Tag Archives: Maia

development

Train outta Fresno

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Wrote this on the train out of Fresno, heading to Berkeley for work: 4/7/10. Also trying out a bigger font, hope it doesn’t look “playskool”.

More run-down backyards filled with old, rusty cars than I could imagine are passing by my window. There’s beautiful fields and farmland too, which is strange, right? Farmland, beautiful? Well, rows and rows of organized nature at times seems like some of the best of what the world has to offer and humankind’s ingenuity. Maybe. I don’t know. But before I dump out that can of worms, to my point. I am running on two hours of sleep. Why you ask? I got two names for you, Maia and Keana.

Keana always gets anxious before I have to leave for work trips because often I leave early in the morning and she figured out that when I say “I’m going on a work trip” that means “Papa’s going to be gone when I wake up”. Even with days of prep and explanation, she still gets upset. Maia on the other hand says, “You comin’ back?” and when I say, “Of course, I’ll always come back” she seems quite satisfied. So last night I explained to Keana I’d say goodbye and she didn’t need to worry in the middle of the night and call out. She seemed to understand, but sure enough, 2 a.m., “Papa? Papaaaaaaa!” I go in and explain it’s still night time and she needs to be quiet so she doesn’t wake Maia up. She says okay, but looks worried, and I leave her. 15 minutes later, whining. “Shit! Dammit! What the hell?!” are some sentiments going through my head. This time, Maia does wake up calling for Sarah. I try lying down with Keana in her bed and Sarah goes into Maia’s room. 10 minutes later, Sarah comes in and says Maia wants me. It is now a little after 3 a.m.

I go back into our bed because it’s the biggest, and I have Maia crying on my right and Keana snuggling desperately on my left. I finally get Maia to calm down and she tries about a million different positions to get comfortable. She uses my stomach for a pillow. She says she’s cold. She says she’s hungry. She calms down. Time goes by. We’re not sleeping, none of us. Finally I take Maia back into her room where Sarah’s been sleeping, pretty sure she’s ready to sleep now, but with Mama. It’s now 5 a.m. Alarm goes off in 40 minutes. “Shit! Dammit! What the hell?!”

Alarm goes off. Keana wakes up and wants to sleep with Mama and Maia. I take her in and Maia says, “Hey, this is my bed.” Mama growls, things quiet down. Was Maia ever asleep in there? Are they sleeping now? As I roll past a waking Modesto I certainly hope so. Damn, longest shortest night ever. Well, not ever. But put it the books along with the rest.

birthdays, development, family, holidays

As promised…and a little extra

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WARNING: This blog post may be boring and disgusting but you might actually like it if you stick with it. For those that don’t have the patience, here’s an outline to assist in skimming:

  1. Following up on Keana’s 5th birthday/visitors (Iana and Olivia)
  2. Easter weekend Part I (The Rogers Gathering)
  3. Projectile vomit (Best Friday Night Ever)
  4. Easter weekend Part II (Rough Start with a Strong Finish)

1. In my last post I said I’d let you know how Keana’s birthday party went, so here it is. Let’s just say it turned out better than we imagined. For one, we thought that only one friend was coming, but it turned out that the other two girls Keana invited showed up at the last minute; we were probably more excited than Keana was in some ways. As a parent you can start to see all those social perils unfolding, even at this young age, of who gets invited, who doesn’t, who shows up, who doesn’t, and what that might mean as far as whether or not they like you, etc. And in this case, there were competing birthday parties that day, so we weren’t sure the best way to explain that one. Keana seemed fine with just having one friend there, but I think deep down inside she was disappointed and Sarah and I felt especially bad because maybe if we had sent out the invite sooner the outcome might have been different. Luckily, in the end, all turned out well. The girls, even Maia and the other 2-year-old, all played really well together and enjoyed our little treasure hunt and piñata. Sarah had to give it a good bashing first though, cause there was no way these five-year-olds were going to even make a dent in that thing. I sat video-taping and laughing wondering how many parties in the world had the same unbreakable piñata. And of course, The Cake. The Cake was amazing. Grandma Jennie picked it up from La Boulangerie and upon request, it was chocolate, and not too sweet, but still rich, moist, and overall scrumdiddidlyumptious (as we say in our house). Our guests stayed from 11-after3 and we were exhausted, but Keana was happier than ever.

The next day, Keana’s actual birthday, was pretty mellow. Keana went to school, though she did try and talk me out of it. They do a special celebration though, and I knew she would be upset if she missed it (all the special attention in front of her peers), so I persuaded her to go. I took the day off work though, and after school we enjoyed some time as a family, followed by Keana’s favorite dinner, roast chicken, and some of that awesome left-over cake. It was a little hard for me to relax because I knew the next day I would fly to DC for NWP’s annual Spring Meeting (where our teachers lobby for funding from their representatives). This trip was also a longer one- I got back March 28 in the afternoon- and when I returned, Iana and her baby Olivia were visiting. Keana had the week off school for spring break, so she and Maia got lots of good time with their little cousin. Olivia is really starting to grab things, roll around, and smile, so I think it was especially fun for the girls. And I’m not going to lie, it was pretty fun for Sarah and I too. Olivia adores Sarah and has the biggest smile whenever she sees her (and a cheerful squeal or growl isn’t uncommon either).

2. On Friday we had a Rogers’ get-together up at Sarah’s Grandma Bev’s house that overlooks Millerton Lake. In attendance were Great Grandma Bev (of course), Great Uncle David (who the girls don’t get much chance to see, but something we’re going to work on), Grandpa Robert and Nana Cin, Tia, and Olivia. It was a lot of fun, but the car ride home was NOT. About two minutes into the 40 min. ride, Maia began screaming and crying and nothing would comfort her. In order to not let the screaming disturb my driving and/or drive me totally insane, I often try to focus on a piece of music or some other train of thought. This particular night, I was thinking how it was Friday night, and once upon time that meant something. It meant around 5 or 6 you would start scheming the entertainment for the night. Who’s around? What’s the dinner plan? Would it be live music after? A movie? A bar then some dancing? Maybe even a night trip to the outdoors somewhere? Now it’s a mad-dash home before the kids melt down, and on Friday, it was already too late. Kid was melting down. Poor Maia was just plain pissed off. After what seemed like hours, we finally arrived home and both kids were hungry, of course. We fed them some left-over hamburger that we brought home and some yogurt, and put them to bed.

3. Then, not long after we got Maia and Keana to bed, Keana called out. I went into her room and she looked worried. Something’s wrong with her throat she said. I began to worry she was having an allergic reaction to something and attempted to assess whether or not her throat was sore or if it felt like it was closing up. I called for Sarah, then had her stand up to see if it was just the position she was in. In the span of three seconds, I saw The Look in her eyes…I grabbed her to move her to the toilet…and…projectile vomit spewed forth on my shoulder, arm, leg, and cascaded onto the cat, who unfortunately happened to be rubbing up against my leg at exactly the wrong moment. The nastiness continued to flow onto the rug, her toys, then eventually all over her little toilet we keep in her room for night-time convenience. Like waves of disgusting it seemed to just keep coming and coming. Oh man oh man. Luckily, after that one blowout of the decade, Keana calmed down and appeared to be completely fine. Sarah and I got to work like a machine, trading off cleaning up the worst mess in recent memory and sitting with Keana to be sure it wasn’t going to happen again. Long night doesn’t begin to define it.

4. Saturday Morning Keana was fine though, and we prepared to head up to “the round house”, a small round house up in the hills near Friant/O’Neals. It’s actually where we got married, so it holds a special place in our hearts. Anyway, Jacque (our current midwife) and Frank Moschella own it, and host an Easter celebration every year there. I guess it’s usually a two-day affair, but this year we just did Saturday. It was great to see all the old family friends and I think Sarah especially enjoyed catching up with everyone and showing off her pregnant belly. Tia (Iana) and Olivia left first to head back to Long Beach and it was almost a teary good-bye. I have to admit, I got a little misty looking at the little chunk-a-munk Olivia, thinking of how much she’ll have changed and grown before we see her again, and how seemingly small and vulnerable she and Iana looked heading out the door to the open road. Anyway, we tried to enjoy ourselves and be conscious of the time, having just endured the same car ride with Maia screaming the night before, and wanting to avoid another terribly long one. Ten minutes down the road, it began. Again, Maia screamed bloody hell practically the whole way home. I put on Kind of Blue and she screamed through So What and Green on Blue (it was on shuffle) before finally falling quiet to Flamenco Sketches. Sarah had to hold her hand too, a deadly combination with the subtle stylings of Miles.

And today. Well, today was not a picture-perfect Easter. Maia was awake from 1 a.m.–3 a.m., followed by Keana waking up between 4 and 5. Needless to say, I awoke pretty grumpy with zero coffee to be found. Maia and I hung out though till 10, which was fine/fun, when Keana and Sarah got up, but Maia and Keana instantly began fighting over Easter bags they got yesterday. Papa growled, apologized, then had to head out for coffee before things deteriorated any further. We finally had our “special breakfast” of Belgium waffles and sausage around noon and the girls went out to look for the baskets that Grandma Jennie had carefully assembled for them, and that I had hid in the backyard. Sarah and I did not rally for Easter this year, so we were especially thankful for Grandma’s collaborative efforts with The Bunny. Sarah and Maia went down for a nap around 1:45 p.m., and after prepping the chicken with rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper, Keana and I followed and had an amazing nap. This amazing nap was followed by an even more amazing dinner. Although the day started rough, with a little help, I think it was still a special one for everyone and we’ve certainly ended on a positive note.

development

Who dat?!!

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Our little Maia’s verbal prowess just gets more amazing every day. What’s really interesting is her attraction to colloquial speak. Saying things like “Oopsa-daisy!” “Oh man” and “Oh goodness” and “silly guy”. It’s fun how she shortens words too, like “pop” instead of “papa”, “sis” instead of “sissy”, and “babe” instead of “baby”. As her language skills increase I think so does her patience…a little. She still gets quite fierce when she’s not understood, and of course when she’s tired or hungry, but being able to say what’s on her mind better is definitely helping with that. I’m also glad that she still has those cute “kid” sentence structures. For example, the other night she came walking into our room at 3 a.m. saying, “I good sleepin’ Papa!” to which I could only respond with tired laughter and, “Not exactly baby,” before putting her back in bed. Maia also doesn’t quite have “I” and prepositions down, so she says things like, “Granola bar me?” and, “Mama sleepin’ me?” Another example is how she says “dat” and “dere”. One of my all-time favorites now is how she says, “Who dat?!!” in a super-excited voice when she sees anything that she doesn’t know the name of. And it isn’t just for people, she phrases the same question for objects and actions too. Hilarious.

Language is definitely entering into her own play as well as she narrates things like taking care of her babies, much like Keana did when she was this age. Maia is really sweet with her babies, often rocking them to sleep saying, “sh-sh-sh-shhhh” or singing a made up song like, “I love you, I love you…”. It’s fun to be reminded of the similarities between them at various ages and it takes us back to some of our favorite Keana moments as well. Keana and Maia have also been playing really well together the last couple months. Sometime in early December a switch flipped and they’ve been having a lot of fun together. Before that, they often played together, but conflicts would arise quicker or they just wouldn’t have quite as much fun. I attribute some of this to Maia’s ability to communicate better verbally with Keana. Keana can ask her lots of questions and figure out what she wants to do as well as tell her what she wants to do. Maia no longer feels the need to bite when she’s frustrated, though there is still the occasional punch or hair pull, but from what I understand about sisters, that doesn’t go away until one of them moves out.

