Sweet Maya

Maya has had so many awesome breakthroughs lately, and I've been a huge slacker and haven't really posted any of them here. So, here's the latest in the world of Maya.

The talking has gotten cuh-razy! She still isn't combining words yet, but she will learn and repeat words that I didn't even think she knew. I wore a shirt a couple weeks ago that has little beads sewn on it. She pointed to them, and I told her they were beads. She repeated me, and that was pretty much the end of it. Fast-forward to a couple weeks later, and I wear the shirt again. She points to me and says "beads" without skipping a beat. That is one example, there are tons more. The kid has a crazy memory.

Another thing that she's learning is her colors. The first color she learned and repeated back to me correctly was blue. Next she learned green, then red, then yellow, and so on. She learns a new color about every two or three days. Of course, she has been telling me what color EVERYTHING is now. Whenever I get her out a bowl or a cup, I let her pick which color she wants. If blue is an option, she practically screams "BLUE!!!" It's pretty obvious that blue is her favorite color, followed by pink and green.

Whenever Maya has something she wants to tell me, she always kinda yells "Mom!" Once she has my attention, she shows me the thing I needed to see, and then does it a few more times. Example:

Maya: Mom!
Me: Yes, Maya
Maya: Pink
Me: You're right, that is pink. You're so smart! (I go back to whatever I was doing)
Maya: MOM!
Me: How can I help you, Maya?
Maya: Pink!
Me: Yes, I see that it's pink.
Maya: MOOOOMMM!
Me:What?
Maya: MOOOOOOM!
Me: What do you need, Maya
Maya: Pink.

You get the idea. It's super awesome, and not annoying at all. (I love you, Maya!)

This weekend also marked the end of the bottle era for Maya. We told her that bottles are something that babies use, not little girls like Maya. She's not a baby anymore, so from now on we will not be having a bottle of water at naptime or bedtime. She was not a fan, and whined for a couple of minutes her first non-bottle nap. But, once she realized it was a done deal, she got over it and went to sleep. Then, at bedtime she told me "Bottle.......no." I concurred that we will not be enjoying a bottle. Again, she was kinda sad, but she went right to bed after I tucked her in. I was so worried, because all the baby books say to yank the bottle early because doing it later (like 19 months!) would be waaaay more difficult. I found it rather easy to just reason with her, though. I am blessed with one reasonable little girl!

Speaking of reasoning with Maya, whenever she gets really frustrated recently, she will throw whatever's in her hand. If there's nothing in her hand, she'll look around, find something to pick up, and throw it. Then, she'll look at me like, "That's right...I just threw it. What are you gonna do about it?" At first I thought it was kinda cute, but now I make her go pick whatever it was up, make her look me in the eyes, and tell her it's OK to be mad or frustrated, but it is not OK to throw things because they might break. It's so dang adorable when she gets into trouble, because the talk we have afterwards is usually incredibly sweet and ends with hugs and kisses. She is still yet to be sent to time out.

With other kids around, Maya likes to be the boss. She is totally a future Hall Monitor of America! She is very particular about other kids following the rules, but rather than come to me about something, she like to police the situation herself. She can be quite the little bossy-pants!

We talk to Maya all the time about babies, and how we're going to have a new baby in the house. She knows there's a baby in Mommy's tummy, and whenever I ask her where her baby brother is, she pats my tummy. She also knows that the ultrasound pictures are of her baby brother. It's so sweet! For now, anyways. I think she is going to be INCREDIBLY jealous when he gets here! She has no idea what's really in store, but we're doing our best to prepare her. We will definitely talk about it a lot more when we get a little closer to my due date.

Pete and I are seriously the luckiest parents on earth. Maya is a great eater, she has an amazing ability to pay attention and learn new things, she is super snuggly and often comes over for random hugs and kisses, and she is so dang cute and getting cuter by the second! I feel so blessed with the family I have, and can't believe how much love I have for Pete and Maya. Seriously, I could be homeless, and as long as I have them everything will work out! I'm wondering what having a new baby boy will do to our little family, but I can't imagine anything but awesomeness!