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.

Halloween: Baby Astronaut and Big Boy Astronaut

This year Noah was a Big Boy Astronaut and Maya was a Baby Astronaut for Halloween:

Noah got a lot of usage out of his costume as he celebrated Halloween four - yes you read correctly, 4 times this year (he will probably still have candy left a year from now!). It started two weeks before the actual date (!) He had a Halloween day at school (he was on vacation the week before and the week of Halloween). Below, Noah the Big Boy astronaut at the school Halloween party.

A week before Halloween, friends at our new condo held a toddler and pre-schooler trick-or-treat. The kids played in the decorated function hall, listened to scary stories and paraded around the playground where various dressed up volunteers distributed candy every few meters (I will try to get pictures from my friend as we did not take any - but Noah was big boy astronaut and Maya baby astronaut). 

We also had signed up to be a trick-or-treat home in our condo for the actual day celebration which meant 50 or so kids would come by our apartment to see our scary decorations and to get candy of course. We started our decorations early (unfortunately, we did not take that many pictures but below are a few). This year, we made a papier mache pumpkin. 

Noah and Seth putting on the first strip 

First layer done!

After two layers of orange and two layers of yellow, we cut out the eyes, nose and mouth of the pumpkin.

Unfortunately, we did not take any pictures of the finished product but this is what it looked like made by Martha Stewart (from whom we got the idea: Martha Stewart Papier Mache Pumpkin ):

It actually turned out pretty well for us too and Noah very much enjoyed cutting the strips of paper and pasting them onto the balloon (though by the end of the third layer he had had enough.... and there was still one more to go). 

I had been meaning to make these "flowers" I had seen on the internet for a while now and Noah decided that they would make good "Halloween flowers" if colored in orange/red instead of blue/green like in the website.  First Noah cut some Q-tips with his new big boys scissors (he LOVES cutting things). Then after making some holes in a styrofoam ball, we stuck the halved Q-tips into the ball.

Our three balls ready for the next step (though in retrospect, we should have colored the Q-tips before sticking them into the ball)

Orange and red food coloring (well orange with more or less water)

The flowers after their coloring job drying...

and the finished product - "Halloween Flowers"

We also made glow stick balloon ghosts - so easy to make and yet pretty cool-looking in the dark (I did not take any pictures of ours but below are sort of what they looked like).

Put a lit glow stick in a balloon - blow up - make a scary face 

with a sharpie pen and voila - glow in the dark ghosts!

And we had our haunted house from last year in which I put my phone with an app playing Halloween scary sounds on loop - and many glow sticks  (pic from last year):

you can see it in the back there

and we reused our spider decorations (pic from last year)

 and pumpkins and spiders (also pic from last year)

The third Halloween celebration was at our old condo with old friends and new friends. 

Unlike a "normal" trick-or-treat, the kids actual enter each apartment and play there for a while before getting some candy and moving on to the next apartment. Below, Maya in her friend Millie's apartment (also Noah's friend Gretel's apartment).

Baby astronaut playing with a witch's hat

 A happy baby astronaut

A laughing Baby Astronaut

An inquisitive Baby Astronaut

Noah, Luna and Bink playing in one of the apartments

And finally, the fourth and actual day celebration at our condo. We all dressed up - the astronauts, the witch and the cat in the hat...

the one picture we have of all of us...

Big Boy Astronaut taking off

Big Boy Astronaut pretending to be Maya and holding on to the pole

the kiddos

Noah had a great time at this final celebration ringing door bells and collecting candy and I had a great time greeting surprised trick-or-treaters (the loud scary sounds emanating from the haunted house were a big hit!).

Happy belated Halloween everyone!

A few steps

On November 1, Maya took her first step on her own, since then she did two steps and today four wobbly steps.

our little girl - very happy and proud

walking is easier when you are holding something

Maya at 8 Months

A week or so ago, Maya turned 8 months old. 

Our smiley little girl 

Curious about the world around her

Sweet 

and adorable

 but already sure of what she wants and determined to get it... 

and what she wants right now above 

all else is to be able to walk on her own... 

At 8 months Maya LIKES:

• Her big brother - her face lights up when she sees him;
• Walking, walking, walking and more walking (while holding one or two hands);
• Guantanamera sung by Joan Baez - she falls asleep to it every nap - we call it the magic music because she just goes down without a peep with her music on (if you try another piece - she shrieks);
• 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... she will SHRIEK if the food is finished but she is still hungry and then wildly hit herself in the face (her version of the food sign);
• Maman - Maya is a mommy's girl. It has started changing but she still wants maman a lot...
• Music - she loves listening to music and jumps about and "dances" to the beat;
• Pictures - she likes looking at pictures of the family - especially Noah but also her grandparents and aunts and uncles;
• Sucking her thumb - it soothes her, puts her to sleep, calms her down, helps her swallow bigger pieces of food - the magic miracle thumb!;
• 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);
• 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 8 months Maya DISLIKES:

• Not being able to walk when she wants to;
• Not being able to do something she would like to do (like figure out how a toy works or how to open something or reach a toy);
• Not having the amount of food she would like or food when she would like it;
• When we take a "toy" away from her (pieces of paper, electric wires...);
• Being in a car;
• When we don't pay enough attention to her; and
• When maman is not at least 85% focused on her.

At 8 months Maya CAN:

• Do 8 signs (wave bye bye, cat, eat, more, water, up, milk, all done);
• Possibly do an additional 2 (diaper, nodding for yes) - the jury is still out;
• Stand without holding on to anything for 5 full seconds (her record);
• Do a step or two to stable herself when standing on her own;
• Stand well holding one hand;
• Walk well holding two hands;
• Pull herself up (though she usually wants to pull herself up holding onto me) and stand holding onto furniture;
• Walk but still a bit wobbly holding one hand;
• Smoothly pass objects from one hand to another;
• Pick up little pieces of food off the table (like grains of rice) but she still has trouble putting them in her mouth as they remain in her fist while she sucks her thumb. We tried explaining that her thumb was not a straw but she is still figuring that out;
• Shriek at an ear piercing decibel level when frustrated, bored or upset with you (and she does it quite a bit these days - hopefully this phase will be over soon??);
• Play in bed alone after waking up;
• Sleep easily wherever - her stroller, her bed, our arms, the floor - when tired she just goes to sleep - no fuss - she just goes to sleep; and
• Give kisses (though she generally just puts her mouth up to your cheek and does not make the smacking noise).

Overall, Maya is a very sweet determined little girl - she knows what she wants and is generally very good at finding a way of letting us know what that is. She is also very cuddly, loves kisses and hugs and asks for "more" kisses all the time.