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 valerie -- September 19th, 2009I made pancakes for dinner last night, always a crowd pleaser on a Friday night. Well, almost always. Sitting at the dinner table Maia and Elise were enjoying the bounty but Stella was refusing to eat them. What? I wondered out loud where Stella had come from…my daughter not eating pancakes? After looking at her, I had to acknowledge that I did indeed know where Stella came from. Then Maia pipes up, “Mom, where did I come from?” What to do? My mind raced as I wondered how much I should tell her, should I start the where babies come from subject? Should I brush it off? I blurted out in a moment of frivolity “Oh Maia, you came from the pumpkin patch!” She looked at me. And looked at me again. “Mom, you’re being silly. I came from the living room!” valerie -- August 25th, 2009Maia has become just a tiny bit balloon obsessed lately. She loves them, uses them as her babies, names them (which is new) and just wants them with her always. Especially if they happen to be orange. Maia has also started drawing pictures of her world. The other day she drew some big slide looking things and told me it was Maia at the playground. Great. Then she drew her first object that looked like the actual thing she wanted it to be. An orange balloon. Complete with string to keep it from blowing away. Today, she drew an entire family of orange balloons. At least we don’t have to worry about her ability to draw a circle anymore… valerie -- August 12th, 2009I made lovely biscuits along with dinner tonight, and after insisting that she didn’t like biscuits Maia couldn’t get enough of them. She had eaten most of her dinner and was longing for just one more biscuit–they live in the biscuit house, you know–and I gave in and let her go choose another to share. Maia hopped off her chair and proceeded to the other side of the table where John had moved the biscuit house (the bowl with a napkin liner they were sitting in) earlier out of her reach. She looks over at me: “Shhhhh….I have to sneak up on the biscuits. They’re sleeping and I have to sneak up a grab one out of the house before they wake up!” She then tip-toes over to the bowl and snatches up a biscuit and scampers away, presumably before the other biscuits realize what just happened. john -- August 9th, 2009This evening, Valerie was promising gooey chocolate cakes to the twins for their birthday. Maia comes trotting in about that time: M: Gooooooeeeeeeeeey chocolate cake? V: Yes. What kinda of cake did you have for your birthday? M: ORANGE cake!! V: And, who made it? M: Kathleen! She turns and points at me. M: And, you’re going to have beer cake for your birthday! J: I certainly hope so… john -- July 10th, 2009Stella has developed a habit of yelling loudly when she has dispatched all the food placed in front of here and wants more. We are constantly trying to get her to use sign language for “more” and “food” in hopes this will give her a less nerve-grating alternative to get her point across. The kids are sitting at the breakfast table, the babies sitting in their “hook-on high chairs”. I was up to fix some cereal for myself and Valerie was busy cutting peaches for the twins. Stella belts out her signature, “Attention please” yell. To which I reply, “Stella, can you say ‘food’” and show her the sign. Maia jumps in, “No dady, she can’t say food, she’s a baaaaaaaabyeeeeeee”. “She might not be able to say it now, but, if we keep showing her, she’ll learn just like you did when you were a baby” The light clicks for Maia. A few seconds later Maia’s leaning over to Stella, slowly saying, “More. More. More.” and giving the sign each time. valerie -- July 5th, 2009Maia went for her 3-year check up in the middle of last month. Once again, she’s tiny but perfect. And a joy to work with. She was very good for the nurse, even when she had a new check performed–her blood pressure was taken. She was good for Dr. Rose, answering all her questions, but being more interested in “reading” a book than in drawing a circle. Maia’s Stats: Weight: 26#8oz puts her in the 25th percentile Height: 34 1/4″ or 2’10 1/4″ puts her into the 5th percentile Blood Pressure: 62/38 For height, she is at least back on the charts in the 5th percentile. She’s petite. Her BP looks good, maybe she’ll inherit my ever-low blood pressure as opposed to her dad’s ever high. I looked at the blood pressure charts for her age and height and she’s under the mid-line reading of 86/47. So, good. I know it’s really a diagnostic tool more than anything else, but it’s nice to not have to worry about that. Yet. As for other milestones, she’s proceeding as expected. Except