Checking in.

We've had a lot of blog posts recently with some new photos and brief updates, but I thought I'd add one here in which I try to get some things down in text that will help me remember what Maia is like these days.

First, a very notable aspect of Maia's "Maia-ness" these days is her talking. Just this week, she added the ridiculously cute nod of her head to indicate "yes," and yesterday she started saying "Yeah!" to go along with it. Now, granted, it seemed at first that if you asked her anything in a question intonation, she'd respond with a nod and a "yeah" (which has been quite humorous to experiment with over the last couple of days), but she's not using it in such a generalized way today.

It's just really neat for her to be capable of some new things with her language these days. Just this morning, she was walking around in circles in the family room, obviously looking for something. Then, she said "stroller," and I was able to step in and help her find her toy stroller (a garage sale purchase for $1.00, and her current favorite). Throughout the day, she will often go through the list of people whose names she knows, and I can tell her what each of those people is doing at the time--Dada is at work, Harper is at her house, Nana is at work in East Lansing, etc. I love these peeks into her thought processes that I'm able to get thanks to her language, and how clear it is now that she's able to think of things and people when they're not immediately in front of her.

Maia's "dictionary" of words that she's capable of speaking at this point is at around 90; I know that her receptive language is much broader than that, but I'm just keeping track of the expressive side of it now, for memory's sake.

Our days generally follow a pattern something like this: after Maia wakes up, nurses, and has breakfast, we go out to a coffee shop OR take a walk outside if I've brewed my morning coffee here at home. We stay out for a while, until about 10:00 AM when she has her first nap. Then, the middle of the day works in a similar pattern: Maia wakes up, nurses, has lunch, and then we go out again, generally to a park this time. At about 3:00, Maia takes her second nap, and then Brian, Maia and I have dinner together and then go for a long bike ride or walk after dinner. She usually sleeps from about 8:00 PM until 7:00 AM, with one nursing session at about 4:00 in the morning. In the midst of all this, we find times during the week to visit with friends, go to the library, get errands done, and enjoy as much of this gorgeously cool spring weather as we can. :)

Brian and I are both reading the Dr. Sears book on discipline; we've both had the feeling lately that because Maia is clearly leaving babyhood behind and sprinting into toddlerhood, we should really try to craft a philosophy of discipline to be certain that we're on the same page (as much as we can, that is). Now, of course, as most child psychologists emphasize over and over again, "discipline" and "punishment" are not the same thing; we're really thinking about self-discipline here, along with self-confidence and self-esteem. How do you help a child develop these things? I certainly have my thoughts about this because of my history of classroom teaching, but after spending more than a year here at home with Maia, it's crystal clear to me that classroom discipline and parental discipline are light-years apart. The fact that I have a philosophy and method for one contributes very little to how effective I will be at the other. At least, that's my opinion!

What else? Well, Maia is learning to eat with a fork and spoon, which is messy beyond belief and really funny. Whenever she has a meal now, she insists on having her bowl and spoon, regardless of how successfully she uses them. She seems to prefer her foods with lots of flavors mixed-up; she'd rather have some Bolognese sauce than chicken strips, and would prefer mjadara over macaroni and cheese. She's still nursing about four times a day, but I'd estimate that about 80-90% of her calories are coming from solid foods these days. Nursing is almost entirely a source of emotional comfort and social connection now, which is precisely why I wanted to keep nursing her as a toddler. It's really precious, calm, quiet time. I'm really thankful for all the Moms of nursing toddlers whom I know and with whom I can commiserate about some of the quirky aspects of parenting a nursing toddler. According to some statistics I've seen, only about 2-5% of toddlers still are nursing in the U.S. at 18 months of age, but I'm lucky to know several people personally who are a part of this statistically-unusual group. Maia and I aren't the exception, which is nice! :)

That's about all for now. It's getting late, and I have some things to do for work.