Sunday, September 30, 2007

Festival & Family Time

Daryl, Mia and I hit The Old Pecan Street Festival yesterday. No stroller needed! We brought along Mia's legs and Dada's shoulders... the rest of them came, too :) She had the best time running around looking at all the dogs. I liked the crafts, Dada liked the music and beer, Mia liked the dogs...oh and her first raspa! Cherry, and she LOVED it. It was cold, and startled her a bit, but she dug right in once she tasted the sweetness. Mia also had a little bit of a Brown Cow yogurt sample and a smidge of a fajita taco. While I hit a couple of booths, she and her Dada checked out a sidewalk magic show. We wanted, ok 'I' wanted to get Mia's face painted, but the face painting lady didn't look very patient, the Henna lady said Mia probably wouldn't sit still long enough, but she did say to come back in a couple of years. Then we saw the airbrush tattoo spot! Mia sat very still on my lap while getting a Bevo tattoo on her arm. I don't think she knew what was happening, but she just went with it. I'm sorry to say that even though Mia was representin', the Longhorns still lost :( Oh, Mia also scored a balloon, that flew away almost immediately, Mardi Gras beads and a green rubber frog (note to self: remove frog from Mia's pant pocket before wash) from the Greensheet people. I guess THAT'S why toddlers have pockets...for frogs! Mia did very well. She walked about 90% and rode on Dada's shoulders for the rest. We had fun, but we were ready to head over to see her Nana, Paw Paws and Memaw!

After a nice 2 hr nap in the guest room, Mia was up...a little groggy froggy, but up and ready to play. Nana had set up a craft area for the girls. They decorated their own punkins with paint and little foam animal stickers. Mia dug painting the punkin, but LOVED hanging out with a horse on her nose. Gwen, who also went to the festival with her parents, is a toddler!!! Compared to Mia, she has long thin legs, but don't let that fool you. She's a walker and can do squats with those oh so powerful legs of hers. Joe got a fabulous new phone that he downloaded some Music Together songs on, so Gwen was able to demonstrate her dancing skills. Joe also enchanted Gwen with the big yellow bird marionette. Gwen was delighted :)

Nana & Paw Paw made some delicious brisket, potato salad, beans, salad and rolls that everyone devoured. Mia wasn't very hungry so she decided on coloring..on her paper and the floor and the glass door.... They're wonderful washable markers, so it was ok. The girls played well together, but when Mia was approached by Gwen, Mia let her know not to come any closer by giving her a very small, gentle push. Melissa was very sweet and let me know that she was ok with it. I guess that one was hard for me, because she's starting to push other kids that vary between soft touches to 'I'm gonna push you far away from me, and I don't care if you fall on your butt' and she's even started hitting Niles. I know the girl needs her space, but I feel that any touch that isn't affectionate isn't acceptable. Especially when Mia really can't tell the difference between how hard she's pushing. Suzy has a 'no touching' rule with Livie that works extremely well. When waiting to go down the slide, she won't push another kid along. If she needs more space, she'll just step aside and find a little more room for herself. Since Daryl and I have seen this technique modeled, and seen how well Livie works things out for herself, this is something we are working on with Mia. Finding a parenting style that works for your family is hard work and hopefully not a lot of trial and error.

There's talk of getting the Here for the Beer pool league team back together. I'd be more than happy to watch Mia once a week, so her Dada can go have some guy time. He's been so sweet watching her while I have my Mama/Girls nights out, and those do me a world of good. He deserves it :)

Oh, I almost forgot about the neato mosquito new Elmo car Nana and Paw Paw got for the girls. It has all these buttons and things that make things happen. Mia digs the horn. Paw Paw even gave Mia a spin around the pool table. Speaking of the pool table, Paw Paw used it and the pool balls to give Mia a lesson in colors. p.s. fav color no longer purple. now everything is blue. Paw Paw let Mia hang out with Radosh the snake...out of the cage. Mia was great with it until Paw Paw put him on the floor. She ended up petting him and everything, but was very wary of his head. You have to check out the video :)
Mia gets a birds' eye view of the festival
Mia getting her Bevo tat
yogurt, no. doggie, yes
Snapper taking a break
watching the game with her Paw Paw
the bird & her Daddy thrill Gwen
arts & crafts with Nana
Gwen gets in on it, too
checking out the nake (Mia doesn't feel the need to add a 's')

Fun with the family


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