Maia is a funy girl. She makes up names. She sometimes calls me "Mamanee" or she'll call our cat Hippie "Hipdip" or "Hippity" or our other cat "Shilo bo bo". Mais loves laughing and being tickled and getting "raspberries" on her tummy. She is very headstrong. She loves to do things by herself. Sometimes, if we try to do something for her, she will get mad and demand to do it all over again, this time by herself. She loves to try new things, like climbing a jungle gym. She also loves some vegetables. She will go through phases where she loves a certain vegetable, like broccoli. Last night, we had a salad of field greens and herbs and after she ate a few bites, she exclaimed, "Hey, we're eatin' leaves!" She has a temper sometimes, too. If we tell her "no" to something, she might throw something or scream or run off with her hands over her face. She loves going to Kids Korner daycare. Her 2 best friends there are Drew Walker and Alexandra. She especially loves Alexandra. Lately, she has been playing with her dress up clothes a lot. She will get all dressed up and accessorized and she'll say "look at me!" and then she'll go admire herself in the mirror. Maia has a very tender, loving side, too. She loves hugs and kisses and eskimo kisses, too. If she sees that we have an "owie", she will be very concerned about it. She has such a beautiful soul. We love her with every ounce of our beings.
Steve and I have been recently trying to teach Maia not to interrupt and that we take turns talking. A couple of nights ago at dinner, Steve and I were chatting and Maia wanted to tell us something and I said, "Maia, Mommy and Daddy are talking right now." to which she promptly replied, "I'M TALKIN' LOUDER!"
Maia started gymnastics last Friday. The daycare teachers walk the kids over to the elementary school for the class. On the way back from the class, Maia had her hands in her pockets and tripped, couldn't catch herself, and fell on the sidewalk! Her injuries look MUCH better now, but look at our poor baby!
The first week in March, Maia was Queen for the week! We made a posters and cookies. As Queen, she had a special crown to wear all week and she was able to be first in line and help the teacher with special duties!
Maia went on her first fieldtrip! Her daycare, Kids Korner, goes to Chuck E Cheese restaurant in Madison every year for Valentine's Day. This year, they went on Thursday, Feb 12th. I was a chaperone. Maia was so excited to see the big yellow school bus pull up. We all boarded the bus and when the bus started moving, all the kids squeeled with delight! I was chaperoning Maia and her classmate Andy. At Chuck E Cheese, the kids played lots of games, climbed up in the huge tubes and down the slide and ate pizza. The animitronic characters on stage were kind of creepy to me, but Maia went right up to them and stared. The big special surprise was when Chuck E Cheese himself came out to see the kids. Maia turned into a stalker! She followed him everywhere, tapping on him and making him hug her. She had such joy in her eyes, it was very cute. On the way home, Maia decided to sit by her friend Drew W. Maia's teacher Dawn told me that Maia and Drew always have to know where each other is. Maia and Drew took turns kissing each other, then hitting the seat in front of them, then giggling.
January 2009 Maia has a very strong mind and she wants to do things all by herself. She also wants to pick out her clothes and she loves to change clothes several times. A couple of nights ago, she emptied out all of the contents in the bottom 3 drawers! There were clothes all over her bedroom floor!
Maia can identify almost all colors. She can say the alphabet, although she doesn’t really know what she is saying, and she can count to 10!
Maia has been a “mama’s girl” for months now. Sometimes she will prefer her Dad to help her with something, but usually, she wants Mama. She loved embellishing the word Mama. She calls me “mama-nee” a lot. It’s cute.
December 2008 The first time that we noticed that Maia specifically notices race. We bought a print called “Tiptoes and Elbows” for our new daughter. It is hanging in Maia’s bedroom. It is a painting of 4 little girl ballerinas, all African American. Maia looks at it a lot and one day, she pointed to them and said “it looks like Paige.” Paige is the girl who lives next door. She is 6 years old and Maia and she love being together. We don’t see much of Paige in the winter, but in the summer, Paige stops over a lot to visit.
One Saturday, my Dad came down to spend the day with us. I made a nice, homemade meal that my Dad would love: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, seasoned corn, etc... We all sat down, ready to eat the feast. Maia looked at all of this great food in front of her and asked, "where's noodles?"
