Maya Rwenzori Haynes

Happy New Year!

We just had the first check-up, everything looks good. Baby is due mid-july.

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas, We had a nice relaxing Christmas.

This year was quite a bit of fun because Maya was very aware of what was going on. She even told Santa what she wanted (a kitchen), well actually she was a little scared of Santa so we made a deal that she can tell me and I'll tell Santa.

She was also a little freaked out that Santa comes into the house so we worked out another deal that Santa would give me the presents and I would being them in, Santa was not allowed to come inside.

Christmas eve, we continued a decades long Haynes tradition of driving around town looking at lights. We had to drive past the blow up Santa flying in an airplane a few times. We then opened the presents sent from Maya's Aunts and Uncles.

Christmas Morning came early and Maya was ready for presents. We did convince her to eat some breakfast first. We didn't go too overboard this year and she mostly got small gifts like play-dough and toy fire trucks.

What seems to have turned out to be her favorite present was a little wooden train set from Ikea. She plays with it constantly.

For her big present we got her a toy kitchen. She's been asking for one for months and it's what she loves playing with when we visit the toystore and at day care.

It only took me an hour to put together the hundreds of little plastic pieces.

Maya loves airplanes and trains, mostly stemming from our trip to New Orleans (she still talks about how the captain said hello to her). So last weekend we went up the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos. It's a failrly reasonable $10 to get in (after $1.00 off online coupon) and Maya was free.

They mainly have lots of very old airplanes but have few newer ones as well.

The highlight, of course, was getting to Drive!

First a helicopter

then an airplane! (actually just the cockpit of a simulator)

Then we got to climb in a model of what whould have been the Boeing SST

We walked around the old planes a bit but Maya wasn't too interested in those.

Last Friday was my birthday so I skipped work and headed to Sonoma for the day.

We first stopped in Petaluma which is a small town at the southern end of Sonoma County. It has a nice walkable downtown that is right along the river. We enjoyed some delicious pastries at the Water Street Bistro before strolling around town.

We came across this big ice cream soda and practiced our "yummy in the tummy" routine

After Petaluma we walked a bit around downtown Sonoma and were very disappointed that Train Town was closed that day despite the sign saying that they were open on Fridays. Maya loves all things trains and we were looking forward to visiting.

We were having dinner in Yountville so we hit that area next and spent a an hour or two walking around, working up an appetite.

and we had a lovely dinner at Ad Hoc where Maya sat quietly (for the most part) and ate almost all the bread in the basket.

It was a happy birthday!

Maya turned 29 months old this week and she's been doing great! Her memory continues to impress us, she still talks about the trip to New Orleans and can think about and talk about things we will do in the future. She can now carry on long conversations about things and is enjoying longer books.

She's enjoying day care but has some trouble leading up to the drop off but as soon as she gets there, she is fine. She's learned some new songs and really enjoys the painting and drawing that they do.

We've done a few fun things this month, a couple weekends ago we spent the day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The highlight of the trip was when we were hanging out by the beach and a sea lion came up right out of the water where we were standing. He was close enough that we needed to back up to get out of the way (and so Maya wouldn't try to pet him).

Maya's Uncle Mike came for a visit and had a great time. Maya really loves playing with her Uncle Mike.

Halloween came and went. Maya dressed as a Ladybug.

We went trick or treating during the day in Saratoga and scored a good amount of candy. They have a good set up for a couple hours where all the stores participate.

And of course, I had to teach her the correct way to sing for her candy...

(Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat)

Our evening trick or treating was a disaster, we only had one trick or treater all night and when Maya and I went out and knocked on doors, no one was prepared with candy. Maya loved knocking on the doors but got a little scared when someone actually answered so we cut the evening short after just a few doors.

The day after Halloween we went to a birthday party and the hosts gave Maya a beautiful outfit from India that Maya has been enjoying wearing.

Maya has been doing great with her play dates so we decided to put her in a family day care for 2 days a week, 3 hours each day. We found a great provider who already takes care of 4 of Maya's friends so Maya felt at home right away when she arrived.

