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.