Maia's World

We are getting into a new routine going to school every other day.  I am working part time and Maia is attending a day care near my school in Wassenaar.  On her transition day we went to the day care together and I stayed in the baby room for 45 minutes, said hasta luego preciosa and came back in an hour.  Of course when I came back her eyes were red after crying some tears, but she was sitting calmly in a bouncy chair.  Maia had shown her teachers just how well she can scream!

On the first full day Maia cried a little when she got tired but spent most of the day observing the other children in her group.  She hardly ate anything and only had a couple of 10 minute naps.  This was her face when I picked her up!
Does she look amused?

On day two she was better, eating and napping more.  By day 3 she ate and slept well.   At seven and a half months she is the youngest in her group; followed by another baby girl Zhosa, who is twice her size and 10 months old and a couple of cute Italian boys Lorenzo and Luigi who are around 14 months.  

This year's baby group is the smallest ever ranging from 5-7 babies depending on the day.  Being the newbie and the youngest has it's perks... Maia gets lots of attention! 
That's Lorenzo in the photo, waving arrivederchi to Maia!

Last Friday when I picked her up she'd had a rough day, crying and needing lots of attention.  When we got home I realized she had a runny nose and the early symptoms of a cold but no fever.  
My poor baby! Early bed and lots of fluids all weekend and she's almost over it after only a couple of days.  
Thank goodness!

It's been a chaotic week for Maia to start at the creche since the baby room was under renovation.  But Maia is such a little trooper!  She gets up early with no complaints and chats with me in the car before snoozing on the way to school.  The upside of the 45 min to an hour commute is that she sleeps most of the way!

My little observer.  Watching other babies crawl and walk around has made her want to move around more too.  She's crawling backwards and rolling and pulling herself forward and coming up on her knees and moving back and forth as if to get momentum to take off...  She's agile and fast and squirmy. 

At home, she continues her piano lessons with papa. And she's getting pretty good! See for yourself!

My little chatterbox.  Maia is very vocal.  Her language skills are swiftly progressing.  Mama habla español.  Papa spreekt nederlands.  And she hears English at home and at the daycare as well.  Baby Maia can make vowel sounds and marginal syllables like "ma", "ba", "pa", "da".  When I'm not in the room she calls me "mamama".  Sometimes when she's really, really tired she says what I hear as "nueño" (sueño or sleep and dream in Spanish) but not all the time.   She does say the word "nee!" (NO! in dutch) quite often though, especially when she doesn't want the bottle or food.   Meanwhile mama can't read enough about what the experts have to say on how babies develop language and how to raise multilingual children... We have to have a plan!

Ah books! Books, books, and more books! Maia went to the public library for the first time this week.  After going around and picking a stack of colourful books I put them all in a pile for her. She practically dove off the stroller!  She was all over them, touching them, climbing on top of them, and taking a bite of one!  She loved it! How do I know? Well, she cried when it was time to go and I put her back in the stroller! You can't fake this type of enthusiasm!

So many things are happening at the same time... Mama goes back to work, Maia starts nursery and swimming classes.  Amidst all this, little Maia has also moved into her own room. And she's sleeping 10 hour sleeps! Better than ever!  She dines on all kinds of vegetable concoctions made with love by mama, has a quiet play time, reads a bed time story and drinks her "pijamapapje" right before bed.  She likes staring up at her bird house lamp and hugs her monkey before closing her eyes and giving in to sleep.

Then the next day, my little chatter monkey wakes up cooing and babbling and rolling around on her belly, crawling around every corner of her crib updating all her toys on the latest news. It's glorious!

She is such a joy! And we are so blessed that she chose us! I cannot imagine a life without her...
Te adoro mi reina!

Maia the mermaid

This morning we woke up early to attend our first swimming lesson.  I didn't want to get up and would have gone back to sleep but we had a date at the pool!  So after ages of Maia suckling on my breast (she won't take a bottle first thing in the morning or last thing at night...) we got our groove on and got ready.  Even papi loco decided to join us! So we hurried to meet Skai, Matt & Yara.

Maia loves the water. Little mermaid.  Takes after mama.  In Mexico we swam in salt water, sweet water, pool water, jacuzzi and mineral water!  We've been practicing back floats in the tub since Maia was 3 months old.  In Mazatlán she mastered floating backwards, eyes fixed in mine, totally relaxed, with me only touching the back of her neck.  No fear, just trust! My little clown fish can also put her face in the water, mouth closed and all! 

