Miriam and Simon visit the doctor

Miriam is three years old so it was time for her annual well-child visit. Since I know how much everyone loves hearing how big my kids are, here you go (or it might be because I want to look back and remember for myself). Miriam is 39 inches tall and weighs 35 pounds. She is in the 75 percentile for both height and weight, so she is proportionate. I just had a thought, how long before it won't be kosher to tell you all how much my daughter weighs. It won't be long before she won't want this information shared. For now, she has no choice.

Simon is nine months old and to make things easier on myself I took him for his well-child visit at the same time as Miriam ("smart mom" move for me). Simon is 29 inches tall and weighs 22 pounds. He is also in the 75 percentile for both height and weight, proportionate as well.

I am so happy to have two healthy children. They are both growing and developing really well. Miriam and Simon are happy kids and really love each other... most of the time. I feel so blessed to have them in my life.

By the way this is post number 300. Go me.

Miriam Turns Three

Happy Birthday Miriam! You are three years old today. Can this really be true? It seems like you were just turning two. You seemed so grown up last year, but I can't believe how much you have grown up this year. You are such an amazing little girl with quite the personality. I love you!

Miriam loves to learn. She knows all the letters in the alphabet. Miriam can count to thirteen and can recognize numbers one to twelve. She always wants to know what time it is. Miriam asks me everyday what day it is just because she wants to know if she can watch a show (because she can't on Sunday). She loves to sing primary songs and princess songs. Miriam loves to color and make crafts. She is really good at cleaning up and organizing things. Miriam loves to send text messages to Michael. She can start a new message, type it, and send it all by herself on my phone. She has started a new interest in typing on the computer and is figuring out how to navigate the mouse.

She has really taken to being potty trained and boy do Mom and Dad love this. She is such a big girl. The only drawback is her obsession with public restrooms. Every time we go somewhere she wants to go potty and check it out. She hasn't learned that you should actually avoid them at all costs.

Miriam loves to help me cook. She is always in the kitchen asking what she can to do help. She especially loves baking and cracking eggs all by herself. "I can do it", is definitely heard a lot around here. Miriam is our little sassy pants as we like to call her. We have to remind her who is in charge. Miriam can be stubborn, she has a need to do things her way and doesn't like things to be changed. She thrives on routine.

She loves to tell stories. She always starts with "once upon a time", then goes on telling you a story. Her imagination is really growing. Miriam can really make you laugh with the things she says and the silly way she acts. She is really caring about others and always worries about what other people need. She especially adores Simon and wants to help him be happy.

Here are some funny things Miriam has said over the past few weeks:

While I was in the shower one day I heard Miriam crying outside the bathroom door. I told her she could come in. When I peeked out to ask what was wrong she said, "I have an itch. I can't get it because of my skirt." She was wearing a denim skirt and couldn't get to her itch. You know she is really tired when an itch can cause so much drama.

Miriam: Mom let's make a craft

Mom: What do you want to make

Miriam: A ghost

Mom: Oh, do you want to be a ghost next year for Halloween?

Miriam: No, that would be too scary for me

Mom: Come brush your teeth Miriam

Miriam: I am not going to do it this time. You can. I am too tired

Miriam wanted to help lick envelopes for our Christmas cards. After her first one I asked her what it tasted like. She said meat.

Miriam: Mom please stop that. I am tired of it. Please stop that. I am tired of you being crazy.

Mmmm... I wonder where she heard this?

Once upon a time there was a woman. Her name was Ta. She only liked beans and rice. Now this is important because some people died. Jesus died and that is sad.

Stop! Potty Time

I am happy to say that after only a week of training, Miriam is now a big girl. She has been potty trained successfully! I knew for a while that she was ready, I just wasn't sure how to go about it. Miriam is pretty reluctant to change so I knew it would be a hard transition at first. We talked about it for a couple of days to prepare her for the transition. She has done amazingly well with only one accident. I am so proud of my little girl... and happy to be saving on diaper costs.

