Conversations with Maisie

Maisie has become quite the little chatterbox lately. I know it happened gradually, but it seems like all of a sudden, she went from a really basic, small vocabulary to talking about everything! all the time! I don't think she has much in the way of an inner monologue, because she narrates everything - every car trip she spends talking to herself about the cars, the street signs, the trees, the water, the buildings, and the people she sees out the window. Following are a few illustrated examples of some of her recent topics of conversation.


"You help me, Daddy!"
As independent as Maisie is, she can also - usually, sometimes - recognize her limits, especially on playground equipment that is designed for bigger kids. This was at Powderhorn Park on Memorial Day weekend. She tried to make it up the ladder herself, and got most of the way before telling Aaron to help her. It's reassuring that, even as fearless as she is, she knows that she has some limits!


"I need SPACE."
Sometimes Maisie gets overwhelmed and need a little room. She used to push whoever was crowding her and say "You go 'way! Leave me alone!" But this was resulting in some hurt feelings. So instead we taught her to ask for some space, and to walk away when she needs it. Here, she needed some space from Grandma and Dylan. It's pretty effective, and hopefully something that will serve her in the long run... after all, everyone needs some space from time to time.


"I no eat chicken. I only eat french fries."
Somewhat self-explanatory! This is from dinner tonight - it was a long, hot day and we were all tired, so Maisie and I went to get takeout from Holy Land deli at Midtown Global Market. It didn't get taken out too far, though, before Maisie decided she wanted to eat right then, instead of waiting until we got all the way home (12 blocks!). Despite her assertions to the contrary she did eat all the chicken, as well as almost all the fries. She ate such a good supper that she got some ice cream for dessert, which leads us to the next picture...


"My face all dirty!"
"My seat STICKY."
"I like ice cream! I like choc-a-leet!"
Again, fairly self-explanatory... but yeah. Wow. It's kind of amazing, just how big of a mess she can make with a single-scoop ice cream cone. This kid's got talent!

The marker on her arms, by the way, is her "tattoos." The orange that you can see is "a big monster, RAWR!!" There's green on her other arm that isn't visible in this picture, that is stars.

And finally...

"Baby Ella in my mommy tummy!"
36 weeks down, 3 to go! Barring any early arrival - which seems unlikely, given that Maisie hung in there for 41+ weeks, Saturday, June 20 is our c section date. We're all looking forward to it - me most of all!