Maia Mi

A whole half year

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:17:00 +0000

As you can imagine, we are now way behind in Maia Mi blog land. It's been one thing after another, not least Maia herself just changing almost daily - we couldn't keep up!

So, "Tantrums" was where I left you. Ha ha. We are so used to those now. She doesn't thump her head on the floor anymore (must have learnt about that one) but she can still pull some corkers. They're fewer and further between though and tend to explode around a time of change and intense growing pains, so you kind of know when you need to stand back and let her vent.

Maia is now two years and four months old. And, in her own words, she's now a "Big Girl" and certainly knows her own mind, and everything EVERYTHING is 'do self'.

She's also (amazingly quickly) gone from being a baby in nappies to independent young lady on the potty. Just about a month ago she was refusing to use the potty at home - or, when she deemed it ok to, we would wait for half an hour for, er, absolutely NOTHING to appear. That's all fine though - we weren't worried - we just made it into a 'let's have a go' game. She got practise at nursery too - where she did pee pees on the toilet, here and there. But once we were in Sweden and I gave her the PINGU PANTS and said, here, would you like these or nappies, it was all over for soggy nappies and smelly bins. Yup. And pretty much dry, aside from the odd leak here and there. Including car journeys, naps and nearly most of the nights since then (which unfortunately means I need to wake up at whatever hour of the night she needs to do a wee - but it's a small sacrifice at this stage).

Just to watch her confidence grow as she mastered this particularly grown up activity is amazing.

Beyond that, her verbal reasoning is just developing so fast - she is very particular and likes to say whole full sentences with descriptions about colours and sizes - which means you do have to wait a while before the sentence comes. But then it comes in a sweet "Maia went on the big, ummmm, red slide, ummmm, in the park!"

She's also superblond, sticks her legs up in the air "I'm doing ballet", still hasn't quite mastered jumping (she takes off but lands on straight legs - ouch) and extremely loveable with us as well as her toys. Just the other day she picked up her baby doll and gently stroked her head and gave her a big smacker on the lips. awwwwwww.

There's so much I could tell - but for now, at least I've broken the ice...

Tantrums!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:37:00 +0000

Oh dear. Maia has certainly hit the 'tantrum' stage. We've had some corkers. It can be quite scary actually as she does start to get violent and try to hurt herself - by hitting her head on the floor and so on. Anything can trigger it, so for now we're trying to work out just what sets it off etc. Just putting her coat on when it's time to go out and play can set it off. Or telling her it's time to say bye-bye to the telly cos it's bath time (and I give her plenty of warnings). Or the other morning was horrible, as I lost my temper because she wouldn't sit at the table & eat her usual readybrek - and we were running late. In the end we somehow managed to get upstairs and clean teeth (without breakfast) and on the way down she decided actually some readybrek would be rather nice come to think of it and had five mouthfuls before i plopped her in the pram and managed - somehow - to get the train!

Maia role-play

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:29:00 +0000

Must cover Xmas in here soon huh! - but in the meantime, a little heads up on Maia's latest 'thing' - role play. She'll take on the role of mummy when she puts bamse to sleep in the pram. Or she'll read her dolls a story. Or she'll put on a nappy on the baby. Or she'll play ring-a-ring-a-roses with a couple of dolls, holding their hands and making sure they form a circle. It's really cute.

She's also become a bit of a kleptomaniac. I mean, she always was a good one for stashing something away in her hand & you'd never know she'd taken the pen/toy from wherever until way later. But now she's into stashing things into her vest/pyjamas/babygro. Which can be hilarious. Like the time she stashed her megablocks and walked around like a robot with her legs all chunky with bricks. Or when we came home from nursery, had dinner, played, went up to have a bath and - as I undressed her - about 20 rings, of different sizes & textures - curtain rail type rings - tumbled out - how long she'd been walking around with those stashed in her vest I have no idea! As granny would say, "What a pickle!".

Owow!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:56:00 +0000

Maia has recently become obsessed with a few concepts. First it was 'night' - as she'd never really experienced it before, but now it's dark when she leaves nursery and she just couldn't get over it. "natt ute' (night outside) she'd say when we left the nursery. Again, once we were in the car. And again when we got home "Natt Ute Ogsaa" (night outside too!). like it was amazing it was night everywhere we went. We went outside in the garden and had a look the 'night' and the stars. We had to look again from the bathroom window and again from her bedroom. This went on for about two weeks!!!