We hyped it up for the last few weeks so Maya was excited to start. She cried for a few minutes when we left but soon was too busy finger painting to feel sad.

The care is provided by a woman and her mother (who Maya is already calling Grandma). The providers daughter is also two years old which gives Maya someone else her age to play with.

Here's some pics of Maya getting ready on the first day.

Maya turned 28 months last week (and her Mom had a BIG birthday also (one that ends with 0!). So we hopped on a plane and went to New Orleans. Maya is crazy about planes these days. We live very close to the airport so we see (and hear!) planes taking off and landing all day. Maya points out every one and its her job while we drive to keep a look out for airplanes and let us know when she sees one.

We packed a lot of fun in a week in New Orleans

We walked around the French Quarter

Saw the Mississippi River

Ate biegnets at Cafe du Monde

We took a short trip along the Mississippi coast, saw the beach and went as far as Biloxi looking for ice cream

We visited the Louisiana Children's Museum which was quite nice especially since there was maybe 3 other kids in the whole museum.

On Susan's birthday we went out for cake!

We drove a little to plantation country and visited some plantations. We decided not to go to Lafayette or Avery Island as it would be a 2 1/2 hour drive which was a little long for Maya. We drove about an hour from New Orleans to visit the plantations.

but of course the main reason is to eat. We had great Gumbo at this place...

and who can resist the Piggly Wiggly

We visited Mardi Gras World where they make the floats

We visited a graveyard

and we went to the zoo

lots more pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlhaynes/sets/72157622404898693/

Wow, another month went by? It was a month of big changes for Maya!

No more diapers! Yep Maya is now completely out of diapers (ok, she has pull-ups at night, but she very rarely needs them). It only took her about a week until she was about 90% there, Susan used the "naked method" where Maya was naked for about a week at home. She only had a few accidents and surprising, they were mostly when she was not naked. It took her a few more weeks to get used to telling us when we go out, but now she won't hesitate to let us know when she's got to go.

Maya's other big achievement is that she now sleeps through the night in her own bed. We went out and bought her a "big girl's bed" and she had no trouble. Susan just needs to re-assure her that she is right outside her bedroom, and Maya goes to bed willingly without any problems now.

She is becoming much more independent. Her new favorite words are "I do it". She is insistent on doing everything herself, especially getting dressed (and boy does it take forever). She's had a few meltdowns when she hasn't gotten her way but in general she's still a happy-go-lucky kid.

She loves bubble baths

We went back to Santa Cruz with some friends

She's graduated to the big kid's swing

We've gone to several birthday parties and even sang happy birthday in Portugese

Maya turned 26 months old last week, unfortunately she is has had a few bouts of sickness this last month. Up until now she has been incredibly healthy, I can only think of one or two times that she's had a fever. Now that she is playing with more kids she seems to be picking up more illnesses. She had a bout with pink eye earlier and is now down with a fever and some red spots on her arm. We have a Doctors appointment this afternoon to find out what they are.

Otherwise its been fun as usual! This last weekend we had a get together pot luck with lots of families at the park. Maya had a great time seeing everyone.

Maya and I have been spending every Sunday at the children's museum.

One of her new favorite toys is a doll stroller which she takes everywhere

She's also a big help in the kitchen. Last Sunday we made crepes for breakfast

And she continues to be the funniest kid around...

Anyone who knows Maya knows she is Wiggle crazy. She knows almost all the songs and dance moves so when we found out that they were coming to town we bit the bullet and got tickets and Maya got to go to her very first concert.

Of course she needed a t-shirt

We got in our seat and she was very excited when they were getting close to coming out

Then....Toot Toot Chugga Chugga...

Maya enjoyed the show. Our seats weren't great and the sound was very muddy, especially when they were talking between songs. Maya would lose interest while they were talking but would perk back up when there was a song she knew or when Wags or Dorothy would come out.