Week 57: February 11 - 17

Madeleine turned 13 months old this week! We've started having some really awesome weather this week, which is crazy because just last week, it was in the 20s at night! But this weekend is supposed to be a high of 70. Yay spring!

EC
Madeleine got a yucky rash this week, so she's spent a lot of time out of her diaper in an attempt to help it heal. We've practiced EC during quite a few of her wake times. I haven't had too many successes, including two BIG misses (poop!) and messes, but it's no big deal. Just clean it up and move on.

One thing the book suggests is simply putting the baby on the potty for 10-15 minutes periodically throughout the day and playing with her, reading to her, singing, whatever. If she goes, then we make a big deal out of it, if not, no biggie. Understandably, Madeleine is a bit skeptical of the potty at this point. It's new, it's different, it's unusual. So I haven't had good success keeping her on it. But one day this week, I did! I heard her tooting and knew that a poop was imminent. So I got her on the potty, and we started playing. After maybe 5 or 8 minutes, she pooped!! It was awesome!

Then she grabbed for me, so I helped her up, and she promptly peed. LOL. BUT! It is so much easier to clean up after a poop in her potty than a dirty diaper and baby bottom!

Another success (?) this week came after a nap. The smell of poop hit me when I opened the door, but it could also have just been toot. I went to her crib, as I always do, to interact with her some before getting her out. Well, she wanted out right away. She did the sign for up and said "uhh!" That by itself was astonishing. I'd never seen her sign "up" before. I picked her up, and she pointed to her changing pad and made her "want that/go there" noise. I didn't believe what my gut said, which was that she wanted her diaper changed. So we went over there but I didn't change her diaper right away. Matt came in, and then she saw a diaper sitting on the dresser. She pointed to it and more earnestly made her "want that/go there" noise. NOW I changed her, and sure enough, she had pooped!

SIGNS
Speaking of signing, Madeleine is also very proficient with the sign for "drink." She often makes the sign WHILE drinking. Well, she's recently added a new one to her repertoire: the sign for "eat." She'll make the sign and say "eat" at the same time, the way Matt and I have been doing for MONTHS. It's really neat to see these things making sense for her, and to know that now she can tell us when she wants to eat or when she is thirsty.

CUP
And speaking of drinking, we've started trying to get her to hold her own cup and drink. When SuSu was here, she kinda got Madeleine to do it, but I don't know if any actual drinking was accomplished. On Wednesday, she picked up her cup on her own with both hands. She seemed so pleased with herself! So pleased that she couldn't focus to actually bring it to her mouth. LOL.

On Thursday though, at lunch she picked it up and brought it to her mouth. She didn't get the spout to her lips, but it was close, and she again seemed really pleased at her progress. Finally, at dinner, she got the spout to her mouth and tipped it back. I think she got a little bit of liquid in her mouth, but it's hard to tell. The moment Matt or I tried to help her, she'd drop the cup and let us. Smart baby!

SLEEP UPDATE
Well, we definitely think Madeleine is in the "yuck" zone, where 1 nap is not enough and 2 naps is too much. :)

The past 5 days have all been different:
Sunday - good nap #1, long time falling asleep for nap #2, good nap #2, long time falling asleep before bed. Slept 11.5 hours overnight.
Monday - good nap#1, great nap #2 (right to sleep both times), long time falling asleep before bed. Slept 11.4 hours overnight.
Tuesday - great nap #1, took an hour to fall asleep for nap #2, slept less than an hour for nap #2, took an hour to fall asleep for bed. Slept 11.9 hours.
Wednesday - good nap #1, NO NAP #2, fell asleep super quick for bed, slept 12.33 hours.
Thursday - took 30 min to fall asleep for nap #1, decent nap #1, long time falling asleep for nap #2, good nap #2, long time falling asleep before bed. I probably fed her too late.

So, basically, she's started the nap dropping process, but it will probably be awhile before it's totally dropped. If we were to just cold turkey the nap, she'd get over tired very quickly. It seems she is extremely sensitive to being awake too long. She'll go from not tired to tired to second wind with very little time spent on just tired. So it's really important that we hit that tired spot so that she'll get the sleep she needs.

Though, after today, with her shorter AM nap and then a good PM nap, I'm starting to think we need to start waking her from her first nap a little early in order to keep her PM nap long. That's what the books say to do, anyway. Eventually, the AM nap will just disappear, and the PM nap will move up (to maybe 11? 11:30? 12?) for awhile until she gets used to it, then it'll move back again (to 1? I dunno).

FUN TIMES
Madeleine is really enjoying life right now. She is really down with crawling; hasn't walked in a while, but no hurry! When she wants to move, she kinda plops herself down on the floor and crawls ecstatically. I'm not sure how else to describe it! She's crawling for the sheer joy, Matt said. It is certainly a joy to watch, that's for sure!

Matt has come up with a "game" he plays with baby. He'll put her on our bed and give her something to crawl to, usually one of our books. When she starts going for it, he'll roll her over a few times. Then let her go, then roll her again. It's hilarious, and Madeleine LOVES it. Though when I try to play it, she just looks at me like, what are you doing? I guess that's my lot in life though!

I reported in week 56 that she was starting to put the stacking cone together. Well this week, she's really enjoyed putting things into a container. Her shapes cube, the laundry basket, the bins in her room, her bowl or plate--just about anything that can contain, she likes to fill. And then take it all out and do it again!

NOT SO FUN
One night this week, when we gave Madeleine a bath, there wasn't much hot water due to the washing machine and dishwasher recently being used. We did the best we could, but it just wasn't warm enough. We hurried the bath, but Madeleine ended up shivering when we got her out, and then she kept shivering. We rushed her to the changing pad to put on her diaper, but she was starting to cry because she didn't know what was going on. Matt put on a shirt while I fastened her diaper, but it wasn't fast enough. So I just picked her up and hugged her to me. She leeched onto me as though for dear life, and it wasn't 2 minutes later that she was warm again. BUT it stunk for her, and we vowed never to let it happen again.

Madeleine seems to have a skin reaction to eating tomato. I've noticed a handful of times, not every time, when she eats tomato she gets red splotches on her face, similar to the ones she got with milk products. Recently we gave her some slices, and the redness was very pronounced. We would HATE for her to have an allergy to tomato because she loves them, so I did a little test. I took a fresh wedge and rubbed the inside on her forehead. Sure enough, her forehead got red where the tomato juice touched it. So at least it isn't a food allergy, just a skin sensitivity.

LITTLE THINGS
Madeleine has started making these little mouth smacks. I do it back to her, and that makes her smile.

I THINK one day she might have said "milk" when I was about to nurse her. It's unconfirmed and only happened (or didn't) once.

Baby may also be trying to say "book" more. It's hard to tell, because "ball" seems really close to "book," but sometimes there's a definite "kuh" sound at the end of the word.

While nursing, Madeleine has a habit of putting her blanket up to my face. If I don't react, she may grunt and wave her arm until I acknowledge what she's doing. Sometimes I'd take the blanket in my mouth, and she would pull it out. Well, this week, coinciding with a rapid decline in nursing time, she's started smiling when I put the blanket in my mouth! She'll smile, and it's so cute that I laugh or smile, which makes her keep smiling, and no nursing gets done! It's hilarious. I have to force myself not to look at her or I'll keep smiling. Sometimes she even laughs. What a joy she is!

Madeleine has been very friendly this week, looking around in Chick-fil-A and the Cuban Diner, smiling at other people, even waving to someone. She's also been waving at me and Matt a lot more, and making her scrunchy-nose face at us and smiling all at the same time. I HEART HER!!

Matt noted that having Madeleine on his lap while he played piano was very different from the last time he did it. This time, she focused on pressing individual keys one at a time, instead of just kind of sitting there, putting her hands on the keyboard.

CRAFTINESS
WAAAAAY back when we first started talking about baby stuff, I was super interested in the baby's room stuff. You know, crib sheets, bumper, blankets, etc. When I looked online for sets, they all seemed to have basically the same components: blanket, crib skirt, bumper pads, pillow(s), hanging diaper bag, valence, lamp, maybe some wall art, and a mobile.

When I decided on the colors for Madeleine's room, it was impossible to find anything that fit perfectly, so mom came up and together we went fabric shopping and found THE MOST AMAZING fabrics in the WORLD, from which she sewed a blanket, crib skirt, bumper pads, a pillow, and 3 crib sheets. I LOVE THE SET, even though we never used the bumpers (suffocation hazard), and the crib skirt doesn't work with the crib lowered. There's a bar there for raising and lowering the side (which we never use, actually, so I will put the skirt back on next time we change the sheet!).