for that darn circle. She’d rather “write” letters than draw shapes. We’ll work on that. But she has several of her favorite books memorized (including some rather long ones) and that’s great as well as being able to perform lots of physical tasks. She got a trampoline for her birthday and is discovering a love of bounce. I’m going to take her to the trampoline place for some bounce time one of these days. I know she’d be thrilled. Maia is shaping up into a typical three-year-old with all the joys and frustrations that can can bring. She is able to express so many emotions–and not always positive ones (that makes me sad/angry/frustrated is a common refrain) but it’s always amazing to me to see how she’s changing into such a fine little lady. john -- July 4th, 2009Finally working through some older pictures, and came across this from 9 months ago: Apparently, Maia’s dolls were being naughty. A toddler’s life is so tough — the whole world to learn about and interact with, yet, so little that they are actually allowed to control. So, she turns to her toys to show them who’s boss. Naughty dolls get timeouts, just like naughty Maia’s do. If you look close (click the picture to get a higher-res version), you’ll see that in Maia’s idealized world, timeout includes toys. She’s brought a wind-up toy train to one of them. You know, so the dollies don’t get bored while being disciplined. I’m going overlook why one of the dolls is naked. It’s a fairly normal for state for her dolls. But the fact that she brought the doll’s clothes to it — is that to play with, or is that part of the discipline? valerie -- June 16th, 2009We had established some basics about Maia’s friend ‘O’ but as time goes on and she becomes a more permanent guest the details are being fleshed out. For example, while we knew ‘O’ was a girl, it had also been learned that ‘O’s favorite color is blue and that her hair is blue too. ‘O’ lives next to Train, or the Train House. ‘O’s parents both work. That’s why she stays with us. ‘O’ likes to use the potty…right when Maia should be using the potty. ‘O’ also got to go to music with us on Monday and dear Teacher Louise remembered to sing the Hello song to her. I thought Maia was going to burst with glee. All in all, ‘O’ is a pretty good friend, even if she touches the hot stove and has to go on time-out sometimes. valerie -- June 16th, 2009Maia woke up on June 2 and began climbing down her ladder while I was getting the babies out of bed. “Maia,” I asked, “How old are you today?” Without hesitation her reply, “I’m three” with the fingers held up for emphasis. Oh yes, you certainly are. (tin roof…rusted) valerie -- June 16th, 2009Maia quietly turned three two weeks ago…while we were all fighting a rather nasty bug running rampant through the house. We had a lovely play-date party scheduled for the second of June, but alas had to reschedule it to last Thursday. We had, in Maia’s words, “all my friends” over: Ava, David, Zoe, Ben, Kellen, and Grant plus the mommies, little sisters, little brothers and special guest Kathleen (who makes cakes). It turned into one of the most fun filled mornings. All the kids had a great time and I think the moms got along fine too. The little ones were entertaining as well as entertained and the toddlers did what those charmong creatures do best: wreak havoic and play until they are fit to burst. We again this year set up the backyard as a water play station. We had a lovely wading pool, the water table and the sand box out and ready. The day was overcast–we’re having a very mild June this year–and I was worried we wouldn’t be able to play in the water at all. John solved this delima by letting me know how to fill the pool with warm water, straight from the hot water heater. He hooked it up and soon the pool was bathtub warm for the kids. Of course, they didn’t really care about the temperature but it kept them from turning blue too soon. John came home on his lunch hour to BBQ up sausages and hot dogs for everyone and we feasted on meat and potato salad. Kathleen brought Maia the most beautiful birthday cake…Maia’s jaw just about hit the floor when she saw it. It was three tiers of bright orange goodness touched with pure white decorations and “Happy Birthday Maia” right on the front. Lovely. Maia loved it so much, she even bent over to take a bite right out of the side. And that is the picture I’ve been waiting for all these long years: my daughter actually eating her birthday cake. I could have cried. It was an afternoon filled with the celebration of everything three (!) and a fitting celebration for our big little girl. Love you Miss Maia. |
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