MRI update

Millie says: there's more than one way to consume a milkshake!

We have scheduled Millie's yearly MRI check-up for June 23rd. This time Dr. Wisoff has requested a double-header: a full thoracic spine and lumbar spine image. It will be nice to see that everything is in order all the way up to her neck. We will likely have an early morning appointment at NYU (the nurses call a day ahead to tell us what time), then we will meet with Dr. Wisoff at his office later in the day while he reviews the images. He will be checking on the growth of her spine, looking at the scar tissue, and assessing the excess fluid at the base of her spine (which is hopefully the same or less than it was last year).

Last June Millie wasn't even walking yet, so it will be exciting to update her chart with all the progress she has made this past year: she has completed daytime and nighttime potty learning 100%... She can run up and down hills, climb rocks and slides, hike for more than an hour... Her little toes wiggle all around while I try to clip her nails (or "kitty claws" as we call them).

Yes indeed we are proud of our sweet Minky, and forever grateful for her mobility. We are feeling very hopeful that these next 8 years of MRIs will just be routine check-ups, a little bit of parent bragging (one day Millie will be showing Dr. Wisoff her dance recital photos!), and a lot of thankfulness.

Summer time!

Right now I'm laying on the couch drinking sun tea. My husband is in the kitchen cooking dinner. My newly minted two-year-old is sitting on the potty flipping through a book. Enjoying my last week in my 20s... Life is good.

Art update

This week Millie was surprised and very impressed to learn that Teta Annie is also an artist (in addition to herself).

Brady and I reorganized Millie's art space last weekend and also added some print- making tools that she can access at all times. She loves it!

On Monday morning she experimented with the new tools and some paint at her easel. She put a pillow on the floor and invited me to watch her ("Mama! Down down down!"). While she was working I commented something like "how fun is this!?", and she laughed and gave me a BIG hug around the neck. I squeezed her and said "You are a real artist, just like your Teta" (which I've said before). She grew silent and held onto my shoulders at arms' length, staring into my eyes like she was waiting for me to say something else. I said "You know that... your Teta is an artist." Her eyes grew big and I wasn't sure what she was thinking, so I just said "Teta Annie..."

She gazed off towards her painting and said in a very exaggerated voice: "WOW.. Teta..."

Oh my gosh it was priceless. So Teta, if you're reading this, color us impressed!!

Some easel work

Last week Millie had some birthday money from Grandma that was burning a hole in her pocket. We made a special trip to Dick Blick Art Supplies to pick out some goodies.

She picked out a sketch pad with ducks on the cover, a blue paint stick, and a sea sponge. I chose the squeeze bottles for doing messy paint, and the little jar to hold our homemade glue.

Modified sketch book :)

Working on the green collage. Just yellow and orange to go and then we'll hang them on the wall. So exciting!! I'll do a project update soon.

New drawer with re-purposed materials for print-making

The friendly kitty

I'm so proud of my girl for being kind to animals. We met this friendly "yellow" kitty at the garden center yesterday and Millie could hardly contain her excitement. The kitty was pretty excited too! Millie remembered all the steps to greet a cat:

1. Call her over with "kitty kisses" (by making kissy noises)

2. Offer your hand for her to sniff

3. If she accepts, pet her gently down the back

We got sandpaper tongue kisses all over our hands. Millie was in heaven.

Happy Easter!

Birthday preparations: Part 2

Millie and Dada are having a date day so I can work on blue doll. It's going better than I expected but still a lot of work to do. The inner head is finished and there's a little person trying to get in here saying "Mama? Blue?"

Birthday preparations

I'm having so much fun working on plans for Millie's birthday. Today we decided on a menu. She likes most food so I wasn't sure how to pick one thing for her special day, but at dinner I realized that Mexican night elicits the most "MmmHMM"s and "Num num!"s from this girl. She also loves sandwiches that can be taken apart and eaten piece by piece. For her cake she knows exactly what she wants. We'll probably do the cake after lunch. So here's our birthday plan with lots of her favorite things combined:

Breakfast: cinnamon buns and fruit

Lunch: tomato, mozerella, and pesto sandwiches on ciabatta bread with balsamic vinegar; chips

Dinner: "Yellow Tacos"- hard corn shells, mixed beans with taco spices, avocado/red onion/endive mix, sour cream + shredded cheese

Cake: purple cake (maybe dyed with blueberries?) with chocolate frosting and blue M&Ms

Some other birthday preparations coming together:

blue dress; birthday ring decorations; felt birthday crown (just needs elastic on the back)

For the crown I followed a tutorial on one of my favorite Waldorf-inspired family blogs. The bee is in reference to her nickname "Millie Bea". The purple lilacs were inspired by the last picture I took before we went into labor- beautiful blooming lilac branches from our front yard. The blue background is of course for her favorite color, and the yellow M for her second favorite (also one of her first words). The rainbow represents two things-  the magic that our joyful Spring time baby brings into our lives, and also the memory of our hospital stay for her birth because it was raining when we went in and bright sunshine when we came out with the tiny bunny baby.

The birthday crown tutorial can be found here: http://frontierdreams.blogspot.com/2009/05/wool-felt-birthday-crown-tutorial.html?m=1

Just 10 days left to finish Millie's birthday gift!