Maya and Maria

Friday, March 12, 2010

March 6 - Maria turns 3!

Maria has been saying for a while now that "my bir-day is march 6 in the Rotunda" (rotunda is the indoor playground area at her daycare, which they do rent out for parties). Then she would say "I wan' big cake ... big Hello Kitty cake." So, of course I made her a BIG Hello Kitty cake! My baby turned 3 years old. I have no idea how that happened! When sweet little Maria came home at 11 months old, she could sit by herself, but if she fell over, she didn't know how to get back up by herself. She was not walking and not even crawling. She wouldn't even raise her arms when she cried ... she just sat there. So we had her evaluated by Babynet, and she qualified for Early Intervention services and for speech therapy. She made MAJOR improvements very quickly. Somehow she managed to stay in the program until early this month. Then her EI and her speech therapist just couldn't justify keeping her in the program. As her ST said ... "she's just too smart!" Seems she's the only one in her 2 year old class at daycare that knows how to button. :-) She has come so far in such a short time.... all the way to the bottom of my heart!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day, Maria!

I can't believe (I find myself saying that a LOT these days) that two years ago, February 13, 2008, we were in Guatemala picking up our precious Maria. She has come so very far from the little girl who couldn't even get to a sitting position by herself at 11 months old! She was slow in talking, but honestly, I think that had more to do with 1) constant ear infections that the tubes finally helped fix and 2) Maya talking non-stop, so who can really get a word in edgewise? :-)

Maria, you have the sweetest spirit, which I hope you never lose! You are the absolute opposite of Maya in every way (except that sweet spirit thing ... Maya has that too!), but you are both absolutely perfect just as you are. I love that sweet smile of yours ... it stops everyone in their tracks when they see it. And I even love the way you smile so cute and then just say "no" when I'm trying to get you to do something important, like put your socks on. You have been talking up a storm lately, much to the delight and dismay of your speech therapist, Miss Debbie, as she is excited by your progression but sad that she will probably lose you completely soon since you have more than caught up to your age group. You are so very smart that it amazes me sometimes at the things you can do! You are tender-hearted and can get your feeling hurt very easily, and I know that makes me appear to coddle you more, but I can't help it. You and Maya play so well together, even when Maya won't share her toys but then asks you to share your snack with her. And you always do. I love the way you hurry to sit in my lap or next to me when you see Maya coming this way. I love how you are turning out to be a daddy's girl.... the complete adoration on your face when daddy comes in is priceless. I love how you are such a night owl (well, I don't love it EVERY night....) but then can't wake up the next day. I love the way you appear to be 100% asleep in the chair daddy put you in after waking up, but jumping right up the minute we announce "Maria, here's your breakfast!". It's so cute to watch you eat everything you have and then go after Maya's food when her extremely-active-self can't sit still long enough to finish a meal. Your love of music and singing and dancing just melts my heart. And the shyness that makes you stop singing whenever you realize someone is watching you. You have made our family complete, and I simply adore you!

February 2010

I heard a radio announcer say the other day that he is glad February has only 28 days in it, as it seems to be the longest month of the year, so he is grateful he doesn't have to endure 2-3 more days of it. He meant that, if it's going to be really cold in SC, then February is the month that it will happen. And he was correct this year ... we had a big snow event this weekend! Luckily, I already had Friday off and my MIL and my girls and I went to C to visit my mom. We knew they were predicting snow, but honestly, 90% of the time it's never as bad as they make us think it will be. Can't tell you the times when I lived in C that we woke up to NOTHING after a much-hyped snow event had been promised by the local weather folks. Anyway, as we are driving home, it starts to snow about 30 minutes from home. We saw an occasional flake here and there along the route, but then all of a sudden it was like the heavens opened and the snow was coming! And lucky for us, it was JUST snow and no sleet or ice or anything else that makes for really treacherous driving, as my MIL still had to drive another 25 minutes to get home after we made it to our house. But here is what it looked like when we finally made it home, after rushing inside to put on warmer clothes so we can out and play! Can you tell they are happy about it??

Ok, can you tell that I am happy about it, too?

And this is what we woke up to the next morning.... it was gorgeous!

Maya is the early riser, so we left daddy and Maria sleeping and went out to play in the snow!

Maya and mommy's footprints ... I can't believe this child is now wearing a size 10 1/2 shoe!! The move from toddler to bigger-girl shoe sizes, as I think I mentioned in a previous blog, really gave me a shock several months ago.

No we do not own a sled or anything like it, as the real snow events in SC are few and far between. But mama's roasting pan works just fine! :-p

They really have outgrown this little set, but I just haven't had the heart to get rid of it yet, and they will still play on it, so.....

hehehehe....

The early morning hours had such a fine, powdery snow that Maya and I couldn't even make it stick together good to start a snowman. So later in the day, when it all started melting, it finally worked. But by then, the heavier the snowball got, the more of the snow that stuck to it and so you start seeing the bare patches where we pulled snow for our Frosty, and we even had to brush off a lot of leaves by the time we finished!

It took me and E quite a while to get that second snowball up on the first.... it was HEAVY!

By this time I had worked up a sweat, so off came the coat! I'm sure my mother would give me a lecture if she had seen these photos. Assembing snowmen seemed so much easier, say, 20 or so years ago! whew!

ta-daaaa.....

This was my very favorite kind of snow event ... lots and lots of fresh snow to play in, but then nice warm (mid-40s) weather the next day so that it melts most of the snow with no residual slush and ice to deal with the rest of the week. woohoo!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Snow event 2010

Our first snow and ice event of the season on 1/30/10. Daddy got some great pictures of the girls!

Great smiles!!!!

Christmas Eve 2009

Ok, so bad mommy didn't get a single picture of Christmas morning. Too tired. Was up until 3:30 .. um ... "arranging" things. Then was up at 6 when Maya discovered presents downstairs (after she got up 3 different times during the night!) Then did the usual breakfast casserole and Honey Bun Cake and waited for the guests to arrive. Gran came by, of course, as did Calli and Mallori and our friend Paulette. we had a blast, but I was oh-so-tired! Anyway, these are the Christmas Eve pictures, when we let the girls open their gifts to each other.

Maya picked out a Dora the Explorer backpack toy for Maria, which she loved: