Sponge.

Suddenly it seems like Maya is learning at a rapid pace and she is able to pick up new concepts very quickly. Then I realised that it's actually one very important skill that she has mastered - the skill of copying. I'm not exactly sure at what point she mastered this skill but she is able to watch someone do something and then repeat it (as long as it's not too complicated). This makes it feel like she's learning many new concepts at once, when in fact she is using one very important skill over and over again. Of course she is still learning by copying, but what a huge leap that particular skill gives her.

Over the last couple of weeks she has learnt to pick up things and look under them, to put things inside other things, to stand, to take steps, to empty things, to pass an object to someone and ask for it back, to dance to music, to place items on her head, to create her own shakers, to empty containers and my favourite to 'talk' on a toy telephone. Plus lots more.

With the toy phone she turns the dial, picks up the receiver, puts it near her ear and talks. How cute is that! And even funnier that a) she has no idea what a telephone actually is and b) her toy telephone is nothing like modern phones and she will never see a real phone that looks like her toy one.