Pulling up...

And proud of it!

The Holiday Season

We have fully embraced the holidays this year and Maya is absolutely loving it.  She is obsessed with Christmas lights and loves driving around to look at the houses all lit up.  There is a house in our neighborhood that has decorated their house in true Griswold style which Maya has dubbed, "lotta lights".  She requests to drive by it every time we get in the car.  She met Santa, she didn't want to sit on his lap but gave a little wave from a safe distance.  She has asked Santa to bring her treats and a green present.  Jingle Bells is a new favorite song.

We kicked the season off by heading to the Reindeer Festival at Cougar Mtn Zoo.  Maya had such a fun time; she got to feed reindeer, wave at Santa, write a letter and put it in Santa's mailbox and listen to a Christmas story time.  Laurel slept through most of it :-)

Next we took advantage of a beautiful Seattle day and headed to the tree farm to pick out the perfect Christmas tree.



We made batches and batches of Christmas cookies.

And tonight we decorated the tree.  Maya caught on very quickly and strategically placed each ornament on the tree.  Laurel secured a spot under the tree and just stared up at all the lights!



8 months!!

Time is flying and Laurel is growing.  She and Maya are becoming great buddies and will often simply look at each other and start giggling. I love listening to them and watching them get excited when they see one another.

- She is sticking with the army crawl, although she occassionally gets up on hands and knees.  She is fast though and I often find myself wandering down the hallway to figure out where she has gone.  All this army crawling is giving her great upper body strength!

- She is starting to pull herself up and gets to about her knees.  She is just so curious that she pulls herself into all sorts of baskets and toy buckets and closets because she wants to see what is inside.

- She has started dancing along with music.  Which is so fun since one of Maya's favorite activities right now is to put on a dress to dance and spin around the room.  She loves that Laurel joins in on the fun.

Hugs

Story time

Sharing her love of books with her sister.  It is pretty cute to listen to Maya "read" to Laurel.  This book is about ducks and colors.  Each page Maya would say, "Ducky likes red", "Ducky likes blue" and so on.  She does get a bit frustrated that Laurel would prefer to eat the books!

Friends

Last night we were driving home after a great afternoon and evening with family.  It was dark out, we thought Maya was falling asleep because she was very quiet.  Out of nowhere she asks, "Mommy, are you my friend?" 

Yes, Maya, I am most certainly your friend.  I am also your Mommy and I love you with all my heart, more than I ever knew possible. 

And the seemingly random questions like this, really make me wonder about the thoughts that go through her head.  I'm certain she is much more insightful than we give her credit for.

Seven Months!!

 

One of the many differences between the two girls became very obvious to me when I took this picture.  Literally 30 seconds before I took this, Laurel was fussing and cranky because it was dinner time and she was hungry.  I pull out the camera and she immediately turns the fussing into a giant grin.   It is the exact opposite for Maya.  She can be giggling and grinning away and as soon as I pull out the camera her face becomes completely serious.  You have to catch her off guard to actually get a good smile.  I love that already they each have a distinct personality.

- Laurel is ALL OVER THE PLACE.  She has become so fast with her army crawl and if you put her on the floor she will not stay in one place for long.  She has been getting up on all fours, but hasn't figured out how to get anywhere that way so quickly gets back on her tummy.  If I need her to stay put, I sit her down, she hasn't yet figured out how to get down from that position.

- She is such an explorer and observer.  She is quite content to scoot around the room simply observing and touching each and every little thing.  She watches her big sister constantly and just likes to take everything in.  

- She is a great eater and has yet to refuse a new food.  She even likes peas!  So different for me, but it is nice to know that it wasn't me that made Maya a picky eater (I haven't done anything different this time around).

- She has become quite the babbler.  Mama mama and aba aba aba are her newest sounds.  Maya likes to talk back to Laurel by repeating every sound she makes.

- Someday she will sleep - right?!?!?!