Three Big Changes

3 Big changes for Maiya...

(1) The first is that Thursday, 1/31 was Maiya's last day as a 2 year old, and her last day at Grace Iino, the child care program where she has been going since she was 9 months old. I was lucky that when I went back to work, I was able to nurse Maiya 4 times a day, and that she was in a program where I work, in a program I am working for. I was sad for her to leave because it has been a second home to her and she has really enjoyed being in the Toddler Plus program the last few months. As one of the oldest children, I have watched her grow into a confident, outgoing, bubbly young girl with a funny sense of humor. But, it was time for her to leave. On her last day, she was sad to say goodbye, and even went home sick early without really saying a good goodbye. Here she is on her last morning outside with one of her best friends Verenice.

(2) Yesterday was Maiya's 3rd Birthday party for our family. Even though we wanted to keep it small, we had 27 people over, including 7 kids. And we even had about 10 people cancel since they were sick. We ordered Ono's Hawaiian BBQ, Chinese Chicken salad from Feast from the East, and California Rolls from Asakuma. Tony spent about 3 hours cleaning the bathroom yesterday, and I started cleaning and decluttering back on Wednesday. Maiya was pretty excited. She could recite almost the entire guest list from memory, the day before the party. A few people asked me the theme: it was Maiya's Groovy Peace Party, complete with happy faces, peace signs, flowers and butterflies.

Maiya grinning with her Carrot Bundt Cake

I also made Rainbow Confetti Happy Face Cupcakes--
big hit with the under 7 crowd

Family Photo

With Cousin Danika and her cousins

With Tony's godmother Val, godsister Beth, and Maiya's godcousin Erin
and her new dragon from Erin

Uncle Tony with nephews Kieth and new best friend Kevin

Opening presents with help from cousin Kyle

(3) And today, Maiya's first day at preschool at one of the Buddhist temples in Little Tokyo. Here we are outside, right before going in to meet her new teacher Ms. Laura and classmates. It's funny that she is wearing the same outfit that she wore on her last day at childcare.

So we went inside, and immediately, Maiya grew shy and quiet. I sat with the class, about 8 kids during their circle time. The teacher asked each child if they had any announcements. Maiya sat on my lap for about 10 minutes. I watched as she stood in line to wash her hands and sit down for morning snack. Then, when her friend Justin (I work with his mom Janet) came in and said hi, she perked up a bit and actually spoke a little bit. When it was time for me to leave, she cried, reaching for me. Her new teacher picked her up, and I blew her a kiss and walked out with Janet & Cliff (Justin's dad). Before I got to the end of the hall, less than a minute, she stopped crying. Tony & I went to pick her up together at the end of the day. One of the teachers said that she cried a little before and after naptime, but that she had a good day. Ah! I'm getting choked up just thinking about it. We'll see how it goes tomorrow for Day 2.

One cool thing is that everyone at the preschool is given a symbol, which starts with the letter of their first name. Maiya's symbol is a Monkey, which is so fitting since the girl loves monkeys (we have a monkey bathroom, monkey PJs, and at least 7 stuffed monkeys in the house), and her Chinese zodiac sign is the Monkey (she made it by 2 days).

Well I'm feeling fluish and sick... hope it passes quickly. Don't forget to vote tomorrow.