The Holiday Season

The holiday traditions have become so much fun now that Maya is old enough to understand and partake.  Here she is in action.

Heading out to find the perfect tree.

 Enjoying the spiced cider with Daddy.

Helping to put up the ornaments.  She didn't quite understand what we were doing at first, but once she caught on she didn't want it to end.  After we ran out of non-breakable ornaments, she decided she would just take them off the tree and put them back on.  Endless fun!

We celebrated Christmas with the Knowles family a week early - here she is tearing into her first present.  

She loved the magnetic alphabet she received and kindly "forced" Uncle Preston to play with her for most of the afternoon!

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Bennett discovered a much easier way to play with his new basketball hoop.

Cousins checking out Grandma and Granpa's Christmas tree.

The best we could get with the two of them!  Pictures of busy toddlers is not easy.

We held our annual cookie baking day with the Knowles girls.  It was a bit more chaotic with little ones, but also more fun.  The cute little redhead is Avery, a fried of Bennett's.

The kids decorated cookies, which Maya didn't quite understand at first.  She figured she should just eat them all.

But once she figured it out, there was no stopping her.

She became quite bossy in which decorations she wanted.

The final spread and the hard workers (we are just missing Grandma in the picture).

18 Months!!

Maya reached a huge milestone this month - she is finally 20lbs!  We had her 18 month appointment this morning and her official weigh in is 20lbs 1.5oz.  She has climbed back onto the charts and comes in at 3%.  It appears the heavy whipping cream we have been spiking her milk with (per the nutritionist) is doing it's job.  She is 30.5 inches tall (15%) so still a little peanut, but remains proportional.

She is full of personality and does not hesitate to make her opinions known.  She really enjoys coloring, playing with playdough and dancing to music.  Our nightly routine is made up of some combination of these before bed.  She is starting to learn her colors and can pick out the letters A and B in her books.  Her vocabulary expands every day and she has started to string together a few two-word sentences.  We have entered into a phase where everything is "mine" which has made play dates very interesting.  I can't wait for this to end.  She likes to go around the house and point out what is "Maya's/Mine", "Mommy's" and "Daddy's".

She has decided she doesn't believe in sleeping anymore and wakes up between 1:30 and 2:00 every night.  At that point she throws her blankets and animals out of her crib and starts yelling (screaming) for Mommy.  I also can't wait for this to end.  We need sleep!

She showers us with kisses and hugs and has learned to say I Love You. 

Here are a some pictures from the last few weeks.

Here she discovered the clothing in her drawers and had me put on a pair of overalls, a skirt (hidden under the overalls) and a pair of shorts and shirt as a hat.  All over top of the PJs she was already wearing.

We received a significant amount of snow Thanksgiving week.  Rey and I were excited to bundle Maya up to go out and play in it... unfortunately she had other ideas.  This is about as close to it as she would go.

Dancing before bed time.

Playing with bowls of rice.

And although she does think everything is "mine", occasionally she is great at sharing.  Here she decided the kitty needed a toy, a pillow, a blanket, her baby, a broom and a bean bag chair.  She specifically picked out each of these items and brought them over to Meri as she sat on the ottoman.

Miss Independent

Maya has been asserting her independence lately and it has made for some interesting times.  Some prime examples:

- The 3AM tantrum which included kicking, screaming, yelling and pushing Mommy away.  All because I wasn't on board with "night night all done"

- The refusal to wear any jacket she owns except for "yellow jacket"

- The extreme disapproval she shows when diaper changes happen on our insistence instead of hers

- Her bossiness when she shows Mommy or Daddy exactly where to sit and what she wants to read


But, she makes up for it with the continual kisses and bear hugs she has learned to give.  And this...

(excuse my sniffling - we are all fighting winter colds)

It's A....

GIRL!!!

We are thrilled to have another girl.  I can only hope that Maya and her little sister will grow up to be as close as my sisters and I are.  I don't know what I would do without their friendship and support through the good times and the bad.  Now, we weren't always this close and I am more than slightly terrified about the teenage years, but I am choosing to worry about later. 

Maya is gearing up for the new addition to our family (well, I like to think so, but the reality is that she has no clue what is going on).  She proudly wore her Big Sis tshirt this weekend, we read books about becoming a big sister and she is very loving toward her babies while puts them night-night and feeds them milk.  On the other hand, she is becoming very territorial and immediately tells the kitties, "mine", when they come too near the toy she is playing with.  We may have to work on the concept of sharing.

A rare family photo

Totally cheesy, but this is from the Halloween party at Maya's daycare.  We really need to work on getting more family pictures... maybe a little less posed with a more natural background.

Rey wore his Husky jersey as his costume.  I wonder if that is why Maya pointed at every football player while we were watching the games on Sunday and said, "Daddy!".

Halloween festivites

Pumpkin Patch - somehow we managed to find an hour of sun on a very rainy day and headed to the pumpkin patch.  Maya had a great time picking out a pumpkin, however, I'm pretty sure she enjoyed splashing through the puddles in the rain boots even more.  Unfortunately, Maya's feet are so small that it has been really difficult to find rain boots in her size, here she borrowed Bennett's, which are two sizes too big!

