Massena... part 7

Aunt Tara, Maia and I headed over to the beach to give Maia some time to play in the water. It wasn't particularly warm or sunny... but Maia LOVED playing in the sand, and was absolutely fascinated by all the "big" kids around. She watched them run in and out of the water and squealed, bounced and flapped her arms. Most of the girls were pretty interested in her too, and we answered lots of questions. How old she was, what her name was, could she come in swimming with me?

Oh look! I found a stick here too!!

I love this picture. She planted her face right in the sand (all as part of the exploration, of course) and came up mildly surprised. However, she wasn't terribly interested in letting me wipe it off, and so it stayed there for a while. And, fact of the matter was... this was actually Maia's first time swimming! She'd walked in the water at Lake Michigan but had never really gone in very far. She was fairly brave, and went in up to her knees, but the St. Lawrence River is cold... and she'd toddle back out. Finally, Maia and I went in together. The water isn't very deep there, so our adventure began with me trying to find my way through the mucky parts (eeewwww!!!) to a sandy spot where I could be comfortable kneeling down to get her mostly submerged.

She did great, although she clung pretty tightly on to me (good to know that next time I want a good cuddle, all I have to do is take her swimming!). In true Maia-fashion, of course, you could see the wheels working beneath her furrowed brow. But after a while, I was able to move her back and forth in the water, and I got a few smiles and giggles. And she was very good and patient and cautiously exploratory until I realized her lips and hands were starting to turn blueish, and figured it was time for a warm, dry towel! On the way back to the campground, she crashed, and had a nice nap (if a slightly damp one) in her car seat. Aunt Tara has all the pics of Maia and I actually swimming... So perhaps I'll be able to add some at a later date!

Massena... part 6

Visiting the Great Grandmothers...

It's always interesting to do this. When we got to St. Regis to visit Grandma Oakes, Grandma saw her and exclaimed: She hasn't grown a bit since the last time I saw her!

She was just 8+ weeks old then... we're QUITE sure she's grown. However, Maia is on the small side, and sometimes people thinks she just looks too tiny and petite to be walking and talking as much as she is.

We visited Great Grandma Ashley on a rainy afternoon. So many people comment on Maia's red hair, and I generally indicate it came from my father's side (with 5 of 8 the children in his family having red hair). However, Grandma Ashley mentioned (and I have to admit, I'm a little fuzzy on the details, here) Great Great Grandpa Ashley and his brother also had red hair (that would be Charles H Ashley, and I don't know which brother). Wed also heard Great Grandpa Ancel (Peanut) Ashley also had red hair as a kid. While in town, we also took the opportunity to stop by Town Hall and get a second copy of Ray's birth certificate, and take a picture of the first house he lived in on Water Street in Massena.

Massena... part 5

FAMILY: Dave, Schuyler and Aaron

Zachary

Darrell and Destiny

Uncle Len, Uncle Wayne, Grandpa Raymond, Aaron

An evening around the campfire

Char and Emily

Silly Aunt Tara

Carlie, Uncle Buck and Emily

Candy and Nicholas

Cristina and LJ (6 months, to the day, younger than Maia)

Massena... part 4

Maia camps...

Gettin' Dirty STICKS!!!!!

Playing with Grandpa

Home (away from home)

You're going to give me more cake, right?

Tuckered out!

Massena... part 3

A Football game at dusk David, Rachael, Ray, Zachary Aaron and Schuyler scramble for the ball Ray pulls away from Zach for the TD

Massena... part 2

Maia and Bobby had a great time playing together. Maia discovered a new favorite toy on this trip: STICKS! She would share them with others, or walk around with one in each hand. Grandma Effie took Maia on lots of walks, ...and helped Maia get moving in this fire truck toy: We heard the little song on this sooo often, it still runs through my head (even though the toy itself remains in Massena):

I see a fire truck, a BIG red SHINY firetruck! I see a fire truck coming down the street. And there's a noisy siren wailing on that truck!

You can almost hear her talking in this one, can't you?

