A Full Social Calendar for Maja...

They say (they, being those folks that write children's books and magazines) that you should let babies "explore" with their food because touch is one of their best senses and they learn from it. Well, anyone that knows me knows that I'm a bit of a neat freak. So needless to say, I didn't let Maja play with her food all that much (and by that I mean I didn't slop a pile of pureed carrots on her tray when she was just starting to eat solids and let her go to town by herself). But now that Maja is feeding herself and is relatively good about not throwing food across the room or using her food as the latest and greatest hair conditioner, I get a kick out of how messy she gets. Here's a shot of her munching away on some noodles (or noodoos as Maja calls them) covered in cheese (I love how you can see the cheesiness just oozing between her fingers)...
Yesterday, Grandma came by to watch Maja while I went for a girls lunch with Stephanie & Sara (sans babes, unless of course you count the one in Sara's expanding belly) - Marvin was busy working away at the office (poor guy is working so hard these days - both during the week and on the weekends). While I was out, Maja had a great time with Grandma playing around in the bathroom sink and cupboards (the latter being a contraband area with Mommy), trying on Marvin & my running shoes, and countless other exciting things. One thing Maja loves when Grandma comes over is that she gets to hear Grandma's camera make neat noises. When it turns on it chirps like a bird, when it takes a picture it barks like a dog and when you set it to self-timer it howls like a wolf. What I love about that is after Maja hears the wolf, she walks around for the next couple of minutes howling at everything! :) Anyhow, here is a picture of Grandma showing Maja one of the pictures they just took with the self-timer (I love how Maja has her hand on Grandma's shoulder like they're ol' buddies)...
One of Maja's latest tricks is to say "shhh" whenever she sees someone with their head down, laying down or if we tell her someone is sleeping. It's very cute - here's a shot of her "shhhhing" for Grandma...

Later in the afternoon, Maja decided that it was time to settle down for story-time with Pedro and Monkey. Here she is reading one of their favourite books to them her in room (love the squat pose)...
Then this morning, Maja & I had a mini Moms & Babes class reunion. Once everyone arrived and we were all settled in down in the basement, there were a total of 12 of us down there - six moms and six babes! And believe it or not, Marvin was able to get a picture with all 12 of us looking at the camera (and it was only the third shot he took)! Here we all are (left to right: Leda & Ava, Maja & me, Liam & Casey, Susan & Nicholas, Stewart & Martha and Luca & Karen)...
After Maja had her recovery nap, Bakica came by for a nice visit. There was lots of Monkey hiding, purse carrying, books reading etc! And before Maja went down for the night (yeah right, who am I kidding?!?), Maja asked me to blog that although she won't be with Bakica tomorrow, she will be thinking of her and wishing her well! Love you Baki! :)