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/

Warm Fuzzy's

So my last blog was kind of a downer, and I promised new pictures of Mia. Those of you who are parents, or grandparents, all understand the difficulty in selecting a picture to post. Heck, we all know our kids/grandkids are the cutest, and each picture is the best ever!

This should explain why I have added quite a few.


Catherine put Mia's "hair ?" in piggytails.



Mia loves shoes. Usually one at a time, but when she agrees to wear two, they very seldom are a matching pair!


Playing outside at Memaw's house, it was hot, and a cool drink was called for.


When you are 19 months, and have a mouthfull of water, what better way to make use of it than to spit it out and water the grass!



Remember the movie "Cool Hand Luke".......this is "Cool Head Mia"




Mia has beautiful green eyes, like her mother. I think you could call this her "mischievous" look. That is much more politically correct than saying she was being a "toot" !


Catherine took several really cute pictures on this day with Mia in the play area. It is all about the eyes in this one.

And last but not least, Tata and MiMi. Tata is what Mia calls Catherine and MiMi is what she calls herself. They were playing in the car. Mia loves to drive up the driveway from Memaw and Grand Dads house.

Not so Much Fun

After 48 years, I finally got called to jury duty when I didn't have a nursing baby, or wasn't a full time college student. So, with willing heart I went downtown Houston. That is not true. I willingly went to jury duty, I was not willing to go downtown Houston, but I had no choice. Which lead me to riding the Metro bus for the first time ever in my life. After a full day of questions and such by the judge and both sides of the attorneys, I got picked. Let me say, I was the one and only one who wanted to be there and wanted to be selected for jury duty. We were told the trial could take a full week, it was a criminal case. I saw it as an adventure and a privilege, and I know that if I were accused of doing something wrong, or I was taking someone to court for something they did wrong, I would want someone like me on the jury.......someone who did not mind being there! Enough of my soap box........


Listening to the testimony, hearing the evidence, listening to real live CSI type of policemen, riding metro, visiting with fellow jurors..............all of that was exactly what I thought it would be like.

The case was Aggravated robbery. Which is robbery with a deadly weapon. Punishable 5 to 99 years in prison. It took us less than 30 minutes to deliberate on guilt or innocence. They had finger prints along with the eye witness(the victim in this case).

It took us over 4 hours to deliberate on the punishment, and honestly we could have gone on for days, for we were VERY divided at first. After much discussion and cussin' and debate, we settled on 10 years in prison.

As jury foreman, I was the one who told the judge we had come to a verdict and what it was. I made sure as the sentence was being read, I looked the young man and his family in the eyes. The judge read our verdict out loud, he and his family cried some more, and they lead him off in handcuffs.

We walked back to the jury room and I felt as emotionally drained and as emotionally confused as the day I stood in front of the judge to get my divorce. (It actually took me a while to place where I had felt like that before............I kept thinking "childbirth" and going "nope" in my head, and then "car wreck" and going "nope" again, and then like a punch in the gut............divorce.

The finality of both decisions. The life changes brought on by both decisions. The sadness of the whole affair. These are the common threads. I was on my way to really breaking down and sobbing, like I did after the judge basically said" I now pronounce you NOT man and wife any longer"...............but what saved me was both the defense attorney and the prosecuting attorney coming into the jury room and speaking with us all. We had done a good thing. We had made the right decision. Everything was as it should be. Once again, similar to "THE END" of my marriage.

I learned a whole lot. I once again appreciate my country and my rights as a citizen of this great country. Next time, I just hope its traffic court!



As soon as I catch up on work, I have some new great pictures of Mia.......

Catherine has a Blog

Catherine, being the thoughtful person she is, realized that it would be a great way for people to know what is going on with her while she is far far away at Brown. She has created her own blog. So, if you are interested check her out at:



http://catherineatbrown.blogspot.com

Mia saying "I love you"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nkUWNKR1Fv4