"...mose savorite dirl in whoe why worowd."

As Maya and I were snuggled up on the couch, looking at a "Women's Running" magazine tonight, she said to me, "Mommy, you my mose savorite dirl in whoe why worowd." I gave her a big squeeze and kiss and said, "Awww... thank you, sweetie! You're my most favorite girl in the whole wide world, too." She looks at me and says, "No! You MY savorite dirl!" Okay, clearly this was turning into a game of ownership! I wasn't into playing "who owns the most favorite girl in the whole wide world," so I graciously conceded. Well, Will was sitting on the couch with us, though he could not see our faces because we were concealed behind a magazine, and he asked, "What about me? Maya, am I your favorite boy in the whole wide world?" Maya looks up at me, scrunches up her nose in a look of disgust, and shakes her head 'no'. (Sidenote - she's already so smart to know that if she said it out loud, her Daddy would hear her, and she didn't want to hurt his feelings! I find that fascinating!) Will, who you'll remember couldn't see her said, "Maya, what about me?" I lifted the magazine just a little so he could see what she was doing, and he said, "I'm not your favorite boy the in whole wide world?!" She said, "No!" He asks, "Then who's your favorite boy?" Maya explains what she makes sound to be so blatantly obvious, "Buddy! Buddy my savorite boy in whoe why worowd! You my savorite Daddy in whoe why worowd." Awww....

Also, in church today, Maya was the only kid to go up to the steps of the alter for the Children's Message, so she got to have some one-on-one time (in front of a very captive audience) with our lay-pastor, Donna. At one point, Donna asked her if she has any brothers or sisters, and Maya told her, "I have Buddy!" Donna looked at me for an explanation, so I explained, "She has one brother, and she calls him 'Buddy'." I think she single-handedly warmed the hearts of every person in the congregation. I'm so proud of her!

Liam is starting to build a little vocabulary, too! A few days ago, he was standing in his crib, arms outstretched, saying, "Down! Down!", and today, he was standing in the bathtub (clearly done with his bath), arms outstretched again, saying, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" (out, out, out!). What a smart boy! He also says, "Hi!", "booh" (book), "Wheee!" (while going down slide), and one of our personal favorites, "Uh-uh-oh", "Uh-oh", or "Uh-oh-oh"... it varies all the time, but it's just as funny every time! His first and second words ( at about 11 months and favorites of ours) were "Bock!" (bonk - said while he is favorite head-butting game, laughing and smiling all the while) and "Whoa!" (said whenever he fell down). He also makes a little high-pitched "ruh, ruh!" sound whenever he sees a puppy, meows like a kitty when he sees a cat, and in the doctor's office this week, he roared at a painting of a lion on the wall! It was so funny! He was standing there, looking at the mural, and let out this, "roar!" (think baby Simba, The Lion King). Dr. Sterenberg looked at Liam, then looked at me and asked, "Did he just roar at that lion?!" Laughing, I said, "Yes, I think he did!" He's building his vocabulary VERY quickly! He's just so smart!

Inspirational Poem... A Must Read!

Lost Generation
By Jonathan Reed

I realize this may be a shock but
'Happiness comes from within'
is a lie, and
'Money will make me happy'
So in thirty years I will tell my children
they are not the most important thing in my life.
My employer will know that
I have my priorities straight because
work
is more important than
family
I tell you this
Once upon a time
Families stayed together
but this will not be true in my era
this is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
Thirty years from now I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making
In the future
Environmental destruction will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope.

And all of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it.

Read this poem, line for line, from the bottom to the top, and you will get a much different message. It's brilliant.

Dat Makes Me Nervous!

I was tucking Maya in for her nap this afternoon, and as she settled in with her big stuffed Minnie Mouse, she patted the big poofy bow on Minnie's head and said VERY seriously, "Dat makes me nervous." I looked at Minnie and asked, "What makes you nervous?" Maya responded, again very seriously, "Dis bow makes me nervous!" I cracked up laughing (I couldn't possibly hold it in any longer!), and asked, "Why does that bow make you nervous?" She cracked a smile and explained, "Dat bow makes me nervous betause it's siwwys!" We both laughed some more. She can be SO goofy sometimes! This is definitely the FIRST time I have heard her use the word "nervous". It seems as though we may have a bit of a drama queen on our hands!

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... : )

Christmas Cards

Mail time!! This has become one of Maya's favorite times of the day. Inevitably there's at least one holiday card in the stack of bills, which totally makes the mail worth checking. Just another reason that I LOVE THE HOLIDAY SEASON!!

