A Few Moments

As an end of year gift, Maya's teachers sent each student home with a little photo album with candid pictures they had taken throughout the school year. Here are just a few:

About to take a bite of a donut hole on "Donuts with Daddy Day."

The look she gives pretty much any adult who attempts to communicate with her.

The aftermath of what was clearly a very healthy snack.

Apparently Maya had been playing in the princess costumes before this picture was taken.

Last Day

Yesterday was Maya's last day of school. We now have 3 months without the benefit of an activity filled school day. We also have 3 months to get this kid potty trained. The countdown begins.


First day of school:
Last day of school:

Just Remember To Floss

Every kid has their nighttime routine and Maya is no exception. Because he likes to make their time together a little extra special, Jason's routine with Maya is slightly different than mine. I like to do whatever will get her in bed and asleep the fastest without using any of my extra energy (I need all of my reserves for the strenuous act of channel changing), and when it comes to brushing her teeth I just brush her teeth. End of story. But that's too boring for Jason. Recently, he has started letting Maya brush his teeth while he brushes hers.

I've never seen an almost-3-year-old so excited to brush her teeth.

VICTORY IS MINE!!!

Last weekend we moved Maya into a toddler bed. We kept her in her crib for so long because she wasn't trying to climb out and, well, we weren't about to rock the boat. So at first she wanted to sleep in our bed, then asked to sleep on the couch, and then she was asking to sleep on the floor next to her crib. We finally realized that she was ready for a toddler bed.

Oh, and we were one step ahead of her! We were smart and bought a convertible crib! No need to bother with finding a toddler bed; it's already built in! So smart! So simple! So high off the ground! At the lowest setting, the bed came to Maya's waist, so we needed to get a safety rail. For the low price of $70 we could get a rail to make our convertible crib usable. Fantastic. We ended up just getting a toddler bed and saving some money.

Maya was a ball of excitement as Jason put her new bed together. As soon as the mattress was in place she jumped in and demanded that we leave so she could take her nap. Hey, no problem!! The last thing I want to do is stand in the way of your nap! By all means, nap away! But she didn't. And she has failed to take a nap for the past week. We've been able to get her to understand that she isn't supposed to get up until AFTER the sun wakes up and she even goes to bed pretty easily. But no naps. The twisted thing is that she will fall asleep in the car and stay asleep until 2 seconds after I have laid her down in her bed, only to wake up with an evil smile on her face declaring "No Mommy, I awake!" In my nap deprived state I've started to take this personally.

But HA! Yesterday as I tried, yet again, to put her down for a nap, I told her I would keep singing until she fell asleep. She was out within 3 songs. Who knew such a bad voice would pay off so big?

"It Was Cool When I Dropped Her Off"

I had to leave early last Tuesday morning, so Jason dressed Maya and took her to school. I picked her up around lunchtime, and I couldn't believe what I saw when her teacher brought her out to the car. It was a warm and humid day and Maya was standing there in jeans and a long sleeve shirt; her teacher was carrying Maya's JACKET. I just wanted to announce to everyone that HER DADDY DRESSED HER TODAY. I've made my mistakes on predicting the weather but, WOW.

Happy Mother's Day!

Something Maya made at school:

Our Morning

In honor of Mother's Day, Maya's preschool held a Muffins For Mom party where all the moms were invited to come in for muffins and to hang out with the class for a little bit. It was such a relief to not have to worry about Maya's breakfast for one morning. The kid requires at least an hour to finish her meal, no kidding. I knew she wouldn't have a chance when I realized she only had 30 minutes to eat her breakfast.

When we arrived her teachers had this picture waiting for us:

How cute is that? I love the ideas they come up with.

Wallflower

Maya's spring program was this week and she blew her performance at her Christmas program out of the water. Not that the bar was set very high, all she had to do was keep her finger out of her nose and she was golden.

At the finale, when all of kids are singing, Maya just stood up with her arms spread and was singing her heart out. I was so excited for her that I just started laughing. It's a wonderful feeling to see your shy little girl coming out of her shell.

Sugar Rush

It's that time again; when the grandparents arrive to take their poor, deprived grandchild out for some much needed fun. Granny and Papaw noticed that Maya was tragically deficient in refined sugars so a chocolate cake was immediately brought in for nourishment.

It didn't take long before they realized that Maya was in DIRE need of a new toy. She was swiftly taken to the nearest Build A Bear where she came up with the girliest stuffed animal in the world:

Yes, that is a pink unicorn with pink shooting stars, wearing pink cowgirl boots with pink skates strapped to them (pink bow not pictured). Sadly, they were out of pink leashes.

Spoiling grandchildren is hard work, but somebody has to do it. Granny and Papaw went back to Tennessee, leaving behind a little girl who had a thrilling weekend and is already begging for more.

*Note*

I am incredibly grateful that my child still remains unaware of the existence of Chucky Cheese.

Pigs Are Flying

Presenting the proud owners of a brand new 2010 Toyota Corolla:

And to think it only took 20 years.

Let's Skip The Training And Go Straight To Trained

Potty training has not been on our minds lately. We decided that with Maya in preschool, we would wait until the summer before going full force. Since Maya is shy and barely talks in school, I was afraid that she would not tell her teachers when she needed to go and thus ruining the process. This puts us in a difficult position since we plan on visiting family this summer and will be taking road trips that are ENDLESS. A ten hour car ride goes so much smoother when you don't have to deal with 57 bathroom breaks.

Gimpy

While outside playing, Maya fell and scraped her knee. She immediately told Jason that she fell but she never cried or seemed even the slightest bit upset. So he brought her inside, cleaned her up, and gave her a band-aid. As soon as she received her band-aid she walked away- limping. "Oh, I have a boo-boo, Mommy." This kid limped all around the house for as long as that band-aid was on her knee. The second it was removed she back to walking upright because, you know, she was healed.

Anticipation

Jason had the fun idea of pulling out Maya's paints and letting her decorate eggs like that instead of messing with the dye that never seems to turn out right. This worked great because Maya could do it all on her own with very little help on our part. But somewhere in the process she got it in her head that she was leaving the eggs for the Easter Bunny. She still understood that the bunny was going to visit and hide eggs but THESE eggs were for the Easter Bunny to take with him. I guess she thought it was the least she could do.

Hippity Hoppity

It just isn't a celebration of the life of Christ without a friendly home invasion.

Easter

If you wanted out-of-focus and gloomy looking pictures of Maya on Easter, then you've come to the right place. As per our usual Easter ritual, we were running late for church and I was trying to desperately take Maya's picture before we left. As it turns out these were the only pictures I was able to take of her in her Easter dress. The first picture was taken just as she was running towards me to see how the picture turned out and the second picture was taken just after yelling at her to SMILE ALREADY SO WE CAN GO TO CHURCH AND CELEBRATE THE SACRIFICE JESUS HAS MADE FOR US. Ahh, memories.