Here's ten typical minutes with Maya these days:
"What doing, Mommy?"
"Mommy's putting on mascara, Maya."
"Ma-care-uh."
"Yes, mascara."
"What doing, Mommy?"
"Mommy's putting on mascara, Maya."
"What doing, Mommy?"
"Mommy is still putting on mascara, Maya."
(grabbing mascara tube) "Mine."
"No, Honey. The mascara is Mommy's." (takes it from Maya's hand)
"Mine!"
"No, it isn't. It's Mommy's. Thank you."
"What doing, Mommy?"
"Still applying my mascara, Maya."
"Where Daddy go?"
"Daddy's at work today. You'll see him later."
"Where Daddy go?"
"Like I said, Daddy's at work today. You'll see him later."
"What doing, Mommy?"

And the thing is, she will not be ignored! If I try to go a few seconds without responding to one of her queries, she repeats it again (and again), growing increasingly annoyed with me for not answering. I suspect this is because I got in the habit early on of always responding to her when she spoke, to encourage her to talk (ha!), so now she expects a response every time. Oops. Anyway, on days I'm home with her, I get physically exhausted from talking with her ALL DAY LONG. By the time Seth gets home, I just want to be silent for awhile. I'm not complaining---I love that Maya is becoming ever more verbal and communicative with each passing day. It's fun and amazing and helpful to our relationship. I'm just saying that it wears me out!

Lately Maya likes us to build tunnels for her. We make them out of living-room furniture and blankets. Of course, the time it takes to create a tunnel is about triple the time Maya actually plays in it, but still, for the period of time she's enjoying it, it's great fun to watch!

Maya's also really into putting caps onto their respective items. Examples: pen caps, toothpaste caps, water-bottle caps. Removing and replacing caps is a challenge she really focuses on. I like to see her so concentrated on a task like that. I try not to rush in and do it for her when she gets frustrated.