Mireya Has Learned So Much!

Mireya started talking a million months ago (or so if feels like.) Her vocabulary is growing steadily. Every single day now she is learning new words and I'm constantly surprised. Sometimes it isn't exactly a pleasant surprise, but most of the time it's awesome. She can say:

• Mama


• Dad


• Nana


• baby


• Jason


• pancake


• uh oh


• caca (as in yucky)


• cat


• dog


• cheesy


• eggs


• wawa aka water


• poop (yeah, surprised me too!)


• butt (no, I did not teach her this!)


• book


• ball


• done


• yes


• no


• yeah


• hooray


• yep


• weeeeeeee


• what


• nope


• banana


• bird


• boom


• alright


• duck


• potty


• pretty

She also repeats short phrases that we say, but of course I can't think of any right now. I know there are a bunch more words too, but they've also slipped my mind. That's what I get for not writing them down I suppose. Anyway, she also knows a ton of sign language now. She can sign:

• eat


• more


• milk


• water


• please


• thank you


• book


• baby


• hat


• mom


• dad


• ball


• done


• dog


• telephone


• flower

She can name a ton of body parts with ease. She can name:

• head


• face


• teeth


• lips


• tongue


• hair


• chin


• nose


• ears


• eyes


• elbow


• knee


• hands


• feet


• toes


• fingers


• belly button


• baby belly (that's what I call it and it's so cute!!!)


• baby buns (these are cute too!)


• nipples (she kept asking...)

Mireya can show you how old she is. She holds up one finger and then she usually claps for herself. She can show you how many five is too. She knows what nearly everything is in the house. I love that I can actually talk to her about stuff and she knows what I'm saying even if she can't talk a whole lot in return. It's so nice to be able to ask, "Do you want to _____?" I spend a lot less time trying to figure out what she wants than I used to, which is a huge relief. That means she spends a lot less time being frustrated too.

I write these posts about all the stuff Mireya can do for all of you, but mostly to document what I can. I don't know anyone who knows what they did and when they did it when they were as little as Mireya. We can all name a few things that our parents told us, but not a ton. There certainly aren't a million easily accessible photos and videos of either my childhood or Jason's. Mireya is going to have it all at her fingertips. I hope she realizes how amazing it is. I know it makes me feel old to think of all the things she is going to grow up with and take for granted (cell phones, internet, etc) that I still marvel at. I remember memorizing friends phone numbers and calling them on the phone attached to the wall. I also remember my first cell phone being this giant brick. Remember floppy disks and DOS? I do. I had a portable stereo that took tapes. Now I have speakers in my ceiling in every room of the house and I use my computer to stream music. Man, I've started rambling.

Anyway, Mireya, I hope you enjoy reading all of this one day about all the stuff you did as a baby and a child. I sure enjoy writing about you and bragging about how totally awesome you are. You are my sweet baby Mookie pants and I love you very, very much!!! I'm going to write so much between now and when you are old enough to blog yourself that it will be like a fully illustrated novel. Bear with me baby girl :)

My Baby Rocks a Shower Cap!

Allergic to Hidden Valley Ranch?

Mireya had a whole bunch of fruit and snacks a little over a week ago, and by the time she was done eating I noticed that she had red, raised areas around her mouth. I assumed it was a mild allergic reaction to something she had eaten and gotten around her mouth, but I wasn't sure which food did it. Then, two days ago, she got a horrible rash all around her mouth and on other areas of her face as well as her arms. The only thing she had eaten were some veggie crunchies dipped in Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. She has had the veggie things a million times, so I know it was the ranch. I figured it's a pretty bizarre allergy. Who has heard of kids being allergic to ranch? I was curious, so I just googled it and it's apparently a common skin reaction and most kids not only outgrow it, but they don't consider it a true allergy unless you have swelling of the tongue, mouth or throat. Mireya seemed totally oblivious to anything going on, so I don't think hers is a true allergy, but it scared the hell out of me! To be on the safe side, I'm not going to give her any more for awhile. I'm also going to ask the pediatrician about it.

Doesn't the middle photo just break your heart?

LOL Mireya

Mireya did the funniest thing the other day. She was watching tv and eating a piece of toast. She was kind of running back and forth like she usually does. Jason and I were talking on the couch. Mireya goes barreling over to Jason saying, "Dad, Dad!" She has her arm out and Jason figures that she's done with her toast and she is giving him whats left as usual. Jason holds his hand out and takes the toast, only to realize that it's cat vomit! EEEWW! Jason screamed like a girl and flew up off the couch. Mireya was all shocked, like, "What? What's going on? What did I do?" I guess one of our kitties barfed behind the loveseat and we hadn't yet noticed. Mireya found it and thought Dad should have it. It was hilarious! I only wish I had it on video.

 

Happy 4th of July!

This year was Mireya's 2nd  4th of July, but it felt like her first. Last year Mireya was so young (4 months) that we didn't feel like we needed to bother doing many fireworks or celebrating, because she wouldn't be aware of everything enough to enjoy it. This year, though she's still very young, we decided to celebrate with a dinner and fireworks. I invited Nana, Uncle Jaime and Uncle Jesse over. We ate spinach artichoke dip, bruschetta, mini couscous-stuffed bell peppers, rice stick salad and fruit tartlets. It was all really good and Mireya ate a bit of everything. She really enjoyed the bruschetta and the fruit tartlets. I also gave her Oreos and Reese's sticks too, which disappeared pretty darn quick. After we had all stuffed ourselves, I had to pop Mireya in the tub. She was super happy and super messy.

