Maya's walking! Maya's walking!
Yesterday afternoon she trotted herself carefully from the hallway to the bathroom, where I was sitting on the toilet cheering her on excitedly. (Please don't picture that. Suffice it to say that motherhood means giving up your right to pee in peace and privacy.)
She did it a few more times that evening: four steps here, five steps there, always culminating in a soft little drop to the floor on her diapered butt. What's interesting is that she's actually much more graceful than I was anticipating. It's as if she's been taking her time, building up to walking slowly, not rushing it until she knows she can do it smoothly and with some precision. It reminds me of myself; I don't like to do things unless I know can do them well (which often results in procrastination, but let's get back to Maya, shall we?).
What surprised me was how excited I was to see this walking happen. I thought nothing could eclipse the thrill of hearing her say "bye-bye" for the first time. But I have to admit, this walking milestone is pretty awesome.
For now the walking is sporadic and brief---she still spends the huge majority of her time cruising, with some sprint-like crawling thrown in when she "needs" to get somewhere in a hurry. But I've heard that once a child takes her first few steps, things accelerate from there, and before you know it, she's walking around like a pro.
Other goings-on...
Maya's little-kid personality is taking shape. The girl could write a book on winning over strangers and blinding them with charm. When we're out at a restaurant, Maya will find a nearby dining patron and stare him down until he's forced to look at her. Then, she'll grin or chuckle, and her new friend will smile back, or say, "Well hi there, cutie!" or some such, and Maya will smile or squeal, and back and forth it will go for several minutes. It's as if she's playing the role of Perfect Happy Baby, and she deserves the Oscar, seriously. Last night at the pizza place she even won over a trio of self-absorbed 20-something dudes. She's a little spreader of joy, that one.
Now that, as far as we know, Maya's latest ear infection has cleared, we've resumed the dairy trial. Yesterday she had some cream cheese and a tiny bit of pizza cheese. Last night she woke up three times, crying. Hmm. We'll see how things go.

Cute Maya story: Earlier this week, Maya was cruising around the living room happily wreaking havoc and destruction at every turn, when she got it in her head to reeeeeeach clear over one of her toy boxes to play with the stereo buttons. She stretched that little body of hers and extended a finger, and, ta-da! Suddenly the Glengarry Bhoys CD started playing. Well, Maya was utterly delighted. She pulled herself upright, turned to look at us, and broke out in the widest grin of mischievous accomplishment I’ve ever seen. Seth and I couldn’t help but laugh. She then spent the next 15 minutes or so stopping and starting the CD. Mildly annoying, but funny just the same.

Maya does seem to enjoy music. Yesterday Seth arrived at daycare to find Maya thoroughly enjoying herself during “music time with Ms. Cami.” Seth said Maya was clapping and smiling as Ms. Cami sang some song about various animals. Seth also reported that Maya, “was not taking turns” touching Ms. Cami’s little animal finger puppets; in other words, Maya would touch the finger puppet, then touch it again, then again, and one more time, which was sort of blocking other kids from getting a turn. I immediately thought of that recent study about some daycare kids being less well-behaved upon entering elementary school. A-hem. I will, of course, hasten to teach Maya about taking turns once she’s old enough to understand.

We experienced a minor dietary victory recently when, after four or five days of trying, we got Maya to eat (and seemingly enjoy) pasta! I’m so glad, because it’s the pasta that’s enriched with protein, Omega-3s, etc., so it’s very hearty and nutritious. I cooked it with a simple marinara. The first several times I served it to her, she spit it out. So frustrating. But this week she changed her mind and pretty much scarfed it down. Hooray!

Have I mentioned that Maya can now sit and wave the cat wand around for Ndugu to play with? When I’m not worrying that she’ll poke her eyeball out with the wand (which, by the way, is about twice her body length), I quite enjoy witnessing Maya entertaining Ndugu in this way. The best part of it is the chuckling. Maya just chuckles away as spastic Ndugu leaps and contorts and generally goes bananas for the feather wand.

Things with Maya have been good, until this past weekend, when she quickly developed a really snotty nose and yet another double ear infection. She’s been extraordinarily cranky and teary for several days now, and I feel sad for her. She’s also teething, which is good news overall but adds to her discomfort. (I’m relieved to see more teeth are on the way, though! She’s still sporting just two pearly whites, and she’s now a year old!)

So, little My-My is on yet another round of antibiotics, and the pediatrician is pondering possible reasons for the recurrent infections and what to do about them. If Maya’s still getting infections regularly by the time summer rolls around, some sort of action needs to be taken. (I’m also concerned about the potential for speech delays, in the event that her persistent ear fluid is muffling her hearing.)

Yesterday we saw a new pediatric gastroenterologist, who seemed reasonable and friendly. He’s having us try out some dairy on Maya—a little bit of cheese and/or yogurt each night for two weeks. If that goes well and she does not vomit or show other signs of intolerance, then we graduate to little bits of whole milk here and there. Tonight will be Night 2 of this dairy test. Last night Maya had a few spoonfuls of yogurt and a bit of cheese, and she did not vomit, which was encouraging. I’m not going to get all excited just yet, though. It can take awhile for signs of allergy to present, so we’ll just take things day by day.

Moving on from health issues to more-enjoyable topics: Kacey and Terry recently visited us for several days, and they and Maya got along beautifully. It’s sort of challenging hosting guests while parenting a one-year-old baby, but we all managed and had a pleasant time. K and T were very understanding of Maya’s schedule. Highlights of K and T’s visit included being part of The Jimmy Kimmel Show’s studio audience; walking around Santa Monica and the Venice (CA) canals; hanging out chatting in the evenings; and strolling various beaches.

Maya is getting closer to walking on her own every day! This weekend I witnessed her take two unassisted steps before collapsing on the floor. She also gets a kick out of standing on her own and clapping at the same time—even in the bathtub, which is adorable yet very unsafe. Sigh. Maya reeeeeally loves the clapping, that’s for sure. As soon as I start singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” or “Patty Cake,” she jumps right in with the clapping. I love how something as simple as clapping brings Maya so much joy. It’s sweet. The best is when she claps AND bounces to music. She’ll even bounce to the choo-choo-train sound effects that one of her toys makes. Hee!