Last weekend, I went to the home birth conference in New Castle and was so pleased to hear Ina May Gaskin speak along with some other wonderful women. It was excellent and I hope that somehow, the maternity system can get better for women.
I am really enjoying Kiran and Maia. Kiran is making some amazing changes and we can't get over how much he is able to express as well as his sense of humor. His enunciation is extraordinary and comparable to what Maia was saying at his age except I think Maia was able to say just a bit more. He points and repeats everything. Today, we were outside of Maia's school and he was pointing and saying, "Toothbrush." And I looked and corrected him and said, "Bottlebrush tree." He made a joke with Carmen this weekend and he learned to say Melbourne when she asked him, "Where does Uncle Mike live?" He would say, "Melbourne," but then as a joke started to say, "Elmo." Instead of "No" he likes to say, "No, way." And yesterday, he brought me a bottle of nail polish remover and said, "Poison." (Obviously, it was good he knew to bring it to me, but we need to do a check of the house and make sure all is up away and safe as he tried to shave his face the other day with a real disposable razor and cut his cheek and upper lip. Obviously, he has been watching David.) One of the cutest things he has done is on a few occasions since we moved house, he would wake up and want milk and when latched on, he requests, "Belinda," and when I start telling the story about Belinda the fairy in the magical wood, "There once was a fairy named Belinda, who lived in the magical wood...." He gets off my breast and says, "Dog," as he wants a story with Belinda and a dog and then after I finish the story, he says, "Another." He certainly can get his point across. Recently, he has been saying, "I did it!" when he does something. He also really spontaneouly like to sing a Hindu chant, "Om Gam..." and he will so when we are out shopping or wherever, whenever. It is his favourite melody. He sure is very determined and if he does not get what he wants, he will just scream at full volume and today he got very angry at me and screamed at me when I did not let him go into my bedroom. I love watching him grown and even his attitude is endearing. He is a real delight to have around and now that I know how quickly they change and how he will grow up before I know it, I am trying to savor every minute.
Now on to my sweet girl Maia. You couldnt' ask for a better bigger sister. She has her moments and when she does, Kiran just repeats exactly what she does. Like the other day, there was a rare instance of her acting out and she threw something at Kiran when she did not want to share the people in her doll house. (She had been in school all day and probably just needed some time for herself.) So what to Kiran do, followed what she did and started throwing everything out of the house and around him. She and I have these moments when we just look at each other and smile at how cute Kiran is and she will say, "He is really cute, isn't he?" It is lovely to see the two of them together playing and I realize how nice it is for a child to have a sibling so that they can relate to one another. I really feel sorry for only children as you don't realize what you are failing to give them until you have a second and see the beauty of having two kids. Maia is changing and I don't quite know how to articulate clearly how she is speaking differently, as with Kiran he is just learning to talk and what he is doing is so obvious, but with Maia, she just sounds like an older child in the way she is expressing herself so clearly. She is a really independent little person and loves to do things by herself. Things are changing for her as she is really participating more and more at pre-school and enjoying her time with the children. She now names friends that she likes to be around and she participates in more group activities like music. Her teacher Kay was so touched to see her getting involved in the music lessons at school that her eyes welled up with tears. Maia used to just sit outside the circle and observe, but she is now starting to have fun playing the instruments and more comfortable with getting in front of other kids in the classroom. One day she pretended with some other girls that she was a cloud covering up the sun. She would have never done that a year ago.
Maia really enjoys music and art. She will take the guitar and strum it and sing a song, rather pelt it out in full volume with all her heart and soul. She is excellent at drawing and loves to make presents for all of us. When we are walking down the street and wherever, she will want to pick the flowers and now it is spring, it is the perfect time for her to enjoy finding flowers. I really love Maia. She and I enjoy doing things together when I am not busy running around the house. The other day we made playdough and she has such great enthusiasm for helping me and mixing everything up. She designed some beautiful cookies yesterday from the playdough and now she does not want to form them back into a ball to make something else. I am busy trying to plan her birthday party and really looking forward to celebrating her special day with all our friends.
Big hug to you my sweet little people. I can't wait until we are totally settled in here so we can start to just focus on enjoying day to day normal stuff instead of moving and unpacking.
I love you both with all my heart. xo Momma
