Cute, Clever, Moody, Two

Dear Maya,

It's been a bit of a trying week around here and we're only just beginning your terrible terrific twos.

First on Monday we went for your two-year checkup. You were in a great mood until we left the crayons and toys of the waiting room and headed for the scale and the examination room. You screamed and arched your back so much when the nurse tried to measure you that she thought you shrunk an inch. We had to reweigh and remeasure you and it turns out you're a VERY healthy weight and height--maybe too much so. Luckily you like the doctor much more than the nurses as you calmed right down as soon as she came in.

A lot of this week we've all been in a funk. Mommy and daddy have been a bit stressed planning a big upcoming trip (more details soon) and haven't paid you as much attention as you'd like. In typical toddler fashion, you've been acting out your frustration by throwing toys, yelling and crying. We played in the snow on Tuesday and that cheered you up a bit, but your moodiness came right back. Yesterday mommy was going to take you to the park for a while, but just as we left the post office it started to rain.

Instead, we headed to a nice local diner for an impromptu mommy/daughter date. You sat in a booster seat instead of a high chair, you drank from a lidded cup since we forgot your sippy cup at home, and you enjoyed coloring on the big menu and eating sweet potato fries. I can't say your good mood continued for much more than a few hours after we got home, but it was fun while it lasted. Maybe we can make this a little tradition, at least for these cold winter months when park trips are harder to plan.

Well, mommy is pretty run down today with a bit of a cold and dealing with your moods again. Here's hoping for an upswing on the Maya roller coaster soon!

Love you!

P.S. The GOOD NEWS in this post is that all of the sudden, out of nowhere, you can sing a lot of the alphabet! And "Jingle Bells"! And you can say most of your numbers up to 13! And today when daddy jokingly said "uno" you bowled us over by saying "dos"! That last one is no doubt thanks to Dora the Explorer and/or Sesame Street, but the rest I guess you've just been storing in your head whenever we've sung/counted with you and suddenly decided to produce on your own. We are amazed and proud of you!
Check out the video below--it's dark and you're being a little silly, but you get the gist...