First Family Movie

Today (December 31st) marks an important milestone - our first family movie expedition! We took Noah and Maya to see Frozen. Noah loved it and Maya... had her milk and then slept through the whole movie. She seems to find loud music and sound soothing and does her best outdoor napping when there is loud noise (like the insanely loud elephant parade in India or the Sesame Street Christmas show). All in all, a successful first movie outing with both kids.

Maya at 10 months

Maya is 10 months old! 

Maya traipsing around West Coast Park

Time flies. For the stats, Maya is 7.5kg and 68.5cm at 10 months! Small but strong (or "petite mais costaud" as the French would say). That puts her at about the 15th percentile for height and weight (according to the WHO breastfed babies chart). 

For this post, I will repeat the likes and dislikes that Maya still likes/dislikes since we last posted a "Maya at" post when she was 8 months old (see Maya at 8 months) but not the "Maya can" she could do at 8 months. 

At 10 months Maya LIKES:

• Her big brother - her face lights up when she sees him;
• Eating what we are eating regardless of how spicy or strange our food is;
• Her musical tables;
• Walking, walking, walking and more walking;
• Climbing or trying to climb up and down stairs on two feet;
• Making piles (of books or toys) and using them to climb on top of furniture or out of her pen;
• Making silly faces, fake coughing and laughing with us;
• Lhasa the cat - she likes chasing Lhasa and feeding Lhasa every night often signing "cat" and the "food";
• Duplos - she can often be seen walking around playgrounds or below our apartment holding a duplo, dropping it, picking it up, kicking it and going after it;
• Playing hide-and-seek - she gets so excited when she sees Noah  or Maman "hiding" she tries to runs (which sometimes leads to tripping);
• Guantanamera sung by Joan Baez - we used to use this piece for all her naps - we still do at times but not systematically;
• Her milk and snuggling up to maman while drinking;
• Tummy tickles and raspberries;
• Somersaults whether in the air or on the ground, backwards or forwards - she lunges forward tucking her head in to let us know she wants to do a somersault;
• Food - although she is pretty tiny, she surprised us when we started solids - she eats everything we have given her so far, cauliflower, broccoli, garlicky lentils, celery, chickpeas, red peppers, dragon fruit, sour mango, spicy thai green curry... she will SHRIEK if the food is finished but she is still hungry and then wildly sign "food" "food";
• Maman - although Maya is happy with Daddy and a select group of people, she is still very much into her Maman;
• Music - she loves listening to music and jumps about and "dances" to the beat - she also loves to make music either by banging things together or tapping a beat on the table or "singing" (it really sounds like she is humming the beginning of jingle bells);
• Pictures - she likes looking at pictures of the family - especially Noah but also her grandparents and aunts and uncles;
• Sucking her thumb - although she does suck her thumb less than before it is still a big source of comfort;
• Her doudous (loveys in English I think), she has a rabbit and a horse that live in bed and that she likes to hold when falling asleep and a smaller rabbit attached to her stroller that she also holds when sleeping in the stroller (if these are not present though she will happily use a burp cloth);
• Putting things on her head or having us put things on our heads as "hats" and making the hat sign;
• Balls - Maya loves throwing, kicking, holding balls of all sorts (little light plastic balls, plush balls, o-balls....);
• Playing with her brother's toys and stuff; and
• Attention - Maya's face lights up when people in the street look and smile at her.

At 10 months, Maya CAN:

