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School isn’t yet out, the traditional “official” start to summer is still a week away, and yet it’s definitely already summer. This past weekend was hot. The kind of hot that calls for backyard pools to be blown up and filled with cold water from the garden hose. The kind of hot that calls for sitting under the shade of a tree and watching the big girl keeping cool by splashing for hours in the pool.
Late Saturday afternoon my Mum arrived in town for a visit. We spent the day leading up to her arrival playing in the backyard, keeping cool in the shade. Maya had so much fun playing in her pool. She spent hours and hours splashing away in it, she was a wrinkled prune by the time she was done.
Anna splashed her feet in the pool a few times but preferred playing in the shade of the big oak tree.
We are spending this week showing my Mum around St. Louis. We’ll be enjoying trips to the wineries, the zoo, the park and many of our other favorite little spots. With the exception of today and tomorrow it is going to be HOT so I’m guessing we’ll be finding ourselves splashing in the backyard pool again too.
As I mentioned last week I was very much looking forward to this Mother’s Day as I was going to be receiving my very first handmade creation from Maya. Her teacher helped the kiddos in her preschool class make little gifts for their moms. Maya brought it home from school last Thursday all wrapped and tied up with a bow. She was so excited and could hardly keep it a secret. She had to whisper what it was to Lorne several times so she wouldn’t let it slip to me. Seriously, you could see she was just about to burst if she had to keep it a secret much longer.
On Mother’s Day morning I was laying in bed when I heard “Yay, it’s Mother’s Day….MOM” coming from Maya’s room. It was adorable. She was so excited because it meant she would finally get to give me her present.
I had been waiting for this moment and unwrapped her gift to see what she created for me. This is what I got.
I love it! It is a little flower in a flower pot and the stems of the flower are made up of Maya’s hand print. I know I said it already, but seriously, I love it. This will be kept for a very long time and when I’m old and gray and my baby isn’t to little anymore I’ll pull it out and remember how excited that 4 year old Maya was to give me this gift and I’ll marvel that her hand was ever that little.
Miss Anna Banana is 10 months old! That’s right, my baby, who it seems like was just born yesterday, is a mere 2 months away from her 1st birthday. Holy crap! I thought time went by fast with Maya, but seriously, Anna’s first year is going by at lightening speed.
Apparently, she decided that 9 months of getting her picture with her age displayed nicely in front of her was enough. I could not get her to leave the letters and numbers alone long enough to snap even one picture. She just laughed at me and shook her head “no” every time I told her to leave them alone. She is a stinker 
Weight: approx. 18lbs
Height: approx. 28in
Just as with every month so much has changed, so many new things have been learned. This girl is a talker. I never would have guessed she would be a talker given how peaceful she was as a wee baby. But, boy can she chatter. She isn’t just babbling anymore either she is starting to connect sounds to objects and people, starting to copy sounds when you say words to her, and starting to accurately communicate in other ways as well. One of her favorite things to do is shake her head no, she does it because she knows we think it is cute. But, she also knows how to use in proper context as well. If I offer her more food at meal time she’ll shake her head no if she is all done and doesn’t want any more. Anna is one smart cookie Her new favorite game is the sharing game. She’ll pass a toy to you that she is playing with and say “Hee” (as in here) and when you pass it back to her she gets excited and says “Ta” (as in thank you). She will play this game endlessly and it is cute every single time she does it. She also likes to copy sounds so if she shows me something she is playing with, like a ball for example, I’ll say “Ball” to her and she’ll repeat the “ba” sound. She associates “mama” with me and “dada” with Lorne (although she still uses dadada and mamama as babble sound as well). She can say her own name, and I’m pretty sure she is doing it on purpose. And, the other day I swear she was trying to say peek-a-boo. She covered her face with a book, and as she brought it down she said “ee-ooo” and giggled.
Our super chill, relaxed little girl still isn’t crawling, although she can get around a room on her own terms. She gets around by pushing herself backwards, pivoting on her tummy and rolling. She can always get what she wants, and if it is something she knows she isn’t supposed to touch she can get there pretty darn quick too 
Every day I swear she is going to start crawling as she spends at least half the time she is on the floor on her hands and knees, she just won’t move forward. She can even get up on her hands and feet. One of these days she is going to book it across the room all “What, I could totally do this all along I just didn’t want to.”