Then, just recently I was reading her usual favourite books when she started realising the girl had hurt herself and she just kept wanting to read this one page where the girl fell over. And in the other book this boy and girl fell down a hill (jack and jill) and hurt themselves too. And she just asks to look at these pages now when we have the bedtime story. I have to tell her over and over again what happens. And last night she got obsessed with the Snail in the picture book that is just about to get trodden on. His face is all 'oh no' so now she just says 'snegle ååå neiii!' again and again - we had to read it upstairs this morning and again for breakfast. She'll talk about the 'jente falle ned' (girl fall down) all the way in the car on the way home too. really strange!

Swallowed 5p!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:09:00 +0000

Maia swallowed a 5p coin on Saturday night. I know, I know what you're thinking, what was she doing with a 5p piece? and there's no excuse because I was with her. But she often plays with coins and likes to put them in and out of containers. Usually I only let her play with really enormous ones (like the old 50p pieces and some foreign large coins) but she'd found this one in the bathroom....and she was finished with her bath and fiddling with it. Next thing I was changing her nappy and I didn't realise she had it in her hand and suddenly it dropped into her throat. She choked and I hurriedly swung her round to do a heimlich maneouvre, when she suddenly stopped choking and looked at me most surprised. She'd swallowed it!

She seemed totally fine after that and it was only when I phoned NHS Direct once she was in bed that I discovered it could still be really dangerous and still be lodged in her throat & get back up to her windpipe! I slept next to her on a mattress really nervously and woke at her every breath. She was fine though. So now we're hoping it's come out the other end or will soon. But we'll probably have to go to the hospital to have her xrayed or metal detected (!) if we don't see any signs of it as it could be stuck somewhere, in her appendix or somewhere!

Just so glad she seems ok & that she didn't actually choke. My mum told me that a 2 year old girl she' known had died from choking on a coin. From now on I'm not letting Maia near anything small, it's really woken me up to the danger... even if she doesn't put things in her mouth on purpose, it can always be accidental....

THREE WORD SENTENCE!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:43:00 +0000

Well, it seems to be milestone after milestone these days. On Wednesday 17th October Maia put together her first three word sentence. She was commenting on how Pappa had changed seats on the train and said, quite clearly, "Pappa sitter der" - Daddy sitting there!

And today she was in the car and got a bit grumpy all of a sudden. Usually I have to try work out what's wrong by looking round. But today I heard a bit of grumpy 'Nei nei!' and then "Lambo falle ned!" - her little cuddly toy we call 'lambo' (some strange fat bottomed creature Granny Gugs picked up in Sainsburys of all places - it's ace!) had fallen down!

Fantastic stuff.

Nursery also commented that her grasp of concepts and connections is coming on really well. Yesterday she picked up a blanket but instead of saying 'blanket' which is easy, she said 'Sleeping' and then went over to the doll and put the doll to sleep. She knew that the blanket was for sleeping in and therefore there was no need to call it blanket. She'd made the required connection.

Amazing to see all this before our very eyes!

Maia goes swimming!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:55:00 +0000

"GO MAIA, GO MAIA, GO MAIA!" Nope, that wasn't ME shouting encouragement, it was Maia herself (!!!), 15 minutes after her nervous entry into the swimming pool at Woolwich, a huge waterpark of a swimming pool, with slides and huge replica crocodiles and tortoises. She went from being a clingy baby who wouldn't get into the water, to walking along the shallow end of the big pool with water at shoulder height, mouth in a big 'ooooh', and a "go maia go maia" every now and then in ecstatic excitement. She also went from being held down the slide gently, to jetting herself off and landing SPLASH under the water, when I'd catch her and bring her back up! I haven't laughed so much in ages, she was just so incredibly beside herself once she'd got over her initial fears and realised it was actually quite fun, this big place full of water.

Of course, Maia went swimming as a babe-in-arms, and a glimmer of memory did seem to still be there, as she loved being held horizontally and skimmed across the water 'swim' style, as I used to do with her when she was 7 months old. But this was her first proper visit since January 2007, so I don't think she could really remember that she used to go for a weekly swim once upon a time.

