Maya in the Caribbean

Maya had her first swim in the Caribbean today, at Sambo Creek near La Ceiba.  It wasn’t exactly the perfect blue Caribbean, recent rain had turned the water a little muddy, but it was warm (not cold as this kiwi girl expected!) and she had a great time.  She also enjoyed real fish fingers at a restaurant by the beach, swinging in a hammock and collecting shells.  She very politely declined to have her hair braided by the enthusiastic garifuna girls who converged on us as we walked on the beach!

Maya in the Caribbean!

Enjoying a hammock by the beach.

Happy Birthday Maya – a big 4-year old now!

A week late, but I (Mummy) thought she should post some pictures of Maya’s 4th birthday.  We are back in Honduras, and we had the birthday party on our neighbours lawn next to the pool.  Maya had a piñata and I made pizza and birthday cake.  For her birthday Maya got a bike, a doll, some magazines, hair clips and new sandals. I did Maya’s hairas pretty as I could (from a picture she chose from her magazine) and she even had her first ever manicure the day before the party (when I had mine done at the mall in Tegucigalpa).

Maya seems to be really happy to be here in Honduras again. She loves our little house, and the fruit that grows in the orchard here (yummy oranges and mangos). She likes to swim in the neighbours pool and to run and play football on the grass. She has a friend next door but she is only little (just turned 2) and is learning be patient with her, which is hard when she won’t follow ‘rules’!  She is very very excited about starting kinder soon, but that won’t be until August.  Before then we are going to have a holiday on the beach!

Here are some photos from Maya’s birthday.

The hairdo

The piñata

The cake

More favourites

 

The beach!

Before we go to Honduras again, Mummy thought it was about time we updated my blog.  I’m a little big girl now and so my favourites are changing from when I was a baby (don’t ever call me a baby again!).

 

My favorite food- Noodles, spaghetti, ham sandwiches, feijoas, grapes, carrot stickts, parmesan and tasty cheddar cheese, hot chocolate, coffee, dark chocolate and lollies of course!

My favorite toys- The computer (Mummy’s or Daddy’s, whichever one I can get my hands on!), Sarah my doll, fairy wings and wands, books.

My favourite activites- Dancing (I”m going to be a ballerina, and I’m waiting patiently for Mummy to say I can go to ballet school), dressing up, dancing, going for walks, singing and playing music, dancing, playing with my friends Kendria and Patricia at childcare, dancing, baking with Mummy and dancing.

My favourite places- Wellington and Grandma & Grandad’s house, my childcare, the kids exhibition at Te Manawa (the “fun museum”), the library 

My newest skills-Writing my own name, and I can almost write Mummy too; various ballerina twirls and flourishes, getting myself dressed and undressed without help

My favourite music- Lazy Town, Wiggles, whatever Daddy plays on his guitar (I love to play along with him)

I don’t like- Being sick and coughing (I had the flu for 2 weeks and it wasn’t fun), being stuck at home when I’m feeling better because Mummy and Daddy are sick, being helped with things I can do for myself, potatoes and zucchinis!

Some favourite photos:

Writing my name in connects at the childcare centre.

 

Daddy and Maya playing for the children at childcare.

Ooopps

I’m not a very good blogger am I.  It’s Mummy’s fault really, I always have lots to talk about but can’t type it all myself and she never seems to have the time to do it for me.  Oh well, I know my ABCs now and can already type my own name so I’m sure it won’t be long until I can write my own blog. 

Today was my first day back at childcare after the Christmas holidays.  I had so much fun on holiday.  We had Christmas at Ohope beach with Grandma and Grandad and all my aunties. My favourite thing was making sandcastles and swimming on my “surfing” board.  Christmas day was really fun too.  I got lots of presents from Santa- a dolls house with dolls and a car, books, my surfing board and lots of other fun things. I ate chippies and gingerbread and lollies.  There was an amazing chocolate fountain which we dipped berries and marshmallows into (I tried dipping chips in the chocolate too and they were yummy!).  

Since we have been home I have kept busy doing lots of “cutting” and pasting, painting, dancing, reading and playing computer games (I like the games at nickjr.com).  On New Years Eve we went to a party at the Square where we had a picnic and watched a funny magician and  listened to some bands (and I danced of course) and I jumped on a bouncy castle and rode on a merry-go-round.  I don’t really understand what New Years is all about but it was lots of fun.

Mummy says now it is a New Year she will make a resolution to write this blog for me more often.  And if she doesn’t maybe by the end of the year when I’m a big big girl (I’m only a little big girl right now) I’ll just write it myself!

Honduran Favourites

I like Honduras!  I told my grandma I would prefer to stay here than return to New Zealand and I nearly made her cry.  Really though, I would like to see grandma and grandad and my aunties again soon (I have to keep sending them ecards to remind them I’m here!), and I miss things like good playgrounds.  It can be difficult to find things to do here sometimes.

Here’s some of my favourite Honduran things:

My favorite food- pupusas with stretchy cheese (quesillo), paletas (ice-creams), pollo frito (fried chicken), gelatinas (little jellies), churros (chips), tortillas con frijoles and mantequilla (tortillas with re-fried beans and sour cream), hamburgers and pizza.  OK, it’s not all Honduran food but it’s all food I eat in Honduras.

My favorite toys- Mummy’s laptop (Dora games, DVDs and sending ecards!),  my books (especially sticker books), my dinosaur and car “collections”.

