Farmer Mia (guest blogger - Nana)

This child had SO much fun today!! First, she is so adored by both of us...she knows it too! And she is SO okay with it! She helped me plant corn, zucchini, carrots, and onion seeds today. While we were planting, she kept running her hand over my face and lovingly saying "Nana.....". We were planting seeds for our garden today while Pawpaw ran a tractor to dig up and grass and get the soil ready at least a foot down. Our seed planting had such a rhythm....I handed her cups full of soil, and she filled the Jiffy pots, then we smooshed and mushed until the dirt actually filled the pots. Then, I handed her cups full of water to water all the new soil.Then, Mia counted two seeds for every pot (OK, some little pots may have 70 seeds in them but hey...so what?) and dropped them into the holes I made. Then, we covered the seeds with more wet soil (she kept saying Look Nana, my hands are dirty....and they WERE!). After we planted lots of seeds, we watered some more and had some stick fights.

When we made sure that we had enough plants to feed an army, Mia and I went back to check on PawPaw. The tractor was loud and not very girl-friendly, but when he turned the engine off, Mia felt sure enough to sit in his lap. PawPaw showed her how to drop the bucket, and a new tractor operator was born. Once she got that down, the only thing left was to turn the engine back on (easier said then done with a 3 - year old in your lap. There are about 10 different things that have to be in neutral or the engine won't start.....as Tom set one thing and turned to another, Mia helped him by unsetting what he had just set.) Finally, I convinced Mia to step down for a second, Tom got all the stuff set to neutral and the tractor started. Mia was fascinated. She raised the bucket sky high and dropped it like a pro. Good thing it was a rental. Then she drove in circles until PawPaw got tired and a bit nauseous. She drove for about 30 minutes and had a BLAST. I will forward the pix I got tomorrow.

Once the tractor bit got old (for PawPaw, not Mia), the gals walked back to the house for a drink. Wine for me, juicy water for Mia. A quick rest and TV show, then off to the swings. But before we could swing, Mia had to help make dinner. A Farmer and a Cook all in one day. We put a pot roast in the oven, then went to swing for about an hour. After that, we had a duck egg hunt and found two! Success! Then, on to Elmo hat designing sessions with PawPaw. By 6, she was seriously considering a nap, but there was no time. Welcome to our world!! We still had to feed the dogs, chickens, ducks and deer. At one point, she peed and told me she needed another diaper. Now. We went into the bedroom to change her dipes, and uh oh.....WHERE IS MY CRIB?????? Did Swiper get it????? No, Nana had just put it away. Life was good.

While we waited for dinner, Mia did a movie star bubble bath with Dora and Boots. Way too much fun. See the pix I will share tomorrow. Then, a full dinner (she had to fight off PawPaw....GIGGLE, GIGGLE....NO, NO..GIGGLE) and a long snuggle with us on the sofa. By 8, she could not even start to keep her eyes open any more and curled up in my arms and went to sleep. Yes, it's true.....my heart is nothing but pudding now.

A wonderful day for all of us.....what a treasured thing. I hope your day is just as great. Happy Valentines Day!!! I love you and I love your willingness to allow Mia to share our lives. None of us will ever forget these moments. Thank you!

I love you!
Nana