Walking and Talking

Maya has (finally) taken off this week.  She is officially walking!!  Our internet at home is too slow to be able to upload video, and I've been sick most of the week and didn't feel up to venturing out somewhere in search of faster internet, so you'll just have to imagine how cute she is walking all around.  At first, she would really only walk if she was too busy carrying something to realize that she was walking.  But now, she seems to prefer her new method of mobility over crawling (and she still really likes to carry stuff around).

Another thing she started doing not long ago is this:

She's asking to be picked up.  She doesn't do this often, but each time that she does, it melts my heart!

She's also saying two words:  Mama and Dada.  We were quite excited when we realized that she also recognizes two expressions in Arabic: "blow kisses" and "Do you want water?"  Pretty exciting to watch your child respond so quickly and naturally to a language that has taken you years to even semi-grasp.  It's true what the research says--kids can learn language sooooo much faster if we expose them while they are young.  I'm so very grateful that Maya is going to grow up hearing many languages and knowing people from many cultures (even if she does turn out a little bit "weird" by American standards).