Maya's Quotes of the Day...

This morning, Maya went into Liam's room with me to get him out of bed. While I was retrieving an outfit out of his closet for his 1 year old pictures, I turned to look at the crib, and this is what I saw/heard: Liam was standing up at the side of the bed, gripping the top of the railing, giving it a shake every now and then. Maya was standing right in front of him, arms outstretched up to him, and she said, "I tan't dit you, Buddy. I not taw enough." It was the sound of sincere apology in her voice that made me catch my breath. Then she turned to me and said, "Buddy needs you hewp get out a bed." Awww... she really tries so hard to help her brother ANY time she sees he is in distress (well, unless the distress was caused by her, then he's on his own). Another good example is when he starts to fuss while I am changing him in the laundry room. Maya could be totally engrossed in a cartoon in the living room, and I can count on her to come running in with a toy for him to play with, "Hewe, Buddy!" I don't even have to ask. She runs in, gives him the toy, and runs back out. Her little heart can't bear to see him upset, even for a second. It's really cute.

On another note, just when I think I have her figured out, something happens that totally throws me for a loop. Yesterday, I snapped a picture of a squirrel on Maya's bird feeder. She happened to be napping at the time of the invasion, so I got a few shots of the squirrel, helping itself to some bird seed. I thought she'd be thrilled to see the squirrel. Tonight, I remembered I had the pictures, and Maya had not yet seen them. I grabbed the camera and told her there were some pictures I had taken for her. She was all excited to see the pictures until I explained what she was looking at. Her demeanor changed from one of happy excitement (because she LOVES looking at pictures on the camera) to one of GREAT disdain as she responded, "NO! I don't want sirrel on my bird seeder!" I said, "I'm sorry, I thought you would like it." With a look of disgust on her face, she restated, "No. I don't want dat sirrel on dare!" I reassured her that the next time I saw I squirrel on her feeder, I would tell it to get off of there. She was satisfied with that, thank goodness! I cracked up. Apparently, she's got quite a bit of Nanny in her! I just thought, somewhere in heaven, Nanny is laughing out loud and saying, "That's my girl!" I SO wish that Nanny could have met Maya. There are times when Maya does remind us a lot of Nanny, and I think Nanny would have gotten quite a kick out of her budding, spunky personality. I think she would have found that she'd met her match in this compact package of cleverness and wit. I can only imagine the conversations the two of them would have had... I'm sure a top priority would have been plotting to get rid of the squirrels once and for all. It's truly a loss for both of them, not having the opportunity to spend some of this life together on earth. Nanny will always be missed, but I think we'll always have bits and pieces of her spirit shining through in Maya. That will prove to be interesting, I'm sure! As Will so eloquently put it once, "I love Nanny, but I sure as heck don't want to RAISE Nanny!" Hahaha... We shall see... : )