Unfortunately, Maia was poorly and vomited a couple of times after we came home - she probably swallowed just a bit too much chlorine going down those slides... she also seems to have caught a cold. Feel like the worst and best mother in one, she really did love the swimming pool (she's still going round saying "svømme basseng, svømmebasseng" in elation, while i feel so bad that she (possibly) got ill from it.

Just wish I could share my mind's eye camera pix with the world - it really was a sight to behold.

MAIA WORDS AS OF 4 / 10 / 07

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:52:00 +0000

Maia's communication has come along leaps and bounds. Not only can she can say a lot of words, some both in Norwegian And English (unless a word is placed in brackets, she says both words), but she has started translating, saying the english version to others and the norwegian version to me, straight after. She can also ask for things to be done (eg, she likes to have her hands washed during her meal, if they get messy) and can also construct simple two word sentences and does so at every opportunity.

She can point out a man with a bicycle (Mann Sykkel) or a woman with a hat (Dame hatt), or tell me that the picture in the book shows a baby running (Beibi løper). Most embarrassingly she says things like "Mann, kiss" and blows kisses to strange men on the train.

She has also started recognising colours (especially likes to point out pink (Rosa) and green (Grønn) things) and although she can't count yet she seems to understand the concept of One, Two and Many. She pointed out that she could see "MASSE SKO" (lots of shoes) when we looked at lots of people walking past and she looked at two fishfingers on the grill and said quite clearly "To fikkefiner" (two fishfingers!).

She is also getting good at singing the words to songs - including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baah Baah Black Sheep, Row Row, Ring a Ring A Roses and more including some Norwegian songs, especially keen to singalong if the song is playing on the stereo, rather than when Mamma or Pappa sing.

Here's a list of some other words/phrases that come to mind although it's just not comprehensive at all, it's so hard to remember all of them as she learns about two-three new words a day!

Ja (yes) (just started!)

Vaske (wash) - used especially during her meals

Hjelpe (help) - used all the time if she can't get something to work.

Nei/no (the age old first word)

Takk/Thank you, when prompted

Please when prompted

Nikke (nod) and do a lot of nodding

Mamma/Mummy

Pappa

Dylan (says Dinnan)

Granny

Pickle (because Granny calls her "pickle", I called her "pickle" and she responded - "Granny Pickle")

Onkel Steve (uncle steve) (who she met out in Spain, who she took a shine to)

Bye bye / Hadet

Hola (!)

Hello / Hei

Morning

Tomorrow (says imorrow, possibly combining the norwegian word 'imorgen')

Cuppatea (Cup Of Tea)

Mann (man)

Dame (lady)

Fly/ Airplane

Bil/Car

Hus

Sun/Sol

Sko/Shoes

Bok/Book

"Lille Mus" (little mouse)

Ball/ball

Miaow for cat

Vov Vov/Doggie

Clippety clop for horse

Skilpadde (can't quite pronounce it though) (tortoise)

Snegle/snail (says 'nail')

Papegøye (parrot)

Monkey

Bade

Vann/Water

Music/Musikk (says 'sikk')

Mere / More

Mais (sweetcorn) (and often sings "Three Blind Mice" when you serve her sweetcorn because of this)

Couscous

Spaghetti (says "betty", possibly also because I often call it "SpaghettiBetty")

Tomat (tomato), says it more like "mat" though

Banan/Nana (banana)

Apple

"sin' for Applesin (orange)

Bringebær (raspberry), says bringba after which she quite often continues with a the song "bringba, bringba oh bringba my bonny to me to me!" which I think is rather sweet.

and it goes on.

Maia at The Big Chill!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:53:00 +0000

Maia went to her first ever festival in August - The Big Chill at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire. Of course, this is where Mamma used to DJ and work on the website - and now Daddy is working as stage manager, so of course we HAD to go!

We drove up in our big blue volvo - it took us just over 6 hours, but we took a nice long break at a services place and ate lunch and played in the playground too. Maia was supergood in the car and slept or looked out of the window, and didn't get grumpy until just at the end. Which is fair enough really.

At the festie, Maia thought the tent was just the best thing ever - bouncing around in the 'bedroom area' and although she wasn't sure about the bedsharing on such a floppy mattress the first night, she slept really well the two other nights once we got our airbed pumped up properly.

