Maya The Prankster

Maya's imitating us has taken her into the prank zone. When Shanthala does not want to open a bottle that Maya presents to her (because it contains medicine or some spices, for example), she puts up the appearance of struggling to open the bottle for a while, before handing the bottle back to her saying she couldn't open it. We thought that Maya bought the story and seriously thought that Shanthala couldn't open the bottle.

A few days later, Maya came up to me with a bottle that she could open, and then pretended that she had difficulty opening the bottle. She laughed after feigning the struggle for a few seconds and ran away. Another time, after she finished chewing on her toothbrush (what passes for brushing), when I asked her for the brush, she put her hand to the brush, and pretended to struggle to pull it out of her mouth. She laughed as she gave up the struggle and shrugged her shoulders.

Another game she has taken to playing with me is to come at me with her toy stroller full tilt as if she's going to hit me. I step aside, at the last instant, like a matador playing a bull. Maya can't seem to get enough of this trick and she laughs so hard as we play this game. One day, as we played this game, she appeared to give up trying to touch me and started walking away as if she was done. I relaxed my guard thinking the game was over, when she turned suddenly touched me with the stroller and started laughing.

Maya has been an exuberant baby since she was a month or two old. She laughs easily and heartily as the video below shows as I play the matador to her bull.