We spent a lot of time reading books in the bathroom.

She wouldn't wear her training pants without her cute panties on top.

Showing off the candy necklace.

No potty training experience would be complete without a little reward. Miriam had a sticker chart to motivate her going potty. After 25 stickers she got a new sticker book and ice cream from Dad. After the next 25 stickers she gets new princess panties. Wahoo! Go Miriam!

two and a half

Our little Miriam is 2 1/2 years old. She has grown up into quite the little girl. She keeps us on our toes everyday. Here is a little bit about Miriam and what she is doing lately.

Miriam loves to talk to anyone who will listen. Sometimes we don't understand a single thing she is saying (because she just babbles) but she must have something important to say. She is starting to repeat what people say more and more. The other day at story-time the librarian said she was impressed with how well the kids were singing. Miriam turned around to me and said, "I am impressed too". Some of Miriam's new phrases are:

"Hold on a minute"
"Wait for me"
She adds "though" to the end of sentences -- "I can do it though"

Miriam still loves learning sign language. She also loves singing primary songs. In sacrament meeting this week we sang "I am a Child of God". I have to admit I teared up a bit as I watched her sing along to the song I sing when I rock her each night. When it was over she said "one more song" (which is what she says each night) and requested "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".

We are trying to teach Miriam a little bit of independence. We tell her to try to do it herself and then ask for help if she needs it. She uses a step stool to get up on our bed to help with Simon. She is learning to dress and undress herself. We are still working on the potty business.

Miriam loves to watch the videos we take of her. She sits at the computer and asks to watch "Miriam movies". It is cute to watch her because she points out things she is doing in the video like she wasn't there. Sometimes I take the videos just so she can watch them.

June 6, 2011

It is so much fun watching Miriam learn and grow each day. She can always make me us smile.

The Terrible Twos?

We haven't seen too much of it yet. Sure Miriam has her moments, but overall I love this age. She is so much fun to be around. Her imagination is starting to grow. She talks to herself and laughs, it makes me wonder if she has an imaginary friend. She also gives out so many hugs and kisses. We just can't get enough. Miriam loves to help cook, clean, and do everyday chores. She is definitely Mom's big helper. I am sure she is going to be a great big sister.

she was taking her sweeping seriously

We took her to the doctor for her two year check-up right after she had been so sick. She lost almost two pounds, the poor little thing. She weighs 25 pounds and is 36 inches tall. The doctor said she is long and lean and that there is nothing wrong with that. I wonder where she gets that from?

dressing up as a fairy

Miriam can recognize all of the alphabet now and probably knows all of the ABC signs. She loves for me to sing the Alphabet song while signing. Miriam loves music. Whenever the radio isn't on in the car she asks to dance (meaning, turn on the music). Lately when I sing to her at night she has started to sing along. She still loves for me to sing Silent Night from singing it to her at Christmas. I always thought that having a two year old would be fun, but we are enjoying it more than we ever thought we could.

How old are you? TWO!

My little girl turned two today. It was so much fun talking to her about her birthday this year. We kept asking her how old she is. She responded exactly right by holding up two fingers and saying "TWO". I can't believe how much she has changed since we have moved to Virginia. It seems like when we left Utah she was still such a baby. Now she is a growing toddler and such a little girl.

She has taken a huge interest in her ABC's this past month. Some of the letters she can recognize are M, D, V, S, and B. Since she is so excited about letters I decided I would go ahead and teach her some of the signs for letters. She really likes E, B, Q, G, and Y. She has a magnet alphabet on the fridge that she loves to play with. Whenever I am in the kitchen, Miriam likes to be close by. She is very interested in cooking. Stirring is her favorite thing to do. She even likes to watch Food Network with me and comments on what they are cooking. Ever since we moved in and unpacked her toys she has started playing with her dolls again. She loves to feed them, kiss them, and put them to bed. She is going to be a great big sister. For a long time Miriam wasn't interested in any movies except Signing Time. However, after a visit from her cousin Nathan she loves watching 101 Dalmatians. It also seems like all of a sudden she is really interested in the Disney princesses. Her favorite is definitely Sleeping Beauty. She has only watched it a couple of times at Grandma's house. Miriam is hoping Santa brings her the Sleeping Beauty movie.

