"Nnn"

I love the new words Maya is learning and hearing how she says what. Some take some time to figure out exactly what in the world she is telling us, but once it's known, it makes things so much easier.

Take, for example, the word "nana". Most people would assume this means Grandma or some other important woman in a child's life. Not in Maya's world. Nana=NUK. Know how long that one took to figure out? Ya, awhile. But, now we know what she means and are happy to

Other words are more obvious like ba=ball, bow=bowl, Papa=Grandpa, Mama=Grandma, tee=teeth, eeeee=eat and so one, you get the idea.

She says Mommy and Daddy like a pro and if you've heard her, you know she says it upwords of 500 times a day. She points to pictures and tells you who's who, pointing to herself when her's comes around. But when it came to Hayden, she never really repeated the same word twice. She'd make weird noises or nothing. But we knew who she meant, mostly because she'd point. Now, finally, she has a consistent sound, yes, sound, for addressing her big brother. Hayden=Nnn.

I was hoping she'd call him, Den, Hay, Hayhay, Dude or something along those lines. Nope, we get, Nnn. Not even, En. Nnn.

Just own up

Some dried spots of spilled juice were scattered across the floor. I assumed the culprit was Hayden since Maya is not a big juicer.

"Hayden, did you spill your juice on the floor?"

"No."

"Then why is the floor sticky?"

"Maybe Prada peed."

"No, she didn't pee. It's sticky spots of juice from your juicebox. Why didn't you tell me you spilled?"

"Well, did you smell it?"

1 bite, 2 bite, 3 bite, 3

Hayden is not a good eater. He eats, but it takes a lot of effort on his parents part to get him to eat. Oh, you put mac and cheese or chicken nuggets in from of him and he dives right in. It's the other gazillion things which are made and served him that are hard to get down his throat. (breakfast/lunch/dinner food, not snacks)

Anyway, one thing that is starting to get easier to get him to munch down are veggies. Tonight, he shunned the green beans so I asked if he could eat peas instead. To my amazement, he said "sure". Maya loves them, so we usually have them on hand.

Getting him to eat something starts out with the same line, "how many bites do I need to eat?"

This time around, I pushed it with three. His reply: "how bout 7?"

Uh... sure?

I give him one.

His time frame for chewing is approximately the time span of a typical commercial break. It seems to take forever!

Done with the first bite and he says, "um, how bout I just have three bites?"

I say that's fine.

Let me just mention that I am filling the spoon and pouring them in his mouth. His idea of a bit would be one pea.

He's on the second bite now. I think the time lapse for this is 5 minutes.

Now, the third bite down.

As he is starting his second minute of chewing I get another bite for him and tell him that it's bite number three. His expression changed to confusion and I can see the gears in his head moving.

Huh?

"Yep," I say, "this is bite number three."

He says to me, "Mom, you're screwed up!"

He ate the "third" bite.

Sleep with me

Maya has been a little bit of a stinker when it comes to falling asleep while traveling. She freaked out at the pack-n-play at my parents house and made it through one out of the two (so far) nights at my in-laws. The nights at my parents, I gave in after a half an hour the first night. The second, she fell asleep for two hours in the pnp and that was enough and the third was a replay of the first night but had an added bonus of staying up moving/standing/talking/crawling until 11:30 in the bed.

Now, I am kicking myself. Kicking myself for getting so irritated that Maya won't sleep in her "own" bed while we are away from home.
The first evening at my in-laws was a breeze. For some reason, not a peep of annoyance or freakout. Last night, she fell asleep, after about 20 minutes of screams, in her crib. When I went to put Hayden in bed an hour later, I went over to check on her, cover her with her blanket and check for a pulse. She awoke. And wouldn't go back to bed. So, I got pissy, stuck her in bed with me and rolled over to watch "Lost" on my computer. To my utter relief and amazement, she fell asleep quickly and cutely.

When I closed my computer and turned to my other side where she was. She looked so little, so angelic, so FRICKING cute I smacked myself for getting upset that she wouldn't sleep in her own bed. I put my finger in her hand and fell asleep.

