Maya Stories

Here are some stories I wrote for Maya, about Maya, when she was younger.
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Maya loves Madeline. She loves for Mama and Dado to read the Madeline books to her. She loves to watch the movie and the videos. Gramps gave her a Madeline shirt, and she wore it for her school picture and looked just lovely. So, Granny knew that Maya would like a Madeline doll for Christmas, and indeed Granny was right. Maya liked her Madeline doll very much.

Now, in some of the Madeline books, Madeline has a friend named Pepito, and it occurred to Maya that her Madeline would like to play with Pepito. So, she said to Mama, "Madeline wants Pepito to play with. He is her best friend." However, Christmas was over and Maya had received many presents. And Maya's birthday was still three months away. And, most of all, no one makes a Pepito doll! So, even if it had been the right time for more dolls, and even if Mama weren't a little worried that Maya already had so many toys that it might not be good for her character, there was no way that Mama could buy a Pepito doll for Maya. But, she understood why Maya would want one. So, she said "Well, Sweetie, you know they don't make Pepito dolls. However, if they ever do make a Pepito doll, and if it is your birthday or Christmas, and if you are still interested, I will buy you one."

Maya thought about that, and that sounded pretty good to her. "Yes," she said to Mama, "if they ever make a Pepito doll, and if it is my birthday or Christmas, and if I am still interesting, you will buy me one."

And Mama said, "Oh, Sweetie, you will always be interesting."

Maya Is So Tall
When Maya was just four years old, her Mama took her to see the doctor for her check- up. At a check-up, the doctor always measures Maya to see how tall she is and how much she weighs. Then the doctor compares Maya's size to how big other children Maya's age are (the doctor has a chart that tells her this, she doesn't have to measure Maya against them all one at a time).
So, after the doctor finished measuring Maya and checking her chart, she could see that Maya was taller than the chart showed for four year olds. The doctor was very impressed and she said, "Why Maya, you're taller than everybody."
This confused Maya, who answered, "No, I'm not. You and Mama are both taller than me." And then, since the doctor just laughed, she said, "Mama, stand up and show her".
And Granny promises, one day Maya will understand why this is funny.

Granny Makes Mistakes
When Granny came to visit Maya, they played together and they took walks together and Maya showed Granny her room and her toys. Granny read stories to Maya, and they watched television together and they even went to see A Bug's Life together with Mama. Indeed they had a wonderful time, and Granny enjoyed it very much. In the morning when Maya came downstairs, Granny would be up and waiting for her at the table. In the afternoon, Mama and Granny would come to school to pick Maya up, and Granny would be so excited to see Maya again.

And the funniest thing happened — Maya discovered that Granny makes mistakes. Yes, indeed, as old and as wise as she is, Granny makes mistakes. The first mistake that Granny made was to call Maya's toy horse Milk Piccalilli! "No, Granny," Maya said, "Milk Piccadilly!" And then, she pronounced Tellutubbies as Tellatubbies. "No, Granny," said Maya, "it's Tellytubbies!" And then, to cap it all, one morning Maya and Granny were eating breakfast and Granny was having Cheerios and she said to Maya, "How about that, today we are both having cereal." And Maya had to say, "No, Granny, I'm having oatmeal!"

So, that just goes to show that even though Granny is as old as old and as wise as wise, still she doesn't know everything. And it goes to show that if you pay attention, no matter how old and wise you are, you can learn from a child.

Maya Gets to Choose
One fine spring morning when Maya was two years old, her Mama said to her, "Maya, would you like to wear your pink shirt or your yellow shirt?" and Maya answered, "I want to wear my blue dress." So that morning, Maya's Mama helped her put on her blue dress. And Maya looked lovely indeed in her pretty blue dress. After her Mama brushed her hair and helped her put on her socks and her shoes, Maya stood in front of the mirror, and she was pleased with what she saw. How nice she looked! She had known that she wanted to wear her blue dress.

Mama and Maya went down stairs, and Maya walked all by herself, holding on to the banister carefully the whole way down. When she was close to the bottom, she got a little tippy, so she sat down quickly. "Good save," she crowed with delight.

When Maya and Mama were in the kitchen, Mama asked "Would you like milk or juice, Maya?" Maya gave it some good thought, and she answered, "I want yogurt drink." So, since that was what she wanted, and since Mama had some in the refrigerator, that is what Maya had. Yum, yum. How she enjoyed her yogurt drink. And it tasted even better because it had been her very own idea.

Then Mama asked, "Maya, would you like to eat eggs or waffles for breakfast?" Maya thought about it and she thought about it. She tasted eggs in her mind. She tasted waffles in her mind. She thought about how much fun it would be to break the eggs. She thought about putting syrup or jam on the waffle and seeing it pool in the spaces. It all sounded very good, but somehow, well somehow. . . "I don't want to eat, yet" said Maya. Since Mama knows that only Maya knows if she is hungry or not, that was ok with her. Mama knew that when Maya got hungry she would ask, and then she could eat.

Later, after they got back from going to Safeway, Maya said she wanted to watch a video, and since she had been playing with her toys and going on expeditions, Mama was willing to let her watch one, and so Mama asked, "Well, Sweetie, would you rather watch Thomas the Tank Engine or Elmo?" and Maya answered, "I want to watch Barney." So she did. But later, when Maya said she would like to see another video, and Mama said, "Would you rather have Mama read you a book?" Maya got very excited and she went and got The Little Engine That Could and Mama read it to her, and that was the best thing they did all day.