E I E I O

Maiya’s latest obsession is Old MacDonald and his farm. She sings it all the time (see my post “singing” for some video!). Of course, her version is “E I E I O, moo moo dere, moo moo dere… E I E I O!” And asks me to sing it all the time. I do, of course, and let her choose the animal- which, 98% of the time, is a cow! Even when I get tired of singing “moo moo here” and replace it with, say, a sheep, she goes “No, Momma, MOO!!”

So, today, we took her to Ardenwood Farm and their toddler time! Unfortunately for Maiya, there are no cows at Ardenwood… There were, however, sheeps, goats, chickens, turkeys and pigs that she got to pet, which was the COOLEST THING EVER for this toddler! She also got to see a peacock and horse, but didn’t get to pet them.

Click read more below to see pics of Ardenwood and my little birthday celebration!!

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Ft Funston!

Made it to Ft Funston today- with this nice of weather, we couldn’t resist!!

It was great. Not only was the weather perfect, but my Mai was loving playing in the sand AND in the water!

Also a few videos from there, and a few other random pics and videos.

Click read more below to see the rest!

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Singing!

I know my sweet daughter is growing up when my posts about her change from “signing” to “singing”!!

This will be short, but gotta share!

Click “read more” below for a couple pics and videos of my little singing girl!

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A Beautiful Day

Today was beautiful!

First, we went to Walnut Creek so my mom could turn in her paperwork and RETIRE!! She works through June, and then- FREEDOM!! While we were out there, we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory and then the park across the street from it. Came home, hung out with the Grandparents for a bit, then went home for playgroup. Playgroup is so much fun now a days, the kids not only play, but they play WITH EACH OTHER. I mean, at this age, it’s only really parallel play, but I’m starting to see more and more real interaction, and it’s so fun to watch them grow up. They’re using each others’ names now, even!! These kids started meeting for playgroup when Maiya was six WEEKS old, I love it.

Click read more below to see more pics of our beautiful day!

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Becoming a water baby

More big water related news today!! We went to Lake Chabot, and Maiya actually BEGGED for me to let her in the water! Even just a few months ago, she wouldn’t hardly put her toes in without a lot of coaxing from me. Today she went in beyond her knees, and would have gone farther if I’d let her!

Click read more below to see more pics of our adventurous day.

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Developments!

Exciting news at the Menges household!

Now be forewarned… We have a two year old. What we find exciting may not be exciting to some, haha. Anyway… Yesterday, 4/16, Maiya peed in the potty all by herself!! She told me “pee pee”, and I told her to sit on the potty. She did, and peed in it!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!!

In other exciting news, today, 4/17, for the first time EVER in her whole life, Maiya laid down in the bath all by herself!! Even as a newborn, when we laid her down in the water, she flipped out. As an older baby and toddler, she’d sit in the water, and be totally happy, but wouldn’t move around in it, wouldn’t splash, and would DEFINITELY not get any where close to horizontal. Today, she did! Laid flat down, even dipped her head (but not her face) in water. So proud of my girl!!

Not many pics today, just a few of our little water baby. <3 One here, since Brian only likes one on front. The other two you can see if you click “read more” below!

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Sun, sun, sun, sunny day!

Anyone know what the title is from???

Today was one of the nicest days we’ve had in a while! Gorgeous and sunny, but a bit cool with a cool breeze. Still, it was a nice day, and we enjoyed it! She wore her first summery outfit (not quite summer outfit, because it was still cool enough I had a long sleeve shirt under her dress for extra warmth), and we got to play outside with the sidewalk chalk from Easter. I also came to realize I’m sunburned from her party yesterday, and dehydrated. I hope she is not feeling like I am, but she has been extra tired, too, so maybe she is. Despite being more tired, she has been very good, as usual, and I am so proud!

Click read more below for more pictures of our fun, sunny day!

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Maiya is TWO!!!

Ok, so technically she’s been two for like, 2 weeks now. But we just did her party today, so the post is today, too!

I was really worried about the party, since she is such and outdoor girl, that I knew we had to have it outside. What good would it be if we had it indoors, and she spent the entire time asking to go “bye bye” during her own party?? But, the weather has been SO crazy. When I made the plans about 5 weeks ago, it was gorgeous. Then it got nasty; then it got nice. Then it got NASTY, with heavy heavy rain and even THUNDER AND LIGHTENING!! Luckily, it stopped raining on Friday, dried up a bit on Saturday, and was actually really nice today. Since we were planning on cold, it was almost TOO nice (but there is really no such thing as TOO NICE!!). I think I may have gotten a bit sunburned and a bit dehydrated… I’m hoping she didn’t, but she didn’t drink as much as we tried to make her drink!

We had quite a large turn out- thanks to everyone who was able to make it! It means so much to all of us that you can come celebrate her life with us. And to those that couldn’t come- it’s the thought that counts, so thank you for the thoughts! We did miss you.