Massena... part 1

On July 18th, we arrived in Massena for our first "big" camping trip. A whole week! It was unseasonably cool (which I'll actually take over brain-fryingly hot any day) most of the week. Lots of rain was forecast, and the ground was a little muddy... however much of the rain missed us, or kept itself a minimum. So we were grateful. It was great, as always, to see so many family members. Many of them had not seen Maia since she was 8/9 weeks old. Lots of changes! Maia plays with 2nd cousin Nick, just a few months older than she. Aunt Linda, Grandma and Aunt Tara made sure we were all well stocked with toys. Maia spent a fair amount of time getting filthy. Maia learned a few new words on this trip: pretty (dih-dee! and sometimes ooooo, pih-dee!) Birdy (dih-dee! and some times bih-dee!), doggie (duh-dee!) and she improved the use of up (Upupup!) and out (Aht?) Maia and Daddy take in a calm evening over the St. Lawrence. Who says a little rain has to dampen my spirits? You're going to let me walk around in the mud after this, right?

Teeth! Lots of Teeth!

So the top front two just came in, and are starting to be visible when she talks and smiles. Last week I thought I was seeing glimpses of other teeth, but wasn't particularly sure where I was seeing them... top, bottom... little glints of white. Today I took Maia out to swing (hadn't done that in a while) and while she was grinning and giggling and semi-reclined... I got a good look (couldn't get a pic, but I got a good look!). The top lateral incisors are almost completely erupted! How did we not know that? And could that be the reason for all the whining lately that I was attributing to over-tired tantruming?

My Drunken Monkey

It was nice and warm yesterday, so I inflated the pool in the morning, and by the afternoon, it was as warm as bath water. So Maia spent a little time in the pool. It wasn't, however, quite as entertaining for her as I'd hoped it would be. She ended up being MUCH more interested in the garden hose and the hose reel, and would not be contained in that silly little pool! But she spent the evening working on her walking skills, building up her confidence, and no longer feels the need to clap for herself when she takes steps. Currently, I think she looks like a drunken monkey walking, but already her arms are starting to come down (over the shoulders this morning, about shoulder height this evening) She does, however, tend to prefer to turn left (she CAN turn right... she just doesn't seem to want to). I'm very much looking forward to having her WALK into daycare tomorrow. I think she would love the opportunity to show off to the boys in her room!

Movin' and Groovin'

I'd love to get a video of her dancing... she loves to bop along with any tune, whatsoever. Some squats, some arm waiving. She loves music and loves to dance. Somehow I always seem to miss it. Outside of that, she's really improving her confidence in her walking. On Wednesday, Miss Kathy at daycare reported that she had walked all the way across the room. Miss Danica said she would walk about 6-10 steps, stop, do her little leg bends, clap for herself and walk some more steps. And here we are on Friday.

Maia gardens... continued

Maia in the sensory garden. This hand is for touching textures. Opening doors... Playing in the tree house...

Frederick Maia Gardens... ?

It was a little overcast, but warm today. I worked until noon, so Maia and I had lunch together and after her nap, headed over to Frederick Meijer Gardens. The children's garden has all sorts of interesting things to touch and see and do. There are several opportunities to get really wet, and although I knew about them, I didn't really plan ahead all that well. I don't have the picture of the wading fountain, but that was fascinating to her, and I'm sure she'd be pleased to make that her own personal kiddie pool were I to give her the opportunity. From there, we moved over to the Great Lakes water table. All 5 of the Great Lakes are represented, with Lake Superior being the tallest or highest water table. Each lake flows into the next through little rapids and water falls, so that you may sail a boat from Lake Superior all the way to Lake Ontario, which is where Maia was playing, since it's nicely accessible to her. It took her a bit to warm up to this, but the more we walked around it, and I lifted her to the higher areas, the more excited she got... and the more she wanted to be in the water. As such, she was really quite soaked after we played for a while, I took off her dress for a while to let it dry. Meanwhile, we explored other areas of the garden. Each area had it's own little fascinating features for her, and she was reluctant (read: yelling and back-arching when being placed back in the stroller!) to move on to the next thing. More videos to come...