• Walk pretty stably (she still has some trouble with obstacles like a book on the floor or shoe or toy and although she can walk pretty well, she still can't really crawl!);
• Walk down a little step without losing her balance most of the time;
• Stand up (from lying down/sitting position) on her own (she was able to do this 2 days after her 10th month birthday);
• Lean over and pick up objects on the floor without losing her balance;
• Walk up and down hills without holding our hand;
• Magically make a leaf appear in her mouth, from no where (this talent seems to involve palming a leaf when you aren't looking, demonstrating that the leaf has vanished, and then mysteriously revealing it in her mouth at a later time);
• Find the one dangerous thing in her environment, e.g., pulling a small piece of paper out of a big pile of toys, which she then proceeds to try to eat, or ignoring all the stuffed animals for the toy scissors left on the table;
• Seemingly methodically tackle one challenge after another (she decides somehow that it is time to learn now to walk up and down a hill on her own and does it repeatedly till she makes it up and down - she gets flustered along the way but sticks to it; she also did that with little steps and standing up on her own and standing up on her own on a hill (she figured out that when facing down she falls so she would face sideways);
• Do 16 signs (bye bye, cat, eat, more, water, up, hot, milk, maman, dada, yes, bravo, bath, book, walk and hat) though she does not always use them - preferring sometimes to signal her desires in other ways (for example, shrieking or stroking my breast when she wants her milk) but she is generally very good at communicating what it is she wants;
• Make "mamama", "dadadadada", "lalalalala" sounds (most of the time she is not trying to actually say Maman or Dada to mean us though there have been a few instances where she might have used them appropriately). 
• Make a "eh" sound possibly for "lait" (milk) - she has done this a few times when I have said you want your "lait" and she says "ait (or eh)";
• Shriek at an ear piercing decibel level when frustrated, bored, upset or happy (we had mentioned this in her 8 months post hoping it would be a short-lived phase... well the phase has still not ended though I think it is maybe slightly better);
• Play in her bed alone after waking up;
• Feed herself rice and small pieces of food;
• Eat cut up pieces of mushy food without gagging or chocking;
• Fall asleep easily for naps and bedtime; 
• Sleep despite loud noises and much activity; and
• Sleep through the night every night.

At 10 months Maya DISLIKES:

• Being tired;
• Not being able to do something she would like to do (like figure out how a toy works or how to open something or climb onto something);
• Not having the amount of food she would like (mostly that means not having our food) or food when she would like it;
• When we take a "toy" away from her (pieces of paper, leaves, electric wires...);
• Being in a car;
• Sleeping for long periods when out and about (e.g., in a stroller or carrier); short naps are just fine, though;
• When she wants to do something on how own and does not get to (like walking down a steep hill without holding my hand or climbing down steps or eating);
• When we don't pay enough attention to her; and
• When maman is not at least 85% focused on her

Overall, Maya remains an adorable and very determined little girl with a powerful voice, a great smile, and a budding sense of humor. 

Gingerbread Houses

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine posted a picture of herself with a gingerbread house she had made and decorated. It looked fun so I forwarded the picture to Seth with a comment "we should try that with Noah". A week later, Seth had found all kinds of house design options!

Noah cutting and gluing the templates

After rolling out the dough, we cut it along the templates. Then baked the pieces and then...

Melted and cooked sugar, and poured it in the windows.

Once the sugar cooled and the windows were hard, we made some "glue" (aka royal icing) and put together the houses...

Noah gluing his house together

the two houses ready to be decorated

Noah decorating his house

... And the final product (view from the front)

Side view

Back view - notice the cool "pool" and bridge Noah decorated his backyard with

Other side

Noah with his house

The second house  (also known as maman's house) - side view 

back view

Other side (tree, snowman with ball) - the sugar windows looked great at first but started leaking... guess this was not supposed to be a tropical weather project

Front view

Me and the house

Our little gingerbread village

Eleonor took a picture of the four of us and our two houses....

Me and the kids with Eleonor and the houses

All in all, it took us a week from the first snip of the template to the last dusting of snow. Surprisingly, all the candy quickly became building and decorating tools and we did not eat nearly as much as I thought we would. Those green gum drops were quite valuable you know! A fun project which Noah really enjoyed (Maya not too much - maybe next year?).

No more spit up!

Maya, like Noah, was a little fountain. She would drink her milk and then thoughtfully share 1/3 of it with my clothes and the floor (Noah generously shared about half his milk)! A week or so ago (a little before her 10 month birthday), I suddenly realized (as it was pretty gradual) that the spitting up had basically ceased. She sometimes has a few drops dribble out but almost nothing and only rarely even that. Like most things in life, you get used to it but am I glad it is behind us! 

