The Latest from Maya

A Party & The Nest

As it turns out, hosting a low key birthday party for ten six-year-olds is both fun and easy! Especially with a little help from out of town guests!

Just prepare one garden party cake, complete with oreo dirt and a variety of gummy flowers, bugs, and butterflies.

Start out with a rousing game of Bumble Bee Tag...

Followed by Pin the Dot on the Lady Bug (incidentally, making this was a great way to spend one of our many rainy days).

Then it's time for a craft... Egg Carton Caterpillars full of paint and glitter were great fun (and not too messy in the backyard!)

After lunch, cake, and presents, wear those kids out with silly races. The crab walk was particularly tricky for this crowd, but the egg-on-- spoon relay, the knees-to-elbows relay, and the sponge race were all a hit. Of course, the kids would have been just as happy to play with the chickens all day.

All of this fun marks the end of any scheduled obligations before the baby is born! From here on out, we wait. We rest.

Who am I kidding? We nest. I'm working up a big batch of lasagna to freeze even as I type, and this afternoon, I sewed my very first baby blanket. It is far from perfect, and it was crafted from ribbon and cloth remnants I scavenged from my own basement... but I'm inordinately proud of having accomplished something so concrete in preparation for our little arrival.

 From here on out, I'm loading up my Nook and settling down to snuggle the girls and read.

A Kindergarten Concert

I didn't anticipate choking up at the end of kindergarten. The first days were obviously full of adjustments and reflections, but by the end, shouldn't we be jaded old pros at this elementary school thing?

After the delightfully silly concert, Mrs. Johnson ushered us all back to her classroom where she had prepared a DVD compilation of  this year's activities set to the tunes of It's a Wonderful World, Somewhere Over the Rainbow,  and Sesame Street's We all Sing with the Same Voice, at which point our kids chimed in.

We all sing with the same voice,
The same song, the same voice.
We all sing with the same voice,
And we sing in harmony. 

That's about where I lost it.  There is something about this moment, with Maya about to move on to the more grown up world of First Grade and Pip just waiting for the right moment to join the party. Even Elliot spends her days in between things, one moment clutching my belly and telling Pip all of the things she'll teach him and the next using a squeaky baby voice and demanding to be carried. 

It's a tender moment. Maybe they all are when little kids, full of rapid change, baffling phases, and sudden transformations, are the focus of our daily lives. 

A Birthday Weekend to Remember

After six years of working to inspire a love of the outdoors, all Maya wanted to do this birthday is go camping. Hooray! She loves bug hunting, long hikes, and sleeping in a tent; mission accomplished.

Of course, this year that means fulfilling her birthday wish while sporting the curvy, less-than-ergonomically-designed figure of a woman in her 36th week of pregnancy!

Hiking boots are tough to tie when you don't bend in the middle anymore!

 Off we went to the scenic (but conveniently located near metro physicians) Interstate State Park. The views were spectacular, the hikes were relatively brief (we kept to two 1.5 mile trails), though the elevation changes are a little more challenging than most Minnesota parks.

A much needed rest.

 Elle kept finding caterpillars around the trails. Each time she would let it roam around her arms while exclaiming, "He really, really loves me. I will keep him for ever." Inevitably, it would drop into the foliage after a bit.

Maya lead the way, marveling at the river, at the geological marvel of the potholes (an uninspiring name for some amazingly carved rocks), and took every unexpected moment of the day with grace and sweetness beyond her six years.

What, mom isn't up to a 1.5 mile hike back to the campsite? Let's eat at this convenient Taylor's Falls malt shop! What, mom isn't exactly overjoyed to sleep in a tent crammed in with a bunch of other campers when she'll need to, um, answer natures call every hour or so? No problem, let's set up the tent in the back yard!

In between our two hikes, we rested. Maya spent her time writing a book about how the Cat in the Hat got started.

 We didn't even get pictures of our impromptu paddle on Lake Johanna today or the morning spent snagging minnows with Maya's new bug net and swimming with friends. Let birthday week begin! With three days of "last week of school" festivities and a Saturday morning finale with a group of her friends, this should be one to remember.

Back at home we fulfilled the wish for S'mores.

And Elle fed Snowflake some chips.

She shared some with dad too.

Mom brought presents out to the tent this morning.

Maya donned her fancy new sunhat and set about reading her new Spiderman Comic book. The girl is infatuated with Spiderman!

The One and Only

Never has a child been so enthralled with King Tut... or the ancient Egyptian toilet seat. Never before has a pregnant woman had to beg her (nearly) six year old to stop doing science experiments so she (the mom, not the kid) could go take a nap.

