A Cure for Common Crankiness...

This morning Maja woke up on the wrong side of the crib... she was tired from the rough night last night (we were up every hour and a half... *yawn*) and was upset when you held her and then upset when you put her down. Maybe she realized that today is her 11-month anniversary and was feeling old... who knows! :) After a little bit of picking up and putting down (along with a few tears from Maja), I gave Maja a bottle and she took a short nap. Yippee - one for Mommy! But then when Maja woke up from the nap, she was still a bit miserable (one for Maja). So we called Bakica and off to the park the three of us went! I feel like I've just learned about this little parenting secret/trick of taking your kids to the park. I mean I always knew parks existed, but really didn't understand what a great thing they are! Cranky Maja?!? Long gone after we arrived at the park! It was difficult to tell who had more fun at the park with the other... Maja or Bakica! Here are a couple of pictures of us at the park as proof! Here's a great shot of Maja walking to the park with Bakica... Here is Maja going down the slide with Bakica's help...
While we were at the park, a little girl took interest in Maja and started to follow us wherever we went. The little girl introduced herself as "Emma Jane Stewart" and is three years old. Emma was very cute, especially when she grabbed Maja's hand and started walking over to the slide with her. Here's a shot...

After all the park activities, Maja figured it was time to sit down and have a little picnic. Here she is "picnic"ing with juice and Cheerios...
Now for some catching up... last week, Maja thought she should touch base with some of her boyfriends, you know, just to be sure they weren't losing interest over the summer months! Here is a shot of me along with Alina and her son, David, and Casey with her son, Liam (Maja got herself all worked up over the boys that she crashed and napped for the majority of their visit - I'll have to work on her hostessing skills with her)...
Grandma also came over for a visit last week and Maja thought she'd show Grandma her newly found skill of kissing. Maja will now give kisses on demand (complete with kissing sound) and will more often than not blow kisses if asked. Here is a shot of Maja kissing Winnie The Pooh on the window (she'll pretty much kiss anything these days)...
Maja's bottom teeth are also progressing well. Although it is hard to take a picture of them (she sticks her tongue out over the teeth whenever you try to pull down her lip to seem them), Grandma was able to take this shot a couple of days ago (you may have to click on the picture to enlarge it and look carefully, but they're there)...
Although I've often complained about Maja's sleeping and how it leaves something to the imagination, I couldn't believe it the other day when I left Maja alone in the living room for about 10 minutes to play (while I prepared lunch) and came back to find her asleep on the arm of the couch. Take a look...

Ok, you got me... she's really just trying to crawl across the arm of the couch to get to the window sill... fooled you didn't I?!? :)

Here Maja is all upset that I put Daddy's slipper on the wrong foot. I believe the arm motion means "Mommy! How many times do I have to tell you the other foot?!?"...
This past Friday our neighbour's house was torn down. Although it was a bit noisy (although not as noisy as I thought it was going to be) it was really neat to watch. Here is a shot of the house after the first hit to the roof...
And here is a shot of the "house" after all was finished...
Of course, Maja was sure to wear her protective eyewear (aka Bakica's sunglasses) while watching the demolition...
Here's a cute shot showing how excited Maja was to see Bakica when she woke up from her nap...

A nice shot of Bakica and Maja just hanging out...
The other day I was holding Maja on my shoulder and she kept pointing to something behind me excitedly. First I thought she was pointing at Elmo, then Doggy, then Winnie the Pooh... finally I realized she was pointing at Caillou! Here's a shot of her and Caillou playing...
Yesterday Grandma came by for a visit and got to hang out with Maja alone in the backyard for a while (I was grabbing a quick 30 minute nap - thanks again Mom!). Here's a shot of an excited Maja opening up the "mail-cart" to see what Grandma dropped in the mail for her...
Who says you need to play with blocks with your hands?!? Feet are so much better...
Here's a nice shot Grandma took of me and my angel reading together on the blanket...

Tomorrow Maja, Grandma & I are all heading out to see Auntie, Will, Graham, Peter & Anna for the day. It will be nice to see them!