Fun in the Sun and Water

We had another birthday party to attend this past weekend, this time at a nearby playground with a spray park. Fortunately, the weather was perfect for wandering around while getting soaked. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring a change of clothes for her. As you'll see, we managed to solve this problem.

At first Maya was a bit shy and wanted to stay near us:

As she spent more time in the water, she really started to enjoy it:

After a little while we took a break for food and drink, while we waited for clothes to dry:

When we finally headed out, she was still undressed and messing with the radio in the car:

She was very sad to leave the party!

Mamma's Little Helper

Maya has gotten to a certain age - she wants to do as much as possible by herself, including helping me with various tasks. For example, she helps scan items at the grocery store and then drops them into the shopping bag.

The other day she decided to help by clearing acorn husks off the front porch:

With all the squirrels and trees around here, there were quite a few acorn husks to clear, so this kept her occupied for at least 15 minutes.

At one point, she decided to take a break:

And then it was back to work:

She also loves using the Swiffer inside the house. I have to say, I like where this is headed!

Happy Father's Day!

Hyder got quite a nice Father's Day celebration this past Sunday. We started with breakfast in bed - eggs, toast, and coffee. I'm messy enough already, and adding Maya into that eating effort meant that our bed was covered in crumbs by the end of the meal. Those sheets promptly went into the washing machine!

After breakfast, Maya decided to give her Dada a massage:

They both seemed to be enjoying the process, as can be seen and heard in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxqaHk1rcXA.

Maya also did a bit of post-breakfast dancing, this time to a Brit pop rock band called Two Door Cinema Club. Unfortunately, the video kept buffering, so we got some "Uh-oh"s from her in the middle of the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENjNAVETCqI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5eMS-nQHHw.

Later that evening we went to dinner with our neighbors Ken and Marilyn, at an Argentine restaurant nearby called Tango. Hyder got a large entree - steak medallions with eggs and bearnaise sauce:

It looked quite rich and Hyder said it was delicious!

After dinner we spent more time with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ken:

They gave us a chili pepper seedling, which Maya helped plant in the back yard:

All in all, a lovely day! Maya certainly loves her Dada, especially when they're goofing off:

Birthday Party Season Begins

Maya has a few friends who have birthdays during the summer, so we get to enjoy a fun birthday party season. Things started with her friend Erica's party this past Saturday:

The kids were moving around so quickly that it was tough to get non-blurry pictures of them facing me. So at least I have good photos of their backs; Maya is in the pink swimsuit and Erica is in the red one.

Maya enjoyed watering her feet; she refused to get in the pool!

I like to imagine that if she knew more words, she'd say something like "What? Did you say birthday cake?"

Al in all, it was a fun party!

Adventures in Eating

We've been really lucky that Maya is a fairly adventurous eater - she'll try just about anything, though some food does get rejected. I've read that kids sometimes dislike certain foods due to texture rather than taste, so I've been experimenting with different textures. For example, tonight we had tomato fettucine with a kale basil pesto cream sauce. Pasta is one of her favorite foods, and with that pesto, we got a bit of leafy greens in our meal!

The other night I was cutting up a roasted beet for salad and Maya looked very curious, so I gave her some. She proceeded to eat almost half the beet! And she was quite happy about it:

She's also really interested whenever I get out the salad spinner, so of course I enlisted her as a helper for that:

I haven't been able to convince her to eat salad yet, but maybe one day she'll actually eat the greens that are in the spinner!

Anatomy of Mischief

As Maya has gotten more comfortable with walking, she's been experimenting with other skills too. She really wants to jump, though I'm told that usually comes much later. And sometimes she'll get going pretty fast while walking downhill - it's on the verge of running! And of course, her newfound stability has led to curiosity about what she can reach if she climbs on top of toys and furniture.

For example, maybe she can reach some bubbles if she climbs on her drum:

Up next, she tries to distract me by pointing at something behind me - it's almost like she's saying, "Mamma, look away so I can climb some more!"

I'm so glad she's more comfortable with walking and standing but I'm exhausted just thinking about what she'll get into next!

Maya Eats, Plays, and Makes Music

Another week, another weekend, and we've all stayed happy and healthy. Hyder was in Berlin last week for work so Maya and I were on our own. Fortunately, we got together with good friends a couple times so we had company. We did miss Hyder quite a bit, especially Maya, who kept saying "Dada" almost everyday.

The weather did finally turn warm for a bit so Maya got to wear a new little bear t-shirt from her Chethu Auntie:

When Dada got home, Maya was more than happy to share her corn with him:

But she was also happy to eat it herself:

She played around over the weekend, first on Saturday at our friend Brian's place for dinner:

At dinner Saturday she also practiced using a knife and fork with me:

And then on Sunday at another friend's place, Maya played with a couple new furry friends named Alex and Abby:

The photo is from my Blackberry and I wasn't able to get the dogs to stop moving, so it's blurry!

And it's no surprise to anyone that Maya loves playing and dancing to music. One of her favorite activities is playing guitar with Dada: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDZo_LHvrsI. I wish I could get closer to her face so everyone can see the alternating expressions of intense focus and intense joy!

Miss Maya Goes to Washington

For all the five people who read this blog, apologies for the delay in publishing this post. The last 10 days have been quite busy, with a lot of travel. We had a great trip to the DC area over Memorial Day Weekend, with quick flights to and from Baltimore. Maya did pretty well on the plane - we made sure to bring snacks and books and toys to pass the time:

We started off our visit with a lovely brunch in DC with my good friend Danielle:

Maya is of course very concerned about being stylish, so she made sure to keep her sunglasses on as much as possible:

It was wonderful to catch up with Danielle - we've been friends for over 10 years!

After brunch we went to see my good friend Aliza, along with her husband Craig and daughter Batsheva. To my relief, Maya played very well and was quite gentle with Batsheva - she even handed her a toy:

We headed out to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather and give Maya a chance to toddle around:

Aliza and I spent some quality time catching up and comparing notes on motherhood:

It was so great to spend time with Aliza and her family - we've been friends for over 15 years!

During our visit to the DC area we were lucky enough to stay with our friends The Baileys. I first met Andy at Akamai over 5 years ago, and through him I met his lovely wife Tricia. Their two daughters Eleanor and Julia are completely adorable. They are a bit older than Maya and they were so great with her. One night they enjoyed playing the piano at home:

They also shared disco dance parties together in their rockin' basement playroom:

The next day we headed out to the Viva Vienna fair for a day of fun and rides. Maya of course enjoyed the carousel, though it doesn't look like it from this photo:

By the end of the day, she was all smiles: 

I finally got all three girls to slow down long enough to get a cute photo:

On our final day we headed in to DC again; our plans to visit Maryland were thwarted so we figured we'd take advantage of the free museums in the city. Maya thoroughly enjoyed the National Museum of Natural History - she toddled around, pointing at animals, and shrieking with glee:

We tried to roar in front of the lions:

Maya marveled at the height of the giraffe:

She hung out with Dada inside a fake termite mound:

And we ended the visit in awe of the huge blue whale hanging from the ceiling:

All in all, a very fun visit! We went to DC last year over Memorial Day, and here's hoping we can visit there again next year too. A big thank you to The Baileys for hosting us, and to all our friends for meeting up with us while we were in town.