Sunday, September 21, 2008

Happy 10th Birthday, Maia!


My first-born has forever left the single digits behind; she's practically a woman now. I don't know that I've ever felt so old!

My Maia's brain is amazing. She is very detail-oriented. If she tells you about an episode of The Wizards of Waverly Place, Pucca or another of her favorite shows, get ready to listen for a full twenty minutes. She will recite all the dialog, almost verbatim. It's amazing (and more than a little time-consuming). Her working memory is astounding.


I love her sense of humor. The girl is a nut! She is a silly thing. She is also very compassionate. She tries to put an end to anything she perceives as injustice (this sometimes gets her into trouble with her parents when she butts in while we are discipling one of her siblings).

When we were expecting Maia, my Michael and I couldn't agree on any names. We did find out in advance that she was a girl, so we knew we could narrow our search that much. Somehow, that didn't help. I liked Emma; Michael liked Emily. We just didn't see eye-to-eye on any names. Then, one day we were sitting in good old Carousel Ice Cream in Provo, eating our 1/2 sandwich specials, and I suggested "Maia." Michael thought I was kidding because he truly did not believe that I could have suggested a name he actually liked. I assured him that I was serious about the name. He tossed his napkin down with a "Now you're talking!" and the deal was done. We never discussed baby names again. We were so pleased that we found one we both liked.

I've never been a fabulous speller so I wasn't sure how to spell it. We were pretty poor and I didn't see the point in buying a baby name book when we already had a name, so I went into a maternity store and opened one of the books lying by the check-out. That particular book listed "Maia" first, in bold, followed by "Maya," "Myah," "Mya" and other variations. I actually thought I was not being difficult by choosing the spelling I did. Of course, now I know that "Maya" is the much more popular spelling. Whatever. I still like Maia's spelling. Little did I know that I was naming her a super popular name. Our neighbor two doors down has a Maya and last year there was a Mi'a in her fourth-grade class!


For her birthday this year, Maia was pleased to receive 2 games for her newly-self-purchased Nintendo DS Lite (all her money went to purchasing the actual device and she had none left to get any games to play on it), a case for said DS and a graphic novel (comic book--I mean, really, what is the difference, people?) called Rapunzel's Revenge. She couldn't be more please with her loot.


I love this girl! She is so open and innocent. I appreciate her willingness to help me and her patience with her younger siblings. I'll keep her around for sure for at least another ten years!




11 comments:

Christie said...

Happy Birthday Maia, I didn't even know that it was today. Did she even tell Liza? Liza never said a word.

Cami said...

Happy Birthday! I like the spelling. The other one makes me wonder how it is pronounced. She is such a great girl. Rapunzel's Revenge? Now that's quite the game.

You know, finding other people named your child's unconventional name is really funny. I figured Jefferson would never have another Jefferson in his class, but no. There in his Kindergarten class was JefferSSon. Yep, two ss. Crazy. At least no one is crazy enough to actually nickname them Jeffy like me. And Janes have been popping up left and right! I have no delusions about Ethan's name being unconventional.

Deb said...

happy birthday! 10 is a big one. wow. and a fun story about how she got her name. :)

saramarilee said...

Wow--tens years old...he is so cute and looks so much like you! Thanks for the book suggestions--are you on goodreads.com? You should sign up and be my friend on there. I also meant to comment on your Tina Fey/Tami Fay post--hilarious!!!

whitney allison said...

Al Roeker just did a Kid's Bookclub on Rapunzel's Revenge. I guess it's all the rage. I'm glad Maia is enjoying her DS, very fun.

Jessica said...

Happy Birthday to Maia!! So glad she now has some games to play on her DS. There is a restaurant which just opened here that I'm anxious to try and it's called, Maia.

Kellie said...

Love that girl! She is a dear. I hope she and I can spend some time together again soon.

laura said...

Maia is indeed fantastic. I have loved her ever since my first Sechrist Christmas when she (3 or 4 at the time) explained how she had actually seen santa's sleigh and with perfect drama described the red streak in the sky. Happy Birthday Maia!!

Rachelle said...

I love ten year olds they have great inquisitive minds and are funny. I could keep Isaac at age ten for a long time.

Tracy said...

Happy Birthday! She's a woman now. Time to teach her to shave!

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, I'M 100 AND 3, I STILL GO TO PRESCHOOL, AND I WANT MY MOMMY! mvh,maia

Quotation of the Month

There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.

-Jill Churchill