Maia-isms

The truth is - I lost one camera over the summer and the other one wasn't working... so I have few pictures of Maia, (or Matthew) for July and August. At the end of August, I got the one camera working (sort of) so I have some pictures from the end of summer - but they aren't the best. Sometimes they are just with my cell phone - and those tend to be blurry for me. In any case - this gives you a glimpse at Maia this summer and now that I have a working camera and a working router, I should be all set. (Famous last words.)

Maia enjoys playing the piano. Recently, she has taken her stuffed animal 'stack' toy (like the plastic ring kind) and taken the top three rings (this is piglet, eeyore and tigger)... She stacks them on the piano bench, hikes it up there, and then plays. She has very good balance, so the first time I was a little nervous she might fall as she climbed on the bench, and then scaled Mount Pooh. I really don't worry about that anymore, at least not on the piano bench.

Matthew has these boots for scouting/camping, etc. Maia LOVES to wears other people's shoes, including these! As you can see, they go up to her knees... but they are rather light weight, so she was able to walk in them... sort of!

Did I tell you Maia can read?? These two pictures are from Matthew's birthday celebration. She took one of his new hats and starting reading one of her books - I swear, she is a GENIUS!

Now on to what I like to call Maia-isms. Sometimes when Maia does something we say it was just 'so Maia'. She makes us laugh and it really quite funny. Let's see what I can remember! :)

Just today Maia came up to me and said ... ooooo ooooo, aahhh, aahhh... and then she said, MONKEY. I didn't know she could do that. A few times today, she was just walking around saying, ooooo oooooo, aahhh, aahhh. Made me smile.

Recently, she has gotten in to Dora the Explorer and Diego. The way she asks to watch it is so cute. I wahch Dorwah. I wahch Dego. All the while nodding as if to convince me so I won't shake my head no. :)

Now she also likes the movie Finding Nemo. I wahch Nemo. Fishies!

When we are leaving the house and I grab my purse, she says, "My purse". She doesn't ask it like a question, but what she wants is her purse to take with us. Sometimes I know where it is, and sometimes I don't. I try to just leave it in the car now so we have it and if she ever wants it in the house, then I know where to find it! Once we get to the car, she also wants her Gasses. Her sunglasses. Word to the wiser-than-I. Don't buy kids sun glasses at the dollar store (actually, 4 pair for a dollar....) they fall apart when you look at them. Really. I bought some Kids safe glasses at Target and she hasn't broken them yet. I am quite confident she COULD, but she is learning to be a bit more gentle these days and so far they've survived a few months of Maia.

We call Matthew "Chew". Additionally, his middle name is Ryan. Nickname - Chewchi Ryan. Maia now goes around calling him Chewchi Ryan but it sounds more like Chewchi Whyan.


She also wonders where he is when he is gone. Where'd Chew go, she'll ask? Now, what I find so cute about this is... does anyone know the movie Top Gun? When they are lost in a bogie fight and Tom Cruise asks Where'd he go, where'd he go? And Goose says, Where'd WHO go??

Maia says, Where'd CHEW go JUST like Goose says in that scene - I love it! It cracks me up!


She would live on Fruit Snacks if I would let her. Right now, she has Dora Fruit Snacks. She says Fruit snack like this: BOOT SNACK. Dorwah boot snack, while nodding her head to try to convince me again...


She can HOP now. Before it was one footed and sort of like a weird skip. Now both feet leave the ground at the same time. She's JUMPED off things for months... but actual hopping has just occurred. Neat!

She loves to 'help. She says, I helper. Of course what this really means is she 'helps' UNFOLD the laundry and hand it to me, and take it out of drawers, and throw things in the trash can that are NOT trash... There are times she actually does help - but more often than not right now, it's something that really isn't helpful, but it's cute nonetheless. :)


She realizes now when it's getting dark. She'll say, dahk Mommy. It's dahk. Jammies. Night night. Like, she's telling me, it's dark now, get me dressed and put me to bed! And when I ask if that's what she wants, she'll run for her room for her jammies! She's in for a shock when it starts getting dark at school before I ever even pick her up after work!


And one of my all time favorites... we have a pretty standard 'night night' routine. One of the last steps of this routine is me singing Jesus Loves Me to her after we pray. We've sung this since Kazakhstan - so it's really a nightly thing. If she really doesn't want to go to bed... a newer phenomenon... and I start singing Jesus Loves Me, she'll rather violently shake her head while saying... No Jesus, No Jesus.


She has also done this once or twice when I sing it in the daytime - and she thinks it means night night time. (Even though I explain it's not bedtime...) Once or twice she has flat out refused to let me sing it, mid-day, for fear of bedtime.

Update from earlier. :) Last but not least... I just wanted to say - my earlier post today may not have been exactly what I wanted it to be. If I sounded ultra mad, I really wasn't. I hate wasting money on something so silly, but it's really just a day in the life. Life happens, which is why there's never enough money, the house is never clean enough, I never have enough time, my best laid plans may never happen, or take much longer to happen than I anticipate.

Here's an example - I left for the grocery store to buy balloons, etc. for Matthew's birthday. I left Maia home with Matthew, my brother and my dad. No problem. Grocery store - 2 miles away. I realize at some point early in the short trip to the store that my cart was vibrating. I check my phone. 3 missed calls from home. I assume they want me to get some chips or soda or something we hadn't talked about - so I got to the front of the store for reception and called home. Matthew starts off... "OK, I had to call poison control... but she's OK." What??? She had gotten hold of a Silicone Packet, torn it open and eaten it/some before Matthew could get to her. (You know the drill.. Maia put that down! So, she moves faster and popsit in her mouth all the faster.) Matthew had been on the computer in the same room as Maia, and I have no idea where my brother and father were - but it only takes 2 seconds with Maia... she is FAST.

All this to say, today was no different. Just another day in the life of Matthew, Kristen and Maia!! Something new and exciting all the time. I don't like silly mistakes, and I hate money spent like that, but otherwise, it was no big deal. Live and learn - and I think, Matthew now knows what can and can't go in a toilet. LOL.

And lastly, I said Matthew started high school - but didn't mention how well it has gone. I am pleasantly surprised at how great the first week has gone - even the getting up wasn't as hard (YET!) as I thought it would be. Homework is always interesting - but we'll get through that too!

Enjoy football season everyone! GOod fall weather!