She is only this size for a short time and this is now the time I need to be treasuring for cuddling! What the heck am I thinking not just plopping her next to me without hesitation?! I do need sleep and continually wake up when one of the kids is next to me, ie: woke up with a head in my back, but she is growing so fast. If she puts up a huge fuss tonight, looks like I'll have a bed partner.

Heading home

It's the night before the kids and I leave for a week in Minnesota. We are all excited to go. Hayden is so excited to show all his grandparents how he is reading. Maya has no clue. I am most excited just for the extra hands to take hold of these two. It's been a long couple weeks with Buddy starting up a job where he's staying four nights a week. I'm ready for a nice break.
But, it's starting to sink in that I won't be seeing my Grandma. Every time I have traveled home the past 10 years, I went over to visit, play cards and enjoy some wine at least twice, if not more. It was a time for us to chat and enjoy one another. Playing cards was something we never got bored with when we played. We could play for hours or a full day. And she loved her wine.
I think it's going to be a little emotional either when I first get to my parents house or when I first pass by her last home. My first question to my mom when ever I talked to her on the phone or arrived at home was, "how's Grandma doing?" Besides arriving for the week of her funeral, this will be the first time I won't be asking.

Bring me the roll

For the weak of stomach, this tale is about barf.

Maya ate a lot tonight. She ate it fast too. Mac and cheese, green beans, Cutie orange and a pack of fruit snacks. Then, she played. A lot. Bath time, all good. Got the kids ready for bed and we headed downstairs.

Maya ran to the stairs, stopped short, and barfed. She looked up at me and smiled like all was good. I told Hayden to go downstairs and get me the roll of paper towels.

I heard the rumblings of more barf headed up. Grabbed Miss and ran to my bathroom, which isn't far. All over the tile and just a smidge in the sink. This girl swallowed a whole slice of orange!! Jeez! She looked on the sink and started saying "Tee tee!" (Teeth, teeth). She loves to brush. Well, she must feel better.

In the meantime, Hayden had not come up yet. I yelled down to get the paper towels. He said he was. Up the stairs he came; with one.

Perterbed, I repeated myself, again. "Please bring me the roll of paper towels. The whole roll."

While I used my one to clean up the explosion, I could hear him.

"Ah crap" was what went through my mind. He came upstairs with the whole roll alright. The whole roll UNrolled; minus the cardboard tube.

Now, I have a very large pile of papertowels shoved into the papertowel holder. My counter will be amiss for weeks.

How'd ya get their names?

While pregnant with my children, we never told people what we were naming them. 1: we didn't know what we were having and 2: I didn't ever want to hear, "oh, I know/knew someone with that name, he/she was a brat/etc." or see that look on someone's face like, 'really? you're picking that name?' I think Buddy blabbed once, before we were even close to having them, so there were a few people who knew, but I never told. That I can remember anyway.

I get asked how their names have come to be and thought I would share.

I'm not sure where I heard Hayden's name. I just liked it when I did. I've read a few books which have a character who's name is Hayden, so I assume it's from them. I always thought it was slightly original too. Now I hear it everywhere. His middle name is James, my dad. Not that I had to use it, I really did like how the two went together.

Maya's name, however, I remember exactly (almost exactly) where I heard it. It was in high school and my family was coming home from a ski trip to Montana. We were on the shuttle bus that took us from the airport to the parking lot where we left our car. On the bus was a little girl about the age of 3, with brown, curly hair and simply adorable. I was watching her sit in her seat and play. She got up once and her mom said, "Come here, Maya." She turned around, her curls bouncing on her shoulders and she returned to her seat.

I fell in love with the name. When I thought of the name Maya, I always like the middle name Christine. I just liked the sound of them together. I had a great aunt, Christine, but I don't think this was how I put the two together.

All of this was before I had met my future hubby and baby daddy, of course. :) I was just lucky enough that he liked her first name and really liked the middle name. His real name isn't Buddy, it's Christopher, like his dad's. Also, he has a sister, named Christine.

And now, I have a curly haired little girl named, Maya Christine. I think it fell into place just perfect.