I was worried about the food, because as usual, I didn’t know exactly how many people would show up, but I think it worked out. We had just a LITTLE bit left over, so I don’t THINK anyone went hungry, and we didn’t have too much. I got a half sheet of cake, and there was so little left, we just threw it away! Because let me tell you, one bad thing about her birthday being so close to Easter is that we’re all junk fooded out!

As everything we do, it was super casual. Not even really a “party” so much as a get together. We hung out and chatted, eventually got the food out and grazed as we desired. Eventually did the cake, and then eventually opened gifts. Only the gift opening was really “organized”, in that I think most people stood or sat around to watch. The rest of the time, since we were at a park, the kids were playing and the adults were doing whatever they wanted! Which is what I wanted.

All right, on to the pics! Click “read more” below to see the rest of our big girl’s big day, and a few more random pics (maybe even the ones I didn’t get to in the last post…).

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Birthday Fun, Easter Fun and More Fun

Whew, been a while since I last posted. Forgive me, please, it’s been a down right horrible year. It all started with P-Chan dying, and things haven’t really gotten any better. They may be on the upswing now (let’s hope!!), so maybe I’ll get back to posting like normal. Not that “like normal” is very good, either… Heh.

Anyway, this will be quick and mostly pics, like normal, because it’s late and I’m tired, like normal! The big events are her birthday (though not her birthday party, that’s tomorrow!), Easter, and then there are a bunch of random pics, and some cute videos. Click “read more” below to see!

My Easter girl

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Mid-winter summer

I’m pretty sure I’ve had a post with a title similar to this before. “Mid-winter’s summer” or something like that. Maybe when I’m feeling constructive I’ll go look it up!

Until then… I shall post pics from our mid-winter winter and our mid-winter summer- both of which occured in the few days since my last post. Ah, gotta love CA!!

Also… I know I barely actually SAY anything in here. It’s mostly just pics with a few useless (but hopefully slightly entertaining, sometimes…) captions. What can I say- I firmly believe a picture is worth 1,000 words! But this time, I must brag about Maiya’s latest language explosion. Gosh, I love this girl, and with her current language explosion, I can get inside her amazing head even more, and that makes me love her even MORE!!

In the morning, when she first sees me, she runs up to me, gives me a big hug, and says “Momma happy! Me happy too!”. Now if that won’t melt a Momma heart, not sure what will! She can’t say “I love you” yet, so when I tell her “I love you”, she tells me “BIIIG HUG!”, and gives me one. She is now starting to say “sorry” instead of just signing it, and it comes out like “wowee”. She gave me a hug today with banana in her hand, and got some on my face. When she noticed, she said “wowee Momma”. And of course, had to give me another hug! She is learning “in”, “out” and “on”. On our hike today, we came across many gopher holes. She had to stand in them. “Me in! Momma in too? Momma in! Me out. Momma out too!” She picks her balls up in the back yard “Ball up! Two ball up!”, then throws them down her slide one at a time. “Wee ball! Wee two ball!” She is starting to immitate more words. She says “JJ” for Grandma Joni; “Ah-nie” for Angie; “E-b” for Evie (our cat); “Peet” for Peach (who, though she died a few months ago, Maiya still recognises in pictures, and has to say “Peet”! and pet each one). She goes “riin riin!” and then “ha-do” when she picks up her cell phone. She says “ii-ii” for oishii (Japanese for delicious / yummy) and “a-ii” for hashi (Japanese for chopsticks), and “i-di” for ishi (Japanese for rock). After Tahoe, when Angie asked her “Did you see snow?” Maiya happily responded “Eat snow!” She also loves to declare she will “Eat yain yain (rain rain)!” and “Eat ice!” She’s saying “hee” for see. I’ve always said she is an outdoor girl, and now she can pretty much say it, too! As she opens the backdoor and runs out, happily “Me a-sside” (outside). When Evie joins her “Mou mou a-sside too! Momma a-sside, too? Momma a-sside! Me a-sside too!” She loves to narrat every day events as best she can. “Mou mou down baby!” when she noticed Evie laying on her baby dolls. “Uh-oh, baby down. Owie!” “Duy (guy) bye-bye”. “Bye bye mou mou” (as we leave our house, she says good bye to Evie every time. and hello when we come back). “Hi dog dog!” (as we approach my parents’ house. She also says good bye to Quincy every time we leave!). She LOVES to boss Quincy around. “Day (stay) dog dog!” “Down, dog dog!” “Dit (sit) dog dog” “Yin yin (spin spin) dog dog” (for around). Brian would hiss at Evie to try to scold her, and Maiya very very quickly picked up on that. I’ve been working HARD with her, and now all I have to do is give her “the look”, and Maiya stops hissing and says “No wease, mou mou”.

Have I told you I’m having a ton of fun with her now and LOVING this stage???

Ok, let’s end the long winded non-sense, and on with the pics!

My happy little group on a gorgeous hike on a gorgeous day in March.

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