"I Want Lunch."

Maya has gone, in one day's time, from grunting her way through life to speaking in sentences. Yesterday, it was "I want lunch." Today is was again, "I want lunch" and "All gone."

Tomorrow, the recitation of the Gettysburg Address.

Ben When He Was Maya's Age

Why this blast from the past? Because a few of the grands (ok, all of you I think) are "concerned" because Maya doesn't have a vocabulary of 200+ words and has yet to master long division. As you will see, Maya is more like Ben than we all remember.

Christmas Morning--Part Two

Christmas Morning--Part One

Two Posts in One Day...WOW!

You have to really listen, but Ben does say his line (sort of). Keep in mind he is the youngest kid in the play by several months and at least a year younger in most cases.

Mommy Writes a Letter

Elizabeth wrote Shannon a letter to go along with her Christmas Card. Below is the part about Ben and Maya. She nailed it, and I thought I'd share it with you.

December 14, 2009
Ben – We signed him up for soccer this fall because we thought it would be pretty fun to watch 3 year olds play soccer. He was totally uninterested and noncompetitive. He sort of had fun when we could talk him into hanging out on the field for a few minutes. It was more work for us and less fun for him, though. Needless to say, no soccer in the spring. He IS, however, very musical and will tell you who Ben Harper, U2 and Van Morrison are. You should hear him sing Dinah Won’t You Blow Your Horn. He sings, and sings, and sings and loves to play instruments. Oh, and he can really shake his booty. He loves to bake and actually knows all of the ingredients for muffins, cakes, cookies and pancakes. He loves to be read to. He is currently obsessed with letters (much to my delight) and always says, “What name does M start with?” instead of “What letter does Maya start with?” He is also obsessed with Star Wars and will tell you it is his favorite movie (he’s probably seen like 3 movies) and will tell you about all of the characters. His smile is just the best. He is beginning to get a sense of humor and thinks it is really funny to call mommy daddy and vice versa and he totally cracks up when he locks himself in the car and we can’t open his door.


Maya – Maya … where to start with my mini me? She is very communicative, pointing, nodding, etc. to get what she wants (mostly juice or crackers). She’s just learned to say “cookie” (coo-coo) and says it with much enthusiasm and pointing. She loves to dance, too, and will stand as close as possible to a sound source and bob up and down in a very awkward way. She is so beautiful I think because she looks like Andy. She has his dimple. Sometimes I look at her and think I could just eat her up. She is VERY cuddly. I don’t understand this because we cuddled the same with both kids, but Maya is seriously cuddly and kissy and has never gone through a stage in which she wasn’t cuddly and kissy. However, she HATES to brush her teeth and we really have a time trying to jam that toothbrush in her mouth. I’m thinking her baby teeth will just fall out anyway, so what does it matter? Maya is the typical little sis in the sense that she really loves her brother and copies most everything he does. If he falls down and says, “ouch” she will follow suit by falling down and saying “ouch.” She will argue and fuss until he will hand over some of his matchbox cars for her to play with. And we’ll end on this note … one of her first words was “uncle” to get Andy to stop tickling her.

Ben Made a Voki

Get a Voki now!

Ben's First Time....

Worth the Wait

July Highlights

The cool part about having a video camera on my phone is that we can catch moments that we would other miss. The quality isn't always the best, but I'm sure you'll forgive us.

Alas....at Last!

It only took 12 months, 28 days. Maya is now on the vertical go go. We're very happy, but now the real fun begins (as you'll see a small tackle from Ben right as Maya gets rolling.

Happy Birthday MAYA!!!!

Some Video Highlights of the Last Month

And You Were Worried...

...this little girl would never get a chance to wear pink or bows or dresses. Does it get any cuter than this? Well, this little boy is pretty darn close. A few more in the photo album. Sorry, we've been very busy, and not many pictures or videos have been take. Don't worry though, Maya turns one next weekend, so plenty of new pictures are coming, I'm sure.

Ben's New Room

Day One of Potty Training--A Success

Ben got his very own big boy bed yesterday. Why? Because we told him that when he went potty in the potty five times, that we would get him a big boy bed. I think E and I both believed it would be a couple of days before that happened. Well, two hours later I was scrambling to find a mattress to buy, and Ben was having way too much fun peeing in the pot. I'd say overall he peed in the pot 12-15 times yesterday.

He slept overnight in his bed with no diaper, just his Thomas the Train underwear. He had a small accident about 6am, but that was expected. Cold turkey is our plan, so we'll see how it goes.

We're still waiting on #2. Wish us luck.

Also, Ben and Maya have a new photo album. I thought you had to sign up for an account, but I have created a guest pass, so I think we're good to go. I'm going to be moving all the photos to Flickr, so you will soon be able to view all 200K (kidding, slightly) pictures of Ben and Maya on Flickr

Ben Jumping in Pool

Thank you Noni for a great week.

Ben went from very timid about the water to absolutely fearless (as you will see).

A Rare Sports Moment for Ben

Ben is WAY more into trucks and diggers right now, but every few days, he wants to play baseball. This video is one of those times.

Pulling Up (Captured on My Phone)

Both of these kids have faucets for noses. Maya was up a good part of the night, so if you think she looks rough, she does. You ought to see me.

I Took This on My Phone