This leads to our issues around sharing. As they play more together, this issue comes up more frequently. Maia is actually pretty good about sharing her toys, it’s Keana who has trouble realizing there’s plenty to go around. I’ve been reading about this in Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and have found some very useful tips in there. The tough part is remembering these tips and having the patience to execute them when you’re tired, trying to get work done, or brokering a deal between them for the 20th time that day. I’d like to think it is getting better though, and the less angry I get around these issues, the better they deal with them as well. Surprise, surprise.

birthdays, family, holidays, trips

El Doctor

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Today we went to the doctor. The thing I hate about the doctor, is that unless your arm is mysteriously falling off or copious amounts of blood are leaving your body, they usually just tell you what you already know. Or better yet, what the “Google machine” has already told you. Even so, it’s strangely reassuring to hear it again from a trained professional. The appointment was for Keana and basically she’s just got a cold that’s on the better end of bad. Maia has it too, but both girls were in such good spirits today, charming the pediatrician as they do everyone else, that she wasn’t worried about them at all. Sarah and the girls also got the H1N1 vaccine just to be safe, which I would typically be against, probably for no really good reason, but it seemed like the right thing to do today. I’m sort of wondering why I didn’t get it now…hmmmm…oh well.

Anyway, other than being sick we’ve been super busy. I was on a work trip in Philadelphia the week before Thanksgiving, promptly getting this gnarly cold upon returning home. We celebrated Maia’s second birthday just the four us, enjoying some meat on the bone and really good chocolate mousse cake thing. Maia is starting to catch on to the concept of presents, and still loves singing “Happy Birthday”. I wonder how she’s going to adjust to sharing birthday space with Thanksgiving? Growing up I either found it really fun or kind of sad, being quasi-forgotten with all the holiday hubbub.

Everyone else was healthy for our trip down to Long Beach to visit Tia, Olivia, and Ryan, our hosts for Thanksgiving. I really wanted to meet up with my cousins and Auntie on our Japanese side while I was down there, but it was such a quick trip that it just didn’t work out. But we had a good Thanksgiving with Tia’s family, Grandma Jennie, Great Grandma Bev, Aunt Jacquie, and Ryan’s mom Luann. Weather was a little crazy on the way home with some snow on the Grapevine, but we still made it home safe and sound.

It’s great celebrating with family and getting out of town, but it’s really hard that it takes so much energy and might also take a week to get back on track. But even though we’re all a little sick still, I do feel like we’re finally getting back on track, hopefully with enough time to get totally solid before the Christmas whirlwind begins. One thing that is fun about being in Fresno is that with temperatures in the 30s/40s in the morning and evenings, it really does feel like winter here. I’m excited to light up the fire place, decorate the tree (which we still have to get), and sing some carols around the piano. I just have to start practicing my piano chops, or maybe just give a little extra spike to the eggnog.

development

Language

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“I do it!!!” In those simple three words, Maia is speaking volumes, and speaks more and more every day. One of the funniest/cutest things is how she adds “me” onto the end of phrases to explain that she wants to do it. Some examples:

  • “Mama sleepin’ me.”
  • “Holdin’ me.”
  • “Unwa (underwear) me.”

She’s like a little parrot too, and repeats all the short phrases that we say. You can imagine how fun this is for both Keana and Maia. Luckily Keana uses this mostly for good and not evil. And even though Maia has more words and phrases than we can keep track of at this point, she still balances her new skills with traditional growling and screaming. The girl has got a scream. What better way to fend off a sister twice your size than with a super-sonic “NOOOO SISSY!!!” or an ear-piercing scream? Quite effective. Keana covers her ears and runs the other way. It’s also interesting to see the parallels between acquiring language and gaining independence in other realms too. Maia is a fierce dresser, much like her sister, in the fact that she knows exactly what she wants to wear and there’s no talking her out of it. Most of the time, it’s perfectly reasonable, except for those times she chooses long sleeves when it’s 100 degrees outside or a little dress when it’s 55. Once the clothes are chosen, as you prepare to help her dress, she quickly says, “I do it, I do it.” Of course she prefers to just run around naked most of the time, but also really enjoys her new underwear- since she only wears a diaper at night- and changing in and out of different outfits all day long.