Then we all went out and sat in the driveway to watch Daddy light fireworks. It was still light out, but I didn't want to keep Mireya up really late, which would have been the case had we waited for dark. Anyway, Mireya wanted to get down and run over to help Daddy and it was tough to keep her still and on someone's lap between fireworks. She was absolutely mesmerized by them, particularly the fountains. I was glad she was enjoying them. We really only did any fireworks, because we wanted her to see them and experience something new and exciting. I didn't enjoy them much, however, because I knew how dangerous they were and it was clear that she wanted to go touch the pretty colorful things. After all, Daddy was touching them, so why couldn't she? Thus, I have to admit that I was terribly anxious the entire time. Mireya is just so darn fast and I had images of her slipping out of my arms and barreling over to Daddy just in time to get horribly burned. Ugh. I drive myself crazy. Welcome to parenthood, right?

By the time the fireworks were done, Mireya was too pooped to party. We put her straight into bed and all of us ate caramel apples dipped in chocolate and candy and lemon-lime orange julius. Here in Cedar, there is a big firework display at 10:00 at the airport. It's really close to us, so everyone in the neighborhood goes outside and watches it from their driveway. I wasn't initially planning to wake Mireya up for them, but she was already stirring from all the local fireworks, so I figured why not? I snuggled her up in a blanket and took her outside. She got so excited!! She pointed at all of the really big ones and she kept looking at us with a HUGE grin. It was definitely worth her losing 15 minutes of sleep over. Plus, she went straight back to sleep when they were done.

It's going to be so much fun when she gets older to take her to one of the really big firework shows at the U of U or someplace. Holidays in general are so much more fun with a child. The excitement and happiness that seems to ooze out of her every pore is amazing and contagious. She is such a cutie pants!!

 

Mireya in her 4th of July outfit. Her shirt says, "Miss Independent."

Mireya and Uncle Jaime watching the fireworks.

  [mobileme url="http://gallery.me.com/mireya.ruesch#100351/July%204th%202011&bgcolor=black"]

Mireya Picasso Wallo

Mireya loves to color. Every morning after she eats breakfast, I take her into her room to get dressed for the day. While I'm getting her out of her pajamas and into her day clothes, she's getting out all her coloring books and her pail of crayons. She generally colors for 10 minutes or so before moving on to other things. One day, I had to do something really quickly, so against my better judgment I left her alone with the crayons. I got back to her maybe 2 minutes later, no big deal right? Wrong. The first thing I noticed were the shredded coloring books, then I saw that when she grinned at me her teeth were all different colors. (She had clearly needed a morning snack of Crayola.) The next thing I saw was the wall. Mireya had scribbled all over a small section of it. She was very proud of it and eager to show me. It wasn't much, but ever since she realized that the crayons write on more than just her coloring books, I have to watch her very closely. She has now tried them on everything from the walls, to her clothing, to Daddy's face. Good news folks! Crayola crayons work on everything!

Mireya Loved the Groovefest

We went to the Groovefest/Arts Festival today and had so much fun! Mireya loved the music. She danced and sang with the live bands that were playing. She also thoroughly enjoyed meandering around the various booths. It was a little frustrating from time to time, because she wanted to touch everything, of course.

We stopped at the food booths first. We got a funnel cake that she devoured and said, "Mmmmm. Mmmm." She also ate several caramels and she drank almost our entire lemonade. I went to get a drink and it was down to nearly all ice. When I asked Jason if he drank it, he said no and when we looked at Mireya, she smiled really big and said, "Mmmm..." She is so funny! We also got a caramel apple, but Mireya only wanted the apple part and she kept handing me the sucked on, soggy caramel peel portions. Joy.

Mireya got to see a ton of different dogs. I think anyone who owned a dog in Cedar brought it with them to the festival. Mireya adores dogs and she "woofed" at each of them. It was clear that she was intrigued with all the various sizes that dogs come in. She saw huge huskies, tiny terrier puppies, and every size in between. She is going to love it when we get a dog. Surprisingly though, she was very nervous whenever she had the opportunity to actually touch a dog. She didn't seem to like the idea that they weren't going to be as aloof about it as our kitties. They wanted to sniff her face and lick her hands and she wasn't going to let them. Ah well. I saw it as a great excuse to pet dogs... "Excuse me, my daughter would love to pet your dog. Would that be alright?" :) I did most of the petting.

The coolest part of the whole festival was this booth with a guy who was drawing names using a technique called leather brush art. Mireya hasn't got a clue how amazing it was, but when she's older, I think she's really going to appreciate having her name drawn in such a way. It was an absolutely phenomenal thing to watch. The man made each letter out of an animal or a nature scene and they all have different meanings. Mireya's are as follows: M-Mountain with a Waterfall--bravery and hero. I-Penguin--Success. R-Lighthouse and Dolphin--happiness and strength. E-Catcus, Canyon, Bird and Sun-- long life, bravery, good luck, and ambition. Y-Monkey and a Palm Tree--wisdom and long life. A-Bird and a Butterfly--good luck and pleasure.