Miriam talks up a storm. She loves to chat away. She always wants to talk to people on the phone. It cracks me up to hear her talking to herself. Miriam definitely doesn't lack in the personality department. This morning I was trying to get her to sit still for a few pictures, but she had already made up her mind to be uncooperative. She was so excited to wear a cute dress for her birthday so I thought she wouldn't mind a few pictures. This is all I got.


Here are some pictures of Miriam opening her birthday presents and eating cupcakes and ice cream. She was so excited about getting to open all of the presents. After each one she asked about opening one more. It took a while because she had to stop and look at each one, but it was so fun to watch her excitement. She helped me make the cupcakes and dumped the sprinkles on top.

Happy 2nd Birthday my dear sweet Miriam!

Miriam's Latest

Miriam is about a month away from turning two. It is so hard to believe. She is such an adorable little girl. She is almost 36 inches (3 feet) tall. She weighs 26 pounds. She is definitely all girl. Whenever she sees bugs the first thing she says is gross. Miriam cannot stand getting dirty and has to have a napkin at every meal. It has been fun to see the contrast between her and Nathan (who is all boy). Here is a video of her making biscuits with Grandma Bishop. She liked to stir, but when it came to touching the dough...

Miriam is going through a weird phase with food. Her taste changes from day to day. I try not to be too worried about it as long as she is eating things like hummus. Here she is chowing down straight from the container.


We have really enjoyed some wonderful fall weather. We have been able to go to the park quite a bit. We also can walk to the library. Miriam really loves to watch movies and being close to a library is great. As you know we used to get Signing Time videos, however lately she has changed over to liking different shows. Her two favorite are Dora the Explorer and Go Diego, Go! I am sad to see signing time lose out to Go Diego, Go! but she is still very interested in learning new signs. We continue to find books about sign language. Here are a few pictures of Miriam enjoying the nice weather.



These last few pictures are just because Miriam looked so cute today and I couldn't help taking a bunch of pictures. She is getting the hang of smiling at the camera. It might have had something to do with the candy I bribed her with though.

Laughter is the best medicine

Miriam has been doing extremely well with her sling. She is feeling so much better and healing well. The doctor said she would get a huge knot where her collar bone was healing. The knot is definitely there, so we hope this means she is healing correctly. We go back for a follow up visit next week. She has been using her arm a lot more and it is getting harder to keep her arm in the sling just because she feels better and wants to use it. One of her major hurdles has been trying to sign with the sling on.

Miriam's knot on her collar bone

Miriam is always one to keep everyone entertained. Since we are at Grandma's house she knows she gets all the attention. She loves cracking herself up and making everyone else laugh too. When you ask her a question she looks at the ceiling and says "umm", like she is thinking of the answer. She likes to make funny faces. Since we are so close to an airport Miriam gets to see a lot of airplanes which she loves. She also loves tractors and trucks. However, she is extremely girly in most ways. She loves jewelry and shoes. She loves trying on shoes at the store. When she picks up clothes off the rack at the store she holds them up to her body to "check for fit". She likes to pick out what she is going to wear each day. Miriam loves to read books. When we ask her what the book says she holds it close to her face and babbles like she is reading. Some of her new favorite words and phrases are gross, it's dark, rainbow, my turn, oops, Gus (Grandma and Grandpa's dog), and snuggle. We are so glad that Miriam is happy and keeps us laughing everyday.