BUT, since the set was custom made, there was no adorable matching mobile to go with it. Thus the great mobile hunt began. I found numerous examples of mobiles that I liked and was willing to hang in Madeleine's room. I narrowed down the selection and showed Matt. There was ONE that he didn't scoff at. I was confused. I'd done my research, looked at lots of baby mobiles.

Then he explained that they weren't really mobiles (except for the one he didn't scoff at, turns out) at all. I gave him the Skeptical Eye and googled the definition. TURNS OUT HE WAS RIGHT, imagine that.

1: sculpture suspended in midair whose delicately balanced parts can be set in motion by air currents
2: a type of kinetic sculpture constructed to take advantage of the principle of equilibrium. It consists of a number of rods, from which weighted objects or further rods hang. The objects hanging from the rods balance each other, so that the rods remain more or less horizontal

So those things that hang off cribs and spin in a circle are not true mobiles. And, well, we like to put the right point on things, so we needed a true mobile. Fast forward to February 2011, and there is STILL not a mobile in Madeleine's room. Matt has said he wants to make one for ... well, over a year!

All of the requisite cosmic forces, including Gravity and The Force (may it be with you) aligned this week, and MADELEINE HAS A MOBILE!! Matt and I made it together. I picked the shape of the hanging objects (birds), found a template to use, picked the papers to use to make the birds, cut them out, threaded ribbon, taped the birds and wings together, and trimmed off the excess. Matt cut the slits in the birds for the wings, poked the holes for the fishing line and later ribbon, fitted the wings, then crafted the actual mobile and hung it.

WE LOVE IT.



As you can see, the birds are suspended from sticks! We went into the yard, all four of us, to look for the perfect sticks. Matt and I collected a handful and were heading in when Madeleine wanted to walk. I put her down, and she went and found a small stick (the bottom one on the picture) and handed it to Matt.

SLIDESHOW

Week 56: February 4 - 10

This was a very fun week. SuSu came for a visit!

EC: ELIMINATION COMMUNICATION
You all know that Matt and I have done a few things differently with Madeleine. Cloth diapers, baby-led weaning. Why not do something unconventional with potty training? Though, in reality, this isn't "potty training." Elimination Communication is a way to help Madeleine become aware of her eliminations (pees and poops!) again.

The theory is that when babies are born, they are born with the ability to know when they have to poop or pee. They give signs so that the parents can do something about it. We train babies to go in diapers; they don't want to soil themselves, but they're helpless to do otherwise. But if the parents choose, they can learn those signs and take the baby to a potty or other receptacle, thus allowing the baby to retain his or her body awareness. When the baby is older, she will be able to communicate, by sign language or other means, when she needs to go potty. Mommy or daddy then takes her, gets her set, and she goes.

The goal of EC is NOT potty training, though these babies are often out of diapers much sooner than the average child in the US. Not always, but often. Even if they don't get out of diapers early, the transition is much smoother. Babies don't have to relearn how to tell they have to use the potty.

I went to a meeting a couple of weeks ago where there was a baby, maybe 15 months old, who hadn't worn a diaper since she was 2 months old! Talk about money savings, if nothing else.

Parents can start EC at any time with their babies, but Madeleine would be a super late start. The book I read said that she has probably lost all capacity to sense when she needs to go or even when she goes. (Pee, at least) We'd be starting from scratch, but I believe the outcome is worth it.

To begin with, I need to observe her to see how often she goes, see what, if any, signs she gives for when she has to go. I set up a big blanket over the rug in her room, covered by a bunch of smaller blankets that I can replace if they get messed up. Madeleine got no diaper but we put pants on her. So I just watched to see if and when she peed. In her first awake period, she peed three times. I actually noticed all three times. I saw her get a potty face, then she peed seconds later. The first time, I was able to "cue" her, which is to make a noise while she pees so that she figures out what's going on. The other times were too quick. But it was a good start. :)

THE CONE
I remember in the "Wonder Weeks" book that after one of the leaps, babies would gain the ability to put together, to build and not just tear down. We've always called Madeleine the Unmaker, but this week, she started doing some building. I thought a few weeks ago that she was trying to put blocks on top of each other, but she never had any luck. Then she tried to put shape pieces in the shape box, again with no luck.