On the flip side of that, Keana, who is extremely articulate, has recently reverted in the language department. We think it may be influenced by her best friend at school who is not nearly as articulate as she is. It may also just be that all 4-year-olds prefer fart noises and silly rhymes to well-formed sentences. It’s hard for me not to be too hard on her and let her have her fun. I just try to remind myself that in spite of her silliness, she is an amazing communicator and seems way above average in the language and comprehension department. Her language skills really shine in her imaginary play when she’s by herself. She tells very elaborate stories and handles both sides of the dialogue, often breaking into songs that are beginning to actually make sense with lyrics that sometimes rhyme. The way she changes her voice inflections to create drama and suspense is awesome, especially when she slips in some ominous music in between lines. One of the really funny things I’ve noticed lately is that she narrates her toy set-up like a commercial. In a tone like a TV announcer, she’ll say things like, “Cinderella, in a beautiful rubber dress, sparkling for your enjoyment!” We don’t even have regular TV any more, so she gets it from the advertisements that show before some of her movies I guess.

One of the funny things about being a parent is that when your kids are young, you absolutely love their little baby voice with its baby accent, mispronounced words, and unconventional phrases. So much so, that when they finally learn to talk properly, you’re sad it’s gone. You look at old videos and say to each other, “Ohhhh, wasn’t it so cute when she talked like that?!” Then it’s not long before you’re criticizing them for saying things like, “Me do it!” or “Why does it be that way?” I guess you just have to always try and appreciate whatever phase their going through or whatever thing they’re experimenting with, all the while steering them towards learning words and speaking properly so their thoughts can be clearly voiced and understood.

development

Things I love about Maia

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Maia Maia. What a little firecracker. I love the way she says “baby”, pronouncing it more like “bobby”. I love hearing her wake up by going through a checklist of people in her life, “Papa. Sissy. Tia. Doggy.” Speaking of which, I love how she notices every dog or bark she hears ever since having a visit from Tia and Ryan’s Jani. I love when she jumps on the bed with seemingly reckless abandon, but never falling off. She’ll get a gleam in her eye, pause, and free fall to her butt laughing, or lay out on her stomach like a center fielder diving to catch a line drive. I love how she gets a wild hair to throw one arm up in the air, the other straight back behind her and dance in a circle, going round and round. I love that she loves to dance. I love that she wants in on every hug Sarah and I share, coming up to our legs and squeezing them. I love how she puts her chin down being very serious, as if ashamed, just long enough to make you think she’s upset, but lifts her head up quickly and buzzes her lips followed by a big smile. I love how she scream-growls, “Pizzaaaaa!” or “Papaaaa!” I love how she says, “Aw foo!” when she’s “all full”. I love how she’ll be laughing and joking then drops her face to a dead-serious look out of nowhere, resuming her bright smile two seconds later. Such a jokester with impeccable timing, even at the ripe age of 1.5 years. I love listening to her sing in the back seat after we drop Keana off at preschool. I love her crazy high-pitched squeals, unleashing them by accident at first and being so astonished by their piercing volume and frequency, that she does it again and again, overjoyed at her talent. She is such an amazing addition to our family and I could never imagine a world without her.

development

Hello bed

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I told Sarah two nights ago that I felt almost like I had been away at war and I was finally home in my own bed. We had been sharing our bed with Maia, or I had been sleeping in another room with Keana until Tuesday, May 26, we began to sleep-train Maia. You may remember our first attempt, which we abandoned for various reasons, but now in the new place, it was time. Sarah had finally had it, spending over an hour nursing and rocking Maia to sleep every night, half the time without success. With Maia’s refusal to stay asleep, we didn’t know what else to do except let her walk around and be ridiculously cute, until she finally got so tired and said, “Night-night”, at which point she’d generally nurse to sleep with ease. The downside of that was that Sarah really didn’t feel she had any time for herself, was very frustrated, and because Maia would go to sleep so late, she’d sleep in the next morning, throwing the whole next day off.

