Weekend morning fun

 

 

Friends

 

Maya with Sam, whom she calls "Ham." I don't think she hit him *that* hard.

 

Maya at the playground at Grant Park, where big kids were fighting to help her.

 

Maya with Jeffrey.

 

Maya and Ila.

Deluxe Pickle Pincher

I got a deluxe pickle pincher for my last birthday. Needless to say it's pretty fabulous. I'd been hesitant to let Maya use it until she had matured a little, but we decided today was the day. Watch as she handles both pickle and deluxe pincher like a pro...

 

 

Halloween

 

Maya tends to have a lot of fun with 6-7 year old boys, who are old enough to selflessly entertain her but young enough to still be a magical little person like her. This is Anton, who has been known to do amazing improvisational dances and also taught Maya how to play the piano. He made Halloween a hit after some drizzly trick-or-treating.

Daddy's yogurt

It tastes better when it comes from Daddy's yogurt cup. Daddy complains that she's eating all his yogurt, but look at him!

 

 

 

stepping up

Over the past few months Maya has gotten pretty good at using step stools and chairs to reach things. Now she has her own way to try to open the pantry door and get close to nature (dee-u).

 

 

8 and milk

Maya is showing signs of Architectural aptitude – she started stacking. She has been playing with her toy stacking different shapes with a hole in the middle onto a pole. But that got too easy quick. So today she started stacking them just on the floor (or our coffee table). Imagine how amazed we were when she stacked Eight pieces on top of each other and not in the order of diminishing radius. And then, as if this was not enough for our little magician, she put her milk on top! Now she is almost as excited about stacking as she is about knocking them down!

Eat them up... yum!

She's her father's daughter. Maya's dad made fish-head soup last night and Maya LOVED the tasty morsels of fish meat- cheeks, collars, you name it. Dad's culinary offerings were greeted by an excited Maya stomping around the kitchen saying "whshshsh" (means "fish" in the Mayan language) and making a hand motion like a fish swimming. Then she would go to the next room and point to our pet betta, and do the same thing. When it came time to taste, she even said "please" without being prompted.

 

 

 

Afterwards, Mom looked up the "roly poly fish heads" video and played it for Dad, who said, "This is like Chernobyl for your mind." Here's the link to the original if you are in need of reference: link

More words

Maya is adding more words daily. She can say her name and approximate the names of other kids in her class, as well as her teachers' names. Here are some more of the words she uses daily:
copy (coffee)
cuh-wee (crayon)
keeku (circle)
ope-men (open- accompanied by the sign she made up which looks like the chicken dance)
utsat? (what's that?- to really get the Maya version you need to use a glottal stop at the end leave your mouth open (or ope-men) really wide)
and, our favorite...
ayluvoo (I love you)

 

 

 

Taking lessons

Today, early in the morning Maya taught me about how she likes her morning milk. First I poured her a little whole milk in her Sippy cup but it was met with a few minutes of dissatisfied chanting of “mommy.” Then, I decided to just ask her what she wanted and she said “more” and pointed at the fridge. So I picked her up and opened the fridge – and she clearly pointed at the carton of chocolate silk. I figured, I might as well play along and took it out. Meanwhile she was sitting on the floor, very happy and while I was opening her Sippy cup she opened the Silk and pointed where she wanted me to pour it ( into the milk). So I felt that I was following precise direction of my not yet 21 month old daughter who knows what she wants and is not shy to ask for it. I wonder where she gets it.

And now we are sitting in the kitchen, she on her step stool and I on mine, enjoying our early morning.

Policy Update

The new policy has been working fairly well. Sometimes Maya wakes up between 10 and midnight and usually one of us will go in and remind her to drink water and she'll go right back to sleep. And sometimes she wakes up between 4 and 6 a.m. and we ignore her, and she cries and eventually gets herself back to sleep. We are getting better at sleeping through that time, too. Then we give her lots of praise for making it through the night. Plus, when we get up at 6 we can have early morning laptop time together, although as you can see she's still too drowsy to write her own blog posts.

 

 

Picture day!