An Upstanding Girl

Maya has been able to walk for a little while now, but getting up from the ground has been another matter. If you put her on her feet she could walk across a room but if you sat her down she could not get back up. The first step was being able to pull up on a chair or couch or crib. She has been doing that for a few weeks. But since she cannot crawl, getting to the closest couch was not easy as it involved slow snaking. 

The second step was to stand up using a low step or cushion on the floor for support which she started doing a few days ago. 

And, finally, today (December 27 2013), she was able to get up entirely on her own. She repeated the feat 6 times this afternoon! This afternoon she also started picking up a lego or string off the floor and straightening up again without losing her balance. 

Maya, what makes you happy?

We recently started asking Noah during dinner what made him happy that day. This morning, I realized we forgot to ask Maya! So, in jest, we asked her what made her happy.

In the span of the next minute, she answered in her own way. She proceeded to make little shrieky noises: shrieking - yes she enjoys that. Then she made her silly funny noises which make her and us laugh - yes that fits. Then she made the food sign. Definitely makes her happy! 

Then she made her hat sign - yup - she loves putting things on her head as hats and watching us put things on our heads. Then she made her walking sign! Another thing she loves to do. Guess next time we will remember to ask her!

Chicken and Naps

Until today, Maya was a vegetarian (or pescetarian I guess). She has had some fish and eggs and of course my milk but no meat or chicken. Today, she tried a little chicken and seemed unphased and ate it heartily as she eats anything well prepared (I did not prepare it). 

On another note, it seems like Maya is finally getting onto a two nap schedule. Maya is the best sleeper. She started sleeping through the night very early on and with the exception of time change and sickness (which happened only once or twice), she never wakes up during the night. She goes down easily for naps and bedtime. However, at first she had very short nap cycles 30mn sleep, 1.5 hours awake, 30mn sleep, 1.5 hours awake and so on all day. She then finally made it to two hours between naps and then 3 - going from 5-6 naps a day to three. For the last few days, she has finally been on a two-nap a day schedule. One one hour nap and one 2 hour nap... Maybe we can get to a more predictable nap schedule. 

Second Tooth!

Maya's second tooth finally pushed out (December 19 2013)! 18 more to go!

More Walking Maya

Maya is walking more and more. She now pulls herself up on objects/sofas/crib bars. She is still a bit hesitant at home but does well outside...

She can really walk pretty far when into it

Ooops - she is also getting good at catching herself when she does lose her balance

Almost there!

 What me? Just off for a stroll.

She got the phone! She has no idea what it really does and it is always turned off when she gets it but we have one and look at it often so it must be cool right?

So funny - wait what's funny? Maya loves to laugh back at you even if she did not get the joke or if there was no joke to start with. She joins in.

Hat, hat (her current favorite sign after food)

and... food..

Trying to get up on her own

Off she goes

Some of you seemed surprised that Maya went from 4-5 tentative steps to walking pretty stably in a few days ... well here is how it happened. We were at a birthday party and she was doing her 4-5 steps from me to Seth and back. A friend of ours told us about this technique she used with her kids....

you tie a scarf around her mid section and hold on 

she walks on her own but if she falls, you catch her before she dives head first. She LOVED it. And, after 25 mn of "scarfing", of walking while feeling secure, we removed the scarf and she was now happy to walk on her own. Whenever she is feeling a little scared or  just wants the security, she can use the scarf.

Yay!

Back home - you can see her first tooth in this picture

 (her second should be here shortly but seems to be taking longer to come out)

Funny Girl

Cough cough cough - laugh - Maya's first joke, the fake cough! 

Maya is really starting to communicate with us.  During dinner last night, I was being silly and meowing like a cat so Seth made the cat sign. Maya looked around for Lhasa, then looked back at me and did the "maman" sign.  Silly maman. 

Usually, we bathe Maya before putting her PJs on. Yesterday, I skipped her bath and after I put her PJs on - she signed "bath, bath" looking at me inquisitively. 

This evening, Seth was feeding her and after a bit, she signed "maman food". I moved over to feed her and she got really excited. 

