Spring Break

Decorating Easter cookies

On the carousal.

Veterinarian Maya. Doesn't she look like a natural?

Climbing the spider web at the zoo.

It's Spring Break!

We're having a wonderful, relaxing week at home. On Sunday, Will took Maya to see Curious George Live and I took Guillermo to see How to Tame A Dragon (it was great!). On Monday, we stayed in our pjs until after noon, made Easter cookies and then went swimming. Tuesday was appointment day: Guillermo went to the dentist and to get his haircut. Will says it is absolutely rude of me to force my child to the dentist during spring break and that the only perk of going to the dentist is that you get to miss school. Guillermo didn't see to mind. And, he had been asking for a haircut for weeks now. We ended the day at a playground we rarely visit and had a great day.

We went to the zoo today. North Carolina has an incredible zoo and it is huge. We saw giraffes, zebras, lions, gorillas and chimpanzees and a polar bear. And, that's it. We skipped more than half of the zoo. Instead, Guillermo and Maya wanted to play at the Kid Zone (which is really cool) and the playground (fun, too), search for lunch and ice cream. It turns out, when I don't stress about all the animals we aren't seeing, the day is pretty fun!

That Looks Like Clothes to Me

Silly Maya

I came out of the shower and into my bedroom with a towel wrapped around me. Maya was sitting at the desk, glanced over and said:

"Throw that in the clothes thing (dresser) because that looks like clothes to me," she said. "I like that dress."

Two Kisses

I read to Guillermo's class today, but that's night why I'm writing. I'm writing because Guillermo gave me a kiss, at school, in front of his classmates and he didn't get grossed out.

Guillermo usually hates it when I try to give him a kiss, but he must have been in a good mood today. I was waiting in his classroom, ready to read a few books, when he and his classmates returned from gym class. Guillermo casually walked over to me, gave me a quick kiss on the lips and a hug and then sat down on the carpet.

After reading, I stayed to man the play dough station. Guillermo walked over, motioned that he was going to the computer station and then gave me another kiss, almost as if he were apologizing for not coming to play play dough.

I didn't press my luck tonight. Instead, I just gave him a good night hug. I think, though, that I'll volunteer in his class once a week from now on.

Soccer Ninjas

Guillermo has joined a new soccer league and a new soccer team. The best part is our neighbor is his coach.

Yesterday was his first practice and it went really well. There are seven kids on the team and they spend 75 minutes practicing and scrimmaging each other. At the end of the season, they'll go to a tournament, where they will play other kids in the area. I was told they'll even get trophies.

Guillermo hasn't wanted to play the past two seasons so I was happy he wanted to try again, or at least try something. He says it's because it will help him learn to kick harder for when he is a ninja.

His team name, appropriately then, is the TFC Soccer Ninjas.

Justin Rocks

Justin Roberts

Maya dancing at the concert.

I took Maya to see Justin Roberts' concert yesterday and she rocked out! She danced and danced and danced on carpet set up in front of the stage.

I try to never miss a Justin Roberts show. He is my favorite children's musician. The past few years I've taken Guillermo, but this year he decided to go to Robot Rumble at the Museum of Life and Science with Will. So I took Maya instead (you can't just go alone, without a kid. That's sort of creepy)

She wanted to sit on the carpet in front of the stage and she sat in my lap for a few songs first, but by the third she was on her feet and dancing. Well, it was more just jumping. She and several other girls jumped up and down over and over. Later, she did some twirling and swaying, but mostly she just jumped and jumped. She crashed in my lap for last song of the regular set and stayed there through the next two encores, but she kept smiling even as she fought to keep her eyes open.

I couldn't convince Maya that she needed to get her picture taken with Justin. But, we did pick up a new-to-us CD.

Maya's New Friend

Maya's teacher stopped me after school today with a smile on her face to offer a little warning that went something like this: "You might want to have a talk with Maya about what to do if she gets kissed at school."

It turns out Maya has become friends with a boy in her class. Good friends, apparently. I learned today that last week, Maya and the boy were sitting so close to each other during story time that their cheeks were touching. "It was really cute," the teacher said.

Today, they sat next to each other again, this time he had his arm around her and she had his arm around him and once again they were cheek to cheek. When Maya pulled away, her hair fell into her eyes and this boy gently brushed it out of her face.

Maya hasn't said much about her new story time friend except that he wanted her to ask me if he could come over for a playdate. I'd love it!

I'll Give You a Kiss

A recent sleep over.

Guillermo tried repeatedly to get Maya to play Star Wars with him this afternoon and she wasn't interested.

He asked and asked and then started switching it up.

"We can have free play."

"You can be anyone you want."

"I'll play it how you want."

She denied him each time. When he couldn't think of anything else, he threw this out there, too.

"I'll give you a kiss."

As tempting as it might have been, she said no once more. Poor guy. If he had asked me, I would have played, but only for a kiss.

When I grow up...

Maya really loves being 3. She likes it so much, in fact, that the other day she declared she wanted to skip her birthday because she didn't want to get any "high numbers." She wasn't keen on me skipping mine along with her because she really likes birthday cake and didn't want to miss out on her fair share.

But the other day she started talking about growing up and getting to the high numbers, as she calls them. And, tonight she followed up when she saw our teen-age neighbor. When Maya asked how I old I thought our neighbor was, I guessed 14 or 15.

"Fourteen? That's a really big number," Maya said.

"When you are 14, do you get to ride in the front of the car?" she asked.

"Yes, you get to ride in the front seat of the car," I answered.

"Someone told me that when you get 14 and taller than that you get to go to a really big gym!" she beamed.

Yes, I said, you can do that.

She thought for a bit.

"And you get to be in charge of your family. When Guillermo is 14, he gets to be in charge of the family, just like you and papa," she declared.

"Well, when Guillermo is an adult and has his own family, he can be in charge of his family and when you are an adult you can be in charge of your own family," I answered.

She thought a bit more, smiled big and then rocked an imaginary baby in her arms. And just as abruptly she dropped that imaginary baby and got back to work on painting her masterpiece on the driveway.

Math and Science Night

Last night, Guillermo, Maya and I made our own mancala games, created symmetrical shapes with toothpicks and marshmallows and created our own planets made of styrofoam and cds. We went to Math and Science Night at Guillermo's school. Stations were set up all around the school and each activity focused on math and science. They also panned for gold, made their own bubble wands, shot baskets and recorded their scores, measured how high they could jump and helped the school chart which area college team had the most support (UNC won, of course!). Guillermo says his favorite part was getting a prize at the end (a deck of subtraction flash cards) but my favorite was helping them make their planets. Guillermo calls his Lava Planet. Maya's is called Fire Planet.