Kisses

Maya and Dex feeling the love after their bath.

 Dexter kisses...

...and hugs.

Prints Time! 18-20 Months

We've uploaded all of the blog photos for "18-20 Months" to Kodak Gallery.

Maya Photos, 18 through 20 months

A San Francisco Tragedy

It was an ordinary day until I walked into the living room and discovered this...

Maya found a new place to store her baby.

By the way, Maya's available for babysitting for anyone who's interested.

"Too Ahh" video

Maya makes up her own breakfast time tune...catchy...

Grandma Josie

On April 3rd, Maya lost her great grandma, Josie. Daddy was lucky to have his grandma and grandpa in the same town he grew up. Grandma Josie and Grandpa Joe showered their grandchildren and great grandchildren with love. Maya was able to meet her great grandma just a couple months ago, and they shared some very special moments together.

We will all miss her wonderful, caring spirit.

Here are some photos of Josie through the years, surrounded by the people who loved her.

Grandma Josie, Todd and Shelly on Grandpa Joe's lap, and Boyd in the backyard in Homewood

Josie, Shelly, Todd, Boyd and Joe at Disneyworld in 1980

Sisters Nora and Josie, 1920

Sisters Nora and Josie in the early 1920's at Belle Isle, just outside of Detroit

Nancy, Josie and Norman, mid 1950's

Sisters Martha and Josie in the late 1960's

Josie, Joe and Nancy, late 1960's

Josie in the Homewood house, late 1990's

Josie and Iraj in Venice, Florida, December 2008

Jam Jam Jam

Maya started her first official music and movement class this month. The Jamboodas classes, which have a strong theme of "jammin,'" are taught by a local musician named Charity Kahn. This kids (and their parents) sing songs, play instruments, and dance around. Maya loved the music and had a lot of fun imitating the moves, dancing freeform, and following Charity around endlessly.

After some circle songs, time for instrument free-for-all.

Playing the big drum.

Maya dances with Charity.

Maya doing a scarf dance.

Maya loves to jam jam jam!

Dueling Harmonicas

Maya is very impressed by her cool friends, Sophie and Jake. They have a great apartment with cool stuff like a piano, a guitar, and a furry rug. On this particular morning, Jake showed her his latest musical instrument, the harmonica. Maya eagerly coated the entire thing with saliva and then managed to get a few notes out. We headed out for brunch in Noe Valley and stopped en route at a music store to replace Jake's harmonica with a less drooly model unknowingly setting the stage for a musical collaboration of epic proportions.

Maya and Jake.
Maya loves the harmonica.The cover shot for Maya's new album.

Here's a little sample of Jake and Maya's musical genius...

The duel continues on the sidewalk.

Maya with Sophie and Jake (holding up some fabulous artwork created by Maya and Jake on the receipt from the restaurant).

"Where's Maya?" video

Maya likes playing various versions of hide and seek.  In this version, Maya runs away and we ask where she is until she returns triumphantly.  Maya loves to build suspense, so you'll see how LONG she makes us wait for her return.

Happy Birthday Allie

Maya loves a good party and Allie Tubach's first birthday did not disappoint. There were numerous thrills at the party including cupcakes that looked like mice, goldfish (the crackers), and Tim Cain playing the guitar.

Tim Cain singing to his ecstatic fans (Maya is in the pink shirt and blue dress).

Allie blows out the candle on her birthday cake.

More musical mayhem (check out Maya next to the girl in the pink dress)...

"Letters" video

Maya has become very interested in the letters of the alphabet. We bought a set of alphabet magnets for the refrigerator a while ago and Maya would point at the letters and we would say what they were occasionally. Then, to our surprise, she came up to us one day with the letter B and said "Beeeeeee." From then on, she started saying more and more and noticing letters on everything. We've been fairly weirded out that she can now identify and say all the letters of the alphabet. Here's a little demo:

Ducks and Giraffes

The weather was nice Maya and Mommy decided to visit the zoo. This time Maya was very excited about feeding ducks and watching the baby giraffe.

Maya and ducks face off.

Cutie!

Maya loves this photo because you can see GIRAFFES!

Pixar

Mommy took Maya to Pixar Animation Studios for the first time in over a year. Mommy worked there for many years before Maya was born, but has been remiss in visiting all her old pals. Maya's head nearly exploded as she discovered all the characters and bizarre decor throughout the place. She loved meeting Mommy's weird work buddies. Maya especially liked Kate who went with us to exotic Chevy's for some Fresh Mex after our visit.

Pixar's super dense green lawn...how luxurious.

Hmmmm...Chuck E. Cheese guys surrounded by fake plants in a hallway...these guys really know how to decorate.

Maya, Luigi and Guido.

Maya meets Mike.

"Hi, Kitty."

Maya and Kate (expecting her own little lady in July).

"Maya and Nonnie" video

Here's a video of Maya with her great grandma, Nonnie:

"Diary of Little Miss Sicky Pants" video

As mentioned in earlier posts, Maya got pretty sick during our Florida trip. Daddy captured this little video as he attempted to keep our little sicky pants entertained with the computer.

Florida: Fun in Destin

Although we were under the weather with various colds and stomach problems much of the time we were in Destin, we still had a wonderful time. Mommy and her grandma went out for dinner alone one night. Nonnie's next door neighbors, Eva, Kevin, Miriam and Alba take wonderful care of Nonnie and are good friends with us. They generously helped take care of Maya one night and we had an Oscar party on our last night with all of us. It was particularly fun because Mom and Dad tied to win big money in the Oscar pool and because Mommy's last movie with Pixar, Wall-E, won for Best Animated feature.

We were sad when we finally had to say goodbye.

Mommy and Nonnie go out for dinner together.

Three cool chicks.

Looking at some very old pics of Mommy.

Maya couldn't get enough of Alba. Alba (on the left) and her friend were sitting on the stairs and Maya actually squeezed her way between them. Of course, her life was complete when Alba let her play with her cell phone. Oh...kids today.

We were all sad to leave, but Maya was particularly sad to have a cold and have to sit on two planes after getting up at five in the morning. Lucky everyone.

Florida: Meeting Nonnie

Mommy's grandma, Nonnie, lives in Destin, Florida on the panhandle. We decided to fly instead of driving for 8 hours with Maya from Venice. Unfortunately, the night before the flight, Maya got a bad stomach bug and spent most of the night throwing up. This made our airport adventure even more exciting. Luckily, Maya did pretty well and her great grandmother was very excited to see her.

Maya finds solace in 'Boundin' playing repetatively on the iPod.

Mommy on 3 hours sleep.

Daddy takes a break on the very clean airport carpet.

Our very sophisticated aircraft.

Maya meets Nonnie.

Maya sees the bay outside Nonnie's house.

Maya's first walk on a dock.

Actually, Maya has been on this dock before...it was our last trip to Destin where we discovered Maya's existence. You've come a long way baby!

Florida: Grandma Manicure

On our last day in Venice, we had a lot of fun with Grandma Josie. We pampered her with a special manicure and Maya loved playing in her room.

Maya presents Grandma Josie with some photo albums.

After her manicure.

Grandma Josie, Maya, and Daddy.

It was hard to say goodbye. We hope Grandma Josie gets well soon and we look forward to our next visit.