THIS WEEK. Madeleine put pieces of her stacking cone together. It's made of two layers, interior and exterior, of rings that fit together to make a cone. This week, she put some of the interior pieces together--by together, I mean putting one inside another. The interior pieces are hollow cylinders that fit together by putting the small one inside the bigger one.

She also likes putting the larger, exterior rings around her wrist.

TOMATO
One day during Madeleine's bath, she plucked a tomato off the kitchen counter. It still had a long stem on it, so it was easy for little hands to grab. She pulled it into the bathwater with her and pushed it under with both hands. I tried to take it from her, but she didn't like that, and SuSu said it was okay, as it was her tomato. I continued bathing her. When it came time to lay baby down to rinse her hair, I had to take the tomato away, at least temporarily. She'd been scratching at the skin and flesh while holding it under the water!

So, oh well, moving on. I lay Madeleine down, but she wanted her tomato back. I let her have it back, and she promptly took a bite out of it! Just like an apple, which we've never given her whole. I thought it was pretty amusing.

NAP FUN
According to a number of sleep books, babies go from 2 naps a day down to 1 nap a day sometime in the 13-20 month-old range. We think Madeleine, who is just barely under 13 months, may be starting this process. She's been taking a long time to fall asleep for her afternoon nap for most days this week, and she completely skipped a few of those naps. We just put her to bed super early so she'll be able to get enough sleep in the 24-hour day.

I'm still not completely sure that's what's going on, but this is what she did when she dropped a nap last time. She short-napped all of her naps until we got with the program and figured it out. It was hard at firs--she got tired quickly--but it didn't take too long for it to smooth out. It's been about 6 months since she went from 3 naps to 2. That's a long time to go with no changes in sleep habits.

We are excited about the prospect of only one nap, but also a bit wary as well. At least I am. Wary. Anyway, we're excited because whenever we need to go out, we won't be so pressed for time to get everything done. We'll be able to go on longer outings. BUT, I'm a little concerned about having time to get things done, like work. I can do things around the house easily enough, but when I work, I tend to sit and block out everything else. Can't really do that with a baby! But we'll just take it one day at a time, see how it goes. I'm sure it will all be just fine.

OH, one last fun note under naps. One day this week, Matt put Madeleine down for her afternoon nap because I had to be somewhere. He kept looking at the monitor, remarking to himself about how well she was walking around in her crib. He couldn't recall ever seeing her do it that well, but then, he doesn't sit and watch the screen the way I do. I'm sure he chalked it up to that.

Well, when it came time to get her up (she didn't sleep a wink for this nap), Matt got quite a surprise! Madeleine had taken off her pants AND diaper and was just as pleased as could be about the situation!! He called me in to see, and all I could do was laugh. He'd forgotten to put her in the sleep sack, so her pants and diaper were easy access. What a funny baby!

LITTLE THINGS
Madeleine "learned" to clap on Saturday! She was in her high chair, eating. For some reason, she pulled her arms apart and brought her hands together in a slow clap. Then I clapped a few times, and she copied me. It was great! That night, we saw her clapping in her bed via the monitor!

We changed Madeleine's crib sheet to one with birds on it, and she pointed to them, making a little "uhh uhh" noise.

Baby has long loved her shoes, and it's one of her words that's really stuck. This week, she put her hands into the shoes. It was adorable.

I'm pretty sure Madeleine is getting some new teeth. She's been super drooly, and this week she's started kinda gnawing on her fingers. Looks like she's sucking her thumb, but she is definitely not. I checked her mouth, and it's the next two on the top. She's about to have 10, half of all her baby teeth. BABY!

One night while putting Madeleine down for bed, I thought baby was really warm. So I blew on the back of her neck to try and cool her. Then I blew in her face a little, and she grinned really big. So I kept blowing a little, and she started blowing too! It was super cute. Now we blow at each other every now and then. She makes an awesome face, looks so pleased with herself. :)

SLIDESHOW
I do apologize for the lack of pictures for this week. I ended up only taking pics on 3 of the 7 days, and 1 of those days the pics are mostly blurry. :/

Week 55: January 28 - February 3

Madeleine is absolutely wonderful. Matt and I were trying to think of the best word for her today. We started with adorable, but it wasn't enough. We then came to fantastic, which we really like, and there's always delightful. We love delightful. Basically, life is good!

