Maya started Montessori school this past summer. She’s in a class with kids ranging in age from 3 to 6 years old. I don’t really know how early children form friendships, but Maya has been indifferent to interacting with other children. She loves grown-ups and is excited when we have people over for dinner or whatever. But kids her own age, as far as we can tell, have been of little interest to her. Given this, we weren’t sure whether to try to have a kid-focused birthday party this year or default to our buy food and beer, bake a cake, and invite our friends to the house approach. We finally decided we’d try it out. If nothing else, it would give her a chance to interact with kids outside of school.
Birthday girl!
Lolli and Pop came over to Texas, and we had a little family dinner on the actual day of Maya’s birthday. Anna, Lolli and Pop, and all of us held down a big table at Louisiana Longhorn and let Maya have all the fried seafood she felt like eating (which was apparently very little, since she was so enamored with the fried pickles). She and Ian even left with a few strings of beads, much to their delight.
The next day, we had Maya’s actual party at Jump USA and invited her classmates and some of her friends to join us. It worked out well. Maya and the other kids got to run and jump and expend their energy. Then we all hung out in a little set-aside area and opened gifts and ate cake.
Party at Jump
Maya had two cakes this year. The first, per her specifications, was chocolate, icing-free, and had an octopus on it. The second, which we took to her party, was a yellow cake that I coated in blue icing. We bought some pre-made sugar decorations so that Maya could help me pretty up the cake, which she enjoyed. There were some Finding Dory candles on there as well because of course Maya loves Hank the octopus.
Decorating her party cake
Speaking of our favorite cephalopod … I asked Maya what she wanted for dinner after her party and she immediately shouted “Octopus!” She’s eaten it really well in the past, so we figured we’d go for it. It would be fun to share some with Lolli and Pop too. The ones we’ve cooked in the past have all been small, less than a pound a piece. Sean bought a relative giant this time: one octopus who weighed about three pounds, even without innards or a couple of his tentacles. I prepped it the way I have in the past and it turns out, I think I like the larger ones even better. If cooked properly, octopus is firm, but not rubbery. There was more meaty flavor to enjoy with the larger tentacles. Sadly, Maya has turned a corner on culinary octopus love. She didn’t have more than a bite or two before she gave up on it.
The only rough spot was that Maya had been battling yet another illness for a few days leading up to her birthday. She wasn’t really sick enough to stay home, but wasn’t quite well either. I think her party kind of pushed her over the edge. She was hacking a blue streak by the end of the night and was clearly run-down.
Ian, for his part, enjoyed Maya’s birthday very much. He had so much fun that for the next month, we regularly fielded questions about when he would have his own “happy birthday.”
Maya – age 4, Hank – age ~12 weeks
Our house has suffered heavy feline losses this past year. We thought it might be time for Maya to have a pet of her own. We discussed a fish tank given her love of sea creatures, but figured she’d lose interest since they don’t interact. Ditto for hermit crabs. We considered gerbils but had read that Maya’s age group isn’t as gentle as they’d need to be with something that small. Guinea pigs would be better, but they really need to be bought in pairs, and they’d need to be in a large cage that would require daily cleaning. It all got to sound like too much of an ordeal. Ultimately, since we’re already set up for them, we decided a cat would be the way to go. It just so happened that someone had brought several abandoned kittens into our vet’s office. Sean found one that was particularly affectionate and after a bit of discussion, that’s who came home with us. Maya named her new kitty Hank, and the two of them are most definitely friends.
Hank is a putty-colored short-haired cat who has a giant purr and a very sweet disposition. He’s a little skittish if you come up on him in a hallway, but if you’re safely sitting down, he won’t hesitate to make himself comfortable in your lap. The kids both love how silly and playful he is. Maya erupts in peals of perfect giggles whenever Hank attacks our feet, her toys, or his own tail. The only one who’s met Hank and not fallen in love is Pumpkin. She was content to be the only feline member of our household and would frankly rather be snoozing than dealing with a kitten.
Since her birthday, Maya has found all sorts of things that her four-year-old self can do now. “I can reach this now, because I’m four.” It has mostly worked in our favor, but she of course still decides when her age is relevant and when it’s not.
Maya and Lolli
She’s a very tall girl, and true to her genetics, she’s thinning out as she lengthens. She wears size 5 and 6 clothes. Thinking I was clever, I bought some sale size 5 things for her last fall to save for our lengthy spring-summer-fall warm spell this year, but she’s stretching out at such a rapid clip, they may not even fit her when spring rolls around.
Maya’s current interests run the gamut from art projects, to collecting leaves, sticks, snail shells, and acorns in the front yard. We are also collecting bottle caps to turn into a fish craft later on. She likes Finding Dory and Shopkins and Paw Patrol. She watches Creative Galaxy, Tumble Leaf, and Stinky and Dirty on Amazon. She’s been learning how to use a scissors and also helps me out in the kitchen by cutting things with a butter knife. I have made her some sight-word cards because she knows all her letters and their sounds and expresses interest in learning to read. It ruins me a little the speed at which she is growing and maturing. I can feel myself shutting down when people make jokes about how soon she’ll be driving or going off to college. For now I’m content to revel in silly poop jokes and the fact that she thinks of a snail shell as “treasure.”
