Peppers

While at the farmers market last week, we picked up a few peppers. I didn't immediately bag them up and get them in the fridge, so they sat on the counter top for a day or two, and Maia saw an opportunity. I saw her reaching for the pepper one moment, and thought little about it until I heard the crunch.

She ate about a quarter of it before she decided her tummy was full.

At which point, she put it back on the counter, as if we could just use it another day.

Videos from NY

At long last, I'm finally posting the videos from our New York trip at the beginning of the month. See? I make good on my promises... eventually!! Sliding at the Park Swinging with Aunt Tara's help Parker talks to Aunt Tara Maia's first Pony Ride. Incidentally, as we were watching this today, Maia announced: That's my friend, Zoe! Maia rides the Ladybug ride (I think this was the first time) Maia bouncing. I love how, even though this girl was a complete stranger, Maia decides she's a friend and tries to hold her hand. Maia bouncing more, later. At this point, she's pretty tired, and it's starting to show! Rollercoaster! Maia and Rachael are in the 2nd to last car. Papa and Maia go down the Big Green Slide. Briefly!

Stories from Daycare

First, Parker. Here's the background info. At the daycare center, they are currently doing some remodeling of the infant room, which used to be two separate rooms: one for play and one for sleep. They are turning it into one larger room. It's been a long process, with lots of problem solving dilemmas for the staff to keep the kids safe and keep the environment good for sleeping and playing. The Staff are antsy for it to be done with already, and it's in the home stretch. Just in time, because there are a few more babies starting soon, and two of the Retirement Village staff want to put their babies in the center as well, and so they will need that currently unusable half of their room back soon! So here's the story:

As staff are mentioning the impending influx of babies, Parker is in the teacher's arms. The contractor says to Parker: Oh, we don't want any of those (Retirement Village) babies here! No we don't! and Parker promptly smiles and laughs! Right on cue.
Incidentally, I've been trying to get Parker's laughs on camera. He's been laughing for close to a month now, but I just can't catch a good one. Just glimpses of the laugh that was so abundant right before I turned on the camera. Alas.

Now, Maia. Yesterday, her T2 teacher, Maria left early. Maia asked her why she was leaving, and Maria told her: I have to go home and see my baby (he born around March, I think). Maia says Okay. Fast forward to this morning, Maria came in the door a few moments after we did. Maia turned to her and said Did you see your baby? Maria laughs. Yes, I saw my baby. And now I'm back to spend some time with you! Maia replies, In T2? Okay! Maria says to me: Boy, Maia doesn't miss a thing!!
No, she doesn't!

Playing Cards

The weekend before I went back to work, we got together with Kathleen and Andrew to play some cards.

Listen to some tunes.

Drink a little beer.

Get a little silly.

Laugh a lot.

And loose (or win) a hand or two!

And play with Parker, while he was awake.

(Parker seems unphased)

We are not as young as we used to be, however. And when the game was over, it was time to...

Pics O' The Month

With my return to work, time together to take photos, and even more... time to upload them(!) has been scarce. That said, there were some good ones, but not necessarily big stories to go with them. So here they are, assembled in no particular order.

She has an ecclectic style...

Maia is wearing her baby like a back pack.

See?

Parker with parentheses.

Mornin!

Falling asleep during lunch.

Hanging out in Parker's chair.

Parker chillin' on the couch.

Farmer's Market

All summer I'd hoped to get to the Farmer's Market. It didn't happen. However, since Ray was at his annual golf outing with his co-workers, Maia, Parker and I had a Saturday morning to ourselves. It was a bit cool (in the upper 50s, when it had been in the 80s within the past 7 days!), so Maia insisted on wearing a hat. After all, Parker was wearing one. At the market, we walked the whole thing before we decided what to buy and from which vendors. Maia got lots of smiles and hellos and good mornings. Apparently people thought her hat was cute. Then, after we got our apples, and she was gnawing away at a Mutsu the size of her face, we got lots of giggles and laughs. Even though I've been out in public with my kids many times, I was surprised at how much attention we got today.

T At one end of the market was a street musician playing a violin. We stopped to listen to him for a while, and he played a few children's tunes for her. She asked lots of questions: Whass he doing? What issat? Later, at the other end of the market, there was a banjo player who was also extremely interesting to Maia.

After we got home, Maia and I made lunch together: Hotdogs in Crescent rolls. I showed Maia how to roll the first one, and she was delighted. She giggled as she rolled up the rest of them while she sat on my lap.

She did very well and was very excited about seeing them baked.

Once they were baked, however... she had no interest in eating them. She was too sleepy.

After nap-time was some play time. She loves to "help" Parker play. Parker isn't so sure he needs help. But a little loving isn't so bad.

Apparently Parker was exhausted by all the fun.

