Maya's random rambling

M: When David and I were doing yoga, we almost got married.

***

...while driving to school and passing some cows...

M: Whoa, mom, did you see that?
ME: No, what?
M: There is a reindeer among those cows!
ME:  I don't think it's a reindeer, babe.  We don't have those here.
M: Did you look though?
ME: No, I didn't look.
M: Well, then don't say there isn't one.  I looked, and I saw a reindeer.

(On the way home, I pulled over to check out the reindeer, and it turned out to be a big bull.  There was no telling Maya otherwise, though; she kept saying: "But look at his antlers!")

Maya the Storyteller

About a month ago: 
Maya:  Mom, when you were upstairs, I saw this lizard climb our window all the way to the top. 
Mom:  Wow, is he still up there? 
Maya:  No, actually he fell and hurt his toe.  But then he sat down, took a piece of grass, wrapped his toe with it and was OK.

Yesterday:
My friend Mia got stung by a bee at school the other day.  She was hurting, so a butterfly came, kissed her on her cheek and gave her a band aid. 

Also....
After Maya finished her first year of preschool a couple of months ago, we got her teacher's report with Maya's developmental changes within that year.  One of the things that Maya excelled in, according to her teacher, was storytelling.  And, there was a note from the teacher in parenthesis:  (the Disneyland story).  Curious, I approached the teacher to ask about it, to which she replied that she specifically liked Maya's story of how we took her to Disneyland, and how much fun she had there.  She added that she was very sorry to hear about how Maya bruised her knee when she tripped and fell there. 
The thing is...  we've never been to Disneyland... 

Our First "S" Word

Klaudia:  Shut up, Maya.
Mom:  What did you say?
Silence.
Mom:  What did you just say?
Quiet crying... Then:
Klaudia:  I said shut up to Maya.
Mom:  We don't say this word.  It's not nice.  You may hear others say it, but we don't.
Klaudia:  OK.  I'm sorry.
Len: walking into the room Klaudia, what's wrong?  Why are you crying?
Klaudia:  I said shut up to Maya.
Len:  We don't say it babe. 
Klaudia:  I know.  I'm sorry daddy.

A minute later...
Maya:  Daddy, did Klaudia say Shadow?

Church

Two weeks ago, for the very first time, we - as a family of four - went to a local church.

We had been discussing this with Len for a while, but didn't mention anything to the girls until that Sunday morning two weeks ago. 

I was getting ready when Maya asked me:  "Mom, where are we going?"  To get her a bit excited, I said with a lot of enthusiasm:  "We're going to church babe!"  She looked at me suspiciously and asked:  "Is that where Jesus lives?"  I said: "Yes".  Then with panic in her eyes (she's still extremely shy), she asked:  "Is Jesus going to be there?"  So, to put her at ease, I said:  "Maya, Jesus is dead". 

She thought about this for a while, then ran upstairs and announced to daddy with as much enthusiasm as I showed her:  "Daddy, we're going to church!"  and then added:  "Oh, Jesus is dead!  And, I really miss him!"

By the way, we were able to leave the girls at the Sunday school for the entire service!  We got to enjoy the service in peace, and they had a lot of fun, too!

Klaudia's Kindergarden Registration

Done!

Holly Shnikies!

Random Talk

While playing mommies:

Klaudia:  Maya, I'm 44.  How old are you?
Maya:  Two.
Klaudia:  No, Maya.  If I am 44, you should either be 34, 35 or 44.
Maya:  OK, I'm 44.
Klaudia:  Great, you're 44 like me.  Let's go. 

We're Set!

While driving home passing some cows with their little ones on the side of the road...
Klaudia:  Are those cows married?
Len:  Well... if they have kids, I guess they are.
Klaudia:  It's like our mommy - she's married, too.
Maya:  My mommy is NOT married!
Len and Klaudia explain the concept to Maya.
... a minute later...
Klaudia:  Daddy, am I ever going to get married?
Len:  I hope so.
Klaudia:  To whom?
Len:  To someone who will love you and take care of you. 
Klaudia:  Like you?
Len:  I hope so.  Someone who will be your best friend, too.
Klaudia:  I know!  I'm going to marry Olivia!  She's my best friend.
Maya:  And, I'll marry Camilla!  (Olivia's sister) or Bella!  (Olivia and Camilla's dog)

The Process of Acquiring a Language

Me:  Maya, hold on!
Maya:  I'm hold oning.

Softball

The softball season has officially started. For a while Klaudia was the only girl on her team, which she didn't mind, but by the time the games started, two more girls had joined the team.

Klaudia's first game was against the Giants. For a while we were confused whom to cheer for.

K's is in green - the first one on the left.

Maya's Random Thoughts

Maya (2 years old):  When I was a little frog, I used to say: Ribbit. 

Duh!

Both girls still love their pacifiers.  They even have their own names for them.  Maya calls hers:  mimi, and Klaudia calls hers:  poopetch. 

While going to get Klaudia from school the other day, Maya kept asking me for her mimi.  I told her that I didn't have it and didn't know where it was.  She said it was on the front seat next to me under the our jackets.

As I couldn't get to it while driving down the hill and making turns, I thought I would ask her some questions to kill some time before I'd be able to get it for her:

Me:  Maybe your mimi is on your seat.
Maya:  No. It's on the front seat.
Me:  On the front seat?  How did it get here?
Maya:  I put it there.  I want it.
Me:  But what is it doing here? 
Maya:  It's waiting for you to pick it up!

Maya the Troublemaker

While Klaudia is very much rules-oriented, Maya is the opposite.  Maya knows the rules, but she refuses to follow them.

