Mia @ 19 Months

Mia turned 19 months today, so I looked back at her photos from last November when Mia wore her Turkey outfit and could only enjoy pureed sweet potatoes. I can't quite believe that the year went by so fast. This time last year, we had no inkling that we could possibly move back to California and here we are in sunny California.
Amen!
At 19 months Mia likes to "sing" small parts of songs she knows. She also spontaneously does things she has learned from music class like tapping beats on her legs. Mia also loves stickers of all kinds and stamps she gets after classes. We are noticing that Mia has been enjoying pretend play on her own and without my initiating. She likes to make phone calls to Papa, pour tea, pretend to get water from the fridge, feed her many Elmos, make soups on her make-shift stove top (looks like a camping stove, i made it from a box, a Sharpie, tape, and some brown paper), and loves to pretend to wash her hands. One day I looked over while I was in the kitchen because I thought I heard her say, Amen. It turned out she was saying grace before a pretend meal.

Master Manipulator of Mama
Mia has been sick for a couple of days resulting in night waking and she is still waking between 5-6 in the morning. Not fun! One night as soon as I stood from the rocker to put her down after I thought she fell back asleep in my arms, she woke up and said, "Mama zuo!" or "Mama sit!" in English. Oh boy, I thought, we have got to stop this on so many levels. Being sick is one thing, but she was milking it! Papa got stern with Mia. My heart just melts because she is sick and I do feel sorry for her, so Papa was the mean one.

Papa very sternly tells Mia to lie back down and go to sleep. He refuses to pick her up when she gets up after he puts her down for the night. Sometimes he holds her down until she gives up. Poor baby! When she wakes at night, he goes in, but does not pick her up. He just tells her to lie back down. Mia seems to understand that she needs to sleep in her crib by herself even though she does not like it one bit. She has been going to sleep without being held, but she does need someone in the room for a little bit. One night Papa kept moving away from her crib until he was in the doorway, but as soon as he was out of sight, Mia started to get up or cry. The next night was better. I stayed on her floor for a few minutes after she lay down before leaving and though she was still awake when I left, she did not cry. Now we have to work on the early morning waking!