Maia this morning...

Along with this pic that Ray took (Maia eating her Kashi Cereal bar for breakfast: "Ashi-baar!"), I'll add a little story.

Some days, Maia is more than happy to leave me to play with her friends at daycare. Some others... not so much. She will cling to me and whimper or cry. Today, she was clingy but not quite to the point of crying... her friend Roman was the one in full on tears not wanting his mother to go.

Seeing an opportunity, I whispered to Maia (whose arms were wrapped tightly around my neck) "Your friend Roman is crying, will you go make him feel better?"

She immediately released me, and I put her down. She ran over to his side to start patting him. (Which allowed me to make a much less dramatic escape!). She's such a little momma sometimes, she really does like to take care of her friends.

She has, interestingly, been spending LOTS more time playing with the dolls at daycare - they've reported that she puts them to bed "nuh-night!" and pats their backs. She's also noticing my growing belly (and shrinking lap space) and is starting to understand that there is a "bee-bee in-neer?" She will sometimes pull up my shirt and rub my belly and say "Bee-bee? I see it?" You can almost see the little gears turning in her head as she tries to make sense of this mystery. Poor thing. It's going to be a long 3 months while she tries to figure this out!

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I have to add another story from this evening. After a repeat of the above "trying to figure out the whole baby thing" (complete with Maia pulling up my shirt and trying to play peek-a-boo with the baby she's trying desperately to find)... she pulled up her own shirt, stuck out her tummy and rubbed it, saying "Maia bee-bee?"

"No, Maia... you don't have a baby in your belly. Just momma." Can I tell you how hard it was not to laugh watching her?

Then later, during dinner, she turns to me and asks "Daddy bee-bee?"

"Nope. Daddy doesn't have a baby in his belly either. Just momma."