one of Miriam's silly faces

Twenty Months

Miriam is twenty months old. She is turning into such a fun little toddler. Miriam's vocabulary grows every day. She loves to go to nursery and loves making friends with everyone she meets. We took these pictures of her a couple of hours before she broke her teeth.

standing on the porch

smelling Grandma's flowers

checking out Grandma's garden

Bishop family

18 months

We are so excited for this milestone in Miriam's life. Especially since she can start going to nursery. We took her for the first time this past Sunday. I was so nervous how she would react. Would she cry when we left? Would she stay and play with the other kids? All my fears were put to rest when we took her through the door. She went and played right away while I talked to the teacher (who happens to be my visiting teacher). When we left I told her I would be back and gave her a kiss. She waved goodbye and went right back to playing. I was definitely more sad than she was about the whole thing. When I went to pick her up she didn't want to come with me. She wanted to stay and play with the kids. I am so happy she had such a great time in nursery, but I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast.

Miriam after her first day in nursery

She is starting to talk more and more each day. Sometimes I am surprised when she says new words that I didn't realize she knows. When we were out for a walk on Sunday she looked up at the sky and said "moon". Sure enough you could see the moon. I don't remember teaching her that. This week she has started using two word phrases. She says "more milk" and "big bite". We are also continuing to teach her new signs. She probably knows close to 50 signs. I am so glad we decided to teach her sign language. I am sure it will help a lot when she reaches her "terrible twos". We are hoping for less tantrums because she can communicate better with us.

Now I will bombard you with pictures.

Miriam pushing her own stroller

Miriam doesn't like being dirty

Miriam just saw Michael walk up


Miriam loves the swings at the park



Miriam getting ready to go down the slide

It is hard to believe she was born 18 months ago. She is such a joy. I love watch her learn every day. Miriam makes being a parent so rewarding. We love her so much!

four squared*

*In celebration of graduation I decided to name this post using mathematical language.*

Miriam is sixteen months old today. The poor thing had to spend the day at graduation for my sister, Ashley, and then at her daddy's graduation. She had a long tiring day, but we think she did a great job.


Over the past month Miriam learned to walk. We can't believe how fast she has grown. She also continues to increase her vocabulary daily. We are amazed at how much she knows.

Here is a list of the words she can say:

Dad
Mom
Miriam
Camel
Book
Ball
Diaper
Beep
Nigh' Night
Bread
Boo
Bye
Bus
Bib
Yes
More
Whoa
One

Here is a list of the signs she knows:

More
Please
Bath
Thank You
Eat
Drink
Milk
Daddy
Help
Ball
Book
Bye
Friend
Love
Water
Blanket
Hungry
Sleep
Wash
Mommy

How does it go...

...in like a lamb and out like a lion? Is this just for March? Anyway, I was looking through our pictures and realized how many pictures I took this month. I guess I felt like Miriam was especially cute this month. I also posted a bunch on the blog this month. However, how could I let some cute pictures go and not be shown? So for your viewing pleasure here is Miriam in March 2010:

Miriam is 15 months old. She has had a rough month with cold after cold. We hope warmer weather is on the way to help clear the air. Miriam is tall and skinny, just like her daddy. She is above the 90th percentile for height and around the 25th percentile for weight. The biggest news Miriam has this month is that she is beginning to walk. I still wouldn't say she is walking, but she gets more brave everyday. Sometimes she just decides to walk and other times she prefers to crawl. Here is a short video taken a couple of days ago:

100th Post!

This post is mostly for my benefit. I have been keeping track of things Miriam has accomplished and some of the cute things she does. I just wanted to write them down somewhere so I can have a copy of it. However, I love sharing how cute she is so please read on.

