All of that early hiking has paid off — Maya *loves* to be outdoors, and at times will even go grab my Ergo carrier and hand it to me insisting, “Mama — Back!”

I did, however, recently discover that if we’re going hiking, I need to NOT mention it until we’re ready to go out the door. A couple Sundays ago, I told Maya that after lunch, we were going to go for a hike. Here’s the resulting non-lunch.

And yes, she did get her hike. At least, we went halfway up the mountain, until my (2nd try at) new hiking boots gave me nasty blisters. We’ll be sticking with trail runners for a while, thanks.

Yes, yes. I’ve been quite the blog slacker, no?

Maya continues to morph into this amazing and astonishing creature. She’s funny, smart as a whip, and can charm nearly anyone she meets. That’s good, because with her current phase of yelling “NO! MINE!” at people who come near (No, Maya…that old gentleman isn’t going to steal your cookie. Relax, already.), she needs all the charm she can get. This phase passes, right?

Last night, I put Maya into some new size 3T (!) jammies for the first time, and they were so darned cute, I had to do an impromptu photo session. Rather than running around, being the moving target, Little Miss actually *posed* for me. What a character.

.

This isn’t a first. Recently, she’s taken to making all sorts of faces during any given photo-op.

Off to school recently:

Given jellybeans from a care package from Grandma Collins:

Contrary to appearances, these photos were immediately followed by, “more pink jelly beans, PEEEEES!”

Eating her beloved mac-n-cheese:

Strike a pose, much?

…boys aren’t icky. Yet.

.

Hmmmm…what shall we do today? The same thing we do every day: try to take over the world!

This morning, Maya had her first visit with a pediatrician here in Santa Fe. I don’t adore him (yet) the way I did Dr. Dawson in Colorado Springs, but I don’t dislike him either. I had to apologize to Maya for being *wrong* about no new shots. She got her second flu shot (I didn’t know they’re supposed to get two their first winter?) and her first Hep-A shot (it’s regionally needed, and the doc said it’s going national anyway). The big news…

Maya’s on the chart for weight!

She wasn’t quite as heavy as I’d hoped/thought, but still, she’s gained more than 2 pounds in the past 3 months, huge for her. She’s also 1.5 inches taller — no wonder she seems so tall now! New stats:

Weight: 23lb, 4oz (5th percentile, 2lb 1oz since early Oct)
Height: 35.5″ (75th percentile, 1.5″ since Oct)
Head: 45cm = 17.75″ (5th percentile, .25″ since Oct)

Dang. Can you say, “growth spurt?”

M: Wa hahs? Wa hahs?
(hey, she could certainly ask for worse things, right?)

A: You want to wash your hands, Maya?

M: Yeah. (Then, as if it were my suggestion in the first place, rather than guessing what she was saying) Okay.

As I listen to myself talk, I realize that this is a common thread. I’ll ask her if something is what she wants. She says “yeah.” I reply “okay.”

Shhhhh is one of Maya’s current favorite sounds (good thing I don’t curse too often anymore, huh?). New “hot” words:

• shower (and bye-bye shower! when I’m washing her hair)
• show - when begging to watch yet another DVD
• shoes

That last one was repeated as a mantra over and over as Maya tried to wear Mike’s runners…but just couldn’t quite get them both on at one time.

After struggling for months, hoping that I wouldn’t have to cut Maya’s hair into bangs, I finally did it. And you know what? It’s pretty darned cute.

And now, I don’t have to fight her each and EVERY DAY to get her hair into either a barrette or a rubber band so it’ll stay out of her eyes!

Maya explains to her new friend the secrets of the trees.

This was after greeting her friend with a kiss, of course. Maya’s in the habit of kissing statues.

From It’s Not All Mary Poppins:

Nigel has all kinds of words, and we hear them a lot. All except ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Hmm. Now, I usually have more success with ‘please’, so I’ll often start with it. (Why is please easier? It’s all in the motivation. “Want this cookie? Say ‘please’!” You can see how it’s easier to get out a ‘please’ than a ‘thank you’ - he’s got that cookie stuffed into his mouth to the tonsils: why is further communication necessary?)

Yup. Exactly. I DO hear please, all day, every day. Thank you is still rare, but we work on it. Every freakin’ day.

Little Miss has decided that the computer is something I should share with her. She asks up onto my lap, then says over and over again, “Baby! Please? Baby!” This means — what else? — that she wants to see her own blog, especially the videos.

While I’m delighted she likes the blog, her determination makes it a little difficult to get any real work done — without letting her cry, that is. Eh, sorry kid. Those’re the breaks.