Here she is! My granddaughter, Lisa Ann Miracle. She made her arrival on October 7, 2003. My son started calling her Mira before she was born and that nickname has stuck. She weighed 6 lbs., 7 ozs. and was about 19" long. She was amazingly beautiful right away.

 MY BIRTHDAY

ONE MONTH

MY FIRST YEAR

This picture has a bit of a story behind it. My daughter-in-law was visiting with a friend whose husband is in the military. They all went to the company's Christmas party. They had a singing contest for the kids. Mira was supposed to sing with the friend's youngest daughter. But when it came time to start singing, Mira grabbed the microphone and said "I do it!". And she did. My daughter-in-law said it was so funny. And guess what, the audience loved her and she won the contest!

March 2005:

Returned from another visit to the West Coast to spend time with my kids and Mira. Was there almost three months. It was amazing to watch her learning new things. Seemed like every day, she had added something. She is now climbing into and onto everything in the house. It's about to give Mom a nervous breakdown. She loves music and will dance anytime, anywhere. She's a great big ham—get out a camera and she'll come running. She's a very loving child, but has a temper and isn't afraid to let it out when she gets frustrated. Mom's working with her on learning to keep it under control more. While I was there, she developed a tendency to try to bite when she got upset at someone. Mom says she's learning more and more to restrain herself.

Mom and Dad are into using only positive reinforcement for discipline. No spanking or hitting of any kind. They don't want her being exposed to violence in that way. Figure she'll get enough of that out in the real world.

Very much enjoyed the time I spent with Mira. We had some wonderful bonding moments. It was so much fun just watching her at play. It was almost hypnotic - kept finding myself watching her all the time. Been many years since I've spent much time around small children and I'd forgotten what it was like. Wish I lived closer so could spend more time with her. She's growing up so fast. My daughter (in-law) is very good about keeping me posted on what's she's up to on a regular basis.

January, 2006:

Mira turned two last October and I finally got a few new pictures of her. So, of course, had to put them on the page right away!

The kids haven't been able to use their scanner for a while and their CDRW drive went out. These are the first new pictures I've had since last year. Received these via email. They just got a high speed cable connection so it's not such a chore to send me pictures now.

Hoping I can manage another trip to visit with them sometime this year. Going to work on it that's for sure. We had hoped they'd come to visit with me for a few days last December when they traveled to North Carolina so Sam could see her best friend. Unfortunately, problems arose that kept them from being able to come. It was very disappointing for all.

November, 2006:

Mira was three on October 7th. Mom and Dad hate it that she is growing up so fast. Know exactly what they mean. She is definitely no longer a baby. She has started preschool and I can actually understand her a lot of the time when we talk on the phone.

She loves going to school and has made new friends. She is very advanced for her age. That's because her mom has worked with her every day from an early age, teaching her spelling, counting, colors, reading, etc. She says Mira enjoys the learning process and thinks of it as a game not work. She is constantly amazing them, coming up with things they hadn't realized she knew yet. The teacher of the pre-school class she's in now has asked them to stop working with her because she's already so far ahead of her classmates. They don't want to do that and are considering the possibility of home schooling, but haven't made a definite decision. There's still time before they have to make a choice. They want her to be able to learn at her own pace. That is often difficult in our public school system, especially for young children.

August 2007

In another couple of weeks will be leaving home for over two months. On the second half of my trip, will be spending over a month in the San Diego area with Mira and her parents. Will be there to help celebrate her 4th birthday. That should be a lot of fun for all.

Looking forward to seeing how much she's grown since I last saw her in March of 2005. She's completed one year of Head Start classes already and think she will be going again in the fall since she won't be ready for kindergarten until she's five.

She keeps calling to ask me where I am. She says:  "I've been waiting for you. Where are you?" At her age, there's just no way to explain I won't be there until September. She can't understand that concept as yet. Suggested to her mom that they make up a calendar for Mira so she can cross off the days and see a visual of how many days it will be till I get there.