Maia Can...

It's been a while since I documented all the things that Maia does and says these days. So let's start with what she can do:

• Maia counts from 1-10 in English with no prompting (approx 19 mos - with help, 16-17 mos)
• Maia counts from 1-10 in Spanish with very little prompting (20 mos - with help 16-18 mos)
• Maia counts from 1-10 in French, German and Japanese with Daddy's help (18 mos) The ladies at daycare can count with her in Spanish, and so she expects that they should know French as well (her 3rd most comfortable) and has been known to get frustrated with them for not counting in French (or German) with her.
• Maia knows her colors (18 mos) and can correctly identify the color of something (20 mos): red, orange, yellow, green, blue, black, white, pink and purple.
• Maia knows her shapes: circle, square, triangle, heart, star... sometimes rectangle. She also knows about stripes and dots.
• Maia knows her all her letters by name and by sight (17-19 mos), although will occasionally confuse E/F and U/V.
• Maia can recite the alphabet (19-20 mos), although she will occasionally skip MNO. She sings the song without prompting.
• Maia started singing the ends of the lines of familiar songs at about 18-19 months. An example: Baa baa black sheep, have you any... wool
• Maia quickly moved on to singing more of her favorite songs. An example: baa baa bea shee hayoo wool?
• She's actually pretty good at using her manners (most of the time), she will say please (pees), thank you (tank ooo), pardon me (pahmuh me), excuse me (scooos me), and I'm sorry (sowwy daddy!) She will even say 'pardon me' in response to bumping into someone, or being bumped into by someone (which happens with me a lot these days, since I can't see her below my belly!)
• I'm amazed at how well she is starting to use pronouns. If she knows daddy is downstairs, then she wants to "find him." She's doing some great work experimenting with pluralizing and verb tenses (singing versus sing)

Funny things she says:

• Tank you toooo much! (Thank you so much!)
• Strawboobies (Strawberries)
• Wok an Woooooh! (Rock and Roll)
• NOOOO touch Baio! (She may not touch Daddy's laptop: the Sony Vaio)
• Top it! No tank yoo momma! (Stop it! No thank you momma!)
• Buh bye pizza guy!
• Pizza's here?
• Maia deeuwit! (Maia do it!)
• Goot..... moh-neen! (Good morning. She says this with a big pause in the middle of the two words) She also says Goot... afernoon!
• Aunt Tay-wah shakey bum bum! (This comes from a book about a bee that Aunt Tara read with her. The bee dances because she's happy).
• Ath-a-leen preshusss! (This comes from Aunt Kathleen so frequently telling Maia that she is precious... and now the word is linked with Aunt Kathleen.)
• If she doesn't know where something is, the answer is always "Hiding!"

Things she LOVES to do:

• Group hugs with Mommy and Daddy together delights her!
• More tickoos? She LOVES tickles and will ask for more. Ticklish spots: under arms, hamstrings, belly and sides.
• Go Ow-side!
• Talk to Nana Skype? She loves to talk to Nana and Grandpa, or Aunt Tara on Skype with daddy.
• Blow "bubbos" (bubbles)
• See juu bug? (Check out my growing belly and poke her finger in my rapidly shallowing belly button)
• Sing to herself. Favorite songs include: Row, row, row your boat; Baa Baa Black Sheep; Skin-a-ma-rink; the Alphabet Song; You Are My Sunshine
• Play mommy's "pnano" (piano)
• Dance! She also is a big fan of watching her reflection in the fireplace while dancing at home.
• Immitate. What you say, what you do, funny faces. Oh, and the things you shouldn't have said in front of her...
• Read (or be read to). She will finish the lines of familiar books much like she does with familiar songs. She loves the "Llama Llama" book series and knows them so well that while I was trying to choose which one to buy (she has them at daycare, and I got tired of telling her we didn't have any Llama Llama books), she recited the first page of one of them when I pulled them off the shelf.

Things she LOVES to eat/drink:

• Fyoot (fruit)
• Peeesa (pizza)
• Fyoot nacks (fruit snacks)
• Kashi baaar (Kashi TLC cereal bars, the usual mid-week breakfast)
• Su-sujjjjuh (sausage)
• Eggs
• Sheese (cheese)
• Bed (bread)
• Miiok (milk)
• Co wata ice coobs (cold water with ice cubes: a nightly bedtime request)
• Llll-em-a-ade! (lemonade... which is a rare treat, but she LOVES it)

Maia saw this image on the spine of a book on the bookshelf:

and immediately identified it as a "Wok n Woll tongue!"