It’s the four days before Christmas and I think we can all feel the madness creeping in. On top of that, little Maia is really going through it. She has a little bit of the flu too—yes, the magic of puking—but there’s been a lot of other developmental things going on too. She’s been walking up a storm and seems to be enjoying her mobile independence. She has the occasional fall, always does a great job catching herself, gets back up, and waddles on. Maia has four teeth poking through on the top and four pretty well established teeth on the bottom. She’s also been waking up in the middle of the night for a couple hours to party which has been tough, especially since she really only wants Sarah to put her back to sleep. All that being said though, things are getting easier. It’s the little things like her holding her arms right to get shirts and jackets on and being a little calmer while being strapped into her car seat. I guess those little things really show that our little Maia is getting used to the world.
Maia has also been getting better and better at communicating and clearly shows she understands something like, “Do you want to go upstairs?” with a nod and a smile. She also says “see-saw” quite clearly and a very audible “pull-draw” from her favorite rocking activity that’s accompanied by:
See-saw, pull and draw,
Old man, dull saw,
Green wood, hard to cut…
Fuzza-wuzza-wuzza-wuzza
Maia’s also learned to call things “hoT” with an emphasis on the “T” when she feels heat coming from it. And while in Texas, she gained an affinity for the Happy Birthday song, and requests it by singing the first couple notes from it (followed by a huge smile and a little rocking). Maia is also getting better at imitating sounds and actions we make. In fact, Keana often sings Ariel’s song from The Little Mermaid and Maia’s sweet little voice can be heard echoing the tune.
And Keana…our Little Miss Thang. Exuberant as ever, she can’t wait to open any and every present. Her verbal skills never cease to amaze us, along with her comprehension. I often forget she’s not even four yet and have to check some of my expectations and just let her be a silly, goofy spaceball. Just like with Halloween this year, I think the whole Christmas thing is sinking in. I must admit too, that last year we got sucked into her youthful magical spell and fell into telling her about Santa and Rudolph and flying reindeer and she was so excited at the prospect, that we just went along with it. So yes, she can’t wait for Santa and thinks maybe she’ll hear the reindeer on the roof because they’re so big. She’s also vigilant about reminding us to open the Advent calendar and loves the little pictures and countdown to Christmas. The fact that we have divided family as well has spoiled her, because we celebrate several Christmases; this year the total reaching six! We Celebrated with Tia and Grandma Jennie last weekend since Tia’s going on her honeymoon over Christmas this year, and we celebrated with Grandma Linda, Grandpa Sam, and Uncle Peter yesterday and today since G&G are out from Texas. Tomorrow we head down to Great Grandma and Grandpa’s in Los Altos for Peterson Christmas, and Keana is really excited to see her cousins McKenna, Cassidy, and Riley. THEN, we have “actual” Christmas just the four of us, and head to Fresno on the 26th for Christmases 4 and 5 with Grandma Jennie and Uncle MIchael, and Grandpa Robert and Nana Cin (respectively). THEN we head to Seal Beach because Great Nana and Granddad are flying out from Hawaii and they’ve never even met Maia yet, so that will be a treat. Grandpa Jon and family will be out there as well, and we’ll probably get to visit with Great Auntie Helene, and third cousins Helen, Stan, and Riki. So we’ll finish the Great Christmas tour of 2008 with a bang in SoCal, and ring in the New Year down there as well.
It’s a little daunting, but we’ll make it fun and of course, that’s what makes this time of year wonderful anyway. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention that we finally decorated our porch with lights (below). What sold me on it was Keana saying, “We have to Papa so the other kids can enjoy it!” And that big ball of lights in the center is Super Sphere, a Longs’ special that’s 100 hundred lights of pure glory. We bought if for our first Christmas party six years ago and it has finally realized it’s full potential (I think).
So there you go. The Christmas whirlwind is in full effect. See you at the end…or maybe before.