Mia was looking out her window for the neighbor dog named "Ike". She asked me where he was. I told her maybe he was inside or out for a walk, and she offered, "Maybe Ike is at I-Kea, Mommy?" with a big smile. :)

Mia attended her first day at Spanish immersion preschool and got an excellent report card stating that she was interactive with others and repeated so many words that it would be impossible to write them all down. She listened and spoke during circle time, took a good walk and followed directions well. We are so proud of her! Muy bien!

Daddy was singing to Mia in the car. On her 15th request for "more", after singing the same song at least that many times he told her that they were almost home and Daddy's voice was getting soar. Mia responded by saying, "Daddy sing it softer."  Of course, he did. :)

It is October in Seattle and the rains have begun. This is bad news for Mia, who has recently decided she does not like rain. When she started to get upset, saying "no rain," I pointed out that rain is just water from the sky. It makes the grass green and the trees and flowers grow, etc. Now she gets upset when it rains and cries, "no, water...water from the sky!"

Mia asked for a pretzel in the car (she knows they are in the car, and thus she always asks for a pretzel). We told her she could have a cookie at home or a pretzel now in the car, but she had to choose one. She thought about it and responded, "Bye, bye, pretzel."

Mia continues to amaze us with her incredible vocabulary and verbal skills. The tables are now turned and rather than us asking her to name things, she now asks us constantly "what's this?," even if she knows the answer. I guess she heard that question from us enough. She is putting words together and speaking in short phrases. She loves music and singing. Check-out the link to her videos (see the New Videos link below) to hear her singing "Twinkle, Twinkle," and The ABC song, in addition to her whaling on the drums in music class. She also sings "The Wheels on the Bus" and "If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands". Not only does she like to sing and play music, she loves to listen to it. In fact, if the music stops between songs she gets upset and cries for more "music!" in between every song. One of my favorite stories is when we were in the car and Mia asked me to put on some music. Once it was on she started dancing in her chair and said, "rock out!" That's my girl, the little rocker! She also counts to 10 pretty consistently...although no matter how many things there are to count (even if there are only 4 or 5) she typically still counts to 10.

Mia is very loving and affectionate. She gives lots of kisses and hugs, as well as Eskimo and butterfly kisses. She loves doggies (what toddler doesn't) and knows to be very "gentle." She is often chasing after the kitties saying "gentle pat pat" and trying to hug them. They do their best to stay clear of her.

What else can we say? She is soooo much fun. We are all having a blast!

Mia had a great birthday party, as you can see. Celebrated with family and a few close friends, including her buddy Dashielle (Dash). She enjoyed daintily dipping her finger in the frosting, but didn't do the big cake in the face devouring that the cameras love. She's such a little lady.

In January the family went on a cruise through the Western Caribbean with all of Len's family (thanks to Grandma Ria). Check out some pictures from our trip in the 12 months gallery. True to form, Mia was a good traveler and has an adventurous spirit. She loved the ocean, swimming with sting rays, meeting monkeys and parrots.

She is quite the chatter box, and her language skills are ahead of "schedule". She seems to understand most of what we are saying. For instance, if you ask her if she's hungry, she crawls over to her high chair. She has about 20-30 words that she recognizes and says - at least that we have caught on to. She is signing a bit, but the signs don't always correlate to the words.

You will find her standing most of the time, but she hasn't taken any steps on her own yet.

If you can't tell, we are very proud of her!

If you'd like to see all the pics from Mia's party follow these links (you may have to copy them into your web browser). Some are pics Len and I took, and the other link is from our professional photographer friend, Kathy.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=tys04yj.ao4yofhz&x=0&y=baaxv9

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=s6y73eb.4epdo7x3&x=0&y=gw4mx3