So Sarah set up the girls room—which they’ll eventually share—and when the going-to-bed ritual was finished, we said good night to Maia, closed the door, and walked away. Of course Maia screamed bloody hell, but only for about 20 minutes before falling asleep, on her own. She woke again around 10 p.m., fussed a little, then fell back asleep. During this training process (a week maybe?), Keana is sleeping at the foot of our bed on a sheepskin/”camping” bed, just so she doesn’t have to deal with Maia crying things out, but she’ll be in her own bed, in her own room pretty soon. Anyway, when I laid down that night, in my own bed, I realized I had been away for too long. Sarah and I hadn’t slept in our own bed together, just the two of us, since Maia was born. It wasn’t exactly glorious, because we were worrying about Maia, it was hot as hell, we were getting used to the new set-up ourselves, and I think our minds were spinning with what this really meant. After all, self-soothing and sleeping on your own is really a big step in life when you think about it. So I think both our minds were spinning with the fact that Maia was really growing up and getting one more notch in her independence belt. There’s so many great things about it that it’s hard to be sad, but still, letting go of your kids like that is definitely one of the most difficult things as a parent, and we know this is still in the “just beginning” phase.

At 1:20 a.m. that first night, Maia woke up and cried and cried until about 2 a.m., when Sarah finally went in to check on her. She was so sad she over-nursed and eventually threw up, so Sarah finished out the night with her. But we stuck to the routine last night, letting Maia cry herself to sleep, which only took 10 minutes! And on just the second night, she slept all the way through the night, a lone little soldier, until around 6 a.m. A proud moment for crazy little Maia and a great step toward getting settled in the 559.

development

One of those hard times in parenting

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Maia’s sleep habits have not been working. She’s been having trouble nursing to sleep on some nights, and even when she does go to sleep, she often wakes up around eleven, wide awake, ready to party. Something had to change, and because Sarah’s been the parent of choice for Maia, she especially was ready to try something new. So two nights ago we tried letting her cry it out, as we did with Keana, but it was a failed attempt. We knew in order for it to work we had to stick to our guns, but we broke down and “saved” her. The rest of the night was one of Maia’s worst, mostly because I feel she thought Sarah was going to leave her.

Last night we talked about what we did wrong the previous night and re-calibrated for the new round…

  • 7:30: Sarah records a lullaby on the laptop to be played in a loop to reassure Maia in her times of need.
  • 8:13: We put Maia in her crib, I turn on the recording, set the laptop to shut down in three hours, and we wish Maia sweet dreams.
  • 8:14: Maia is already crying her little heart out.
  • 8:42: Maia’s cries die out quite a bit, with only periodic, long, sad howls interspersed.
  • 8:52: The crying picks back up.
  • 9:01: Cries start to die down again and I’m hopeful this is it as Sarah’s faint recorded voice can be heard in the breaks.
  • 9:25: Poor little Maia is really putting this to the test. I’d say she’s as headstrong as her papa.
  • 9:37: Silence. Finally.

She woke up again at 2 a.m. but went back to sleep fairly quickly, on her own. Then woke again at 4:45 a.m. ready for milk, but again, went back to sleep after her little snack. Then we all woke up (again) at 7:30 a.m.

Have we done the right thing? Only time will tell. We take some comfort in the fact that we did this with Keana and she sleeps well now, but man, these are the hard things you do as a parent that you can never prepare for, even the second time around. Of course today Maia developed a cold and it doesn’t seem right to keep the “training” going while she’s so sick, so we’ll pick this back up when she’s better. Man oh man…this parenting gig is tough.

birthdays, development, family, holidays, trips

“Firsts” in Texas

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My head is going to explode. I mean so much has happened since the last time I wrote, I either have to just list it all in boring chronological order, or write an epic novel. But maybe there’s an in between.