One morning at 6am Maia made her bid for escape - while Mummy and Daddy snoozed she poked her head, then her whole body out of the bottom of the tent flap and took a little wander dressed but in a shortsleeved bodysuit. Imagine our panic! Luckily a little girl some 10 tents away from us had spotted Maia and was asking everybody if Maia was their little girl. Phew! Think we better 'brand' Maia with her phone number asap like all the other camping kids.

First evening Maia couldn't believe her freedom or the amount of people grinning at her saying hello - there was so much space to run around - and she spent most of her evening running up and down the viewing ramp by the Castle Stage and then dancing at the top. She also made friends with Belle (strangely enough Belle is actually called Isabelle Maia and Maia is called Maia Isabelle!!!) and they had even more fun the next night when they both ran around on the dangerous structures backstage. Terrifying for Mamma but hilarious for Maia.

One day we took a visit to the toddler tent but outside was far more fun - especially the paddling pool. On Sunday morning we visited Linda and her friends and they had a bright red bucket in which Henriette, Maia's new big friend, was going to wash her feet. But Maia had other ideas - it might be small - but this is surely for me to have a bath in & plopped herself in!

All in all a top weekend away - and perhaps, if we can get it together, Maia will have her second ever festival experience at Green Man!

Maia really does walk!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:59:00 +0000

It's been a really exciting and, sometimes, tough month for li'l Maia.

Firstly, between the end of May and 6th June we moved from our beloved flat in New Cross to our new house in Plumstead.

Secondly, as if getting her own bedroom and loads more space to explore wasn't enough, Maia started walking properly! In fact, our first full day at the house - 7th June - was the day when Maia finally realised that 'letting go' wouldn't mean 'falling down'.

Getting used to a new bedroom and lots of things changing day by day (we are still living out of boxes, but slowly unpacking what we need as we go), never mind the fact that it takes over half an hour's drive or journey by bus and train to get to nursery (when it used to be a five minute walk), is a tough thing when you're little so it's not strange that Maia's had a few disturbed nights.

Those are mainly behind us now, though, and Maia's not merely walking but dancing, spinning (learning all about being dizzy) and trying to jump. Where once she wouldn't let go of my hands, she now won't let me hold her hands at all!

I have some footage somewhere of her actual first walk - but for now here's a link to Maia walking a couple of days later at Faster Than Sound, a really cool music event (Maia's first) which took place in Suffolk, near Aldeburgh, at the historic airbase Bentwaters.

Maia Walks!

NB it's a pretty big quicktime file.

Oh and PS - she does fall right at the end but she was OK so don't worry!

Trafalgar Square goes GREEN

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Thu, 31 May 2007 13:39:00 +0000

The other day I heard something about Trafalgar Square getting covered in real grass. As it was one of my Maia days I thought, what the 'eck, let's go do a mini picnic together. Even though we'd already been to Greenwich play park and back (including swooping into Green Baby for a pair of BabyBanz shades), I felt anything was better than trying to entertain her at home.

Maia had a laugh a minute - it was fabulous, better than I expected. Trafalgar Square looked fantastic in a covering of green - although there were a lot of soggy bottoms around as they obviously had to keep the turf well watered. Maia made friends (as always) everywhere she dragged me in her classic baby walker style with her little hands around my fingers, me and my aching back...

This one woman told me she was 46 (she looked about 37!) and had a 26 year old daughter. That was weird. Then we made friends with an extended Turkish family who had a little 14 month old - much bigger than Maia though and walking like a pro. They had a pram with fantastic straps (well, Maia thought so anyway) and so she spent best part of half hour fiddling with them while I embarrassedly chatted to the mum. They even gave us a piece of their pizza!

After that Maia took me on another tour and we met another mother with two kids (one 4, one 5) who gave Maia her first ever taste of Pringles. She loved it. Oh and as we had a closer peek at the fountains (Maia was desperate to go all the way in) she made friends with a couple of guys sitting on the edge who took a photo of the both of us. A great afternoon out and well worth the effort.

17 Mai!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Thu, 31 May 2007 09:06:00 +0000

Maia had one of her longest days out and about on 17th May - Norway's National Day. The day was fantastic, all in all. It was supposed to rain and storm and instead it was one of our sunniest days in our whole trip to Norway.

