Maya's Pals

Here are a few random Maya shots with her various pals...

Maya and Ella walking near our house on January 9th.
Maya and Blake after some serious cookies on January 16th.
Maya and Daddy brushing teeth on January 18th.

Maya at 3.5 Years

Maya is now 3.5 years-old. Amazing.

Here are the current stats:

Weight: 33lbs (52th percentile).
Height: 38 inches (39th percentile).

Maya is now attempting to understand and control her universe. She becomes fascinated with a plant or an animal and wants to understand everything about it. She wants to know how everything is made and why it is here. She understands rules and tries to find endless ways of manipulating them. She loves to boss around younger kids while idolizing older ones.

The biggest change has been her starting pre-school. At the end of the summer she began going to a school called Little Arrows. Maya transitioned pretty easily and has learned so much from the experience. She's now learning how to work in a group and how to interact in a world without her ma and pa in the background. She comes home talking about continents, seed and roots, and the days of the week. We hear about different friends and the variety of experiences that she finds interesting. It's always a trick trying to fine out what she actually does each day, but she's obviously happy there.

Pretending and storytelling are becoming favorite activities. Maya likes pretending she is a "good monster" or a "bad monster" or a "good girl" and a "bad girl." In general, she sees many things in those black and white terms. She loves to have us make up stories based on her criteria. She also loves talking about the movies or stories she's read. Recently we've been allowing her to watch longer chunks of movies (especially since she dropped her nap...more on that later) and she's been very interested in really understanding the storylines. "The Incredibles" is a recent favorite and she's wanted multiple viewings of the same scene so she can try to figure out what is going on. Then, she'll want to act out the scenes and talk about the scenes endlessly.

Maya is still enjoying music. For Christmas, we purchased a full-sized keyboard which Maya is enjoying. She makes up her own "songs" and plays along with the recorded tracks. When she's a little older, we hope to get her started on some piano lessons. We are also considering getting her involved in some dance classes as she loves dancing along to any music that plays in the house.

In the world of sleep, Maya has officially dropped her afternoon nap. This happened over the Christmas holiday and it has been a real transition for us. She gets a little tired and crazy at the end of the day, but she was ready. Naps were becoming a real struggle and they led to her being up very late at night. Momma doesn't know how to get things done without her break in the middle of the day. Oh well. On the other hand, it's great to have the freedom to do longer activities and be more flexible. She also just got a new twin-sized bed. Maya loves her new bed even though she needs a stool to climb up on it.

Maya is almost completely potty trained day and night. She is very reliably potty trained during the day. At night, we've just started getting rid of the diaper which seems to be working well once we added a bit of bribing to the mix.

It's hard to believe we are here. Our little girl is very independent, goes to school, doesn't need diapers or naps, and is really finding her own way. It's exciting and a little sad to have a girl who is so much less needy. She is a wonderful companion and a very curious, compassionate, and fun-loving person. It's a pleasure to watch her explore her world.