As you can see, Maya doesn't waste any time ripping into the envelopes. There's always the mystery of what she will find behind the sealed flap... sometimes pictures of her friends, sometimes pictures of Santa or puppies or Baby Jesus, and sometimes, on VERY rare occasions, a full sized pack of M&M's will come flying out of the envelope! Do we need to wonder any more why she attacks this task with such unbridled enthusiasm? I think not.

Just do me a favor, and keep the mail coming!

Christmas Cuties!

I'm going to be the first to say that both kids look painfully adorable this holiday season. Today was the church service right before Christmas, so they were dressed in their true "Sunday best". We were lucky enough this morning to listen to some music from our very own Elton John (minus the crazy glasses). He just loves this little piano!
Whoops!! He got so excited, he slipped right off the bench! Hahaha... good thing he is such a good spirited little guy. He just rolls with the punches and often cracks up over his own mishaps...
It was pretty funny... we caught Maya trying to conceal a giggle over her brother's fall...
Ever the helpful sister, you can see her running to his aid to assist him back up onto the bench (after recovering from her fit of giggles, of course)...
Once we finally arrived at church, I attempted to get a few pictures of the kids together, which didn't work out so well. Can you imagine the impossibility of wrangling a walking infant and a toddler amongst a crowd of people? Geez... I mean, what's so difficult about that?? HAHAHA... : ) As you can see, I never got the "perfect" picture of them standing in front of the church Christmas tree, but Will was able to capture this little cutie, ever so nicely posing for a beautiful picture. Would you look at that smile? She is just the picture of innocence...
HERE IS MY FAVORITE PICTURE OF ALL!! Well, I never got the picture by the Christmas tree, but I got the bright idea to sit them on a church pew, which I figured would do a better job of keeping them together. It worked like a charm! I just love how small they both look, compared to the pew. I love the natural light coming through the window in front of them and behind them. I love that you can see the hymnals and Bibles on the pew back in front of them. It's the perfect picture of two kids in church, and since Christmas is more about the celebration of Jesus' birth than Christmas trees, I think THIS picture embodies the true meaning of Christmas more. They both look content and happy to just be them, and that's something that I treasure about our kids. They don't want to be anyone else. They are just happy to be themselves, and they are very happy to be together. It doesn't get much more precious than this...
After our little picture session, we retreated to the fellowship hall for some doughnuts, Maya's favorite time every Sunday. Happiness is written all over her face as she carefully selects her doughnut. Typically, she chooses one with frosting, but if frosting is not available, she will always choose one that is glazed. A girl after my own heart...
Sipping some apple juice, enjoying her treat...
There goes Buddy, off and running! I love that he is in mid-stride here, like he is floating effortlessly across the floor. He is a man on a mission... "Did somebody say 'doughnuts'?"
Me and my handsome little man. I just LOVE this suit on him! He so stinkin' cute!!!
Here is a great family photo of us all. While definitely a posed picture, I love it because it does show our personalities very well. For being "posed", it looks very candid to me. Candid pictures are my very favorite, and this turned out to be a pretty great one!
I'm so grateful that Will had some time off around Christmas this year. I love that we got to attend the Christmas service all together. The kids were so cute walking down to the Children's message. Especially Liam, toddling down as quickly as he could, missing one shoe by the time he reached the steps of the alter. There were many "Awww...'s" throughout the congregation as he made his way down and onto my lap. Last year at this time, I was due to have him any day, and already he we are, one year later! The time goes by way too quickly, but I couldn't be happier with where I am right now. I love that we are establishing ourselves as our own family, beginning our own traditions and carrying on some of our favorites. I really cherish these moments that we share. This family that Will and I have created is more valuable to me than anything in the world. I feel so lucky. I have definitely been blessed.

(kind of) Using a Spoon!

I've been terrible about giving Liam the opportunity to use a spoon thus far. I know it's purely an excuse, but I always just think of what a mess it's going to be to clean up, in addition to the normal mess of any given meal with an infant and a toddler. Finally today, I bit the bullet and handed the feeding control over to him. He was certainly happy to get the opportunity to control the spoon, but most of the time, he preferred to eat his yogurt with his fingers...
Look at how proud he is to have that spoon! He did (kind of) get the dip-it-in-the-bowl-put-it-in-your-mouth routine. Yeah, he had fun!
"Like this, Mom??" Hahaha.... Whoops, wrong end!
And, back to the fingers. He's just so tasty... : )

ALL DONE!!! Time to get cleaned up (which he kind of hates, especially the part where we wash his face)! This should be fun...I knew he would thoroughly enjoy any new adventure with his food. He is SUCH a good eater. Yep. I'd say he enjoyed himself! He's growing so fast! What a BIG BOY!!