Maya is one month shy of two-and-a-half! I hadn't realized this until the other day, when Seth told someone Maya was two-and-a-half, and I said, "What? No she isn't," and then I did my math, and wouldn't you know it, Seth was (almost) right!
I would say the most remarkable of Maya's qualities right now are her incredible, elephant-like memory, and her continued verbal development. Oh! And her new-found love of 'nastics (gymnastics).
First, the memory. I won't bore you with dozens of examples of Maya's looooong memory, but suffice it to say that she takes after her Grandma Watson (Hi, Mom!) in this department. Maya is STILL talking about the rides at Hoffman's Playland in New York, where she went for one day two months ago. She also continues to point to the Hacienda Hotel whenever we drive by it and say, "We go swimming with Grandma and Pop-Pop there." Grandma and Pop-Pop were last seen at the Hacienda in April.
As for the verbal development, I would say building her vocabulary is Maya's number-one strength. (This is probably tied to her good memory, now that I think about it.) The kid often talks like an adult---albeit an impatient, petulant, demanding adult. She can narrate whatever's going on ("The light is red, so we're stopping"), ask questions ("Mommy, are you sad?"), and boss us all around ("No, Toonces! Don't sniff my foot!")
It's neat how Maya's discovery of the joy of jumping, swinging, and climbing has corresponded with the Summer Olympics. As a result, she's really taken to the "girl's nastics," (or "girls swinging"), and starts shouting, "I want to do it!" when we watch it together on TV. She's always looking for something to hang and swing from: kitchen tables, railings, countertops. Next time I get the opportunity I might guide her toward hanging upside-down from her legs (with me holding on to her, of course). She almost did that this morning from a railing outside of her school---she swung so high from it that her toes almost touched it.
In a moment of poor parental judgment recently, we tried having Seth teach Maya a somersault in the living room. (I've really been wanting to teach her this myself, but then reluctantly thought better of it, being 7.5 months' pregnant and all.) Anyway, it turns out Seth is not a gifted tumbler. He basically flailed around the living room, rolling over at strange, scary angles and knocking books off of shelves with his feet. Maya actually cried, which, truth be told, was sort of funny. I'm bummed, though, because I'm just itching to teach Maya a somersault myself. I know she can do it with the PROPER instruction.
:-)
But I probably shouldn't attempt that in my condition, right? Or would a quick forward roll be OK? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion...