What happens when you take an American girl, give her a Canadian husband, a dual-citizen daughter, two Mexican dogs and a German car? Anything goes when it's A Very Good Year!
Maia loves to play with balls (yeah, I know, the 15 year old boy I apparently harbour in my soul snickered at that too). When we were at a family dinner recently, she was kinda bored and antsy until she spotted a bouncy ball, at which point she became super-animated and just played with the damned thing all night. We played Monkey In The Middle with the two other girls who were there — ages 4 and 9. I held Maia and we were the monkey, and it was honestly a blast. I don’t know if any of us had ever laughed as hard as we did while playing!
When Maia & I are at home and we head outside to play, I bring a ball with us. Today, Maia showed me that she’s apparently learned how to play soccer.
Sometimes, we have perfect mornings together. I want to remember them.
I know she won’t.
Today, as she shovelled Cheerios into her mouth, I put my coffee down on the table beside her. As usual, she stopped to look at it, and although she’s learned not to put her fingers in it, she likes to lean close and hold her hand over the top to feel the steam rising. Today, I tried to show her how to sniff and breathe in the smell, leaving her laughing at Mama’s wrinkled nose and exclamations of “MMMM, COFFEE!”
She won’t remember these days.
But there’s something profoundly comforting in knowing that the aroma of hazelnut creamer will remind her of comfort, and home, and me, many many years into the future.
Maia loves to be read to. It’s not uncommon for her to take a book in both hands, run over to me, and plop her butt in my lap, all the while babbling. She particularly likes turning the pages for me — sometimes before I’m ready for them to be turned! And although I adore [...]
Dear Maia,
Today you turn eleven months old, and all I can think is how young that seems. When I think of you, I think of a kid; when I think of an eleven month old, I think of a baby. But you’re not. You walk, talk, interact; you have a distinct personality, you know what [...]
On New Year’s Eve, we had chicken cacciatore for dinner. So Chris and I are sitting on the couch, Maia’s in her high chair, we’re watching The Office like usual, and during a commercial break we’re watching her eat. She’s picking up strands of spaghetti and tossing them casually aside. Then she picks up a [...]
2009 is the year I really started to pay attention to the parenting blogosphere. Oh sure, I was pregnant in 2008, but I only really liked reading the blogs of other moms pregnant with their first, which doesn’t provide an accurate depiction of what’s going on in general. This year, I like to think that [...]
There are so many parenting things I’m completely unprepared for, things I never thought about that touch me deeply.
On Christmas day, we were visiting family, and in attendance were two other children — a ten year old girl, and a four year old girl. They got along really well with one another, and although they [...]
Dear Maia,
Today you turn ten months old, and I must say, I would keep you at this age forever. You, right now, are more perfect than you’ve ever been, more loving, more playful, and more interactive; our days are filled with smiles and laughter.
The big news this month is that you’ve mastered the art of [...]
Dear Maia,
Today you turn nine months old. Today is also a Friday the 13th, just like you were born on, and I have to admit that this makes me smile. Oh sure, I’ve heard a few times that it’s “too bad” you didn’t hold off your arrival for a day so you could be a [...]
I just had a vision of hiding out in a BBQ pit @Ribfest sharing all the food they're not gonna sell because of the rain.about 13 hours agofrom TweetDeck