Gettin’ There
I think the last time I wrote we were headed to Texas. I had a work trip in San Antonio from 11/19-11/22 and Sarah, Keana, Maia, and Uncle Peter flew out that Sunday afternoon/evening to meet me on our way to Fredericksburg to see Grandma Linda and Grandpa Sam for Thanksgiving. What a day that was. I called Sarah first thing Sunday morning to check in and make sure she was doing okay. Packing for three people is no small chore, especially when two of those people are actually monkeys that need constant supervision while climbing and crawling all over the house, whisking everything you’re trying to pack away. So I called and found out that Uncle Peter was AWOL. He was supposed to be there the previous night, but didn’t make it out of Santa Cruz and said he’d be there first thing Sunday morning. Here it was, three hours before needing to leave for the airport, and no Peter. After many calls in all directions, Peter surfaced and made it to the house just in time to pack up the car and head to the airport. I was a thousand miles away in San Antonio and couldn’t do a thing, so I tried to enjoy the day with mom and Sam. Their flight landed around 10 p.m. and we spent another hour picking up bags and getting the car seats strapped into the mini-van rental. (SIDE NOTE: I pretty much hate mini-vans. Call me vain, but I hate the way they look and it seems like every jackass on the road either drives a mini-van, a Hummer, or a Prius. But let me tell you, this Toyota Sienna was spacious, easy to drive, had two side doors that opened and closed automatically/remotely, and we easily fit seven people—with two car seats—in it. Sarah was totally won over but I still can’t quite get over my vanity.)

It was another hour+ to Fredericksburg and Maia cried the whole way. She was more than over it. Miraculously Keana fell asleep and rest of us were beat. We stayed at a friends guest house that was outside of town and in the middle of the countryside. It was beautiful with lots of deer, windy roads, and millions of stars visible at night.

Maia’s First Birthday
On Tuesday, November 25, it was Maia’s first birthday. In attendance were Grandma Linda, Grandpa Sam, and Uncle Peter. During the day we went into town for the first time and enjoyed some cowboy boot shopping and the quaint offerings of Main St. Fredericksburg. The girls took a little nap in the car on the way home and Grandma LInda and Grandpa Sam came over to the guest house to cook the birthday meal. Poor little Maia was so tuckered out from the day’s adventures, that she fell asleep before pie and candles, so we enjoyed them in her sleepy absence. Not exactly the pomp and fanfare that some first birthdays hold, but it was certainly one filled with lots of love and of course the novelty of celebrating in a small town in Texas.

Maia’s First Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving we enjoyed dinner with our hosts Rex and Marylou at their house, which was right next to the guest house we were staying in. They had their nieces over and one of their friends from their ballet company, another couple that had transplanted from California and their son from Santa Barbara, and our clan. It was a great dinner with the usual tonage of the traditional foods, and Maia and Keana enjoyed roaming all over the house, Maia holding on to just one of our fingers for balance. The evening ended a little abruptly when their dog Weasel nipped at Keana’s ankle and made her cry, so we took a sad and tired Keana back to the guest house. I laid with Keana while Sarah put Maia to sleep, and Maia fell asleep without a hitch, but little Miss Keana was too amped to fall asleep, so we let her watch cartoons while we sat with Uncle Peter in the freezing cold drinking beers and relaxing. It was too cold to really sit outside for long, so we called it a night and brought the now VERY sleepy Zooba with us.

Maia Walks
On November 27, 2008, while we were at Grandma Linda’s house, and while Sarah was talking on the phone with her mom, Maia really walked on her own. She was do excited. She walked in circles and walked between Sarah and I, squealing and laughing with pride and excitement. It was truly amazing. She had been practicing for weeks holding on to just one of our fingers, so her balance was really good and she did quite well, right at first, all on her own.