This weekend we were short one child, and while we certainly missed our deliciously energetic Elliot, it was wonderful to get some one and only time with Maya.

We spent a day at the science museum, prowling through exhibits and spending way too much on food as I get a little shaky every hour or so if I'm not snacking. The next day was Daddy's turn, and he wowed her with rides at the Mall of America and an evening at the movies.

Meanwhile, I had a little time to myself (shop, nap, snack... repeat!).

We're already planning some one and only adventures for Elliot Rose, once she's recovered from a weekend full of  Grandpa's golf lessons, Grandma's fishing lessons, and presumably innumerable jelly beans (the better to steal her sugar!).

In just a few weeks the pace of our life will once again be turned on its head, so we're really savoring any alone time we can steal with the girls, with each other, and occasionally even with ourselves.

In Her Own Time

Maya prefers to do things in her own time. I've heard that some kids thrive best if pushed or prodded in the right direction. Not my Maya. Not Ever.

We learned that with the potty training fiasco of 2007-2008. We've learned it in a hundred different ways since.

Still, we're parents, we can't help but nudge a little. So last August when all of Maya's friends raced past on big kid bikes, we attempted to remove those pesky, noisy training wheels.

She wanted little to do with it. She was neither embarrassed by the training wheels nor interested in risking life and limb to master the balancing act of her bike. After a couple of afternoons stressing Joe's back, we let it go.

Then, on the first warm day this year (one of the few so far), she ran out to ride bikes with the neighbor kids. She asked her friend Lyndsey if she could try her bike for a minute (training wheel free). I stood there dumbfounded while my neighbor gave her a pointer or two, held the seat steady for a second, and then off Maya rode.

That's truly all there was to it. She's ready when she's ready. Let's hope I've learned that lesson for good now.

Meanwhile, her speed-racer little sister wants her wheels off too!

Expressions

I am no artist. My horse drawings are nearly indistinguishable from Maya's; my renditions of other animals are interchangeable. Somehow the sense of proportion and perspective inherent in my grandmother and my mother skipped me.

Now, I'm not saying my girls have much more artistic ability than I do, that remains to be seen. But I am impressed by their efforts to express themselves artistically. From spilling out immediate emotions (check out the angry-faced card Maya sent her dad when he tried to take her rocking chair to goodwill) to expressions of love and adventure, our art table is already a place for catharsis.

Maya's angry face.

Inside of Maya's card to dad. Excuse the kindergarten spelling.

Back page of her card. Once the card was complete, she wasn't upset anymore. Then Dad surprised her by bringing her chair back home!

Elle felt sympathy anger when Maya was upset. Here is her card for dad (it got crumpled, hence the shadows).

Elle's self-portrait. This is from a few weeks ago. It was the first time I've seen her try to draw a recognizable face.

Elle's family portrait. It's Maya, Mom, Elliot, Dad, and Baby.

My favorite... Elle says this is her thinking of mom's flowers, because she can't wait to see them again!

Maya's rendition of her Zoe Dog (stuffed animal).

Laughter

Amid the kids' coughs and my own conspicious, involuntary silence, we did manage to have some fun last week. When the warm March sun lit up our deck on Wednesday, we escaped for a little sun and a whole new vantage point.

Who knew just a bit of new square footage could turn two lethargic girls into true adventurers. Deck chairs became a canoe, broken tree branches became a campfire, marshmallows were roasted, and the world began to look new again.... never-mind the snow storm about to blow in tomorrow!

While they were playing, I noticed such a difference in their laughter. As babies, their every giggle seemed miraculous, vaguely mysterious as we searched for a way to make them laugh again.

Now at three, Elliot laughs for the sheer joy of moving. She laughs as she bounds down the stairs, as she dances, as she runs naked out of the bathroom. She soberly looks us in the eye with her chin up and says, "My neck is open, you can tickle me now," and then begins giggling before we start the tickle.

In contrast, Maya looks for humor to inspire her laughter. Knock, knock jokes, poop comments, virtually any combination of toilet humor, or her own unique observations on the world inspire the purest, most outrageously unstoppable laughter. Even when I don't quite get the joke, I delight in her giggles, so full of knowing and so full of confidence.

How wonderful to have excuses to laugh, even on dreary, sickly days.

The Girl with the Sense of Humor

Maya's parent-teacher conference was today, and this blog title is perhaps my favorite take home appraisal. Few things are more satisfying than watching your child build her own relationships and seeing someone else appreciate the wonderful qualities you have always loved in her.

