H: hello hot, humid

Dear Maya,

Another week with a rough start, slow middle and beautiful end. Your runny nose has been hanging on for a couple weeks now even though your cold was gone in a day or two. But it was mommy's nose that sent us home from the library story hour early on Tuesday--I couldn't stop sneezing!

Mid-week we had another tornado warning in the area!?! And the weather was super hot and humid for much of the week, as if we just skipped spring and fell smack dab in the middle of summer. You got to spend time in your kiddie pool and playing in soil while mommy repotted plants and rearranged the deck the other day. Mommy lost track of time and ended up with a slight sunburn on her shoulders, but you just turned a slight bit browner even though you were running around in the buff!

We studied "H" this week with "hat" being our key word. You caught on to this letter much more quickly it seems, partly because you like hats and we acquired this new one recently. If it stays this hot next week, studying "I" and "ice" will be a very welcome treat!

This weekend was pretty awesome for you except for the annoying grocery shopping, I'm sure. Yesterday we went to your great-grandparents' house again and you ate all kinds of yummy foods and continued to improve your bike-riding skills. Today you fell asleep straight out of the bath, still in your monster towel, and slept for three hours! Later we did a little shopping, stopped for ice cream cones, then came home and stomped in puddles and played with bubbles. What more could a toddler want?

Well, my little miss, mommy's looking forward to another week of new words, new milestones and new surprises with you! Love you!

G: Guests & Great-Grandma!

Dear Maya,

Last week started off a little rough with the end of your cold and some crazy weather keeping us cooped up inside. We even had a tornado watch in effect one day, which is very rare in our part of the northeast. Luckily we had an amazing holiday weekend lined up to brighten our spirits.

On Saturday our friends Aidan and Keiko came to stay with us for a few days with their adorable 16-month-old son, Ruarc. You had met him once before when you were the age he is now and he was just an infant. This time it was so much fun to see you interact as growing, learning toddlers.

Saturday night we went out for Japanese food and the two of you kept swaying back and forth in time with each other across the table. Afterwards we went out for ice cream and you kept feeding him some of your ice cream cone. Unfortunately it didn't agree with him--sorry, Ruarc!

Sunday you and Ruarc both woke up an hour earlier than usual despite (because of) your late bedtime the night before. Between us all being tired and the yucky weather outside, we hung out at home all day and played with the two of you and ate daddy's homemade pizza for dinner.

Monday morning we took a quick trip to the park next door before saying goodbye to Aidan, Keiko and Ruarc. Now that they have moved much closer (a 3-hour drive instead of 10) we hope to see them more often. Next time we'll have to go visit them, but you'll need to learn to say "Arigato" first!

Monday afternoon we went to your great-grandparents' house for Nanny's 80th birthday! You fell asleep just as we arrived, having missed your nap, and snoozed on the couch a while with your cousin Grace. After you woke up and had some dinner and cake, you went outside to try out the new bike that Poppy fixed up for you. You didn't quite get the hang of it yet but it won't be long. Afterwards you played soccer in the adjacent field with Uncle Shawn, Billy, Matt and Rhi. It was a fun party.

As everyone was leaving, you called goodbye to them out the window, even adding an impromptu "See you soon!" to Bobbie and Billy. Your language skills have improved so much even just this week that it's astounding. You said a 5-word sentence ("This one goes in there.") and are applying words to different contexts ("I popped it" about green peas when we'd only used "pop" to refer to balloons, bubbles, etc.). You use the word "cute" a lot to refer to babies, farm animals, ants, spiders...

We did study "G" last week but it wasn't too successful because our key word 'guitar' isn't one that you can easily produce. You do recognize a guitar as Uncle Matt played his for us several times this week, and we even built our own as one of our activities, but it's still hard for you to remember.

Hopefully this week our "H" studies will go better and the weather will be nicer. Love you!

F, Forts, Flowers, Fish

Dear Maya,

After all the events and excitement we've had lately, we took this last week a little slower. Mommy made quick and easy dinners and skimped on housework. It was nice to just color with crayons, sing and play the recorder, and otherwise simply spend time with you without too many distractions.

We did go to the library story hour on Tuesday as usual. Lately mommy has been giving you a couple outfit choices to make getting dressed go more smoothly and quickly. Once you have your outfit on, though, I let you have your pick of any jacket and shoes. This is what you came up with this week.

Mommy has finally come up with a fun and easy-to-build fort for us to play in. Our 'roof' is just a sheet so it's easy to pin up, and it's pinned on the curtain rods so we have plenty of light inside. The best part is that it's at an angle so mommy doesn't have to crane her neck the whole time we're inside. Plus we have padded 'walls' made from our folding mats and plenty of space between them for toys, books, snacks, etc. One day this week mommy even hung out in there while you napped!

After the chilly, damp weather earlier in the week we were so glad when Friday was warm and beautiful. In the morning you went with mommy to volunteer at a consignment sale for children's clothes and toys, and we found an injured turtle in the parking lot. You seemed very attached to it but some bigger kids finally took it down to a stream to let it go. Later in the day we ran around enjoying all the beautiful flowers in bloom in our yard. It was so nice to be out without our jackets!

We did study the letter F this week and focused on the word Fish. Mommy didn't get too creative with activities, but we colored a fish picture, put cute fish stickers on a paper F, and created an F-shaped school of abstract fish with foam stickers.

You're just getting over a brief cold so you were pretty cranky today. Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow. Love you!