Mya

Stefanie has started to play with Mya's hair a bit more, and the first time she had pigtails in her hair it made her look so much older. Figured it was time to jot down a few tidbits about Mya, a few months shy of 2 years old.

Words

• Mama
• Dada (used less regularly than mama)
• B - ABBA (now puts a B at the start of ABBA each time)
• Milk (without the K sound)
• Shoe (plural sounds like "shs")
• Hi
• Bye-bye
• Juice
• Wa-wa (water)
• Ball
• Ni-nigh
• Book (no k sound)
• Duck (again, no k sound)
• Dora
• Pack-pack (for backpack)
• Boots (the monkey and the footwear)
• Sun (said with a little dance, arms above head)
• Bubb0 (for bubble)
• Appo (for Apple)
• Nanna (bannana)
• Baby (high-pitch voice)
• She puts one finger up emphatically (more like a point) when you ask her how old she is.
• Also makes most animal sounds. Her dolphin imitation is classic.

Songs

She loves making the actions to songs as they are sung to her, but she rarely tries to sing along (with maybe one primary exception). We will find her from time to time off playing on her own, actually trying to sing the songs to herself in her gibberish talk, similar to when she sits down with a book and reads it to herself.

• Popcorn popping - her favorite, almost always willing to perform the actions on cue. And this is the one we spot her "singing" on her own the most often. She'll go through the actions of the entire song without making a single peep while she apparently goes through the song in her head.
• Row, row, row your boat - this is the song that she always tries to sing with us, with a very distinct "row, row, row", followed by some light mumbling and then a very high pitched "merrily, merrily, merrily" and then laughing for the rest of the song.
• Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam - instead of extending her fingers out for "sun-BEAM", she instead starts with her fingers extended and closes them into a fist quickly when we sing "BEAM!".
• Itsy-bitsy spider - One of the first songs she learned the actions to. Very emphatic when the rain comes down and washes the spider out.

Personality

• Still smiles a ton, and really laughs long and hard when in a playful mood...
• Which generally isn't when other people are around. She is getting quite an attitude when it comes to associating with adults other than Mom or Dad. I had her in priesthood meeting at church on Sunday and she would bury her head into my shoulder any time anyone would look at her.
• Continuing on the diva theme, she has started to stomp her feet and moan when not getting what she wants.
• Loves to climb up on the kitchen stools. If any of us walk into the kitchen or Afton gets up on a stool to eat or color or for anything else, Mya has to be on a stool.
• Extremely attached to her blankets. She knows immediately which blankets are hers and which are Afton's even though I often can't tell them apart. And she carries one around constantly and can't leave the house without it. We'll be standing by the door ready to get in the car, and once we say "Let's go bye-bye, Mya" she will run back to her bedroom to find a blankie if she doesn't have one already.
• Loves music. We still get big reactions when we start playing any music on the radio or TV, but she gets a huge grin and really starts grooving if "Summer Night City" by ABBA comes on. She'd prefer watching nearly any music DVD over cartoons.
• Is often a little shadow when we walk around the house. But she really loves to follow Afton around and to be involved in everything her big sister is doing.
• When not playing with Afton, she is getting better and better about having quiet play time on her own.
• Tries to be little miss independent, but is also very cautious. She goes up and down stairs on her feet, but is always holding on to something to steady her balance. She has to climb up into her car seat on her own; good luck trying to hurry her. She wants to walk next to us instead of being carried, but as soon as she hears the noise of a car or animal or another person she'll generally run right over and grab onto mom or dad.
• Loves being outside. Has to be the one holding the hose when helping mom water the trees and plants.
• In addition, she has to wear her "shs" all day long just in case anyone tries to escape out the door without her. Mom has been hiding them lately, so hopefully if they are out of sight, they're out of mind. We should start doing that with her blankie so the obsession will go away ;D.