Mylie-isms for September

September 6, 2007 School as started again, and Mommy is happy that the world is starting to get back into some routines. And though it's sad to see the sun going to bed earlier, it does make it quite a bit easier to get Miss Mylie to bed at a decent hour. She is perfectly aware that when the sun goes night-night, so does she! We're back in the swing of things for our own classes too. Today we started back to Music Class at the Durfee's house, which Mylie has always enjoyed. Lots of songs and activities to play, and this time around we're well over our stranger danger phase, making the first day of class much easier to stomach for both of us.

September 7, 2007 Another class that Mommy signed us both up for was Story Time at the library. To be honest, it's not the greatest story time in the world, and Mommy was rather dissapointed in the whole affair. But, Mylie had a good time, and enjoys the library, so we can handle it for another 3 weeks. Unless...Mylie doesn't learn to shape up AFTER story time. There's something about all those books and displays right at eye level that turns her into a holy terror. She runs from shelf to shelf, and just can't contain herself...she grabs books, like they're the greatest things ever, but won't sit still long enough to let Mommy read one to her. When Mommy gets tired of this game, and says it's time to go, Mylie proceeds to A) throw herself on the floor with a screaming tantrum or B) try to bite Mommy (yes that's a new trick we've learned lately) or C) all of the above. Yeah, the library is not my favorite place for two year olds.

September 8, 2007 Quite possibly one of my favorite days with Mylie ever. In the morning we went to the church to help clean, and Mylie was a HUGE help (well, at least she tried) in helping to spray and wipe down the kitchen counters, and then helped Daddy vacuum the chapel. As soon as we finished, we loaded up and drove to Portland where we got to pick up her Flower Girl dress for Taio's wedding in a couple of weeks. Oh, I cannot tell you how cute that girl is. She totally stole the show from the bride who was there trying on dresses, and she just loves to spin and dance in that dress. Look for the pictures after the 22nd! And as if that wasn't fun enough, we headed back to Beaverton where Mylie got to take her first ever dance class! That's right, this stage mom signed her two year old up for dance. But let's face it...the kid's got talent. And even if not, she really does love it. And the class is a Mommy & Me class, so Mommy even gets to break out the old tap shoes too. Mylie had a blast, spinning, and tapping and making beautiful ballerina hands. And she's been talking about it ever since. We had really just planned on doing the free preview class, but after seeing her there, both Daddy and Mommy were sold...like we really had any other option. Who knows where this dancing thing will lead, but right now it is too too fun!

September 11, 2007 Mylie got to go to her first playgroup today, and it looks like it's going to be a fun one! There are 7 two-year-olds plus a small assortment of other siblings that are not yet in school that are participating, and for toddlers, they all got along extremely well. No major episodes of hair pulling, or big "MINE!" wars. In fact, the only tears the whole day were mostly the kids fighting with their own parents... Mylie included. She had a small meltdown when we first arrived because I wouldn't let her eat her snack right away (um, you JUST finished breakfast, and NOBODY else is eating), so she pretty much thought I was the meanest person on earth, and had she been a teenager, I'm sure I would have been called all sorts of horrible names. But she finally got over it and then had a great time playing with her new friends.

September 15, 2007 All week Mylie asked and asked to go back to "dance-a class". She really really loved it last week, so we were all excited to go again. In the morning we had a couple errands to run, and made it with (what we thought) was plenty of time to get to dance class. But as we worked our way there, we ran into HORRIBLE traffic...the kind where there has to be some other reason for the standstill than just a lot of cars on the road, especially on a Saturday morning. But we finally made it through the light we were trying to get to, only to find that the street...or more acurately...streets (plural) that lead to the studio were completely shut down...for like, a mile in any direction of the studio. Not only that, but any parking on the outside of the "ground zero" was completely filled. Apparently we missed the memo on the "Celebrate Beaverton" parade that was going on. Seriously, who does those in September? I thought those festivals were for summer time. Anyway, some nice man that was directing traffic finally agreed to let us park illegally in the Beaverton High School parking lot, and we shoved Mylie into her dance clothes, and then started running for class (and Mommy's not into running with the prego belly) ...and had to cross the parade to get there. We got there just a couple minutes after the start, only to find a sign posted on the door saying they were cancelling classes due to the festival. THANKS FOR THE CALL! Mylie immediately melted into a sobbing puddle on the ground when we turned around to leave.

Luckily, the parade was still going on just a half a block away, so Mylie was easily consoled when we told her she could go to the parade instead. She perked right up and asked "Candy?" Apparently the 4th of July parade in Clatskanie made more of an impression than we even guessed. And sure enough, she wasn't let down. A big duck character walked right up to her and handed her a piece of candy, and she was in heaven. With a few more candy tosses from other floats, "dance-a class" was quickly forgotten, and her day was made. Even if we only did see the very end of the parade.

After working our way through the crowd to get back home, we rushed Mylie into bed, so that we could wake her up just an hour and a half later and run out to the Wilsonville area for Mark's birthday party. Mark is the son of one of Daddy's former co-workers, and was turning two. So, we got some more candy AND cake, and watched Mylie for any signs of diabetic shock :). After the party, we headed up to Aunt Penny's house to have dinner, play some cards, and help put together last minute projects for Taio's wedding next weekend. Mostly it was about the card playing, but it was pretty funny to watch everyone try to tie bows on the programs when they weren't dealing.

