New Journal

So, this is the end of Maia's journal. While I would love to give her her own spotlight, there is so much that she does with her brother that it would just be easier to maintain a single blog for the both of them.

So for future updates on Maia, check out their combined blog! (there is also a link on the right side of this page)

I can dress myself!

This morning, Maia put her own shirt on!! She insisted she do it herself, got lucky and got it over her head easily. We had to give a little help to get her arms directed towards the sleeve, since she was trying to put her hands in starting with the wrist end of the sleeve. She complained, wanting to do it herself, but we managed to do enough quick movements to help without totally pissing her off. Once she got her arm started in the (correct end of the) sleeve, we just let her do the rest herself. She was so proud! She walked around showing each member of the family.
I am interested to see if she can do it again, or if she just got lucky with getting her head into the shirt correctly. Regardless, she is growing up!

Cool Dude

Are captions needed?

(the bottle is empty, I swear)

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Saw-wee

Over the last month or two, Maia has started saying many more recognizable words. It's opening up a new world of communication with her, and it's also very cute.
She says juice, which sounds more like "juiwce", and her please is now "peaze" instead of "puh". She says Thank You, often quite clearly. She says Dada and Mama without problem, and is often calling us (mostly daddy). She says Liam, though it's still hard to tell and hard to describe here. She says cracker, "qhuacker". She can ask for "more", to be picked "up", and put "down". When she hands us things to take, she says "baba"...not sure what that means, but she uses it consistently. She talks about "socks" and "shoes", and can name several body parts (eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, head, toes). She has very recently started using "stop it" when wanting us to stop doing what something she doesn't approve of. She is great at using "No" and has stepped up it's usage. Even cuter is when she waggles a finger at Liam and says "No no, eh-em".
But none are as cute as her "sorry". I discovered this little gem when she was sitting on my lap facing me and she started emphatically clapping. Her hands accidentally brushed my chest, and she immediately stopped, looked at me concerned (or at least as concerned as a 1.5-year-old can look), and then brushed one hand against me and said "saw-wee". And she did that a few times, to make sure all the "hurt" was taken care of. It was utterly adorable. She did it again when, later on, she was pointing out body parts and accidentally scratched my chapped lips with her sharp nails and I said "ouch". She again patted me and said "saw-wee". Such a heart-melting little phrase. It almost makes me want to find a reason for her to say it. She has used it on all members of our family, plus a few others she has been around. Apparently it's something they have taught them in daycare...and I LOVE it.

Happy (belated) Halloween

Halloween came late this year, due to Hurricane Sandy making a mess of things. It was kind of a sad year for it, with the majority of people just not at home for it. Here are a few pictures of Maia from our Halloween party, and trick-or-treating several days AFTER the 31st.

Year and a half!

That's right! Maia is now halfway through her second year. She is 18 months, and in 6 more she will be two years old! Where is the time going?

Although, it also seems like it's been way longer than just 18 months. I keep thinking of her as being two, or almost two...and I have been doing a double-take when I realize that she is only just now hitting 18 months. Crazy.

As usually, I have tons of pictures of her, even given that I have been trying to keep up somewhat with posting.
Some quick stats/info: She weighs 22lbs 4oz and is 29.25" tall. She loves pointing to her eyes, nose, head, ears, and feet and naming them (as best she can). She loves waving hello and goodbye. When teaching her to say "please", we eventually just got her to say "puh"...the sound that the letter "p" makes. And we can't get her to go beyond that. It's cute, but it means we have to listen extra hard for it. Matt has gotten her to say "A-E-I-O-U" and she will often yell "DADA" when she is by herself in the gated-off living room and wants to be attended to. She loves giving hugs and is amused by a great many things. She is also annoyed by a great many things, including her big brother (who seems to excel as much in making her angry as he does in making her laugh). She may be only 18 months but she has the "twos" thing down pretty well now. She is very brave and is constantly standing up on her chair, and on less stable objects like her ride-on-cars (you know, the ones with WHEELS). She LOVES pretending to eat things...she'll often pinch something up in her fingers and pretend to eat it with great smacking sounds...or offer it up to one of us for the taking. Put a pillow or blanket or anything soft on the floor and she will lay down on it, butt in the air and a big grin on her face. Hand her a stuffed animal and she will hug in a squeeze of love.
I could go on and on and on....there is just so much to share about her. But as usual, I am supposed to get sleep at some point, so I need to move on to the pictures.

