This week, Maya has been doing and saying so many new things, I'm just in awe of this brilliant little person that is our daughter. I've even been getting a little teary-eyed on my way to work in the mornings, thinking of how far she's come and how accomplished she is at the teeny little age of 18 months.

Last night, for example, at the dinner table, Maya very matter-of-factly grasped her fork and started scooping up couscous with it and gracefully brought the couscous to her mouth as if she'd been doing that for years. I could not help but bust out a big grin and some praise for her, and she just looked at me like, "What? We're all civilized human beings here. We use utensils. Carry on, Mom. Your couscous is getting cold."

Secondly, this morning I walked into Maya's room to get her, and I had some diapers in my hands, and Maya clear as a bell announced, "Diapers! Diapers!" I was surprised and delighted because it's not as if we'd been trying to teach her the word "diaper." It's one she just absorbed and picked up on her own, apparently, and she said it back to me for the first time this morning.

Finally, as I was lifting her out of her crib this morning to change her diaper and generally get going with our day, Maya urgently said, "Doggie! Doggie!" So I grabbed her stuffed bulldog out of her crib and gave it to her, and she gave it a hug and kiss. Then, she returned it to me, saying "thank you!" And I realized, Wow, she just wanted to give her doggie a little love before leaving him for the day. That's a really human, sweet thing to do. It really floored me.

It's funny how we all have a general idea of how babies grow into children and how children grow into adults, but the thrill of watching that development in person, in your own home, is really unequalled, I think.

Maya is a little songbird. It's getting to the point now where I can figure out what songs they're teaching her at daycare by the little bits she sings at home. For instance, yesterday Maya spontaneously cupped one hand over the other, swung her arms back and forth, and sang, "baby bumbabee..." which I instantly recognized as that "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee" song! So I said, "Oh, Mama knows that one too, Maya!" and I started singing it, which got her very excited, and the rest of the day, Maya would catch my eye and start singing, "baby bumbabee..." to get me to join in. She loves the part that goes, "Ow! He stung me!" She also sings bits of that Skidamarink song ("Skidamarink-a-dink-a-dink, skidamarink-a-doo. I love you!"), Twinkle Twinkle, and Itsy-Bitsy Spider. The really impressive thing is that when she sings her little bits of these songs, she's almost pitch-perfect. It really astounds Seth and me.
From what I can tell and what the teachers at St. Michael's tell me, Maya loooooooves music and singing. And when she does her little dances, it's very, very adorable.
I have to admit something: I love kids' songs. I mean, not the stupid ones, like the Barney theme song, but the good ones and the classics. Half the time when I play kids' songs for Maya, I'm actually doing it for my own enjoyment. Hee hee.
Maya is also running now. Hoo-boy. She recently spent about ten minutes tearing up and down the aisles of Borders book store, making somewhat loud "woo!" noises as she ran. She also does this thing that resembles the beginning of a somersault: She bends at the waist and peeks between her legs, with her head upside-down.
Oh! I nearly forgot to mention her most-funny new vocab addition: "Yeah." She'll say it while vigorously nodding her head. An example:
Me: "Maya, would you like a cookie?"
Maya: "Yeah!" (nods enthusiastically)

On the flip side, Maya throws brief, mini-tantrums when she's hellbent against doing something. She bends into a backward "C" shape and cries angrily. The good news is that these episodes don't last long. She can be distracted out of them.