One of the things Maia got for Christmas is a kitchen and tea/play food set from Grandma and Grandpa Fisher and Aunt Peggy. Maia loves having tea parties. One of the first tea parties we had at home, Maia held our hands before we could “eat” and she said “thank you food, Amen.” At Grandma and Grandpa Fisher’s house, we pray like that before we eat. Now, when Maia has tea parties, she leads the “prayer”.
Maia loves singing songs. She can sing the whole alphabet song. She also sings The Farmer and the Dell, Twinkle Twinkle, The Wheels on the Bus, Ring Around the Rosie, Baby Bumblebee, Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, and many more. She sings a lot.
Maia’s favorite movie for the past 2 or 3 months is Peter Pan. She wants to watch it all the time. She loves the songs and the characters, even the crocodile and Captain Hook!
SANTA: Maia first met Santa December, 2007 at an Evansville craft fair. She just sat, stoic on his lap. She had almost no expression. She didn’t know what was happening. Then she discovered the pure, sticky joy of candy canes. The second time she met Santa was December, 2008, at the Janesville Mall. She VERY tentatively went up to him, stood by his knee, sort of half-smiled for the camera. Then, Santa picked her up to sit on his lap. SHE SCREAMED, shook and reached out for me “MAMA!!!” As I was paying for the photo, she sat with Daddy on a bench about 25 feet away, watching Santa from a safe distance.
October 2008 Maia dressed up as a purple butterfly for Halloween.She loved going trick or treating.The next few days after Halloween, she wanted to go trick or treating again and again. She wore her costume a few times.
Maia started at Kids Korner daycare in Sept, 2008.She adjusted really well and loved the teachers and kids.The teachers, Dawn and Tammy, were amazed that Maia quickly learned all the kids names and sometimes their last names, too.Maia is the first one to jump up and sing and dance.She sometimes got in trouble for being an aggressive girl…..
Maia and I were at the table, eating dinner and I had a Reader’s Digest opened up in front of me.On the page was a drawing of an African American man that they were interviewing.Maia pointed to the drawing and said “Barack Obama”.I wasn’t sure if I was hearing her right.I said “what did you say?” and she said “Oh, there he is, Barack Obama!”I couldn’t believe it!We hadn’t specifically taught her who he was.Maybe she learned who he was at daycare, or maybe just by watching the news.When Steve came home, I pointed to the picture and I asked Maia who it was.She said “Oh, that’s Barack Obama.”She’s only 2 years old!I didn’t tell her that that wasn’t Barack Obama, but I did find a real photo of Barak and I showed her who he is.
I am starting this blog to record the cute/funny things that Maia (and our new daughter) say or do. I think a lot of these memories would just fade with time. These are things that I want to remember and share. I am also recording these things for our daughters to read in the future, too.
The first blog entry will be playing “catch up” to record some of the things that have happened so far. After this entry, I will add things as they happen. This is sort of going to be a stream of consciousness at first, just because there are memories that I just want to get documented.
Maia is very loved. She has wonderful Grandparents. Grandpa Scheuren, Grandma and Grandpa Fisher, Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Martin; all of them are just great and very involved in her life. Her Aunt Sarah is the best Aunt ever (and Marker, too). Maia has yet to meet Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sara, as they live in Seattle. They, too, love her very much. Hopefully we will see them soon!
Maia also has a lot of “aunts” and “uncles” among Holly and Steve’s friends. Brian, Jesse, Trevor, Kim, Steph, Pam, Robin, are all people who see Maia a lot. They love her very much.
Maia will have a sister soon! Hopefully before summer. We are adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia. We haven’t yet received a “referral”, but we expect to very soon. We talk to Maia about having a sister, but she doesn’t quite “get it” yet.
Maia said her very first “word” in May, 2007 at botanical gardens in Minneapolis. We were visiting Aunt Sarah and Maia was in her stroller and her sippy cup fell off and Maia clearly said “uh oh”. We’re not sure if that counts as a word, but it was the first time Maia said something like that. She was 9 months old.
We can’t remember what her REAL first word was, but it was probably “milk” or “dada” because when she first started to use words, she said those two words a lot.
By the time Maia was 2, she was talking a lot. For the first 2 years of her life, she went to daycare at Keri Buri’s house. Keri had 2 kids at the time, Roy, Hannah, and then later Baby Sarah, all redheads. Maia loves all of them a lot. They love her, too. Keri stopped doing home daycare at the end of August, 2008. It was good timing, because we had been talking about putting Maia in a regular daycare/preschool. We felt that she needed more interaction with other kids and that she needed structured activities, like art, playground, music, etc…
