Long Gone Are The Days...

Everyone has always told me that once you get used to your children's routine, they will switch things up on you! And I know... I'm ten months into this thing called motherhood and should be used to routines changing, but every time it does I get so rattled. Marvin always says it best, "frustration comes from having expectations". He's so right (thanks for always being so level headed Marv) and these past couple of days have been so crazy for me because I haven't been keeping this in mind.

As I mentioned before, Maja has now mastered the skill of standing up on her own in the crib. As adorable as it is to go into her room after her nap and have her standing there waiting at the door side of the crib waving at me when I walk in, it's really creating trouble when it comes time to go to bed (naps and bedtime). We used to be able to just bring Maja upstairs, close the blinds, turn on the water sounds and the music, give her Pedro and her soother, place her in the crib and she'd roll over and go to sleep. Now, she fights going to sleep with everything she has. Just when you think she's sleeping (either from the bottle or from being rocked back and forth) and you place her in the crib, she rolls over, then over again, then over again, pushes up into a sitting position pulls herself up to a standing position then rattles the crib bars and starts doing laps around the crib. I have read somewhere that once kids start walking more their bodies don't know what to do with that extra energy and they have a hard time falling asleep. Great - just what we need. Combine that with the fact that Maja's two bottom teeth have finally started to make an appearance, albeit a small appearance only the size of a tiny pin head (I swear she's the only ten month old child without any teeth) and you have a great recipe for sleep battles! But this too shall pass... right?!?

Don't get me wrong, not everything about Maja these days is causing me grief - just the opposite actually. Maja is such a delight in so many ways. She is starting to be more expressive both vocally through babbling more and more, and physically through pointing to things. She's also getting really quick at her bum-shuffling and is able to cruise around the basement using the furniture quite quickly (hence the reason we went to The Home Depot this morning to buy child locks for the drawers and cabinets throughout the house). And her favourite game these days is "Give and Take". Maja will be sitting on the floor in her bedroom playing with some small toys when she stretches out her arm to give you a toy and when you take it from her and say "Why thank you Maja, is that for me?", she smiles, giggles and starts to wave her arms and legs around wildly. But you have to be sure to give it back or else she may get upset. :) It really is the cutest thing!

Over the past week, Maja has also started to eat more "solid" food. She now thinks that Cheerios are the greatest thing since sliced bread. She can pick them up from in a container, on the floor, from my hand, you name it! And she's a riot when she "chews" them - she more gums them like an old man without his dentures would. :) She is also more and more interested in what Marvin and I are eating and apparently loves toast with butter. The other day she wouldn't eat her lunch, she would only eat my stir-fry!

Maja has also gone on a number of outings with Teta Linda (which everyone loves... Teta loves them because she gets to hang with Maja, Maja loves them because she gets out and gets to hang with Teta, and Marvin & I love them because Maja's not with us... not that we don't love her and want to spend time with her, it's just nice to get a break every once and a while). And I'm pleased to say that when Maja returned home from her most recent outing with Teta, her pants were dry! The time before that, Maja gave Teta a crash course in "sippy cup & juice" rationing as she drank all of the juice in the sippy cup in one go and then preceeded to pee through her pants! :) Don't worry Teta, that has happened to me a couple of times too! :)

Anyhow, enough yammering on... let's get to some pictures! Because Maja has been a bit of a handful these past couple of days with getting less sleep, teething and being frustrated because she can't walk on her own just yet, occupying her has proven to be a bit of a challenge. It reminds me of one of my earlier posts when Maja first started having awake time and I didn't know what to do about it. Yesterday in particular was one of those days. As you can see by this picture, Tornado Maja hit our basement and went from the play pen to the books to the basket of toys to the pillows until she finally found the best toy of all (a cardboard box...) in an attempt to entertain herself...
Then Maja thought she'd do a little bit of Karaoke on Daddy's DJ machine...

Then Maja figured that mixing a few CDs would be more fun ("Who Let The Dogs Out" stand by... and cue...)...

Then after exhausting all of her other toys, I gave in and let her play with the contraband. Here is a shot of Maja seeing the contraband on the coffee table (I love the excitement in her eyes and how it looks like she's trying to sneak up on them)...

Here she is in "stealth-mode" pulling herself up as gracefully as a gazelle... And finally, Maja moving in for the "kill" (the contraband items are just Marvin's collection of basketball bobbleheads - fow whatever reason, Maja just loves these guys)...
Have a great long weekend everyone!