Halloween, Part 2

Next on Maya's busy social schedule was a Halloween party at daycare last Friday. I managed to get a couple of her friends at daycare to sit still for a second to take a picture, but unfortunately it turned out a bit blurry:

Maya played around inside for a while - I think this is the only photo I've got so far with her antennae up:

She also seems to enjoy playing with the smaller babies at the daycare:

The fun didn't end after the party; we went out to dinner with our good friends Kathryn & Kieran, and their daughter Erica, who is great friends with Maya. Those two definitely enjoy each other's company:

Halloween, Part 1

Maya attended the first of three Halloween parties this year last Thursday at my office. It was freakishly warm that day (over 70 degrees) and there were tons of people at the party (at least 50 kids and 50 adults) so Maya's costume got a little disheveled. But, she was still pretty cute as a bumblebee, even if her little antennae weren't pointing upright:

We stopped at my desk after the party to gather up my stuff, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of her sitting in my chair, working away at my computer:

The Highs and Lows of Parenthood

Maya has become quite a dancer lately; just another sign that she really is my daughter! It is really fun to watch her shake her little bum when she hears a good beat. One of her favorite songs is "Waka Waka" by Shakira from the World Cup:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhqqdCu4awI

She has also stayed busy practicing her walking skills, with lots of cruising along the sofa at home:

In other news, I've suspended my attempts to convince Maya that she doesn't need her binky. We had a rough night this earlier week with lots of crying from Maya and coughing from Hyder, who has a cold. Nobody got much sleep that night. Three of her four molars have come in now, so my guess is that she still wants the comfort of the binky while she's teething. I'll try again in the future; at some point I'll also try to convince her that she doesn't need to drink milk from a bottle!

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye

Today, I tried to get Maya to take naps without needing her binky. It was not easy, and in the great Binky Battle of 2010, Maya seems to have the upper hand. Hyder pointed out to me that she has been trained on the binky so it's difficult to convince her not to use it. I know that's true, but I also know that she's growing up and I don't think she needs the comfort of the binky anymore to go to sleep.

Anyway, everyone cheered up after a visit to our friends' house for their annual pumpkin carving party. Even though we didn't actually carve a pumpkin, we enjoyed the company of our friends and their kids. Maya played with some fun toys, including another rocking chair:

And she also bounced along on the Rody:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf2vYwz-PBU

I will continue trying to get Maya to sleep without needing her binky, and hopefully we'll continue to find fun diversions like we did today!

Play Dates

We had the opportunity today for two play dates: one with our friends who have a son about the same age as Maya, and one with our friends' daughter who is a year older than Maya. It's great to watch the little ones interacting with each other, and it's amazing how much different kids can be. For the most part, Maya is content to sit and play with one or two toys, though she will grab toys or books from other kids if she's given the opportunity. Our friends' son loved patting Maya on the head and touching her little ponytails. Our friends' daughter, who is older, enjoyed bringing toys over to Maya and is always very careful when she's walking around near her.

Along the way we went to a park:

Then we went to a diner for brunch:

Then we went for a walk in the Fells, and then dinner at home. It was a beautiful day up here and I'm glad we got to take advantage of the weather with outdoor activities.

Blowing Kisses

Maya is so much fun these days - it seems like she's learning new things all the time. Her newest trick is blowing kisses, though her version is a bit noisier than the typical kiss-blowing. We managed to get her to do it on camera:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK8NCxx8UGM

And it only took a couple days for her to learn that! She's also learned how to blow her nose, but I didn't think that was video-worthy.

In other news, Maya is still on the verge of walking and talking. She loves to toddle around holding on to our hands or cruise along the sofas in the living room; all of this movement makes me a bit worried for long plane flights for the holidays in December. But somehow we'll get through it! And she can pull herself up quite easily now, which meant that her crib had to be lowered again last weekend. She finally fits into 18 month pants and shirts, so all of her 12 month items are slowly being retired to the clothes pile in the attic.

Finally, we (and by that, I mean mostly me) are looking forward to Halloween coming up soon - Maya will be a bumblebee! She has two parties to attend even before the 31st, and we're hoping to take her trick-or-treating as well. Since I try not to give her too much sugar, I guess I'll have to force myself to eat some of her candy. I know, it'll be quite a sacrifice.

Cooking, Picking, and Eating

We've been quite busy these past few days! Maya has a few molars coming in so she has had some fussy moods lately, though for the most part she's been her usual happy self. Though Friday night was not much fun; along with being hungry and tired and teething, I managed to forget her binky when we went to our friends' house for dinner. I have been attempting, with very little success, to wean Maya off the binky and the bottle upon our pediatrician's advice. I've learned my lesson; I will make sure to always have an extra binky in her overnight bag!

Fortunately, by Saturday morning she was sufficiently recovered to help with the cooking:

And by Saturday afternoon she was happily picking and eating apples with Aunt Helene. We lucked out with a beautiful fall day at the Honey Pot Hill orchard:

After a tasty dinner Hyder and I took advantage of the babysitting help from Helene and headed out to the movie theater to watch "The Town," which we enjoyed.