Carving Pumpkins - it was no big surprise that Maya refused to touch the pumpkin guts, but she had a great time scooping it all out with a spoon!

Halloween Night - Unfortunately, Maya came down with a fever and a nasty cold the night before, so we ended up backing out of our two Halloween parties and instead spent the day hanging out at home.  She had gone to a costume party at daycare on Friday, so we were able to get in a little celebrating.  On Halloween evening, she was perfectly happy running around the yard in her costume for some photo ops.  She was a kitty, or as she says, a Meow.

Still buddies

Meri even sticks around while Maya dreses her up in hats.

Quirks

I wanted to document a few of the things that make Maya, Maya.

- She sucks her fingers when tired and has since the moment she had enough control over them to get them to her mouth on her own.  She has no preference on which hand she uses; however, on her right hand she uses her middle and ring fingers and on her left hand she uses her pointer and middle fingers.  Don't know why, but it has always been this way.

- Every time we go in the car she takes off her right shoe and sock. Never the left, just the right. Again, who knows why, she just does.

- She could care less about TV - unless it is a nature program.  When we need a couple minutes to get ready in the morning, we put on the 'HD sunrise channel' and she looks for birds, fish and other animals while eating breakfast.  There is no commentary or story in this program, all it is is a couple cameras filming a real time sunrise and the nature around it.  The girl loves it.  She gets this from her Daddy.

- I have mentioned this many times, but she has loved books since she could 'read' them herself.  Maya is well known by all at her daycare center for how obsessed she is with books.  She will even use them as an escape when she gets overwhelmed.  We read the story, we talk about the pictures, we point out the objects and practice the words.  And she never tires of it.  She gets this from her Mommy.

- She is very particular and knows how she wants things.  When playing with stickers, she gets upset if one is touching the other and will move it to a "better" location.  She doesn't like it when her hands are dirty and will ask for them to be cleaned throughout her meal.  She lined up her toys along the edge of the rug yesterday and really thought about where each one should be placed.  Some of them she picked up and traded spots.  A little OCD?  Maybe, but I'm not sure how much of this is a surprise since she has a Mommy who eats her french fries in order (smallest to largest).  Here is a picture of her in action.

She melts my heart

- Lately, Maya has been attempting to sing her ABCs... although the only letters she knows are 'A' and 'B'.  The other morning in the car on the way to daycare she sang her own version of the song.  'A', 'B', 'A', 'B' over and over again until she determined that she had reached the end of the song.  At that point she got a huge grin on her face, said YAY and clapped her hands.  Then she would start all over again.  She was so proud!  It put a huge smile on my face on an otherwise crappy morning.

- Yesterday at daycare, Maya was the first to wake up from her nap.  She decided on her own that the other kids needed books.  So, she picked out a book for each of them, walked it over to them and placed it next to their sleeping mat so they would have it when the woke up.  Such a thoughtful little girl.

She's really growing up.

Littlest Fan

Maya attended her first Husky game last Saturday (although she has tailgated many times) and she was a trooper.  We went in with low expectations and were surprised she lasted until part way through the third quarter.  She is very much an observer and there was a lot for her to take in.  She clapped with everyone else and loved the marching band during half time.  It was certainly a success!

15 months!!

I wrote this post a couple weeks ago, but apparently never posted it, oops.

 Maya was 15 months on the 23rd of August.  She is very much a toddler and loves exploring life.  She is full of energy, runs around the house, climbs on anything we will allow her to and would spend all day outside if she could.  She really enjoys coloring, books and music.  She doesn't quite understand why people can't drop everything whenever she wants to hear a story.  She has a thing for animals; especially fish and puppies.  Her teeth have been popping through one after the next, she now has 10 (including all four molars) and the 11th just broke through.  Her vocabulary expands each day and she has really been able to verbalize what she wants.  She is starting to replace her signs with the words, although when she feels that we are not paying attention or giving her the answer she wants she uses both at the same time to emphasize her point.  She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to throw a tantrum when she doesn't get it.  She is very particular about how things should be and will spend the time to make sure things are placed just the way she wants them.   She is still tiny, she fell off the charts this month at only 18lbs 10oz, but her feet have finally grown enough to wear real shoes!   This has opened a whole new world of shopping for me :-)

Go Dawgs!

Starting out the season right...

Catching Up on Life

It's been awhile.  Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to these last few weeks.

Playing ping pong

Enjoying her toys.

Visiting with my 'old' friends from elementary school.  All the kids; Macie, Maya, Trevek and Gracie.

Meri and Maya have become great buddies.

We took a trip to visit Grammy in Arizona.  The kids helped marinate the flank steak.

They enjoyed plenty of pool time in the AZ heat.

Searched high and low for animals in Grams back yard.

Had such a great time playing together - even with spoons!

Sliding at Alex's birthday party.

Sleepover

Maya had a first sleepover away from Mom and Dad last weekend.  She spent Saturday night with Grandma and Grandpa while Rey and I enjoyed spending some kid-free time together.  She had a blast and we got a much needed break.  She is very lucky to have grandparents who love to spend time with her!

It was HOT!  Playing in the water.

More water.  I'm amazed by how old she looks in this picture, no longer a baby.

Helping Grandpa with the yardwork.

Driving the lawn mower.