big smile at us both. Thought my heart would burst with love.

Today, Mia had to go to time out. She did not mind me. I sat her on the couch, told her why she had to sit there for a minute. She cried and my heart about broke for being the one to make her cry (but, believe it or not, I know it is necessary to make her mind). Anyway, after about 30 seconds of crying (which seemed like HOURS!), she stopped crying, smiled really big and said "Mia happy". Well, how could I refuse that! Of course she was allowed to get up off the couch, of course she was allowed to hug me, and of course, I told her I was happy too! I am after all, her Grandmother.

Tonight, she tried on six pairs of socks (all pulled from her drawer) and 5 pairs of shoes (pulled from a different drawer). The child loves shoes and socks. She also left 5 pairs of shoes in the floor and 6 pairs of socks ended up piled on the couch.....but the pay off was, her sitting in my lap that many times (times two actually, because for every pair we put on, we had to take them off!), me getting to put my arms around her to steady her while we put those socks and shoes on, and me getting to hold those little feet or legs or sweet body.

Soon, Mia will be moving with her mom and Rex to Tomball. They will no longer live here, and I will no longer be her day care taker. I will miss her terribly. My time with her will be so little compared to now. She will be with her mom and Rex, or with her daddy and Christina (CC), or at her much beloved PaPa's (he adores her grandfather, Larry Hegar). I wonder if she will even remember that she lived here. She is so young. It will be up to me to remind her that this was/is/ and always will be her home. I am, after all, her Grandmother.

Purple Bobbies

I was trying to get a video clip specifically for Catherine. Unfortunately it was almost 9 Pm when I did this, so Mia is not overly chatty..........but here is something anyway, Catherine!

Literally

Literally, this is how toddlers think. This may be one of those stories that you had to be there, or at least be a better writer/story teller than I am, but I am going to give it a shot anyway. Last night, having supper at mom's, Jennifer went and got Mia out of "her room", and brought her to the supper table. Jennifer told Mia "you need to eat and we need to put some food in your tummy". Mia did not seem to want to eat. Again, Jennifer stressed the importance of putting food in Mia's tummy to make her grow big and strong. Mia looked very concerned, and really wanted nothing to do with coming to the table. Jennifer said" Mia, we need to put some food in your tummy", and Mia, still looking worried, said "No food in tummy, food in mouth"!......No wonder she didn't want to come to the table!

Pony Tails

It must be noted that Jennifer did not have much hair until she was three, almost four. Now she has a head full. Mia is a chip off the old block, except Jennifer had dark hair and Mia's is light. Mia's hair is getting thicker, and a little longer, but still, not much. Being the impatient GG that I am, I put what she does have (mostly in the back) into a pony tail, and I took these photos.

Update on Potty Training and other unnessary thoughts

We currently have no interest in wearing panties any longer. We have no interest in going on the potty. It seems we like to tee tee in our diaper and wear our poop. I often wonder what makes toddlers tick. Likes and dislikes change daily.

For the first 18 + months of her life, if Mia had an interest in any animated movie, it was "HAPPY FEET". Over and over again she would request that...........up until this past week or so. She is expanding her viewing requests to include "101 Dalmatians", referred by her as "doggie movie", and then last night she really enjoyed "The Fox and the Hound". I know, I know...........TV is just a glorified babysitter. But honestly, my kids would watch Disney's animated "Robin Hood" up to six times in one day......over and over and over again. They seem to have turned out pretty smart and as emotionally stable as one could expect from my kids. It is not like she is watching Jerry Springer!

Which brings me to my last thought of the night. How cool is it that your name becomes a thing.........I mean "Disney"....he was Walt Disney, and now his last name is all you have to know.......it is more of a "thing". A "Disney" movie....what if it were a "Dauphin" movie, or "McCay", or "Klentzman", or "Schmid" or "Schoepf"....see, it just lacks something.......but a "Disney" movie, now that does have a certain ring to it...........anyway, I think it is way cool.