We got up, got ourselves sorted and dressed (Maia looking adorable in her outfit) and zoomed off to my sister's where we all rush out of the door to catch Elin, who is already walking in the procession which passes by the King's palace. Over a 100 Schools march past the King and his family, and she's number 27, so we are in a real rush. I plop Maia in the sling on my back and as we walk along the famous Oslo boulevard Karl Johan, we spot Elin and wave and take piccies. That over with, we have to make our way through the crowds to the top of the palace where the park is. Maia falls asleep in the sling & has a little snooze, thank goodness, as that's the only snooze she has apart from one tiny one which she has a LOT later on near the end of the day.

In the park Maia tries pølse med lompe for the first ever time. A hot dog in a potato cake, it's traditional on 17th May and she loves it. After that we watch the bands and the schools go past the King again and Maia eats nearly all my icecream (which is also only her second ever taste of ice cream).

Then it's off to my sister's for a delicious cold table and Maia has the time of her life as the human doll which Marie and Elin can't stop playing with. How much attention does she get? She barely gets the time to breathe!

We finally get home at around 9.30 and get Maia bathed and into bed asap (she's pretty worn out and very, very grumpy) and then, knackered as we are, we sit down for a glass (or two) of champagne. A brilliant if exhausting day.

Norway

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Thu, 31 May 2007 08:48:00 +0000

We've been back a while but we've been so busy that I've yet to even mention our trip to Norway. Suffice to say all of us had a fantastic time and Maia, even at her age, got to 'connect' a little to her Norwegian roots. By the time she came home she was a little blonde norse and No was Nei and Hello was Hei!

The flight over was a little bit of a trial - Granny stayed over to help & take the car away after we got to the airport & we got up at 4.30am (Maia stayed asleep) and got the car packed - woke a jolly Maia who was in a great mood and popped her in the car. She didn't sleep at all on the drive (damn!) so I knew she'd be tired on the flight (which she was). We ate breakfast together at Stansted (me - chocolate croissant - (I'm the grown up so I get the treats, right), Maia - yoghurt and muesli)

On the flight she was fine until close to arrival when she got a bit hysterical - overtired and fed up with trying to play with her seatbelt (she's got this huge thing about clips and straps at the moment). But if I remember rightly she cheered up once we landed getting to my brother's after that was pretty straight forward. What shocked me was how she went up to a totally new room, in a totally new house, in a totally new bed and went for a 90 minute nap there and then!!!

Overexcited & overwhelmed Maia hardly ate for about three days and woke up loads in the night - but she settled in after that and even if the nights were a bit tough, she was up for anything in the day. We went to Vigelands Parken to see my big sisters and they (of course) loved her. We went to see my niece Charlotte, her hubby Per and their little 'un Alfred (who is so sweet). And then.... 17th May, which warrants a post of its own - which was a day and a half spent with my sister and her kids. Of course there was also Ernst Simon and Randi and little Sofie who was a little bit friendlier this time around - the best part was when they spent half an hour splashing in the bath together - it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen - we captured a little bit on a mobile phone but it really doesn't quite show just how manic the two girls were!

Another flight next - off to Bergen this time for my brother's 40th. This time we meet daddy at the airport and again she surprises me by settling in pretty easily in a new house. I'm totally sleep deprived at this point as Maia seems to think 5am is a good wake up time (it's so light in Norway by then), but as I've managed to slowly wean Maia off her morning feed during the past few days Dylan takes Maia off each morning we are in Bergen and I get a lie in - ABSOLUTE LUXURY!!!

On the night of his party, Maia is too excited by the doorbells and visitors to go to sleep right away, but WOW, she just babbles to herself (I can hear her say 'ding dong' every time the doorbell signals another arrival) and then she finally goes to sleep and sleeps through the WHOLE BLIMMING THING! including a bunch of blokes sitting right outside her door having a whisky party. her bedroom is right next to the party room! excellent - let's hope she can sleep through other parties!

we take a trip on the floybanen up to a great view of bergen and we also have a go on Torleif's boat (Maia absolutely loved that).

what was also fantastic was that their cat had kittens on the day after we arrived and we saw her give birth. not sure how much Maia understood but she did love the kittens, even if she didn't quite understand the fuss we were all giving them.

A great trip all in all, lots of family giving Maia lots of attention & lots of learning and new experiences - by the time we got home maia seemed a slightly older baby and has been sleeping really well (touch wood) and been really content.