Other Events and the Wrap Up
Other activities while visiting in Fredericksburg included great visits and meals with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Peter, a trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s property where they will be building their house, visits to the town, a great brunch on an outdoor patio at Silver Creek with live country music (solo guitar, singing), and some of the best burgers we’ve ever had anywhere at Porky’s and the Alamo Springs Cafe. Man, those burgers were amazing and we will honestly miss them. Okay, moving on.

The trip home wasn’t too bad. We flew back with Uncle Peter so three adults and two kids is just about the right ratio. Of course the girls were tired, but a nice layover in Denver allowed us to get dinner and run around a bit which was very helpful. We landed in Oakland just before 8 p.m. and as always, it felt great to be home. It was a great little Texas adventure we definitely look forward to going back for future visits, especially when Grandma Linda and Grandpa Sam get their house built!

development

Hello? Maia?

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“Maia’s sure growin’ and growin’!” exclaims Keana, and indeed she’s right.

The Communication Front
Maia’s always been our little squealer, often producing the loudest, highest, sustained pitches you’ve ever heard. After a few months she augmented that squeal with a low growl, often growling when she’s found something interesting to her. Not long after that she began saying, “Ma-ma, Ma-ma,” these first words confirming what we already knew; this is a mama’s girl. Then in August she began saying, ” Dada” when I appeared. Around the same time Maia also began waving at “good bye” and “hello”, sometimes with both hands. She also started shaking her head, showing a definitive “no” where appropriate. And just two weeks ago she began pointing to where she wanted to go or at what she wanted. Finally, just last week, Maia started mimicking talking on the telephone by picking something up—a spoon, a bear, her hand- producing a huge smile, and sometimes saying, “Hiiii.” Absolutely adorable.

The Movement Front
As just about everyone knows now, Maia started crawling at the end of August, and instead of just moving fast after Miko (the cat), now she moves fast to follow her sister or one of us around the house. She’s a master of the two carpeted steps we have downstairs and has even attempted the full case of wood stairs that goes between levels (not quite up for those yet). She also pulls herself up to a standing position on anything raised off the floor quite easily, and even practices going up and down, up and down. When she’s excited or listens to music she sits on her butt and waves both arms up and downs, sometimes with such force she pulls both her legs off the floor. Two weeks ago she started walking with assistance and it’s really fun to let her lead the way to whatever interests her. She also uses this new-found technique to kick balls around the house like a little soccer player. And to round things out, Maia loves to bounce. She loves to get up on the bed with her sister and jump, jump, jump. She can stand in the crib herself and do this, but on the bed really goes for it when one of us holds her under her armpits.

The Eating Front
So far, Maia really only likes yogurt, black beans, avocado, cheddar cheese, kamut puffs, zucchini, and tofu. She’s still nursing quite a bit and loves sharing sips out of water glasses. No bottle for this one either and since Keana stole her sippy cup, she’s gone straight to glass.

The Sleeping Front
This one’s been tough lately, but for the last couple months she’s gone to sleep pretty easily in our bed when Keana goes to bed around 7:30 p.m. Sarah would take her downstairs, lay with her and nurse her, and she’d drop off to sleep, waking up occasionally until we got down there, then sleep through the night. For the last three weeks though Sarah’s had to rock her to sleep for quite some time, then lay her down, which has been wearing on Sarah. I tried to help out once and I was greeted with a shaking head, signaling “no, no”, and so much crying that she actually threw up. Needless to say, she does not like her papa rocking her to sleep. Nap times are tough too because she really needs Sarah’s undivided attention to sleep, but with Keana running around and thirsting for attention herself, Maia doesn’t always get to sleep. So, as it seems to be with most kids, sleeping and getting enough is an issue, but for the most part we have been pretty spoiled with Maia.

So I think that’s pretty much the latest and greatest of the one called Maia (a.k.a Deedles a.k.a. Maimi a.k.a. Mimi Maimi a.k.a Snuggy Dugs).