Mia Bean,
You were sixteen months old this week, and I wish I could take a single day with you right now, wrap it in plastic, hide it in the back of the freezer and save it forever.
It is hard to figure out what to say this month, because every time I turn around there is something new, you are somehow different. You absorb everything around you and incorporate it all into yourself and then spit it back out with your own special spin. You are so whip smart that is scares me. Maybe all toddlers are that way, I don't know, but you send me reeling with the things you know, both the things we taught you and the things we didn't.
After refusing to talk until you were good and ready, you have developed quite a vocabulary this month. You will mimic lots of words, but the ones you volunteer are mama, dada, bye-bye, bubble, back pack, ball, (fruit) bar, diaper, hat, book, umbrella, and Olivia. I admit, it takes a discerning ear to know what you are saying and to tell the difference between most of these words, but you know what you are saying and, more often than not these days, so do I.
When asked, you can identify Mommy, Daddy, and Mia, Grandma, Papa, Mimi, Grandpa and Baba. You can also point to you own or anyone else's nose, ears, hair, head, mouth, tummy, hands, knees, feet, toes, and bottoms. I taught you bottom just because I thought it would be funny, and it is.
It can be very frustrating to be sixteen months old. You know and understand so much these days but can still communicate so little that you are often reduced to tears and angry screaming when I don't understand what you want. You are also reduced to tears and angry screaming when I do understand what you want but refuse to comply. Sometimes I glimpse a preview of your toddler tantrums, and I admit I think you will mature into a formidable opponent. The rules are pretty cut and dry, though: no, I will not give you a knife to chew on to stop you from screaming, but yes, I will give you Daddy's toothbrush.
You are growing up so quickly now. More often than not you sleep through the night, and you have even started to eat something other than your four acceptable foods. In the past week you have tried, and seemingly liked, scrambled eggs, two kinds of pasta with tomato sauce, raisins and banana. You did not like the vegetables from my fajitas, but hey, they can't all be winners.
You are obsessed with socks, shoes, books, and the contents of your newly designated Mia Cupboard. One of your continuing favorite games is to come up behind someone sitting on the floor and push them until they fall over. Then you lean down and give hugs and kisses and pats on the back for a while, and then sit your chosen target back up and do it all again. I could happily play this game with you for hours because the hugs and kisses are so precious to me.
Mia Bean, you are not my little baby anymore. You are a little girl, a real person with real thoughts and ideas and desires. Getting to know you over the past sixteen months and again with every day is a great and awesome blessing on my life.
Love,
Mama
Comments (21)
Reading about Miss Mia always makes me excited to have a child of my own :) Hard to believe it's been 16 months!
Posted by Stephanie | November 26, 2006 7:06 PM
I hope you're writing down all of the things she says. Years from now, even the smallest detail of her growth will be important to her...as well as entertaining.
Posted by wordgirl | November 26, 2006 8:28 PM
Reading this reminds me so much of when Sam was this age. I am sorry to tell you that I do not remember the babyhoods of my other two children nearly as well.
Last night, when I was putting Tommy and Christian to bed, they asked me to tell them some stories about when they were little, and boy, I was stumped. I just started talking very sloooowly, and they started interrupting me, which was good, with their imagined memories, which was funny.
I do start to remember things once I start talking to them, or if I have pictures.
I don't know for certain whether I don't remember because I was so tired from the pregnancies and close births, or whether I blocked out that period of my life because my marriage was so bad. At any rate, reading about your life with Mia gives it back to me, one post at a time. Thank you.
Posted by jen | November 26, 2006 8:34 PM
Oh Mia, Mia, Mia. Where is the time going? I can tell by Mommy's letter that you are changing each and every day. Growing and becoming more and more of your own person. Glad to hear your eating more and sleeping more and talking more. All wonderful things for 16 months. How great is all of this?
Posted by Maribeth | November 26, 2006 8:38 PM
That Mia is one pretty cool kid.
Happy sixteen months, big girl! That pushover game sounds like a winner to me.
Posted by Sam | November 26, 2006 8:47 PM
What an amazing little girl. What a gift to her to write down what you were feeling and doing with her at this age.
Posted by Bunny | November 26, 2006 9:01 PM
The thing the makes me happier, prouder of you, and more wishing I lived closer to you than anything else is that you, too, felt the need to put (fruit) in front of the word bar.
Yeah, we'd sooo be friends.
Posted by mr lady | November 26, 2006 11:20 PM
This is going to be so precious to her one day. And it's really sweet for us to read now too! Except I have this killer baby jones right now, and nothing to cure it!!!
Posted by Heather | November 27, 2006 3:27 AM
Beautifully written!
So it's 4:30 AM and I've been up for hours with a cranky, teething baby. This entry certainly gives me a little better perspective.
Posted by Suz | November 27, 2006 5:48 AM
So sweet! Thanks for sharing her with us.
Hugs from pseudo Aunt Wicked!
Posted by Wicked H | November 27, 2006 8:22 AM
my uterus thanks you for sharing some of your precious baby girl with us. Although now I am going to have to spend all day telling it to be patient and wait until I'm ready for my own little miracle! :-)
Posted by diane | November 27, 2006 9:05 AM
:)
Mia is proof that Daya will, one day, have a favourite word other than..."Daya".
Posted by jessica | November 27, 2006 10:17 AM
I so enjoyed your post today. She is growing up so fast! I also enjoyed Chris' blog and the Thanksgiving pictures. You are such a beautiful family. Thank you for sharing your lives through this blog.
Hugs to you all,
Trish
Posted by Trish Vicory | November 27, 2006 10:27 AM
Awesome, awesome age.
Posted by Jonathon | November 27, 2006 10:27 AM
Her birthday was only yesterday!!
When did all this happen. Walking, talking, screaming (oops, forgot she already knew how to do that).
It's wonderful.
Posted by ann adams | November 27, 2006 12:32 PM
*tear*
Posted by Sparkle Pants | November 27, 2006 12:58 PM
We used to tell the Kid that he'd eventually grow up to be... a human:-)
Posted by vieux bandit | November 27, 2006 2:15 PM
Ahhh she's getting so big. Great letter. I love that age. Some days I wish I could hit rewind on mine just for a day.
Posted by Melissa | November 27, 2006 3:16 PM
The monkey turns 16 months on Nov. 28th. My heart is still melting from reading this. I want to cry because I relate so well to this. I just have one question: Olivia? You mean, Olivia from the book *Olivia*? Why? ;)
Posted by Haley-O | November 27, 2006 3:58 PM
It always amazes me how fast the little monsters grow. The other day I asked Aaron if he wanted some grapes and he told me (word for word) "Actually mommy, I want some applesauce." I'm kind of missing the baby gibber-jaber.
Posted by nikki | November 28, 2006 8:52 AM
Beth-that was really sweet! Every time I read one of your monthly updates I am both happy for the joy you have being Mia's mom and what I have to look forward to with my little boy.
Posted by Inga | November 30, 2006 9:40 PM