Maia Birthday Pix

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Sat, 12 May 2007 14:20:00 +0000

Some of Maia's birthday pix are viewable here

Teletubbies!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Sat, 12 May 2007 14:12:00 +0000

I know, I know, watching telly at 1 year old!
BUT. I picked up this second hand teletubbies vid at the charity shop yesterday and decided we should have a little go - for one, I picked up a second hand La La doll at Spitalfields Market and even the doll was obviously something Maia really loved without prejudice - just seemed more attractive to her than some of our other soft toys... weird huh.
OH MY GOD. The baby 'sun' just works - she was grinning every time he came on. Then there was the teletubbies themselves who she just LOVED. seriously. they were doing some silly 'boom boom' dance which the little children in the film had been learning - and maia joined in. SUCH a find! As I understand teletubbies stuff is basically deleted and only available mostly on ebay for inflated prices - this was a really early episode and we haven't watched them all yet. Let's hope the quality stays ok cos there was some scrappy bits (old VHS style) which had me worried...
Aside from that, we've simply been to the swing park & now she's asleep - plan is to go to the big chill bar - but everything got a bit late and she's still sleeping and it's now 3.15! i shouldn't complain, she took half hour of jibber jabber to go down - thought she never would!

Tate Modern

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Sat, 12 May 2007 14:03:00 +0000

We had a lovely day yesterday. Even though it was actually rather sad - as Dylan had to leave at lunchtime to go to Seattle for work...
We started off at toddler group at The Bear which, as usual, was a delight for Maia - today she decided she could walk as long as she held onto the back of the wooden tricycle (shaped like a dog) - so she wandered about for herself just lightly leaning on this fabulous toy trike. She also got VERY excited about the singing and she's become very good at lying down like the sleeping rabbits - this happened last week for the first time, now she understands 'pretending' or, at least, she's moving towards being able to do something like that (pretending to be asleep even though she isn't - must be a milestone!)
Anyway - after her 2 hour (repeat - 2 hour) nap in the afternoon we sloped off to Tate Modern even though the weather was threatening and I thought I was being a bit foolhardy. Anything but to be bored at home though. And the whole thing was GREAT!
We walked from London Bridge and took in the sights on the way (Maia was okay in her pram and rain cover - I was getting slightly drizzled on...) - including the boats on the river and a fountain and I don't know what else, people with umbrellas - it's all exciting for her...
And then we walked on the Millennium Bridge - I just wish I had taken a few photos - her reaction was so sweet - she loved walking holding my hand and going wow at the views and she just loved the whole thing.
Then - for the goal of the journey - Tate Modern's cavernous entrance. And it didn't disappoint - Maia was hands in the air ecstatic! Gasping and shouting for joy. Lots of other kids there too. She could practise walking and did a bit of crawling too - made a friend with a two year old and generally grinned for about half an hour solid. She just couldn't get enough of the place. Wonder what it is that the kids like - I guess it just feels big and LOUD and echo-y
Of course, as usual, I had waited too long to get her home so we were both pretty tired and hungry by suppertime - but she didn't get into a state, ate well, enjoyed her bath and her NEW MIFFY book (couldn't resist at the museum shop) and was in bed asleep by 7.15pm...

Maia knows who Maia is

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Wed, 09 May 2007 09:22:00 +0000

Maia has made a huge step in the past week or so. She's discovered her own identity - by pointing at pictures on the fridge and saying Maia and repeating her own name while looking in the mirror. Although she knew that Maia the word had something to do with her, I think this is an acknowledgement that she understands she's a person who is called something and other people are called other things.

Visiting Hendrik

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Wed, 09 May 2007 09:10:00 +0000

We took Maia with us to see our friends Melissa and James on their new houseboat at the weekend. Hendrik's the name of the boat and it used to be a hotel boat in the Netherlands, offering canoe trips and so on - so it's got a bunch of canoes on the top they're trying to get rid of, it's got loads and loads of bunk beds and bed linen and crockery - and they're busy converting it into a proper house boat. Meantime they've bagged one of the best views of the River Thames by landing a mooring just by Tower Bridge where you have to walk down all these weird walkways with floating flowerbeds around you (as well as a nesting goose!).

