So I have been slacking again. Almost every night I think that I am going to write, and then I just can't seem to summon the energy. Plus, Jake keeps telling me to sleep instead, so you can all blame him. :o) I have been trying to keep notes on the funny things that they do in my planner so that I can remember them. Hopefully the notes aren't too cryptic for me, so here is my best shot!
Isabela and Maya's Adventures:
Last week Isabela and Maya were playing in Isabela's room. Isabela said that she was going to have a picnic and she got out her plastic kitchen stuff with all of the plastic food and sat down on the floor. She somehow got Maya to sit down across from her and gave her a plate. Maya reached out for the fake orange and Isabela said, "No Maya. You can have the orange after you eat your lunch. First you need to eat your.....beans! Beans. Yummy. Mmmmmmm." I almost laughed out loud. Isabela refuses to eat anything green and certainly does not think that beans are yummy. She hears these kind of things a lot though as her poor parents are trying to convince her to eat something that is actually nutritious.
Yesterday there was another funny food incident. We had company over and were eating supper and she said that she wanted squash (!!!!). I gave her a little bit and she didn't touch it. She asked to be excused and I told her that was fine but that she wouldn't get any apple crisp if she didn't eat her supper. She changed her mind, but tried to pawn off some of her bread on one of our guests when Jake and I weren't in the room (Here. You can have some of my bread). She ate everything that was on her plate except for the squash and Jake took her plate and let her have apple crisp. When I put her to bed however, she said that she was hungry. I told her that she should have eaten more supper then and she cried out in a pitiful voice, "Daddy wouldn't let me eat my squash!" I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that one. Yeah right. She didn't get anything else to eat. She knew that she wouldn't, but she just had to be funny. Do you think that children keep you young through laughter at the same rate that they age you with all of the other things that they do, so that it just stays even? Who knows.
Maya is ONE! Her birthday was on the 6th and we had a big celebration....we went to Madison and bought skis and boots for Isabela! Poor Maya. We didn't do anything special for her birthday. We were going to take the girls to the Children's Museum, but they were crabby and tired by the time we got done at the ski swap. I did get a chance to walk around with Maya a lot while Jake and Isabela were trying on skis. And Memorial Union has a great view of Lake Mendota, so we watched the waves together for a while. I did make her some cupcakes and she was pretty delighted with those, hence the messy face.
There is no stopping Maya now. She is everywhere! She has been climbing up on chairs (I found her standing up on a rocking chair!) and on my ladder in the pantry. She was jumping up and down and squealing in her crib the other morning. It was really cute. She is walking most of the time now, and crashing a lot. It is very interesting to see this, since she is not being as cautious as she has been in the past. In fact, she is being rather reckless. I really hope that this is temporary, since I already have one reckless bugger. It is almost as if she is trying to run. She has the balance to walk for a long way if she goes slowly, but instead she goes very fast. Maybe she is trying to develop survival skills. Running could be very useful with Isabela around.
Stairs are still a huge attraction for her. I know right where she is going when she heads out with that determined step. I have the timing down now so that I can head her off before she actually starts up them, but she knows when I am coming and increases her pace accordingly. She makes me feel so bad because when I grab her just before she is about to start up she cries. I sometimes just let her climb up. Today Isabela wanted to be the one to 'spot' her going up the stairs. She followed Maya up and kept telling me not to go on the stairs. Yeah. I didn't listen. Isabela is a great big sister, but carefulness and gentleness are not her best skills.
Isabela is singing. A lot. I love it. Somehow she picked up Jingle Bells from the radio, along with a couple of other Christmas songs, and she is singing them at every opportunity. She is also very into rhyming and has mastered the Banana Fanna song. She sings it about everything, objects, people, animals. I don't want to discourage her at all, but there have been some unfortunate choices, like 'duck'. Oh well. :o)
Isabela still loves costumes. In fact, I was thinking today that she has a ton of clothes, and she hardly ever wears them. It is really too bad. Most of the costumes that she has are not very warm and although we try to get her to wear something over or under them, most of the time we are not successful. She is rather particular about how the costumes should look. She claims that she wants to be cold. She certainly didn't get that from me!
Yesterday, while I was getting ready for company, a couple of funny things happened. I don't know if any of you have noticed that I have rather willful children. Well, I was cleaning upstairs and Isabela asked me if she could have some pancakes (I had made some the day before). I told her that I would get her some as soon as I was done with the upstairs. After waiting patiently for about two minutes, Isabela went downstairs and helped herself. She got out a bowl and fork. Took the pancakes and syrup out of the fridge and dished up. By the time I got downstairs she had eaten and put everything except the dirty bowl and fork away. Amazing! She did it again today. I would have thought that she would make an almighty mess, but she didn't. She is growing up so fast! She made her bed yesterday without me even asking or expecting her too. She is really a good girl.
The other funny thing that happened was with Isabela's piggy bank and our change bowl. I saw her take the change bowl and head upstairs with it, so I told her to put it back. She interpreted that as: since I can't take the money to the piggy bank, I will take the piggy bank to the money. The next time I saw her she was sitting at the table, happily filling her piggy bank with our change. I told her that it was Mommy and Daddy's money and she couldn't have it. She said, "Well, you can pretend that it is your money." I said, "No. You can pretend that it is your money." To which she promptly replied, "No Mommy. You can pretend that it is your money!" She did however empty her bank back out into the change bowl without being asked later in the evening. Very funny girl.
Well, I think that I have rambled on long enough. I had better get some sleep too before Maya wakes up, or Isabela decides that it is time for the full contact sport of snuggling with Mommy and Daddy (also known as crushing, bruising and squirming).
Good Night All! I will do my best to write again soon!
Laura and the Fussy Foodie and the Wonderous Walker (and Climber!)