Skype

On Sunday mornings, Ray and I attempt to drink coffee (recently returning to my food repertoire now that I'm no longer pregnant and disliking coffee... and Parker seems to be fine with it!) and do the crossword. Maia likes listening to "crossword music" (classical). After we finish the crossword, we often call Ray's folks to check in. Sometimes we use Skype and video chat with them, or Aunt Tara and the kids.

Now that I'm back to work, time is a little brief for getting much done around the house. So I took part of a Saturday afternoon to pack up some of the clothes Maia has outgrown. She was happy to follow me around and ask "What's That?" a million times.

She's a closet rocker

... who did not want her picture taken. But I got a couple anyway.

We also found a Yankees hat that she received when she was an infant, and now finally fits her!

And because I was busy and preoccupied... her suitcase was still in her room from Labor Day weekend. She thought she'd check it out.

Parker is getting so big! He also really likes to sit more upright in his swing.

A Little Funny

Since Maia has figured out she can come downstairs and cuddle with us the morning after she wakes up (read: not cuddle, but try to wake mommy and daddy up for play time), she is becoming a bit bolder about it.  We've had all sorts of fun lately, including a night where she was up and out of bed about every 1 1/2 hours between 7pm and 1am, when Ray finally gave up and put her in our bed.

No one slept well that night, except for Parker.

So she was downstairs with me while I was trying to get ready, after Ray had (thankfully! What a great husband I have!) gotten her changed and dressed for the day.  The monitor was still on in our room, and Ray was upstairs. We insist upon a two-way monitor for this and other reasons.  He was telling me where we were in the process of getting her ready, and I asked if I could send her back up for breakfast (generally blueberry frosted mini-wheats.  She apparently is over her daily Kashi Bar). 

While I tried to convince Maia to go back upstairs to see daddy and have breakfast, she picked up the monitor and held it to her ear like a phone.
"Ray!" she says into the monitor, seriously. "Ray! Go get me breakfast!"

 

Oh, I'm glad she doesn't know she has to press a button for him to hear her.

Parker Games

I love baby stages! How cool is it that when he is fed and happy, Parker will give me smiles readily just by making eye contact or flashing him a big smile? And speaking of eye contact, he was able to play a little game with me while I was pumping gas today. I would look at him through the side window, and he would fix on me. Then I would look at him through the back window, and he would look to find me, and fix on me again. Then back to the side window. After a few passes of this, he would anticipate my movements. So I decided to mix it up, and would hide myself behind the column a little longer and vary which side I would reappear on. It was really cool to see how he had learned the pattern initially, and then how he adjusted when the pattern changed. I love being a parent. I love watching my children learn and grow. Every little phase they go through, I think "Oh, this is my favorite!" until something new happens, and I love that just as much.

Maia at 2 years

Maia had a slightly delayed 2-year exam with her pediatrician, Dr Olgren. When I went to pick her up from daycare, and told her that we were going to the doctor's office, she was very excited, clapping and jumping up and down.

Here are the stats:
Weight: 24 lbs, 4 oz = 18%
Height: 34 3/4" = 68%
BMI: 14.1 = 3%

She was proclaimed "tall and skinny" by her pediatrician, who assures me that while she might be concerned with some children, it was more than clear to her that Maia's lower weight is no indication of any problems with health or development. She is well ahead of the curve verbally , socially, and with many of her gross motor skills (i.e., jumping in place, climbing stairs one at a time and with alternating legs). Clearly, she is an active kid, and just burns through those calories more quickly. As such, although it might usually be suggested to move a child at this age from whole milk to 2% to reduce some of the unnecessary fat intake, she recommended keeping her on whole milk for a while yet. Clearly she is using the extra fat and calories. I assured her that Maia eats more than I would expect for a toddler (often eating more than her 7-year-old cousin eats), however, there is a general lack of cruciferous veggies in her diet (she will eat some lettuce, but not spinach/broccoli/cauliflower, etc.) We talked about adding vitamins. Iron is not a worry based on her diet (she loves eggs, and does eat red meat a few times a week), but we did discuss the general population's major vitamin D deficiency. And so I was encouraged to find a children's vitamin with a good D ratio.

I am happy to do that, but I chose not to share with the doc that I don't put sunscreen on my kids for every outing as is generally suggested so that they can get some natural sunlight for their health. I recognize that my kids are pale and red-haired, so they are likely to burn easily. So, of course, I gladly slather them with sunscreen during extended outdoor outings and during the most intensely sunny times of the day.