And Maya is absolutely a funny kid.... the good kind of funny, full of silly jokes, remarkably accurate (and often slightly Seinfeldian) observations, and a creative whimsy that is just plain fun to be around.

Of course, I was informed of all of her testable successes as well. It's no shock that she knows her letters and sight words, since she's reading well enough to have favorite authors, to ask for a few extra minutes with the light on to finish her book, and to spend her hour or so in the early morning with a book as she waits for the rest of us wake up.

It's the untestable qualities that are so much more interesting to discuss. According to her experienced teacher, this class overall is remarkably cohesive, inquisitive, and eager to learn. This means that they are all moving through the material quickly and having a fun (and humorous) time doing so.

All of this calls to mind the David Brooks article in today's New York Times. "The New Humanism" is so insightful, and yet so obvious when looking at a five-year-old.

Photo Friday: Science Fair Enthusiam

It's Alive! And it likes to eat sugar!

Love not War

While my own thoughts remain focused in Tahrir Square, Egypt, where the remarkable and beautifully peaceful protests have suddenly devolved into violence, the girls have turned their attention to the Love Bugs.

These fairy tale visitors are leaving the girls lovely little feel good notes, making Valentine's day less a holiday about romantic love and more a spirited celebration of love and kindness in general. Both girls have been asking if the Love Bugs will ever come back, and they are thrilled by the little visitors' return.

Certainly the sweet treats that accompany each note help increase their popularity. And the glittery footprints that appear in the dollhouse from time to time the kids interested.

Maya has converted one room and the balcony of the dollhouse into the Love Bugs house.

It's a fun distraction from the news, and it comes just in time. For a week I've been listening to public radio with Maya, helping her understand how brave it is that University students organized shifts to protect their library from looters, why the peaceful protectors joined hands to protect the Egyptian museum and hauled would-be looters to soldiers in order to keep chaos from breaking out.

This sudden, disheartening violence has forced me to turn off the audio saga of the Egyptian people. Now that the stories are too difficult to share with my little news enthusiast, I'm relegated to reading bits and pieces when I have time.

Still, I'm hoping for safety, peace, and freedom for the Egyptian people as quickly as they can attain it. I only wish there was some simple way I could help them with a bit of construction paper, glitter, and candy.

Honestly

In preparation for an exciting play date with a new friend, Maya woke early and wrote this note:

Dear Nora,
Thanx for wonting me to come to your hows.
Luv
Maya

Yep. Thanks for wanting me. This sentiment will give real meaning to the superficial Valentine's pageantry dripping from every storefront. Again I'm moved to celebrate this silly holiday by flipping it on its ear and showing the loving, supportive, and accepting people in my life just how much they are wanted and just how thankful I am to be wanted in return.

Operation Fort and the Secret Agent

I never thought I'd be one to call 16 degrees balmy, but that's how this winter has gone. If the temp creeps anywhere near 20 degrees, we're simply fools if we don't get outside.

Add to that the odd luck of our lot placement. We're right along the boulevard for a good distance. After all of the snow, and then the freak rainstorm, several plows came in to clean up the snow. As a result we have a boulevard full of ice bricks just begging to be used as building materials. 

The fort itself was entertainment enough. Then Maya added her game. She became a secret service agent, defending Queen Elliot from the evil witches.

Would you believe this game was concocted with one part of a Martin Luther King Jr. history lesson at school, one part Pawlenty speech, and a head full of big ideas?

After a surprisingly candid school lesson, I spent an afternoon looking up MLK Jr. info with Maya online. We tried to emphasize who he was and what he accomplished, but she glommed onto the assassination bit in school and that is all she has fixated on. Who shoots someone just because they don't like his ideas?

It's a poignant question this week, certainly.

So when I was putting lunch together yesterday and Tim Pawlenty's speech to the National Press Club came on, I turned it up.... and Maya turned it off. "We need some quiet now," she told me. I tried to explain who Pawlenty was, that he wants to run against Obama in the next election, and that I wanted to hear what he had to say on his new-found national stage.

A look of panic crossed her face. "Is he going to shoot Obama?" she asked, as if all disagreements end this way. After assuring her that people disagree all the time without harming each other (and congratulating myself for keeping the radio off Monday and Tuesday when the news proved me wrong), I told her of the secret service. It became the story of a vast, highly trained network of protectors around our nations leader, whoever that may be at the time.

"Can girls be secret servents? Or just boys," she asked. Ouch.

"Of course girls can be secret service agents too."

Thus the game was born, and a new item was added to the what would you like to be list, along with astronomer, baker, and fire fighter. What a kid!