It's picture day at Maya's school, so we put her in this outfit. She didn't seem too mind to much. Here are some of her latest words: Wah-wee = water; adapoo = applejuice; ah-pay = airplaine; adayga = alligator.

 

 

 

This is how we roll

We were talking to Maya about what she might want for breakfast and when I asked her if she wanted some rolls she stretched her arm behind her as if ready to throw an imaginary object forward. It took us a little time but we figured it out - she was bowling!

New Policy

We decided to start taking weekend trips mainly to stop fighting with Maya about her taking a nap. She sleeps well in the car so in a way we are getting the trip for "free" - as in the time would have been waisted anyway. So the idea is to leave on Saturday around nap time and come back Sunday around nap time. I understand that announcing our new strategy to the world is somewhat risky, but I do hope that if anyone was considering breaking into our house they would not read the blog. However, if this entry has made you change your mind and you absolutely have to - the key is in the fake rock to the left of the mailbox ;).

Now it comes down to executing the strategy!

Great big punkins

On the way back from the falls we stopped at a farm and saw, as one man explained "them great big punkins". I can't imagine walking around in squash that's almost as tall as I am. Maya was very brave.

 

 

 

Day o' Georgia

We finally went exploring in the mountains North of Atlanta yesterday and went to Amicalola Falls State Park. First Maya's Dad got some boiled peanuts at one of the many many roadside stands, and Maya's Mom found out that they are not gross if you think of them like peanut-shaped chick peas, and, even better, they are soft enough not to be choking hazards for Maya!
Then we drove to the park lodge, ate a yummy buffet with a fabulous view, saw part of a talk about owls, and started hiking down.

 

 

 

 

We are back!

So why the sudden change of hearts? Why have we (and by “we” I mean the editorial “we” since it is only I who decided) decided to get back to sharing our (mine, really) experiences? The answer is that we need your help, dear readers. We have hit a wall and the only thing that can get us through is a visit from the Super Nanny. Yes, I do know, that they are annoying and speak with an accent that can only match that stick up their …, well, you know where, but the sensation left by the wall on our faces is all but too real.

What might be the problem? Are you serious? You really don’t know? Then take a guess! Oh, no, it is not THAT bad – Maya is still cute and funny, and full of wonderful surprises, and it is not like she decided to marry a seismologist (A special joke for Molly – we heard she reads this in the moments of drunken desperation). But she still does not sleep! Well, it is not entirely true, like the rest of the things I have ever said – she does not sleep well enough. In other words, she is not sleeping up to her potential. But here are the facts: She sleeps great until … 4:30 AM. After that it is “upoo” or “I will scream until you realize that “upoo” is what is best for everyone.” And we tried reasoning with her “Maya, we are in a recession and mommy and daddy need to be productive to help the country,” and we tried threatening her with both the military and the charming schools, and we tried … pretty much everything we knew to try or learned from the internet. But, as many of you who have children already know, it is like dealing with terrorists – the most committed wins, and we are just not committed enough.

And so you can see how I came up with an idea of the Super Nanny. So go out there and talk to anyone you know who might have been to England, likes a pint of Guinness, occasional cup-o-tea, or just heard about Mary Poppins. Ask them if they have an “in” with the Super Nanny, and if she could help us. We would be willing to pay anything (with reason and under 7.99) to stop getting up at 4AM and check the clock every 10 minutes when we will hear that chilling call – “maaaamieeeee.”

Dancing queen

Here's a new little two component dance Maya's just gone public with.

Putting on shoes

Maya is fascinated by shoes and socks lately. She can also change channels on tv, and audio settings on the home theater thingie.

the singin' hat

Maya can be a little hip hop star, but only when she's wearing Daddy's hat.

Maya is walking

Maya started walking almost a month ago and we forgot to post right away. She is also very cute.

Repotting the Imperial Pine

I joined the long list of people who over the last 200 years took care of this tree. This red pine used to be part of the Imperial Garden in Tokyo and was one of the 53 trees gifted to the US for the bicentennial.

Daddy's brithday

 

 

Dancing cheek to cheek