39 months.

maya @ 39 months :: feburary 4, 2009

• beginning of the month :: adjusting to preschool life. i can't say she wants to go (she's happy on the weekends when we tell her it's not a school day) but she goes without resisting ... most days.
• end of the month :: very rarely complains about going to school, and even asks to go on the weekend. even if she does wake up complaining about going to school, by the time i've gotten dressed for work she wants to get dressed and go to school too. she likes to get her hair done by her teacher, who does a much better job than i do. i've also gotten compliments on her behavior and how she's so good at cleaning up without being told. i did not know who the teachers were talking about. it worries me slightly that when i go to pick her up she often has to hug one of the boys from the 4-year-old class.
• her potty training is coming along; most days she doesn't have an accident. some nights she doesn't pee, other nights we change sheets totally bleery-eyed. but she still needs to learn how to use the right amount of toilet paper; sometimes she can't tear it off at the right place and ends up putting in a quarter of the roll of TP into the toilet!
• had a great time when her auntie L babysat while rupert + i went out for a few hours with our friends.
• loves to color. i made the mistake of complimenting her on how well she stays in the lines and now she gets a little upset when she doesn't. hmm ... i wonder where she gets that ocd from?
• she's no longer allowed in ian's room; we keep finding her in there raiding ian's sticker stash and also cutting them up with scissors on occasion.
• learning to clean up her room on her own a tiny bit better.
• her abc's are coming along but counting is still a challenge. she seems to always skip "3," even though she's three years old. when she does remember "3" she seems to forget all of the numbers that come after it.
• she's embracing "real" shoes (i.e., not crocs) and cute, colorful socks.
• she won't sit long enough to watch more than 10 minutes of her brother's basketball games, which means i don't get to watch more than 10 minutes of ian's games.
• she is quite the little charmer :: she got complete strangers to read her a book in the children's section of barnes & noble.
• grammar is not her strong point :: we hear a lot of "i is bossy!" and "i is rude!" around here.
• her favorite snack is dried mangoes from TJ's.
• her version of "are we there yet?" is "are we home now?"
• when we walk to school i noticed that she jumps over the cracks in the sidewalk. i'm grateful she does not want to break my back.
• her favorite movie characters :: tai lung and darth vader. and who does she want to be when she grows up? darth vader, of course. why? because "he fights and he's strong." zhoo-oom, zhoo-oom (my feeble attempt at making lightsaber sounds)!
• she calls pony tails "pony ride"
• her uncooperative conversational skills have already begun :: "what did you do at school today?" "i don't know."
• her favorite colors are pink and purple (no surprise). she often colors entire coloring pages purple or pink.
• we are seriously getting worried about what kind of teenager she's going to grow up to be. at the rate she's going we'll have a delinquent on our hands. just the other day i had to scold her because she colored all over her stool and the coffee table. i told her if she did it again i would take her crayons away. sure enough, the next day, i'm walking past her room and she tries to slam the door in my face, a sure sign she's up to no good. i go in and she's colored all over her floor. i tell her i'm very upset with her and take away her crayons. she starts to cry and claims she's tired so she wants to take a nap. fine. i leave her in her room, but notice sometime later that she's in the bathroom, washing her hands. for a long time. i yell towards the bathroom (why get up when you can yell?) to turn the water off. she yells back that she's still washing her hands. i go in and she's vigorously scrubbing her hands. wouldn't you know, if i take away her crayons but leave a ballpoint pen in her room she'll use that to write all over her hands. clearly, my fault. i take away the pen and go to assess the damage in her room. that's when i notice she's peed her pants. i guess the running water made her go. but she was too busy trying to scrub away the evidence of her actions to stop and use the toilet. needless to say i was not a happy camper that day.
• speaking of pee, i have to keep reminding her to "pee down" (i.e., sort of lower her behind into the toilet) or else her shi-shi shoots out of the toilet ... on to me.
• she's actually attempting to write her name by herself (see scribbles on picture above). she's also beginning to draw faces. she can also spell her name. i'm thrilled that school is really helping her academically; it's more than i managed to accomplish in three years. she's showing much more interest in letters and reading :: she points out letters while we're driving along and asks how to read words. when she wants to be read to but we can't at the moment and tell her to look at the book by herself, she always says, "i don't know words!"
• she randomly likes to say, "mama, i love you" or "mama, i like you," which is nice and all, but i can't help but feel she's practicing for, "mama, i love you ... can i [insert ridiculous request here]?"
• she can "sing" the imperial march from star wars.
• one of her favorite books is chicka chicka boom boom.
• when we do go to ian's basketball games she likes to hang out outside and do defensive sliding drills.

a new chapter in maya's life

the day has finally arrived :: maya started school this week. last friday night i was kind of a mess, worrying about how she'd do.

day 1 :: ian + i dropped her off at school

it figures she would pee just as we arrive to pick her up!

day 2 :: ian + rupert were going to take her to school since rupert doesn't go onto campus on tuesdays this quarter. when he mentioned she'd be going to school, she slapped her forehead and said, "a-gain?" rupert worried for a second that she was already starting with the "i don't wanna go to school" routine, but when he explained to her that we all now go to school each day, she easily agreed, "okay, let's go!"

day 4 :: the crying begins. i miss it because i have to be at work a bit early on thursdays. i'll let rupert's email to me later in the day describe what happened.