The exam also required the completion of an autism questionnaire, some example questions are below:
Does your child...
- enjoy being swung, bounced on your knee, etc.? (since birth!)
- take an interest in other children? (absolutely!)
- pretend (i.e, take care of dolls, talk on play phones)? (absolute conversations on her phones!)
- bring objects to you to show you something? (and gets frustrated when we don't look)
- imitate you? (a little too much!)
- look at your face to check your reaction when faced with something unfamiliar? - Now this is an interesting question. She does, sort of... but our general reaction is also monitored, along with her own internal assessment (you can almost see her little gears turning).

The end of the exam was a blood test for lead (I made sure they did this one since we live in an older home, and will certainly ask them to re-do it if we do any remodeling or paint scraping). This was a toe-prick, and she did fine with it. Just a little "ouch" and then she just laid back on the table and played with her toy while the nurse obtained the blood sample. Maia took a mild interest: whass she doin down dere? Fortunately, she tested with no lead in her blood.

Then, three shots. She's always done so well with immunizations, I didn't really expect her to have a problem with them this time, but she was absolutely stunned and cried quite a bit this time! It actually took quite a while to settle her down. She whimpered and whined until she got re-settled in her classroom at daycare (complete with a breakdown in the parking lot, when one of her teachers, leading the early preschool class on an outdoor adventure, asked her why she was crying. Given the audience - I think she just turned up the drama a few more notches!). She told them all I don' wanna littoh coke! (= poke) and made sure to tell them about her band-aids. She also told the teacher she needed something to chew on - which is a left-over from brief phases of biting. When she bit a friend (or herself), she was often given a cold teething ring, which was particularly appropriate for her, since her biting sprees tended to coincide with the arrival of new teeth. Fortunately, she's set with all her age appropriate teeth. Soon we'll have to arrange a trip to the dentist! I'm still waffling on whether I want to bring her to our dentist, or a pediatric dentist. Office hours may eventually be the deciding factor.

So. Comparison from her 12 month stats? She has grown 5 1/2 inches in the last year. She has gained slightly under 5 pounds in that same year.

There is a commonly held belief that you can predict the adult height of a child by doubling their height at two years old. Should that hold true for Maia, we can expect her to be around 5' 8" - which is about 2 1/2" taller than me (I'm 5' 5 1/2"). I'd guess maybe 5' 6 1/2" or 5' 7" (I think I'm about 1 or 1 1/2 inches taller than my mom), but I suppose it's reasonable. We will just have to wait and see!

NY Trip: Winding Down...

With one exhausted toddler, and one warm and content baby... we headed home from the fair. Both were asleep within minutes of leaving the fairgrounds. Hoping to extend the nap as long as possible, we thought we'd drive around a little bit, maybe get some gas and a car wash so we wouldn't have to remove them from the car. It was a good idea, but failed, as Maia woke up as soon as we entered the car wash, asking "Wass dat?" We'd hoped to get her back to sleep thereafter, but it was a no go. So we relaxed on the back patio for a while. What a gorgeous afternoon.

Uncle Dave and Parker

Parker is winking at you and telling you to check out his feet.

Maia did some more running, playing with bubbles and kicking this ball (another gift from Aunt Tara).

Parker cuddles with Nana.

Maia wearing her new hat. Nana bought it for her at the fair.

Grandpa shares his kettle corn with Maia.

Which she puts on her plate, and veeerrrry carefully carries to the side table.

More bubbles (and getting better at blowing them herself).

And playing with all her new food toys from Aunt Tara. There was a birthday cake set, a pasta set and pizza set.

At the end of the evening, we all said our goodbyes. The next day was up early and back to work for the adults, and the first day of school for Aaron and Rachael. We packed up the car and hit the road around lunch time, after a brief stop at the bank to say goodbye to Nana.

The trip home went very well. We stopped for the night in London, Ontario. The hotel we'd booked had a pool, which, when planning the trip, thought might be a nice way for Maia to get her energy out before bed. Unfortunately, we got a later start than we'd hoped, and didn't arrive with much time before the pool closed, and when I checked in, there was a sign that the pool was closed that day anyway. Fortunately, I hadn't mentioned it to her, so I didn't have to deal with a disappointed girl. Bedtime went fairly well.

The second half of the trip home again went smoothly. Parker continued to sleep most of the time, and Maia took a nap as well. There was one point, however, where one child woke up and started crying. Which in turn woke the other, who also started crying. Then one child would settle down, followed by the other. After a few moments of silence, the process would start again, each of them taking their turns, like dueling banjos. It was one of those moments, as a parent, that starts out as frustration, but leads to laughter.

We made it home safely, and I think both the kids (most notably Maia) were happy to get back into familiar surroundings (even though she does amazingly well when she's out of her element and off her schedule) and back on schedule.

Thanks again, Tara, Dave, Aaron, Rachael, Raymond and Effie for a wonderful trip and your incredible generosity. We had a great time, and Maia is reliving it in her mind, and recounting the stories in her own way, weeks later.