Toddler Language

So those of you with little ones in your life know that sometimes when we are always around those little ones, only we know what they are saying. I mean, it is as clear as crystal to us, especially when spoken in context of the situation. Mia's dad came by tonight to see her, and she was talking to him and kept saying something that I had no clue as to what it was. And I think I am pretty good with Mia talk. Well, her dad was talking to her like he understood, and so, we asked him, what is she saying........she was saying "round bale"! For heavens sake........round bale! It is important here to know that her father is a hay farmer. It is all about the context clues! He teaches her about round and square bales of hay..........for heavens sake, who knew!

Kissing Cousins

Mia and her cousin Kendall were innocently taking a moonlight ride in the John Deer gator, when, someone ( I have yet to hear a name), called out, "Kendall, give Mia a kiss". As the pictures show, we have a loss of innocence.



Looking at the Moon



And he GRABS her................


And lays one on her


WAIT !! I think she LIKES it!



Sharing memories of that special moment


Riding off into the Sunset (wait, I mean moonlight)

We Miss Aunt Catherine

Quiet Country Living

So for those of you who know, earlier this year, our quiet peaceful country living was lost forever. A bar, a "biker" and "redneck" bar opened right next door. They seem to have no respect for those of us who were living quietly before they opened next to us, the infamous "Harley's and Horses" bar. I wanted to include this video I took from my front porch, just in case you ever wondered " how is it living next to a bar ?".


ENOUGH SAID

Mia's Mommie is Engaged

So Mia was instructed by Rex to "run give that to your mommie". Mia is the first official "ring bearer" ! I think it was special to include Mia, because she is a part of the new family. That is a ring box she hands to Jennifer, just in case it is not clear.

Potty training and panties

So the really big news is potty training. We were not in a hurry, and really neither is Mia, it just so happens that she got the hang of it really quick. We can not decide for sure if she is blaming my dog for her poop, or just stating that she poops like the dog.....but she sees it in her potty and says "meg". She actually wore panties out the other day and went all morning without one single accident! She still sleeps in a diaper and still wears them around the house some(typical female, she is fickle about the whole thing right now), and we do not fight her daily decision. She prefers to be naked, and her mom keeps telling her that she can not just run around naked. Needless to say, when she and I are home alone, I let her. Jennifer told me I had to quit letting her do that, because she is getting mixed messages. I will say, being naked makes going to the potty easier! I think we expected the potty training to happen after she turned 2, which will not be until December. How nice to have it done before that!

Cindy made me clean my room. !!...(whine)

Here is my attempt at explaining one of my very special friendships. Cindy is a friend who offered to spend her day helping me complete a task that is, well, awful. (like cleaning my room). She spent her day seeing my dust, and grime and junk and never once said "oh my gosh, what were you thinking!". I actually feel comfortable enough to let her see the worst of my worst. ( I am still not sure what some of the things we found started out being!) She listened to me whine about having to clean my room.(numerous times) Not only did she moderate my overwhelming task, but gave me some great suggestions for making my limited space more functional. I kept wanting to leave to go either buy something(supposedly to make organization easier) or eat something. Cindy made me stay on task. You would think as a functioning adult I could do this on my own. My bedroom/office is(was) evidence that this is not the case. I had been putting off cleaning my room since I moved in my home in 1998. "Thank you Cindy" seems a little insufficient.

I do not have before and after pictures. you just have to use your imagination.....

Empathy

Mia has always had an issue with other babies crying, or sad noises in general. Do not mistake her sadness in this video as being sad for going to bed. It is the music that makes her sad, not the topic.

Mia and You Tube

Catherine has a really cool laptop. She can take videos right on the computer. This is a link to a posting on You Tube where Catherine was talking to Mia and Mia was watching herself on the computer.............

Add on to previous post

A while back I talked about Catherine's college choice, Brown University, and how they have this really cool building, that is "Harry Potter like." Brown has virtual tours available on some of its facilities. I am including a link to their virtual tour thingy. What you have to do is go to the website, and begin the tour..........but you do not have to see the whole Brown Campus............the really cool building is called "Sayles Hall". It is on "view 4"............if you open that and click on it, you can move your mouse around and see then entire building, walls with portraits and the high beautiful ceiling and even the really cool organ. A great tour if you have time.

http://www.brown.edu/Students/Bruin_Club/vtour/