Knowing where your food comes from

For the last week or so Maya has been going outside with Haim each morning and collecting the egg that has been laid that morning. (Only 1 chicken is currently laying) This morning I took her outside to collect the egg and on our way in, egg in hand, she waved at the chickens and said "Thank you chickens."

It makes me feel really wonderful that not only does Maya know where her morning egg comes from (we bring it inside to immediately cook and eat for her breakfast), but that she also knows to express genuine gratitude for those providing her food.

Thank you chickens!

Eggs!

Yesterday I went open the coop to let the girls out in the morning and I found 2 eggs inside. Maya ate both of them and pronounced them "yummy"

Also, of interest regarding "the girls"...last night Maya woke around 4am and was feeling restless...she kept walking to the window. Finally, I heard the chickens making a bit too much noise, so Maya and I went out to investigate.
A baby possum was on the roof! We made sure that the coop was secure, and that there was no mommy possum inside and went back to bed. This morning the "mouse" was gone...but there was another egg waiting for us!

Going with the flow...of a toddler

Today around 10 a friend called to invite Maya and I to join her and her girls at the park around 11. I was looking forward to seeing her, and Maya always enjoys her kids. We finished eating breakfast and I encouraged Maya to choose some clothing...she pulled it all out of the drawer (I stopped folding her stuff about a month ago so that I'm not bothered when she tosses it all out) and announced she needed to count it first. I encouraged her to choose once again, and when she ignored me i took a deep breath and laid down in bed to just hang out and watch her count her clothing...what is the point of fighting to go to the park after all?

I dozed off for a couple of minutes and when I awoke, I again asked Maya if she wanted to get dressed and meet her friends at the park. Again, the answer was an unequivocal no. At this point about 1 hour had elapsed, and I called my friend to cancel. She was running late and said she'd call as she was heading out just in case.

About 10 minutes later, Maya handed me some clothing and said she was ready to go...several minutes after that, as we were getting ready to leave, Beth called to say that they were leaving the house.

The end result of the whole process was that Maya and I had a relaxed, conflict free morning, and got to enjoy the park. In an alternate universe...we would have fought while I dressed her, she would have been mad about being forced to go to the park, I would have been stressed, and we would have then ended up waiting an hour for our friends who were running late. So much better to enjoy the agenda and joy of my child whenever possible!

Mango season!

I want to be Karlee when I grow up

Today we went to Karlee's house to play, and Maya got to play dress-up all morning

Visit to the Seaquarium

Artistic expression strikes again...