Naturally I have to take the "messy face" pictures, to later use to embarrass her.

She was so cute in her lumberjack coat, interacting with my grandmother (notice Liam in the background, with his matching coat?). I am sorry that this wasn't a good picture of my grandmom.

One of the many shots of Liam and Maia hanging out together.

Matt and I have a thing for Hello Kitty, so I am sure Maia will as well by the time we are done with her (or an intense hatred?)

Maia also loves getting her picture taken (though often she wants to see herself in camera/phone)

She was giving the A-OK for something...

Maia loves playing with necklaces when she can get her hands on them (we are careful about those)

She got annoyed that I kept trying to get her to look up for the picture. She has definitely learned how to furrow her brows in annoyance.

Ah yes...my first attempt at pulling her bang back into a mini ponytail. Looks more like a unicorn, doesn't it? 

I only have a few pictures of Maia "mothering" her dolls, but she does it all the time. It's adorable.

I think this has to be one of my all-time favorite shots. We attended the Westampton Emergency Services Open House at our local fire station and Liam was sharing a water ice with Maia. (note to self, red cherry water ice and white coat on a toddler aren't a good mix)

Maia was very happy to be out, and was enjoying the music

We snagged a pink firefighter hat for Maia

Maia was rather interested in Sparky the Dog and wanted to follow him around, but she was afraid to actually get up close to him. Poor fella had to work hard for her approval. 

 But eventually she gave him a high five

I discovered that I could use Liam to feed Maia her lunch so that I could get some work done. They were both amused by the situation (and Maia was pretty messy by the end of it).

And I learned that I can use even Maia for some cheap labor. She was happy to pick up little twigs and branches and toss them into the can.

Later she made friends with the local faeries

While Maia enjoys eating with her hands and getting it all over her face, she was not happy with the placement of this particular rice.

I took the kids to the PTA Movie Night, and Maia was quite content to snuggle down into her chair with her juice cup and a handful of popcorn in a cup (at least for the first half of the movie).

As I said, Maia loves to give hugs. Liam didn't even ask for this one. 

BTW, we didn't even plan to match these outfits. Liam picked his shirt out on his own while Matt was in the other room picking out Maia's shirt. Voila!

My little cutie (this was the best I could get of her, as she kept turning her back to me with an "Ehhh!"...typical difficult toddler speech for leave me alone). (PS, Matt did her hair. He seems to be able to handle the toddler hair tie thing)

Liam is always rearranging the kid furniture in the living room and creating things, like this "ice cream truck". Maia likes to join him on/in his creations.

That's it for now, folks. I hope to get more up THROUGHOUT this next month, instead of starving the blog for a month and then throwing an entire months-worth of pictures at you. (I've said this before, haven't I?)

SCA: River Wars!

I always love taking the kids to our SCA events...it gives them a chance to do something different, to see different people (as well as familiar faces), to learn something new, and to have the freedom to stretch their legs. Maia always loves the opportunity to run around a wide-open new place. This event was no exception. The playground was the most popular location.
(attended September 29th)

Maia made "friends" with the playground equipment

She was amused by the big wooden castle

Especially when she learned she could go inside

"Look at me, Mommy!"

Big brother Liam loved pushing her in the swing

Maia got cozy inside the train

She explored some tunnels

Liam and Maia took turns driving the train

(Maia was greatly amused)

As the day turned colder, I had to borrow Liam's cloak for her (can't find hers), which she looks cute in (but very short)

Okay, here she just looks like a cackling witch (I've got you now! Ah ha ha ha haaaaa!)

After all that excitement, a nap was definitely in order (I didn't even get a complaint)