Happy 2nd Birthday Mia Monkey

And, in keeping with tradition, I'm late on Mia's birthday post, too. Anyway, Miss Mia turned TWO June 25th. I can't believe it. So I tried to do a little birthday interview like I did with Aspen, but Mia just said whatever Aspen said or whatever was in her immediate view. So I'm just going to write what I observe about her. :)
1. Height and Weight: 30 3/4 inches, 21.5 pounds
2. Favorite Food: cheese for sure. This girl is definitely like mommy in that way!
3. Favorite movie: Pocahontas. One of my very favorite things to come out of her mouth is "Watch po-ca-hon-tas" and she says it so clearly and its the cutest thing to have such a big word come out of her little mouth! :)
4. Favorite book: Brown Bear, Goodnight Moon
5. Favorite toy: Balls and dolls.
6. Favorite Activity: screaming, running, falling, CLIMBING!
7. Best friend(s): Aspen for sure. She adores her big sister. Mia follows Aspen around and copies everything she does and says.
8. Personality Traits: Sweet, funny, wild, strong-willed, reserved, loving, affectionate, helpful,adventurous, fearless.
16. Our thoughts about you from the last year: Oh our little Mia Munchkin Monkey Monster....everything you do, you do with passion! You are by far the most strong-willed child, person really, I have ever met. You are the sweetest little girl on earth, unless you are crossed, and then look out world! You are so loving and affectionate, you love to give kisses to the people you love. Isaac right now is on the receiving end of most of your love and affection these days. I love getting you up in the morning and after your nap because I'm always greeted with a big Mia hug, or "squeeze me, mommy!" as you put it. And a kiss. You are so cute and sweet when you wake up. Definitely a morning person, you are on the go constantly from the moment you wake up. You are somewhat shy when you are first around people, but once you warm up, you are fine.

You seem to love, above all else, to climb up on things and jump off. And so, consequently, you constantly have scabs and bruises, scrapes and scratches. Especially on your face for some reason. You have so much spunk and spirit and are so fearless. It cracks me up some of the things you manage to climb up on. We think maybe you'll be a little gymnast or something like that. You love daddy to "throw me to the clouds" and you get so excited to do anything up high. You are on the go constantly and get very excited about a lot of things. The way I can tell when you're about to do something really wild is that you are awake! ha, ok, not that bad, but you are definitely active and adventurous. You are very much like your daddy in a lot of ways and that is one of them. You have what we call "crazy eyes" and we know you're about to tornado our lives! When you get that glint in your eye, we know what's coming. You keep us on our toes and busy for sure.

But you also have a few calm moments in the day. You are good about sitting and reading books or coloring. You also play really well with little cars and little toys that you can hold in your hand. You like to put princess slippers on and walk around with a purse in your hand full of rocks and little dolls. You have the cutest little voice when you are being sweet and you can be very charming when you want to be. :) You like to be held, especially by mommy. Most days you follow me around saying "up mommy, up mama, up mommy, up mama!!!" And if mommy or daddy are sitting and you want us to play with you, you come up and in your sweet as pie voice, say "hold my hand" and won't stop saying it until we hold your hand and you guide us to wherever you want us to be at that moment. Persistent. ;)



And you absolutely adore Aspen. You follow her around and copy nearly everything she does and says. Because of that, you have a REALLY great little vocabulary for a two year old! You can copy most words really well. :) YOu like to talk a lot and when you run out of things, you just start naming things off that you see...tree, apples, clouds, whatever. :) And when you and Aspen aren't playing together, you are fighting like crazy. It reminds me a lot of me and Aunt Carrie. The best of friends - play great together and fight even better. True sisters, through and through. I can't imagine you without Aspen, or Aspen without you.

You love to eat! Another way you are just like daddy! ;) You sometimes eat more than a grown man. We wonder where all those calories go...

You also really like to clean! You like to put socks over your hands and wipe down the walls and the counters and mostly, the windows. Its pretty cute. You also like to take baby wipes and clean the tv, the chairs, the floor, whatever you can reach. And you are always right there to help mommy load and unload the dishes, as well as the washer and dryer. I hope that when you are older, you will still like to help out. :)

Oh Mia, we just love you so much. You are always entertaining and there's never a dull moment when you're around. You have so much personality in that tiny little body of yours! I don't have any doubt in my mind that you will accomplish anything in life that you set your mind to and you will grow up to do great things. We love you and are so grateful for all of the fun and adventure you bring to our family. :)