Maia absolutely loved it on the rocking boat - trying to balance as she walked (with support) around and chatting to James's parents. She tried a raw broccoli floret and it became her best friend for most of the time we were there (crazy gal). The idea of a houseboat is lovely but I felt a bit seasick so I'm glad we're buying a house... ha ha!

Spaghetti

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Sat, 05 May 2007 08:35:00 +0000

Fed Maia spaghetti bolognese the other day. She was loving sucking the threads of spaghetti and practically ate the whole lot - about double the spaghetti i thought she'd eat - filmed a short video of it, must put it up soon!
Maia's getting much better at handling finger foods in general and grabbing the spoon to eat with here and there (but then she gets frustrated and wants to let me do it instead).
At the moment Maia loves eating: blueberries, grapes, raisins (especially if she gets the box & can take them out herself), chewy fruit cereal bars and broccoli florets. strangely she seems to have generally gone off banana which was what she practically lived on before.

Baby Gym!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Fri, 04 May 2007 08:31:00 +0000

I can't remember exactly when we went but I took Maia to the Baby Gym at The Arches recently - it was hilarious!
There's this huge vast space filled with soft bouncy mats & shapes, slides of all shapes and sizes, big balls, small balls, squashy things to roll onto and over, and then, at the end of the hall, there's this mini bouncy castle - maia LOVED this, even though she wasn't really old enough and all the other three-year olds were throwing themselves around often landing on top of our poor little maia - but she only wanted to go back and bounce as soon as she'd had a cuddle!
Obviously it'll come into its own once she starts walking (she's kind of stalled since that last exciting five steps on her own - as if she's thought about it and decided she wants to wait a bit) - but it was great fun.

Hello Hello Telephone

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Thu, 03 May 2007 09:20:00 +0000

Maia absolutely loves telephones. She'll put them up to her ear and go 'eyo' 'eyo'. Funny how much they pick up at that age. They play with telephones at nursery so it's hard for us to keep her away from our real phone, but we try as hard as we can to interest her in playphones and old mobile phones (glad i kept 'em now!). the funny thing is that anything can be a phone, remote controls especially, make good substitutes.

Kids say the funniest things...

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:57:00 +0000

I'm proud to say I've joined the "Kids say the funniest things" club - already at the age of 13 months Maia is making me laugh at her child's view logic. the other day we were on a bus, and there was a 2 year old or something like that sitting in a pram, obviously way older than maia anyway, but she was sitting with me in the sling, and she looked at him, pointed and said quite clearly 'BABY'. ha ha. think it might be the other way around, maia.

Teeth troubles

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:52:00 +0000

Maia keeps suffering from bouts of colds mixed with teething symptoms, doctors deny there's any link, but every time she has a cold she also dribbles, chews on anything and everything (my house keys seem to be the best), keeps us awake at night with crying & moaning every two hours or so. It's so hard to hear her in pain and not be able to do much beyond calpol and teething gel. She's in the middle of a teething/cold bout at the moment and I've caught the cold, which is just lovely. Not only that, when she teeths she also has the most stinky pooey nappies imaginable. It really must all be linked - surely?

Maia walks!

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:36:00 +0000

Wow! Maia did it! She walked unaided on Sunday 29th April 2007! We were in the living room when she took her first fumbling steps towards me - I counted about five (although it has to be said I was so excited I wasn't really counting, but holding my breath for when she'd fall, but she didn't! Not until she landed in my lap anyway). We practised a few times after that but she only managed two or three at a time. And she got tired and wanted to hold my hand again. She walks, sometimes almost runs, very well now with two handed support and quite well with one handed support - but the five steps towards me were amazing - we both were ecstatic, she seemed so proud of herself!

It's pretty obvious that she's a bit nervous about this new 'thing' but that she's also really excited about it, cos once she can walk, nothing will be able to keep her out of things - she can climb the stairs now really well on her own, too, so she can't be left out of sight AT ALL at the moment. it's a really dangerous age actually - she's capable of so much but has absolutely NO IDEA about danger! doesn't understand that you can't just walk off the bed for instance, the idea of 'height' and 'fall' hasn't quite got there yet - and i guess the only way is to learn through mistakes - OUCH!

Maia pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Susanna Glaser) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:57:00 +0000

For pictures of Maia up to October 2006 go to The Gallery. Must update this with more recent pictures!