How old are you?

Dear Maya,

Well, it's been a very special week around here--you turned two years old! Sunday was your birthday and when you woke up in the morning there were two big presents waiting for you: mommy and daddy had gotten you a play kitchen and accessories, and even better, Grandpa had arrived late the night before!

(sorry, dad--it was too cute not to put in the blog post!)

We had your party later that afternoon. Since 'octopus' was one of your first difficult words and you have always seemed interested in them, we had a red and teal 'octopus garden' party for you. You were dressed in the perfect outfit thanks to an online friend of mommy's who appliqued this adorable shirt for you.

Planning the details was so much fun. Daddy helped make octopus 'lanterns' to hang in the dining room and mommy made fabric buntings. Mommy also spent ages 'ruffling' the streamers to make a waterfall behind your high chair. Daddy was the amazing pizza chef again this year and mommy made the blueberry cupcakes, red velvet cupcakes, and yellow mini cupcakes. We ordered adorable cupcake toppers from Etsy and mommy made you a mini cake with 'tentacles' of fruit leather and Cheerios. It all came out really well.

 

 

You had so much fun with all our family and friends! Your buddy Wyatt kept you on track by helping to open your presents. When it was cake time, you blew out the candle like a pro. Then you ate your cake slowly, sharing icing with your Great-Grandpa and even taking a break for some celery!

photo by Grandpa

these two celery photos by Grandpa

Cake overload--you didn't even come close to finishing your mini cake!

The morning after the excitement of your birthday party you finally got to do something you'd been waiting days for--go out to play in the snow! Since you had a runny nose for Christmas we kept you inside so you'd be healthy for your birthday, but on Monday we couldn't coop you up any longer.

Next three photos by Grandpa

You had a good time playing, but most of all you seemed to enjoy eating the snow. We built a weird snowman/bunny creature and you chomped half the nose right off of it. At that point Mommy and Grandpa took you for a walk down the road and then we brought you inside to take your nap. All the while, daddy was outside perfecting an amazing little igloo for you. Unfortunately you had to be bribed to actually go inside it when we went outside for the second time after your nap.

Well, here's wishing you and all our friends and family a very happy 2013! Love you!

P.S. You have so many new words! Now when we ask your name you can answer "I'm Maya" and you can say "I'm two" when asked your age! You've also picked up these words: green, kitchen, chicken, broccoli, funny, 'baa' and sheep and 'oo-oo ah-ah' and monkey. Great job!

Ho ho ho 2012

Dear Maya,

Just a quick post tonight because there is almost no lull at all between Christmas and your birthday, making mommy very, very busy! I do want to share some pictures and stories from the last week, though, to make sure they aren't forgotten in all the excitement.

On Sunday we had big plans to go meet Santa, but when we got to the local nursery it turned out that he had the day off! You probably enjoyed the petting zoo out back much more than you would've liked sitting on a stranger's lap, but mommy still wishes you'd gotten to see him. We might have even gone on an expedition to find him the next day, Christmas Eve, but you came down with a cold. So you ended up spending the day playing and relaxing in pajamas and we didn't even bake the big guy cookies! Oh, well...

Luckily by Christmas morning you seemed better. We got up and dressed to go to your great-grandparents' house for brunch. There you ate lots and lots of fruit salad, eggs and home fries, then opened your presents. You had as much fun playing with the cat's toys and Nanny's Santa nesting dolls as your new toys, though!

 

When we got back home and actually put together the gorgeous mini baby grand piano from Nanny and Poppy, though, you loved it! In your fancy Christmas dress you looked like a piano prodigy about to perform in your first solo recital. So, so adorable!

We spent the rest of Christmas Day at home relaxing. Aunt Rhi did most of the cooking and we all ate a lot of delicious food. We took a break in between courses to exchange gifts and play with all your cool toys. It was such a warm and homey holiday--just perfect!

Well, mommy's tired from a day of birthday party preparation and there is still a lot more to do over the next couple days. It will be so worth it to see you light up on your big day, though. Ready or not, here we come TWO! Love you!

P.S. I forgot to post some of your new words last week. Thanks to several new-to-us books from an nature-loving friend of mommy's, you have learned lots of new animals: zebra, butterfly, lion, giraffe, monkey,  penguin, starfish, star, pretty, me, 'woof woof'' and 'choo choo' and now you often ask for 'help!'