September 18, 2007 Taio came into town today, and before they even headed home, she and Penny made a special trip over to our side of town, pretty much just to see Mylie. So Taio brought out her wedding dress, and she and Mylie tried their dresses on together. Wow...talk about adorable. All week we've been watching YouTube videos of flower girls, showing Mylie the finer points of the craft, so that she'll be all ready. We even pulled out a sheet for her to walk on like an aisle, and tore up some paper to use as pretend flowers so she could have lots of practice. We may even make it through yet! And if not, we'll probably get some really great footage to send into America's Funniest Home Videos, and make a ton of money.

September 20, 2007 The wedding craziness has officially begun. Most all of the family has arrived in town, and tonight converged on Penny's house for... an open house, of sorts. There was lots of people and food, and Grandma Miller brought Mylie a very special present... a new leotard, tights and her very own pair of tap shoes for dance class! She modeled them for everyone, until she decided she was too shy. Then Taio gave Mylie a special jewelry box engraved with her name for being her flower girl, and inside were a string of pearls from Aunt Penny. By the end of the night, Daddy asked, "This wedding is supposed to be about the bride and groom, right? Not Mylie?".

September 21, 2007 Mylie got to meet her better half tonight, also known as Ronan...the ring bearer. Ronan is just shy of 3 years old, and though it wasn't quite love at first sight, at some point during the wedding rehearsal, Ronan came over and offered to share his toy car with Mylie. And suddenly they were buds. We even got them to hold hands while they walked down the aisle. And by the end of the night, they weren't even running anymore.

The rehearsal dinner was way too late for both Mylie and Ronan, but nevertheless, we went, and ate, and stayed until very late. Luckily, the bride forgot (again!) that the wedding was about her, and not the cute little kids, and had brought them both backpacks personalized with their names, and stuffed with super fun toys. So that kept them both well entertained and without tantrums much longer than they should have been. Thank you Taio!

September 22, 2007 Mylie had a restful morning at home with Daddy while Mommy and Grammie went out shopping for some last minute wedding clothes. We met at dance class where Mylie got to show of her skills for Grammie. Unfortunately, having Grammie in there was a bit distracting, so Mylie kept wanting to go to her. But she still does amazingly well for a two year old, and loves her new tap shoes.

We whisked her home afterward and tried to get her down for instantaneous sleep (yeah right, who were we kidding? What I would have given for some general anesthesia today). She did eventually fall asleep, but only got in a little more than an hour's worth before we had to wake her up, and shove her in a dress to head to the chapel for pictures. To prove my skill as a mother, I decided to sit in back with Mylie as we drove, and not only do my make-up, but Mylie's hair and make-up as well. I'm just going to say that I do not recommend this approach except under dire circumstances.

But we did make it, just in time for pictures, and Mylie was pretty darn cute. The wedding went off without a hitch, and Mylie and Ronan walked like angels down the aisle. Although because they held hands during practice, that's what they decided to do again, so no flowers actually got dropped, and the poor ring bearer could hardly hold the pillow with his one hand, but it worked.

At the reception, Mylie more or less refused to leave the dance floor for the whole four hours we were there. If she did leave, it was only under duress. She showed off her new dance class moves for everyone, including her pretty ballerina hands over her head. The only catch was, she was carrying a cup of M&M's in one hand, so she could only ever put one hand over her head at any given moment. Once the dancing officially started, and the dance floor got crowded, she looked rather disheartened, like, "um, didn't anyone explain to these people that this is MY territory?" She did get in a slow dance with Uncle Cody and with Daddy before we decided she'd had enough, and dragged her away, to the car, and back home for another late bedtime.

September 23, 2007 A last open house today at Aunt Penny's house for anyone still in town. We went and watched Taio & Aaron open gifts, and enjoyed food and family. And although we got there at 11am, we somehow ended up staying until midnight, playing fun games like CatchPhrase. Luckily, Mylie likes to go to bed in Aunt Penny's big girl bed, so she had a fairly normal bedtime until we had to get her up to bring her home.

September 24, 2007 Grammie is still in town and got to come with Mommy & Mylie to the baby doctor again today. Mylie got to show Grammie how she pushes the button to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Later in the evening, Graycee got to come with us to the first night of swimming class, and afterward all of the Miller family came to our house to celebrate Grandma Miller's 80th birthday. We ate dinner and all played CatchPhrase again. It was fun to have the most of the family together again.

September 28, 2007 Mylie got to meet a new friend, Michelle, today who came over to watch her while Mommy & Daddy went out on a date night. This was the first time we'd had a sitter in a very long time, and Mylie has grown up a lot since the last time. We are finally past the days of crying when we leave, and instead, she waited with anxious anticipation for Michelle to arrive, checking the door every couple minutes. How nice for Mommy & Daddy!

September 29, 2007 It finally happened. We knew it would some day, and today was the day. Mommy & Daddy caved and took Mylie to Chuck E Cheese. And in all honesty, it was pretty fun! Of course, the second we arrive our camera batteries died. But Mylie loved putting the "pennies" into the games, and collecting tickets. And she even managed to stop playing long enough to eat a piece of pizza. And just as we ran out of tokens, Chuck E Cheese himself showed up and did the Hokey Pokey with all the kids. Mylie followed right along, and at the end of the song, Chuck threw a handful of tickets in the air, and Mylie grabbed quite a wad. She ended up with 133 tickets, which was enough for a candy necklace, a mini slinky, a sheet of stickers and a big tootsie roll (which Mommy and Daddy shared as payment for making it through the evening).