My favourite activites- Playing on the computer, finding children’s play areas at each mall we visit, chasing the ding ding man for paletas (ice cream vendors), playing with my collections.

My favourite places- My kinder in Copan Ruinas, the bird and butterfly parks, the play area at the Cascadas mall in Tegucigalpa.

My newest skills-Tracing letters and numbers in my cuaderno (workbook), speaking spanish (lots of new words), going up and down big steps all by myself.

My favourite music- reggaeton and punta

I don’t like- Not having space to run and play, bus trips (I usually get excited about them still, but I always feel sick in my tummy and have to go to sleep for a while), waiting around while Mummy and Dada have loooong conversations with other grown-ups, not knowing what is happening (I am finding the word “why” very useful at the moment.

Some photos of me in Honduras:

With a maize doll during a visit to a Mayan Chorti community near Copan Ruinas.

A horse ride with Dada!

With the children from the Sendero Maya Kinder at the Rosalila temple, Copan Ruinas.

I’m in Honduras!

I am in Honduras!  I’m not sure why we are here (Mummy’s blog might help explain that to grown-ups), but it has been an exciting week.

Mummy thinks I am a flying pro.  I enjoyed pulling my own Dora case around the airports and on and off the aeroplanes.  And I learned very quickly how to do my own seatbelt; how to use the little tray tables for food and for colouring my books, and how to use the little aeroplane toilets.

I didn’t really like all the waiting around, and got quite bored if we were on a plane or in an airport for too long.  And I wasn’t very impressed that chocolate milk and my favourite snacks weren’t always available when I wanted them!  It was very tiring but I still wanted to get on another plane the day after we arrived in San Pedro Sula.

SO far my favourite things in Honduras are:
-the music (there’s dancing music playing everywhere!)
-being given lollies on children’s day
-sweet bananas
-my new dinosaur toys
-pupusas with quesillo (an acceptable alternative to my favourite toasted cheese sandwiches)
-our new house in Copan with my own bathroom and big bed
-the three-wheeled mini car taxis (tuktuks) in Copan

I don’t much like:
-the loud noises (especially firecrackers)
-not having friends to play with yet
-the dry, salty cheese I took from my dad’s breakfast plate
-the long, sticky bus ride to Copan

Heres a couple of photos (check our photo album for more)

Maya and Sarah the doll wait for takeoff from Auckland.

Maya in the hotel pool in LA.

Maya enjoys a snack courtesy of American Airlines

Maya’s Favourites- June 08

The past couple of months have been very busy for me. I’ve spent lots of time at childcare and although I still don’t like Mummy and Papi leaving I’ve started making some new friends and really enjoy the music, stories and outdoor play. I really like my teacher Nikki too, she’s lovely.

Aunty Jo has been here visiting from the UK recently and I was so excited to see her. She spent lots of time reading stories and playing with me and agrees with Mummy that I am a ’straight A’ talker (and she should know, she’s a speech language therapist!).

My favorite toys- Still books, but I am also enjoying my tricycle, cooking toys and Mummy’s new laptop!

My favourite activites- Music, cooking, play-dough, going to the library, computer games.

My Friends- Vijay & Vishwah, Jake, Imogen, Rain and Kendra

My favourite songs- Twinkle twinkle, The alphabet song, whatever Papi is playing on his guitar.

My newest skills-Doing star jumps, making pizza!

My favourite foods- Avocado, feijoas, eggs

Mummy’s favourite recent photos-

Smiles!

Maya with Nana McLennan (great- Grandmother) and Aunty Jo.

Afternoon tea with “friends”.

My favourites for April 08

My favorite toys- I still love my books, especially Dora the Explorer, Vincent the Vain and books about trains.

My favourite activites- Playing drums or ‘guitar’, painting, cooking on my new ‘barbeque’ or with Mummy in the real kitchen, feeding the Palmerston North ducks.

My favourite songs- The ones I make up myself

What makes me cry- Being left at childcare (but I’m a big girl and getting used to it now).

My newest skills- I have almost mastered forward rolls, buttering my own bread and taking photos on a digital camera.

I don’t particularly like- I still don’t like being told no!

My favourite foods- feijoas, cheese slices and icecream.

Mummy’s favourite recent photos-

The early morning routine- watching a DVD with some friends.

Playing the drums at the Palmerston North festival of cultures.

Sharing ‘fairy bread’ with neighbourhood friends.

Please note: If you are interested in what I am doing and would like to know when this blog is updated, please make use of the subscription options in the column on the right. At the the bottom is a link to subscibe by email, or if you have a feed reader you can choose the Entries RSS listed under Meta. Using a feed reader is a great way to keep up with multiple blogs and news sites- Mummy uses google reader (if you’re not sure what I’m talking about here is a video introduction to feed readers).

Going to university

If you have been reading my Mummy & Papi’s blog you will know that we moved to Palmerston North so they can go to university. I thought I would let you know that I am also going to university- to the university childcare centre. Three days a week Mummy packs my lunch as well as hers and Papi’s, and I spend the day playing with other children, and learning lots of things about the world.

Here I am with my “pack-pack” ready for my first day at the centre:

And here I am with some of my childcare centre friends on an orchard trip:

Dancing in the rain

A couple of days agao Mummy and Papi took me to a Garden’s Magic concert at the Wellington Botanic gardens and I thought you might enjoy this video of me dancing.  Check out our photo album for photo’s of me dancing in the rain, jumping in puddles and chasing bubbles.

Here’s another video- having lunch with my friend Jake.