Maya is a (very young) woman who knows what she wants. And what she wants is Sesame Street. And a soft pretzel from Target. And to be put down. And some water. And some cheese. And her shoes. And to see the baby upstairs. And Dada. She is in the alternately annoying and endearing toddler habit of repeating the names of things she wants all day, every day. "Elmo. Pretzel. Down. Wa-wa. Geeze. Shoes. Baby. Dada." Offer Maya something she does not want, and she will emphatically bat it out of your hand and insist, "No! No! Noooo!"

One one hand, it's really wonderful to be communicating back and forth with our little bug. On the other hand, we are forced to disappoint her, all day long, by telling her she can't have what she wants. For instance, I can't produce a Target soft pretzel right here in our living room. I'm not going to play three hours of Sesame Street for Maya on the television. It is physically impossible to go see the baby upstairs this week, because that baby is in Florida with her parents. Poor Maya. She's constantly being let down!

It kind of makes me realize how luxurious it is to be an adult, able to act on most of my wants and needs, or at least console myself when I know I can't have them. I'm not forever relying on someone else to decide whether I can or can't get what I want. If I crave a tasty chunk of extra-sharp cheddar, well then, I'll just walk myself to the fridge and get one. And even if I know I can't have Target's cinnamon-sugar pretzel right at this very moment, I can reassure myself that I will buy one next time I'm there.

Anyway, despite my little groans and gripes about Maya's typical toddler behavior, I actually really love the toddler stage so far. It's so much fun and so rewarding watching my little baby grow into an actual---if small---person. She's trying to take an active role in her own life, just as she should be, and she's getting understandably irritated when her attempts are thwarted. Good for her! And really, it's nearly impossible for me to get too mad at someone in golden-blond pigtails.

We just never know what Maya will say or do next! This morning, for instance, when her toast popped out of the toaster, she shouted, "Toast!" She's also just learned to go down the playground slide by herself. And she's discovered how to walk backward and spin around in circles. (I remember spinning around in circles as a kid. I'd spin spin spin as fast as I could, then lie down on the floor and savor the ensuing dizziness. Thinking about that now makes me slightly nauseated.)

Maya can do some of the hand gestures for the itsy-bitsy spider song, and she loves to play "Where's Maya?" She's a master imitator, too. She'll roam the apartment calling "Maya! Mayyyya!" in the same tone of voice I do. And she's taken to saying, "I know, I know," which is what I say when she's crying for a legitimate reason and I'm trying to soothe her. I realize we are rapidly approaching the time in Maya's life when we must all change our "shits" to "shoots" and our "asses" to "butts" and our "damn its" to "darn its" when in her presence, because the next thing you know, Maya will repeat them back to us---or even worse, say them at her school.

I had been reading in one of my (many) parenting books that a kid Maya's age should "be able to build a tower of two blocks." I was concerned, because I'd never seen Maya do this. Granted, the few blocks she has are buried at the bottom of one of her toy boxes, so it's not like she gets an opportunity to tower-build all that often. But still, I'd never seen her really make a tower of anything---the act of placing one item on top of another wasn't something I'd witnessed her doing. I wasn't really worried, because I knew that if I were, I'd be Ridiculous Worrying Mother one-hundred times over. But it sort of bugged me. So, yesterday I pulled those blocks out of the toybox and showed Maya how to stack them. Wouldn't you know it, she stacked a tower of three, knocked them over with a toy drum stick, and moved on to bigger and better pursuits. I was satisfied and a bit ashamed of myself for being even the slightest bit concerned. I think Maya just isn't particularly interested right now in building things, which of course is perfectly fine. She's interested in music, climbing, walking, running, kissing things and people, petting animals, pouring water in her tub, and labeling ("Baby!" "Cheese!" "Dada!" "Elmo!"). Putting things together can wait!