After you left Maya went on-and-off crying about not wanting to go to school. The compromise was that we took Ian to school first and then I took her to school. Another thing that helped calm her was that I let her wear a pull-up instead of underwear, and I didn't make her wear socks. I tried to avoid any "you have to [wear underwear, wear socks, etc.] to go to school" statements. [rupert got in trouble with the director for letting maya wear the pull-up -- the kids have to be completely potty-trained to go to this preschool.]

Oh, and I printed out a few pictures of the family for her to take to school.

By the time we actually go to her school she was in a better mood. She started getting sad when I first tried to say goodbye and then she took me to the bathroom. She went to the bathroom just fine, although the toilet does flush before she can wipe and get the toilet paper in.

When I tried to say goodbye for the second time I gave her the family pictures to hold. Then one of the other girls came over to look at what she had and Maya was like, "This is my brother. This is my mama." It was cute and I was able to leave.

So I think she's fine. Although I get the feeling she misses dropping Ian off at school. All the girls were there playing with her and I think that's what cheered her up. Dropping Ian off at school was probably the thing she looked forward to the most each day and now that she goes to school we took that away. So I'm thinking that maybe on Tuesdays and Fridays we can take Ian to school first and then take Maya to school.

38 months.

maya @ 38 months :: january 4, 2009

• two of her new favorite sayings, both of which we are trying to expel from her vocabulary :: yada (no, i don't want to, uh-uh in japanese) + dumdum (from lovely spongebob square pants)
• her potty training is regressing a bit. when she's distracted with playtime or eating she just goes.
• trial day at preschool went fairly well, but we were there so i'm not sure how it will go on her actual first day. she, of course, hogged the sink before snack time, just leisurely rinsing her hands while all the other kids waited patiently. she also cut in line to wash her hands. i'm also concerned that she's not going to pull up her pants very well (she tries to pull up her panties and pants at the same time, and then her panties get all bunched up). i'm also worried that her jap-lish (japanese-english) will confuse the teachers. well, there's lots to worry about but there's no sense in getting too worked up until actual problems arise, i guess.
• still confused about hanukkah :: she wanted to blow out the menorah candles and she was really much more about the ho-ho-ho (i.e., santa).
• she likes to go on trike rides around the block with rupert.
• when you come into our house you are basically entering whiny-town. the whining has gotten worse lately; or maybe it's because we've all been home lately and we're getting on each other's nerves.
• her favorite new dessert :: one marshmallow after dinner
• she seemed to like the smurfs and the gummi bears cartoons, both rented from netflix
• she's taken a great liking to ian's new stuffed penguin, fluffy. there have been some tiffs about who gets to sleep with fluffy each night ("ian not need to sleep with fluffy!"), but ian has been very generous in allowing maya to play with fluffy ... as long as she doesn't hide fluffy in the kitchen cabinet again.

happy new year!

i can't decide whether a new year's resolution is necessary this year. did i have one last year? let me see ... it appears i did have something like a resolution. huh, fancy that; i didn't even remember. instead of a traditional resolution, i chose a word to guide my actions :: do.

i'm usually satisfied with good enough so i have to say i did a better-than-good-enough job with this one. instead of sitting on my butt, i got active and lost weight. instead of putting it off, i signed up and completed two 5k races. instead of taking a back seat, i actively participated in more pta activities. instead of just thinking about it, i went out and got a job (granted that happened 12 months into the year, but hey, it happened).

so, what to do about 2009?

if i were to choose another word, moderation comes to mind. in many aspects i have an obsessive compulsive sort of personality. when i get into something, i really get into it. then i often drop it like a hot potato. (which explains the many half-finished craft projects and over-abundance of craft supplies.) my lack of self-control also accounts for the countless hours i spend surfing the internet, getting overwhelmed with too many obligations, and my very loose purse strings.

i would definitely like to work on showing some restraint in all aspects of my life ::

1. saying "no" every once in awhile;
2. not getting sucked into surfing the internet/reading/video gaming/etc. for hours on end (maybe i should use a timer to limit each activity?);
3. no more aimless shopping trips to michaels, joann, target, or the bookstore;
4. getting more sleep; and most importantly,
5. making sure i find a good balance between work, family, friends, and personal needs (aren't all moms looking for this balance?)

lofty goals, these are, but i'm up to the challenge. i'm feeling uncharacteristically optimistic (and partially in denial of my inherently lazy personality)!

one other very important thing to work on this year ... being a better laundress. i must complete the entire cycle of laundering (wash, fold, put away) in a more timely manner. well, okay, it's not just the laundry i need to work on; i probably should be a better housekeeper in general. (i am reminded of this -- once again -- as rupert is moving unfolded laundry from the bed back to the living room so we can actually sleep in our bed and he's getting the dishwasher ready to run ... as i'm sitting on the couch blogging.)

so, dear reader, i ask you :: do you have any interesting goals, resolutions, or ambitions for 2009?