We now return to our regular, non-holiday schedule: cooking, playing, walking, learning, etc. A few notes about these pics:

• Mia likes to cook. She often says something like, “So, Mama, what should we make for dinner today?” She particularly enjoys scrambling eggs, making soufflés (see the broccoli-ricotta soufflé-making in photos below), making whipped cream, making anything that involves loading stuff into the blender or food processor and pushing the buttons, etc. Of course, she also loves tasting the stuff we make, especially if it is sweet.
• The “doctor” set is cool. Aaron and I have both had multiple “shots” since the set has arrived. Also, I am pleased to report that all of her babies and dolls and animals have a clear bill of health.
• Painting is fun! It may be a tad messy, but it is OH SO FUN! We received the paints as a gift awhile back and just recently began using them. She loves to paint. (And we’re glad we still have that hand-me-down, not-a-priceless-show-piece dining room table. Even though the paints are washable.)
• Shots are not fun. But the last time we had one, it wasn’t bad. In fact, Mia didn’t even cry! Not at all, not one bit! I told her that we were “going to get a shot” on the way to the doctor’s office. And I told her about the reward: a chocolate chip cookie PLUS lunch at her favorite restaurant. You may remember the post-shot crying from last time…but this was a completely different game. It is even hard for me to believe, but no crying at all! See photos below of smiling girl in car seat.
• It is fun to build things! All kids are natural engineers. If we give them the proper tools to explore, they learn fabulous things. We (the parents) are also learning (remembering?) new building techniques.
• Did I mention that broccoli is great? Seriously, she loves it. And she had so much fun putting it into the soufflés.
• Washing dishes is cool! Right now, it is actually a bit more work to set her up to safely wash a few non-breakable dishes. And I usually give her clean dishes, but lately there are a few mildly dirty ones that she gets to “wash” (before I clean up from the washing episode). I’ve said this before, but it is worth another honorable mention: I am praying that this lasts beyond her “early years”. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a kid say “please, Mama, can I wash dishes?” when she was 15? Yeah, that would be awesome. Check back here in about 12 years for a report on how that is going. I’m not holding my breath…but I do try to demonstrate the zen of dish washing every day.

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  That is all for now! Sleep tight.