This is one of those posts for me and my memory, so if toddler growth and development doesn’t thrill you (ha!), feel free to skip this post — I promise I won’t be offended!

Over the past month, Maya has changed so much and it’s hard to believe that in just two weeks, she will be TWO!

Spanish: The Spanish words are coming fast and furious and now she knows which animals make which sounds in Spanish (vaca says “moo,” caballo says “neigh,” gato says “meow,” pato says “quack quack.” She is still preferring some words in Spanish — the most recent include “dia” (for sandia — aka watermelon), pollo (for chicken), papas (for French fries) and zapatos (shoes).

Memory: All of a sudden, she’s remembering things and answering us correctly a lot of the time. In El Salvador, we couldn’t bring all her toys, so Octopus and Nino-yaurs (as she pronounces “Dinosaur” — that one kills me!) didn’t make the trip. We asked her what color Octopus is and though she hadn’t seen him in a week, she answered “Pink.” And Dinosaur? “Bah-loo” (how she says “blue). To be honest, I was shocked she remembered. But children are little sponges. They are soaking up all this info from day one, waiting til they can express it. This is only the beginning.

We asked, “Who is your teacher at school?” “Key-tee” (Katie). “Who is your best friend?” “RiRi.” (Her nickname for her best friend). “Who is RiRi’s mommy?” “Belanie” (Melanie, one of my closest friends). “What did you eat for lunch?” “Pan. Pollo.” (Bread, chicken). “Did you eat pizza?” “No Maya eat PEE-ZZA!” “What color ice cream did you have?” “Pink.” “Who did we Skype with today?” “Mamama. Pop. LaLa.” (my mom, dad and sister).

And at Luis’s mom’s house, there was a statue with a white-haired, white-bearded man and she thought it was my dad. “Pop!” We showed him the statue on Skype and he was quite flattered 😉

Characters and Colors: She knows Goofy, Pluto, Daisy Duck, Minnie, Mickey, Elmo, Abby and Dora by name. She knows all her colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, purple, black, white — but can’t pronounce orange quite yet.

“Spelling” her name/knowing middle name: Maya isn’t a terribly hard name to spell and she has the letters of her name hanging in her room, so we’ve been practicing this. She sometimes skips the first “A” and will say, “M.Y.A.” but it’s close enough 😉 And she knows her middle name is “Gisella” but she pronounces it “Maya Ghee-lel-la!”

Simon Says: This is her new favorite game and has helped us avoid melt-downs in public. She might not always listen to Mommy or Daddy, but Simon? Well, she’s all ears for him! Simon does lots of fun things but most of all, Simon deflects potential drama!

Manners: For a long time she’s been using “Please” and “Thank you” but now she’s added “Excuse me,” to the repertoire as well as, “Help, please.” This last one, in particular, has been really beneficial when she gets frustrated trying to do something a little harder (like opening her toothpaste tube or buckling herself into her buggy), she can now ask for help. It’s been a godsend, especially on vacation when it isn’t always easy to figure out what she wants. Unfortunately, she’s also learned “Go away!” — which she uses toward Rocco quite a bit 😉 Oh and her “Bless You” is still the cutest ever. 😉

Stating her observations: For a couple months now she’s been stringing together two word sentences but now it’s not just with nouns. She’s got some verbs, too!

“Mommy talking Daddy.”
“Daddy get wa-wa.”
“Maya boo-boo KNEE.”
“People night-night.”
“Bear/Baby/Monkey sleepy.” or “No Maya SLEEPY.”
“People eating.”
“Mommy eat CAKE!” (she totally outed me!).
“Daddy eat POLLO!”
“Baby CRYING.”
“Maya watch Mickey (or movie)!”
“Maya eat ICE CREAM!”
“Maya runny runny/swimmy swimmy/jumpy jumpy!”
“Rocco scare Maya.”
“Read book.”
“Rocco TOOT!” (That’s my fault … I didn’t think she was listening and Rocco passed gas and well I said that, and it stuck!”
“Mommy pee pee in da pot-ty!” (today’s new phrase–longest yet).

Likes: “Coloring”, climbing, running, arranging alphabet letters, sorting things, organizing, putting things together, rocking her babies, reading books, eating everything and anything, Elmo and Mickey, milk, shoes (taking them off and putting them on), talking on the phone.

Potty-Training: We’re still just practicing each night before her bath with limited success (she has only peed four or five times now) and at school they put her on the potty a couple times a day … but she is telling us now when she is pooping, which is a big step in the right direction. We’re not rushing anything — just letting her guide things for now. But in her second year, we hope to have her successfully potty-trained and since she transitions to the 2-year old pre-school room on Monday, they’ll be working with her even more.

Physical Wrap-Up:
She’s still small for her age, short and with lots of delicious rolls 🙂 She still wears 18 or 18-24 month clothing and a size 5 shoe. We have her 2-year well-baby visit and we’ll see if she has gotten any bigger since her 18 month check-up. Last times she played on the scale she was 24 and 25 pounds so I’m guessing one of them is accurate?!

So in a nutshell, that’s months 22 and 23. Hard to believe she is almost two. Where has the time gone?!

One thing I know for sure: my love for her grows exponentially by the day. Motherhood is far from easy, but it’s pretty damn amazing.