Her favorite sign these days, besides food, is "hat".  She signs hat so I got get all her little hats and a mirror and put them on her one after the other - and one after the other, she takes them off pronto and laughs. Then I put each one on and we laugh at how small and silly they look on me. Then yesterday we met up with some friends, one of whom was wearing a cap. Maya looked up at her and signed "hat" "hat". She seems so excited and happy to be communicating and understood. 

Maya Walks!

On August 28, at 6 months, Maya started walking holding our hands. A few weeks after that, she began walking holding on to one hand. On November 1, just after her 8 month birthday, she did her first solo steps and now.... 

Maya Walks!

Busy Day: First Tooth and Snaking

November 20th was a busy day for Maya -  at almost 9 months, she got her first tooth (bottom left from her perspective) AND she started snaking across a room (and upped her max number of steps on her own to 5!). Lots of fun and craziness ahead.

Weekend Fun: Brunch and Tree Top Walk

Last weekend, we had some friends over for brunch on Saturday. Below, Noah making some scones with Daddy. 

And on Sunday, we finally did the MacRitchie Tree Top walk we had been meaning to do for a while now. It is a 7k loop during which you cross a hanging "tree-top" bridge. 

Maman, Noah and a napping Maya at the beginning of the walk

Along the way we saw many different fruit trees laden with fruit (coconuts, durians, rambutans...) and animals.

We saw a giant millipede

Noah on the tree-top bridge

Maman and the kids on the tree-top bridge - 

Maya evidently found the whole thing quite funny

A monkey climbed up the ropes to the bridge

And followed us causing Noah both fear and glee

We made it back! Snack time.

Both kids did great - Noah walked well and enjoyed spotting baby ferns and animals and soles of shoes (apparently people buy bad shoes around here because we saw a surprising number of soles by the side of the path) and Maya hung out in her pouch - napping and playing around. Both are at a good age for walking (till Maya decides being in the pouch is not fun or becomes to heavy for it)...

Weekend Fun: Theater, Diwali and Big Draw

Recently, Noah's school got a projector and the teachers have asked that we email a few pictures of  Noah's weekends so Noah can show them and talk about them to his friends. Since we were a bit (ok very) behind with the blog, we had stopped taking quite as many pictures so this was a good opportunity to get started again. Below are some pictures of the last few weekends.

A few weekends ago, we met up with Noah's theater buddy Alex (every month or so we go to a different play together with Alex's parents) to see Grimm's Fairy Tales - the play. The play was mediocre in my opinion but Noah enjoyed it a lot. And as a true Gilbert, he kept asking about the lighting on the stage, and how the witch was made to disappear after being pushed in the "oven"... Maya did pretty well too  (considering the play in all was about 2 hours + intermission) - she listened and watched for a while, then had a milk snack and then as there was an empty row in the back we walked back and forth and back and forth and finally she took a nap (how babies can sleep with so much noise is quite crazy). After the play, the boys got to take a picture with the cast members:

The weekend before last, we went to a Diwali party (held a week after the actual event). Noah, true to himself, hovered around the food station waiting for the food to be served. Maya, also true to herself walked and walked and walked and walked (holding a hand) during the skit and song portion of the evening! Finally, the food was served to Noah (and Maya's) great relief. Yum - Indian food.

On Sunday, we (the four of us as well as a friend of Noah's from school and her mom) went to the "Big Draw" organized by the Plaeum museum or "Play museum". Noah's Art-Science teacher had a booth at the fair - Noah with his teacher tracing a still life shadowed onto the paper.

Noah and his friend drawing in the sand

Along the way to our lunch spot, the kids played 

with durians - which turn out to be very sharp edged

After lunch, Noah wanted to go back to the Big Draw to try another activity: "Buildings and transportation of the future" - first he drew a sketch of his building with a wind mill and a solar panel for energy on top and a water tank to store rain water as well as a car slide and big ladder on the side...

Maya coming over to check out the progress

Building the building with cardboard and straws and paper - a pretty neat craft

The finished product

well - not quite finished - the place was closing so 

Noah did not get to finish his ladder

All in all - a great idea for the kids.