Maya is growing up quickly!

Maya is turning one this Sunday! And my what changes she has gone through in the past year, and even the past month! She is on the verge of walking unassisted, and her spoken vocabulary consists of Moma, Dada, some attempt at a "B" sound both for "ball" and "bubbles" and a tongue-clicking sound to call her cats. Non-verbally, she uses signs to say no (shakes her head, actually), sign to indicate "all done" for meals and also to indicate "more" for food. She accassionally gives open-mouthed "kisses," primarily to a doll, but sometimes to Victoria and once to me.

She still loves baths and water in general. She understands quite a bit, and when I tell her it is bathtime she crawls over to the bathroom and stands trying to climb into the bathtub. She loves music, and often bops her head, headbanger-style to the music, or claps along. She does clap very well, and also has fun "giving fives!"

On the negative side, she can be a bit of a brute, and has the strength to back it up. She can fling food/objects quite hard during dinnertime and will shove your hand or any object away when she is frustrated. She is becoming a very "antsy" child who hates to sit still or wait for anything, especially food. On the other hand she still sleeps well, which is a real blessing.

Maya also is quite capable physically. She watches how a cap is applied to a container and will try it again and again until she is satisfied she knows how to do it. She yanks things off of shelves, but will also spend time putting objects into shelves/bokes/containers. She can turn electronic devices on and off, and is becoming almost as good as Victoria and I at working the TV remote. Oh yes, and Maya is making her first attempts at scribbling with crayons - she uses her left hand for the most part and needs to learn to hold the crayon vertically instead of horizontally for more success, but she is trying!

She and Brianna still adore each other, and Brianna is quite protective. We think Brianna is quite an active handful, but Maya is becoming much worse. She needs lots of physical motion to be happy and quickly bores if sitting still. In the bath she is becoming a splasher. She loves to grab at mouths and noses, but is quite gentle with animals and other babies, such as her cousin Jake, below:

Maya and Brianna also went to visit Grandpa Davis and Donna in Florida last week. Maya developed another sinus infection down there, but they both had a blast in the warm weather, playing with the dog, "Pooh Bear" (Grandpa's yellow labrador retriever) and visiting the beach. Maya had one small fright when a larger wave washed over her while playing at the water's edge, but she recovered quickly.

The sinus infection persists, however and she is visiting the doctor today. Her breathing has been better though, and her checkup with a cardiologist revealed a PFO that appears closed and her PDA to still be present and large enough to warrant closing. She is scheduled to have a catheter put up her leg, Dick Cheney-style, to close the PDA on April 21.

So that's it for now. More pictures and news as the kids feed it to me!