In the past month Anna has decided that she would much rather feed herself real food than eat purees. She still gets purees, mostly because I finally found a food that is high fiber and helps keep her regular so I give it to her every day to keep things moving along. Her favorite food is cheese, she powers through it when I put a few pieces in front of her and squeals for more. She also hasn’t met a fruit she doesn’t like. And, she loves her some carbs. This morning I made french toast for the girls and she squealed with delight when I placed those little pieces of bread on her tray. She is still breastfeeding like a champ. She eats about every 2-3 hours during the day and then sleeps through the night. She seems to like waking up at about 5-5:30ish to eat and then goes back to sleep for another hour or two, which works for me. My plan is to continue nursing her into her 2nd year just as I did Maya. I nursed Maya until she was just shy of 20 months old and I’ll likely shot for something similar with Anna.
With each passing day, each passing month, I swear Anna becomes sweeter and sweeter. She is always full of smiles. She adores her big sister and the two of them play together so nicely. The other day at dinner they were really getting each other going, it was adorable. I can already see the mischief they are going to get into.
I love you to pieces sweet Anna. You are a joy each and every day. I love snuggling with you, giggling with you and watching you grow. Can’t wait to see what this next month has in store for you.
This year I get to do something on Mother’s Day that I’ve waited 4 years to do. I seriously can’t wait. I get to open my very first Maya created Mother’s Day gift! This past week at school Maya and her classmates got to make gifts for their moms. The gifts were sent home yesterday wrapped in tissue paper and tied up with a bow. Maya could hardly contain her excitement about having a gift to give me that she had made all by herself. She kept wanting to tell me what was in the wrapping, but I convinced her to just whisper it to her Daddy so that it would still be a surprise for me.
I remember making little crafts, cards and pictures for my own Mom for Mother’s Day at school. I remember being so excited to give her my little creations. It is truly awesome to now be the recipient of those lovingly made little creations.
I hope all you Moms out there have a very wonderful weekend celebrating being a Mom. Happy Mother’s Day. I’ll be spending my day with these two so I already know it will be wonderful.
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at Maya’s school. Today is National Teacher Day. Around the country, around Maya’s school, kids are saying “Thank You” to the people who make a giant impact on their lives. Saying “Thank You” to the teachers who help shape and mold them into the adults they will eventually become. Parents are saying “Thank You” to the teachers who care for, educate and help shape their beloved children.
Right inside the doors of Maya’s school there was a table filled with crayons and little paper flowers so that the kids could create a little something for their teachers. As we walked the halls, passed the doors of the other classrooms, we saw dozens of paper flowers taped to the doors. Each flower was brightly colored in the scribbles of 3 and 4 year olds and donned with the name of one of the students in the class. The little flowers a cheerful symbol of how loved each one of the teachers in Maya’s school is.
When I chose Maya’s preschool I knew it was highly rated and confident it would be a good match for Maya and our family. I had no way of knowing just how amazing this school truly is. The teachers are all very highly educated and love, LOVE, their jobs and the school. They are passionate about children, learning and are creative too the core. The school is extremely well run, the administrators just as wonderful as the teacher themselves. The parents are friendly, involved and supportive. Walking the halls of the school every where you look there are children smiling and enjoying every bit of their day at school. The school is everything I could have dreamed of and more. Maya’s teachers are a big part of making that so.
I sent Maya to school today with strawberries and cream muffins for her teachers to say a big “Thanks”. Her teachers, especially Mrs. M, have been absolutely amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a better first teacher for Maya. Mrs. M is outgoing, fun, loving and creative. She brings out the best in Maya. Maya has grown in leaps and bounds this year. She has come out of her shell and isn’t held back by her shyness anymore. I have Mrs. M to thank for that. I don’t know if Maya will remember Mrs. M years from now, but I will be sure to remind her of her truly wonderful first teacher.
Thank You, Mrs. M. Thank You.