Mia's Latest Masterpiece

We are out of school again today. She is having some kind of allergic reaction in her eyes, presumably from the dust I stirred up when changing out the air filters for the furnace. One is directly across from her room and though I tried to be careful, they were nasty. I was sneezing and coughing with water eyes myself, but she actually has irritation. She had a bit of eye discharge last night but it seems to have subsided. I kept her out of school just to be safe, even though she doesn't appear to have conjunctivitis. She's just red and puffy, but an uncomfortable kid doesn't learn well so we stayed home and watched PBS. After the kids portion ended we played board games and the wii.
It turned out to have a silver lining, this staying home business. We got a call from Gary! This is twice in a week, so we're pretty lucky. Mia likes talking to him and I know the feeling is mutual.

Not much else is happening. I'm working on getting through the math final, first week of December. We're going to Helen's for Thanksgiving, with the extra treat of having Susie and Mark in town. I'm also working on Christmas presents, either buying or making them. I'm not as diligent as I was last year about DIY. I still have time but then again I don't!

We got our snow!

The weather forecast for Friday night was supposed to include snow, but we awoke to a less-than-white Saturday morning. We took that as a sign that we were supposed to go to yoga. We had a pretty full class and Mia even listened :) Saturday evening, I dropped Mia at Helen's house to share a babysitter and we went out for a few hours for some big person time! We walked around some shops at Briargate and ate at PF Changs, which has an excellent gluten free menu! It's nice to be able to eat oriental food and not feel horrible all through the next day! It began to snow before we made it to dinner and didn't stop until the wee hours of the morning. We woke up to at least two inches, many more in some areas where the snow was blowing. Mia asked to go out, which is labor intensive since it takes a good twenty minutes to get both of us into our snowsuits. She had a good hour of running around and rolling in the snow before our cheeks got too cold.

Firefighter Mia!

That's how she introduced herself to everyone on our neighborhood playground today, "Hi! I'm Firefighter Mia!" Officer Sam came to her preschool today and talked about 911 and stranger danger. This is great because I've been working with her to memorize what to tell a dispatcher if she did have to call 911. She almost has her address memorized, if I start it she can finish it flawlessly. Last night I heard her telling Cat, "If you get a fire on you, you have to STOP DROP AND ROLL to get it off." She also frequently coaches her stuffed animals on how to call 911 on the telephone. She's definitely into the idea of being a firefighter and saving people as her first career choice! It's funny because I remember wanting to be a firefighter or a paramedic when I was little. I was so enamored with the idea of saving the day and never missed an episode of Rescue 911! Tuesday nights, remember Mom? I'd be so disappointed if it turned out to be a re-run or didn't come on! I tried to upload a video of Mia talking about what she learned, but it didn't want to cooperate. Bummer!

Firefighter Mia on the playground, ready for action!

Taken a few days ago, she just smiled so beautifully I couldn't resist!

Where there is a smile, there is also a goofball face!

Halloween!

Our Halloween started early Friday morning. Ruth Washburn lets the kids come to class in costumes if they wish, and Mia chose to dress up as a ballerina in on of my old recital costumes! We added some leg warmers and a turtleneck to make it weather appropriate.

She climbed in her box and watched PBS until I got it together enough to leave!

Halloween night, she dressed up as Belle in a costume that Mimmy sent last month. We made a loop around the neighborhood. She actually said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" this year! There were a few people in the neighborhood that had creepy costumes and props like very loud chainsaws. She was the bravest little princess! She looked at Chainsaw Guy and walked right by him to the bowl of candy that he was "guarding" and even told him "Thank you!" The only thing she didn't do was go into a neighbor's garage that was super dark and set up like a mad scientist lab...or something. We're not sure since we didn't go in! After we came back to our house we sat outside and handed out candy. I think that was more fun for her. Someone put a little miniature My Little Pony in her bag instead of candy, so it really didn't matter to her that she couldn't eat any of it! She slept with it and chose to name it Cuties!

Mia Art!

Snowy Day!

We woke up to a dusting of snow that later turned into bonafide snow showers! We started early this morning with feeding therapy. Her tongue thrust is still stubborn. It is so obstinate that her therapist is considering trying to send her to the "tongue thrust guru". The thrust is an issue because it interferes with eating properly. She is swallowing things without chewing or chewing enough which is bad for your esophagus and makes your digestive tract have to work harder to process and break the food down. It doesn't help that she has been sick and off of her food/drink, tubing the formula just enables her to avoid eating which she seems perfectly happy to do.
After therapy we hightailed it to the hospital on post for her nutrition appointment. I left my phone at home so didn't receive the phone call from her dietitian asking if we could come in early. It was a good thing that it was a flexible request. I need a phone that yells before I walk out of the door so I don't forget it. The good news is that she is GAINING WEIGHT! She is 31.2 lbs, so tweaking the formula worked! We are going to leave things the way they are for the time being. If she continues to gain weight too rapidly, we would have to adjust the formula again to make it less calorie dense. We've never had to do that before! Normally the suggested weight gain for a girl her age is 5 grams per day. Since our last visit with the dietitian Mia gained 34 grams per day! She isn't too worried about it, thinking that her body needs to play catch up anyway. She hasn't gained more than 31 in the past week, so she's not steamrolling out of control.
After we were finished with the nutrition appointment we went home to gather her school things and boogied off to preschool. It was still snowing, but the wind had developed quite a nip. When we take the kids to preschool, they have us wait out at the playground. The area that we eventually go into is a commons, so I'm not sure why they have us stand in the cold with our cheeks freezing solid. They open the door at 1230 sharp, but I wish they would make an exception on very cold or very rainy days. It was so cold that they kept them inside for recess, Mia said. I let her run around outside when we got home, just enough that she got some good snowballs in with the boys next door!

Warming up after playing in the snow. Boxes are a favorite perch.

Trying to keep up with three older boys is tough work!

He's showing her how to pack a snowball

A few older photos popped up...

Mia seems to be on the mend! Her fever finally broke on Saturday morning but she was still feeling poorly. She perked up by Monday, looking a little pale and still battling the cough. She went back to school today (so did Mommy) and seemed to have a good day. She came home with a drawing of herself, we named her Mini Mia.

Feeling pooky on Saturday. She was sitting in front of the television watching a movie and when I came back in to check on her she was face down, asleep on the floor!

These next few are a couple of months old, they were hiding on my small camera!

Auntie Heather sent her flower girl dress early. We either have to have it altered or Mia has some serious weight to pack on!

Typical Morning Mia Hair

Daddy brought her birthday present home with him. They have a little market set up on the weekends at the base, many vendors sell their work and he found the prettiest little jewelery box. It has a flower carved on the lid and it's made of rosewood.

Playing with the ponies before ballet class

Our official gear inspector

I believe this was her first day of preschool at Patriot Elementary