Ship in a Bottle

Greetings! Usually, I try to type up a new blog entry Wednesday night, but unfortunately, Jill's been pretty sick all week, so I had to skip last night. No big deal, right? Yesterday was Mia's birthday, but we celebrated on Saturday with both Jill's and my families at a hotel near by (that my in-laws were staying at). It was a fantastic time, despite Jill getting pretty sick later in the afternoon. Mia got lots of great gifts, got to play in the pool, play some games and overall, enjoy spending time with everyone. Later in the evening, she wanted to roam the hotel in search of kids, the elevator (which she calls alligator) and of course, a band in the bar to watch. Hopefully the weather improves soon because she got a lot of great outdoor stuff!

Yesterday, I took Mia over to visit one of my best buddies who recently told me him and his wife were expecting a little one. We haven't seen him since Mia's 1st birthday party, so a visit was clearly in order.  She was quite shy at first, but eventually warmed up to him. I thought she'd like his cats, but she wanted nothing to do with them. I later found out as soon as we left that she likes "little kitties, not BIG kitties Daddy". Sorry kid. I'll remember next time. Mia also visited with Grandma at work (gotta get that birthday cookie, right?) and later, I took her to the music store. Probably one of my highlights of the day (besides seeing my best bud) Mia was playing probably the most expensive electronic drum kit at the store. AND she was playing it quite well! We sampled different kits, and she even wore the headphones too. It was quite adorable watching her play with her little crown on. Before we left, she pointed and named the different brass and wind instruments. Other then that, that's about it for her birthday. Hopefully the next one, Jill isn't feeling so horrible, because she felt so bad that she couldn't do anything with Mia all day. A year ago, we were in sunny Florida. Could REALLY use some of that nice weather right about now. Mia saw her helmet in the garage yesterday and kindly asked "Daddy, bike ride?" so I took the bike out and we rode a bit in the cul de sac. Luckily, it wasn't too bad out :)

Lil Wayne portrait is coming together nicely. After this, I've gotta get moving on sports portrait. May have to start it sooner then later. This weekend, it's Easter on both sides of the family. Hopefully Mia can handle the drives. That's it for now! Thanks for reading

A reflection of, wait, she's TWO YEARS OLD ALREADY??

Greetings readers! A week from today, Mia turns 2. It's crazy how fast the last year went. Last year around this time, I made some points and reflected on what I learned in my first year as a Dad, and gave advice as well. Tonight, I'll once again, reflect on the last year.

After she hit one, she had a good amount of teeth in her mouth, but throughout the year, she teethed, and teethed HARDCORE. We had some pretty rough nights with her sitting up for many hours. I was told many times by people "just put booze on her gums" but it just wasn't gonna happen, sorry folks. Somehow, we got through the teething stage, and currently, it would appear that all of her pearly whites are in.

She mastered walking this year as well. It was pretty awesome to watch, actually. This little bugger crawling a bit at her very first Christmas, and at her 2nd Christmas, she was running around giving out presents to people yelling out "OH MY GOODNESS PRESENTS!" One of my favourite things to do with her, is just simply walk with her hand and hand through the stores. It's even more enjoyable when I'm off the same night with Jill and we can walk with Mia together. Like tonight, roaming Mayfair Mall. I'm sure the people behind us didn't care for it, but screw it, this is our family night together!

She's developed a lovely picky eater attitude. REALLY loves cheese in its many forms. String, shredded, grilled cheese etc. Luckily, she loves the different fruit packets, eats bananas and of course, and noodles (also in it's many forms). Veggies are tricky with her, but it's a work in progress. Like most kids. She's not a big fan of meat, except hotdogs and some chicken.

Over the last year, she fully developed her creative side. Both art and music occupy that part of her little brain. She has created all kinds of different water colour/acrylic/ finger paintings. She also loves to colour and create "birthday cakes" out of Play Dough. Always says "happy birthday" to whomever she makes it for. One of my favourite activities with her is drumming. She really rips on the drums. Over the last year, she got more confident with playing on my kit. Used to require my lap to sit on, and would noodle around a bit. In recent videos, she's developed some awesome chops and kills it on the snare while sitting on the throne solo.

Car rides have gotten somewhat better over the last year. Still, we bring the portable DVD player in the back for those long drives to Illinois just in case. Surprisingly, we haven't had to use it in the last few car trips to Chi-town. In fact, she prefers to sing songs on the drive. Whatever keeps her happy and as long as it isn't Beiber.

Mia knows all of her major colours, can do the ABC's perfectly, knows some shapes, can count to 20 roughly, and can name off animals and their sounds really well. Going to the zoo quite often over the last year really helped in that category too. Plus, she's got quite a bit of animal books. Her vocabulary really developed over the year as well. By One, it was the basic "Momma, Dadda, Grandma, Grandpa". Soon, she was repeating phrases, animal noises, etc etc. Even at the doctor check up recently they said "she says way more then a normal 2 year old does". Aw, our little chatterbox :)

One of my other favourite things that she's working on is playing soccer. Well, kicking the ball, really. We've kicked her soccer ball around our house and Grandma/Grandpa's house a few times on those cold winter days. Can't wait to get out in the park and play with her again. Last year, we hit the park a few times, so I'm going to try to do more when this white crap melts.

It's been a crazy year with it's ups and downs, but we're loving every minute of our beautiful daughter. I couldn't imagine a better child in my life and look forward to whats in store for us in the next year. Thanks for reading everyone!