She requested a bottle of milk the other day (very unusual for her; it may have been her second time ever).  When she got it, she headed straight to the living room.  I watched her to see if she would actually drink it.  She walked around the coffee table and tilted the milk bottle enough to spill a little.  I handed her a towel and reminded her that milk is not to play with and that we do not spill anything on the coffee table. 

As I walked to the kitchen where I could watch her while doing the dishes, I could see she was watching me.  She was standing where I left her, with her bottle tilted a bit waiting.  And so I kept watching.  Finally she broke the silence and said:  "Mommy, can you hide for me, please?"

2012

Well, 2012 is over.  What a busy year it was.  Here is in a nutshell what we did...

• I taught all three semesters in both of my schools.  I was able to put all my (20) teaching hours in only 2 days a week which allowed me to stay home with the girls the rest of the week.
• Maya learned how to ride a bike (a 4-wheeler).  
• I took the girls to Poland for 3 weeks.  It was such a beautiful trip.  The girls did very well on the plane - absolutely enjoying every minute of it.  I bought little things from a dollar store ($20 worth) and introduced one by one whenever I felt it was needed.  The girls picked up a lot of Polish and got to meet a lot of family members.
• Maya potty trained herself while in Poland. 
• I discovered books on CDs.  Len introduced me to it, and I have to say that I don't mind commuting for hours.  This past year I "read" more books than within the last few years.  
• Len continues to work and do his schooling.  
• Len painted 3 bedrooms and all 3 bathrooms all by himself when we were in Poland.
• Maya started talking and simply doesn't stop.  If she has nothing to talk about, she'll say:  "I have to go to the bathroom.  Yeah, I need to go.  It's really loud in there.  The planes are loud, too." or "My baby is dead again (I think she likes our reaction to it, and that's why she loves saying it), I have to take her to the doctor.  She is very naughty.  No, baby, I said no!"
• Klaudia started her second year in her preschool, which she loves.  She continues with her dance and piano lessons.  She is very rule oriented - if there is a rule, she likes to follow it and will make sure to remind us about it when needed. 
• We were forced to buy a new engine to our car.  Somehow we missed to replace some major part that eventually broke and ruined the engine.
• Our community hosted The Tough Mudder which prompted Len and me to start the Insanity Exercise program.  It's a 3-month program, but we're going with our own pace.  
• Maya and I still co-sleep.  She still likes to nurse.  She is still extremely shy but is doing much better than before.

The Cow Whisperer

The other day the local farmers dropped off their cows on one of the hills close to our community.  It seems like that's their yearly thing to do.  But this year, I noticed that most of the 10 cows that got dropped off looked pregnant.  Not that I examined them closely or anything.  Just drove by, looked at them and saw it.

Sure enough just a week later, we saw 4 little ones and a couple more days later 4 more.

I didn't know I had it in me!

The Concept of Marriage

Our babysitter is getting married next month.  Our girls are being exposed to some new concepts and vocabulary like:  boyfriend, fiance, ring, wedding, etc. 

The other night, Klaudia came up to me with our wedding picture and started a little conversation:
"Mommy, is this from your wedding?"  I said: "Yes.  See this white dress?  This is what girls usually wear when they get married".  To which she replied:  "Kirsten is going to wear one, too".  I said:  "Yes.  And, see daddy?  He's wearing nice clothes, too."  To which she exclaimed:  "What!?  Daddy got married, too?"

Success?

WARNING!  If you get (easily) disgusted by 'bathroom things', stop reading/looking at pictures right now.

On May 16, 2012 Maya asked to be put on the toilet and for the very first time in her life was able to use it for both number 1 and 2.  Since then she's been requesting to be seated there between 5-10 times a day with no success.  The first week, I had hopes but soon learned that her wanting to sit on the toilet is just a game and no need to go to the bathroom.

Maya having fun using the toilet.

A couple of nights ago, Maya asked again to be helped to go to the bathroom.  After noticing that I had no intention of stopping doing the dishes only to play Maya's little game, Len decided to take her and put her on her potty.  As usual, she sat there for a while and then out of nowhere asked Len for some privacy.  When he came back to check on her with Klaudia after a couple of minutes, they both screamed:  "Mom, you've got to see this!"

I ran to the bathroom feeling proud of my peanut.  I knew she must have gone with at least number 1.  And, she did.  Here is what I saw when I entered the bathroom:

*************

...speaking of number two... (this is more for me to remember that it happened rather than to share with the rest of the world, but feel free to read on if it amuses you, too)

Right at the beginning when K learned how to use the toilet, she would categorize her number twos depending on their size.  One day she would say:  "I made daddy!", or "I made mommy and baby Maya".  Sometimes she would be more creative and give her "tootsie rolls" our neighbors' names.  But when we went camping last year, she surprised herself, and as gross as it may seem, it was so much fun to watch her.  As she was finished using the toilet, she quickly glanced back at what she produced and exclaimed:  "Mommy, look, it's ME!"



View From Our Window

For the last few weeks, we've had some deer hanging out in front of our kitchen window, but this was the first time we saw so many little ones.  

Taking Over My Cell Phone

This is what I find on my cell phone when K starts playing with it:

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mikie! Keep shining like the little star you are.

Happy 4th Birthday Klaudia Doll!

What a year has it been!  You got potty trained, you started preschool, piano lessons and you basically started to talk.  You're an awesome and very responsible big sister, great and patient playmate and our little perfectionist.   

You absolutely love your school, the kids there and your teachers, Ms. Elizabeth and Ms. Peggy.  You enjoy your dance classes.  Going to the park, riding your bike there and playing with your friends is probably your favorite. 

You're still a very picky eater, but at least you eat.  You're still very much into fruit - any kind, and mac and cheese. 

Dora the Explorer is still your hero. 

Happy Birthday our baby goose!