Things Miriam has learned:
~Animal sounds -- elephant, sheep, monkey (not exactly the most basic animals)
~Words that are distinguishable -- Mom, Dad, Miriam, camel, ball -- I am also amazed every day by how much she understands now.
~Words that are distinguishable to me -- book, nigh' night, diaper, beep (when we lock the car)
~Body parts she points to -- nose, eyes, lips, ears, hair, belly

We have been using sign language with Miriam since she was about eight months old. These are the signs she knows now: more, please, bath, thank you, eat, drink, milk, daddy, help, ball, book (we are still working on mommy)

Miriam has become a lot more interactive. She will shake her head yes and no. She folds her arms when it is time to pray. She covers her eyes and plays peek-a-boo. She will lead the music at church. She loves to dance to any music. Miriam loves to give loves and kisses.

Miriam will stand for a for a few seconds, but thinks it is really funny to fall. She has taken about 7-8 steps between us, but once again thinks it is fun to fall. She is close to walking and will do it as soon as she decides to. It has always been that way with Miriam.

Miriam has always been a great eater. She absolutely loves bananas. I have to limit her to one a day. When I go to buy them at the grocery store she wants one right then and there. She doesn't understand that she has to wait to pay for them. She likes just about anything we give her to try. She will always chose the vegetable on her plate.

Every child has cute and funny things they do. Here are some things that Miriam does that makes us smile:
- she has a toy mini van that she calls a "mama" van
- she has started singing and talking to herself more
- she knows it is time for bed when we read scriptures and say prayers
- she loves her blanket. she will not sleep with out it. she chews on the corners.
- at first she didn't like brushing her teeth. now she patiently lets her daddy brush them each night.
- she is obsessed with pictures. she points to herself when she sees her picture. she loves the digital frame we got for Christmas.
- she loves music and will point to the radio when she wants it on
- she is a great helper at whatever I am doing. she unloads her spoons from the dishwasher and puts them away.
- she always wants to be where mom is. she hates closed doors. she freaks out if you are in a room without her.
- she loves books. they get the most use out of all her toys.
- she loves to help mom shop. she will hold the list and pen at the store while she sits in the cart.
- she lets me do her hair everyday. she is excited to see her bows.

As for Michael and I, we enjoy being parents. It is an absolute joy that words cannot describe.

Here are some pictures from February:

First Pigtails

I started putting Miriam's hair in pigtails this week. It isn't quite long enough, but I wanted to try it anyway. Some of the pictures actually make me sad because she looks so grown up. She is becoming a little girl and is no longer my baby.



Miriam is also 13 months old today. She is so smart. She is finally back on a schedule after the illnesses. I took her down to one nap a day, but when it is 3 to 3 1/2 hours it still gives me plenty of time to do some things while she sleeps. We love being parents to our little Miriam.

It's a Brand New Day

We are alive and well after a not so fun break. Miriam got a bad cold and ear infection after Christmas. After 10 days on an antibiotic she broke out in a rash yesterday. We took her to instacare today and figured out she is allergic to penicillin. The poor thing. Michael and I have both been battling colds ourselves. We are just left with a cough. Being sick definitely helps us be more grateful for our health. We will be glad for the cold and flu season to end.

Michael has begun his last semester of college. We paid our last tuition and are excited for graduation in April. It doesn't look like he will have it too bad. He is also taking a class he wants to take for the first time in 5 years of education... GOLF! It will be fun for him.

I have enjoyed being back home this week with Miriam. As much fun as Christmas was, I was glad to get back in the swing of things and have Miriam sleep in her own bed. We didn't get much rest with all the sickness. I have the house back in order and to my liking.

We haven't taken very many pictures this month. Here are a couple of Miriam in the car wearing my sunglasses. We will have to find her some of her own this summer. She loves to put them on.



Miriam didn't grow much physically since her nine month appointment. She is still 20 pounds and 30 inches long. However, she has grown up a lot this past month. She has six teeth now. She is learning to eat more things, even milk. She loves to play with all of her new toys. She continues to learn things so fast. She is starting to copy sounds we make and things we do. As I have said many times before, she is a complete joy.