So today, when we arrived at the pool we joined a toddler class (we were too late for the water babies class!) Maia impressed everyone with her calm & coolness in the water.  We joined the circle, sang songs in dutch (well, more like hummed!), swam round and round, played with a ball, and surfed on a kick board!   Maia could do all the things the bigger kids were doing, except for jumping off the edge! We were all smiles, and so delighted to be splashing about that we signed up for 12 more classes!

Time seems to be flying by faster than ever in the wake of Maia's birth.  She is now almost seven months old! Yesterday we took the cot of the Mutsy stroller and upgraded to the rider chair.  It took Marnix an hour to figure it out and when he was done I wanted to go back to the cot, which is almost too small... I felt that I wanted to press pause, to enjoy her a little longer like this, with those eyes...  Oh how she says everything with her eyes... my my sweet toodle-doo my darling. 

It's dark now and the rain has stopped.  This weather made me feel a little tired all day... 
Maia sleeps peacefully, beautifully, blissfully....


Here she is, photos of play time before bed...

Back towards the beginning...

   Today is the day.  Two months of not writing, blogging, reflecting, sharing.  Maia is almost seven months old! I read that the secret of writing is to start from the end and work your way back to the beginning... So  we will start with today; and craft our story backwards towards the start, the beginning of your life, my darling... 

   Today was a wonderful day! You woke me up early, around 7:30 a.m. with your delicious morning chatter and I pulled you into bed and put you on my breast.  You were hungry after sleeping almost 10 hours!  We drifted in and out on little waves of sleep...  Your kicking eventually got us out of bed around 9:30.   I made tea and we had breakfast.  You had apple, banana and mango puree, I had soft-boiled eggs.  Then I put you in your chair to watch Dora & Diego, your favourite cartoons. 

    Today you began to hold the bottle and feed yourself! Smiling, giggling, playing, biting, sucking, drinking.  Muy bien mi niña! Lazy morning just us two while papi slept.  Playing on the island and playing in your box with a thousand cuddly toys.  Afternoon yoga class for mami and you stayed with papi for a couple of hours.  You played piano, you love to listen and watch your papi move his fingers across the keys.  And he held you while you stomped happily with your feet and hands too!  You are like a little tiger cub, clawing and scratching at everything... eyes, noses, mouths and cheeks.  Pinching skin hard and pulling hair too! Ouch!  We're teaching you to be more gentle, Bonita.

    After a yummy dinner of papi's famous lasagna we had play time again.  Then baby massage, which you love! But they have to be quick now because after a few minutes you want to turn on your belly and start crawling around the towel!  (You learned to crawl on your abuela's bed in Mazatlán.  She had this crochetted bed spread that let you pull yourself along from one end of the bed to the other...) You are so active now!  Rolling on to your belly, lifting your bottom, lifting your head... Oh and you giggle so sweetly, it's the most gorgeous sound! 

     Bath time was next.  Which you Love with capital L.  Splish splashing about.  Kicking your legs and chasing rubber duckies around the tub.  We sing songs in the water too!  You walk and swim around so interested in all the little details, grabbing at anything within reach, shampoo, sponge, shower hose, nipple...  Ouch!

   But the best moment of the day was bedtime.  I put you down after our story and lie down together.  You were awake for a while, chatting with your toys.  After a while you started to protest being alone in the room.  When your cries got more emotional we went to you, mama y papa and we layed down together in the bed with you in the middle.  You took my finger in one hand and searched for your papi with the other.  Then you turned your head back back and forth a couple of times, closed your eyes and drifted to sleep.  I felt all warm and fuzzy, enjoying the beautiful moment when you completely surrendered to sleep in our loving gazes.  When I moved you into your crib a few minutes later you didn't even flinch, bella durmiente...

     Sleeping like a baby.  This is what they mean when they say that...  I love watching you sleep!  Sleeping like you sleep... with your arms up, with that gorgeous sleeping face of yours.  Now, as you sleep, I feel my heart is connected to yours through the walls and furniture by blue cables of love... they reach backwards and forwards in time, binding us forever,  oh sweet child of mine...