Today involved more eating, this time at the Harvard Faculty Club. Our wonderful neighbors Ken and Marilyn invited us there for the Sunday brunch buffet, along with their cousin Nancy and her husband Nick. The food was delicious, the setting was beautiful, and the staff was so pleasant. Maya was very well behaved and we all had a great time:

Hiking in the Fells

So, we are lucky to live very close to a large block of conservation land called The Fells. We took advantage of the lovely weather over the weekend and on Columbus Day to go hiking in the Fells. There are a number of nice trails very near our house, and the leaves are just starting to change color. As usual I have a couple photos, though I have to apologize for the poor quality - I forgot my camera so these were taken with the BlackBerry:

Maya was a great little hiker - she just hung out in the backpack carrier for the full hour that we spent walking around. We didn't spend too long by the pond; we were being eaten alive by the mosquitoes. Apparently it was warm enough that they were still alive and biting!

On Creating Messes

Lately, Maya is more and more interested with feeding herself, even at times refusing to eat if she can't grab the spoon or fork herself. This can result in some very interesting messes:

















But at least she's happy!

In other news, thankfully Maya seems to have mostly gotten over her discomfort around people she doesn't see all the time. This makes it easier to hang out with our friends, meet new people, and go to all the various festivals and fairs in New England during the fall. Yesterday we went to Honk, a festival of street bands. It was pretty fun but I think Maya likes other music better. We also cooked and ate dinner at our friend's house; Maya and I made some messes in the kitchen but fortunately there was a dog on hand to clean things up:

As usual, Maya was very excited to have a furry companion!

Today we did the usual errands and football games, with a walk in the Fells as well since the weather was so nice. Maya got into the spirit with LOTS of toys around her (another mess) and her own little football:

Look Mama, I Can Use a Spoon!

Recently Maya has learned to use a spoon as more than a toy. She can now use it to actually get food into her mouth. And this makes her SO happy - she breaks out in a huge grin after she's able to feed herself. It probably helps that I'm praising her like she just invented the spoon. Of course, I had to take a couple pictures of this:

After dinner, we retired to the living room for a bit of music before bedtime. Hyder played guitar for her, we listened to our latest obsession (Mumford and Sons), and she played along on her xylophone. She really seems to be enjoying this new toy, as evidenced by her smile in this picture:

Update: I forgot to post here about the molar coming in - Maya has been a bit fussy lately, probably due to the pain, but not too bad. Those molars are big teeth for a little mouth! Dinner the last couple nights has been soup and bread and applesauce, figuring those would be easy on her gums.

The End of Denial

We took out the window air conditioners tonight and stored them in the attic, yet another sign of fall. With the warm weather here the last few days, I guess I was in denial about the end of summer. But it really is fall: the temps are dropping, the leaves are changing, the apples are ready for picking, and so on.

Fortunately, one of the nice things about fall, at least in New England, is the Topsfield Fair. We spent a few hours there today, enjoying all the fun activities and carnival food. Maya went on the carousel, a crazy bus, and the ferris wheel with us. We also met some cows, sheep, and rabbits. And we had some delicious Polish food for lunch, along with the requisite corn dog for Hyder and fried dough for me. Between the fried dough this weekend and the cider donut last weekend, I am on a roll with feeding my baby healthy food!

As usual, here are some photos of our adventures:

The rest of the photos can be found in our October 2010 photo album.

Food and Fun at Fort Point

Today we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to the Boston Local Food Festival at Fort Point Channel. It was great to see so many vendors from local farms, dairies, bakeries, and more. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with people at the festival about eating healthy local food.

I also signed a petition to "Retire Ronald" - there were women dressed in clown suits, asking people how they felt about McDonald's. I think their food is repulsive and incredibly unhealthy so I was happy to support their cause. I also enjoyed a visit to the booth of the farm from which we get our CSA - Red Fire Farm. We've been very happy with the tasty locally and organically grown vegetables that we get from them each week.

Apparently local food makes our baby very happy :). After the festival we wandered around Boston for a few hours, ending with a delicious dinner in the North End. All in all, a terrific day!

Going Back on My Moratorium

So, remember my earlier intention to declare a moratorium on dinner outings? This was due to the previously mentioned yelling and food-spitting at restaurants from a certain little person. Well, I ignored that moratorium tonight. It turns out the secret to peaceful dinner outings is two-fold: do some pre-feeding of said little person before going to restaurant so she's not hungry, and go to a venue with live music so she doesn't get bored. We went to a performance tonight by Leo, who is the husband of our daycare provider. He plays guitar beautifully and, with his trio, put on a lovely performance of jazz, samba, and pop music. Maya loved the music, watching intently, dancing along in her seat, and spending time with the other daycare parents.

It was a wonderful evening! There are more pictures here.