BLANKET
I must start this week's entry off with Madeleine's blanket. MONTHS ago, I bought a two-pack of little blankets to use to try to help Madeleine sleep better. The idea was that if she got attached to something it might help her soothe to sleep. I mean, MONTHS ago. Every time we put her down for naps or bed, we'd give her the blanket. She'd take it and that would be that. Nothing major. The last couple of weeks, when we'd go in to get her after naps, she'd hold out the blanket to one of us. Usually she'd let go, and then we'd nuzzle it and give it back. She'd nuzzle it and hold it out again. Repeat.

One day this week, she started playing with it differently. She'd put it up to her nose and breathe in. Then she'd hand it to me and I'd copy her. She would scrunch up her nose with this super pleased look on her face and do a little happy rock. I figured out that she was mimicking blowing her nose! So now she'll hold the blanket up to us so we can blow our nose. As long as we make some kind of noise, she is happy.

She's started getting attached to her blanket. Now, instead of letting go when she holds it out, she pulls it back. Which is fine and cute, but then she started wanting it when NOT in the crib. She wants it when she's nursing, when she's playing, on the changing table. Pretty much everywhere. She is happy to leave it during awake periods for the most part. But it's super cute. She'll reach for it when we put it on the crib railing like we've always done. And make the "eat" noise, which we definitely think is her way of saying "I WANT THAT!!"

We had an interesting blanket adventure this week. On Saturday, when Matt put Madeleine down for her morning nap, she didn't go to sleep right away. Instead she kinda played her in crib, got up and walked around, rolled around, etc. Then Matt heard a very upset cry and looked at the monitor. It appeared that Madeleine had dropped her blanket on the floor (on purpose or accidentally, we'll never know). She was most unhappy and tried to reach out for the blanket. She probably cried for close to 45 minutes. But just like when she'd get stuck standing up, he didn't go in, knowing she would learn the lesson quicker if we didn't retrieve the blanket for her. She fell asleep in the same position she'd been in while trying to reach for her blanket.

I'm happy to report that she's only dropped her blanket once since then! We'll see what the future holds though.

FOOD STUFF
Madeleine swallowed CHICKEN this week! This is seriously the first time. It was Chick-fil-A, the best of course. I always give her a few pieces of my chargrilled sandwich, and she sometimes chews on them a little before spitting them out, but usually she just ignores them. NOT THIS WEEK! Yay! I even had to put her some more chicken. Plus, she ate a bunch of tomato, more than usual.

We've started giving Madeleine her own plate to eat from in addition to utensils. The first time she got a plate, she made an expression of such joy it was hilarious. It was like she'd been let in on a big secret. :)

Madeleine was also quite protective of the food on her plate. One time Matt took a piece off her plate to eat, and she held out her hand. He gave it back and she put it on her plate. She also helps keep her tray clean by putting stray pieces of food back on the plate. It's great to see her picking up little pieces.

On the note of stray pieces of food, Madeleine has ALSO started tossing food off her tray. Well she's been doing this for a while, but it seems intentional. I always say "no m'am" when she does it, but that's all. Well now she looks at me, grabs a piece of food, and puts her hand under the tray to drop it on the floor. I just keep saying "no" and hold out my hand, trying to encourage her to put the food she doesn't want in my hand. She certainly doesn't have to eat everything, but we don't want her throwing it on the floor.

Baby is finally drinking from a cup! Only, we have to hold it. But it's okay for now, its a start. We'll work on weaning later.

FINALLY: There's something about a baby eating Cheerios that MEANS something. It's like a right of passage or something. For some reason, Matt hasn't bought her actual Cheerios, but this week he got different "O's" and she got to eat them. I dunno, I felt like she had arrived. LOL. My baby ate "Cheerios." My big baby girl.

DAIRY FREE
After some more research and asking some other moms, I've decided to go dairy free. It'll be hard because I usually drink SO MUCH MILK. And eat lots of cheese. But there really was no decision necessary. I've got Soy milk for my morning Carnation instant Breakfast, and Rice milk for our weekly cookie treat.

The research said it could take up to 3 weeks before all the milk protein is gone from my system. I don't really think we'll see any big differences, but I'm on the lookout anyway. The good news is that she's able to eat soy yogurt and drink rice milk with no problems!

LITTLE THINGS
One morning, Layla fwapped before we went in to get Madeleine. Well technically, Madeleine is always awake before we get her, and Layla always fwaps. Now, fwapping is what we call it when she shakes her head quickly and her ears smack against her. ANYWAY. When Madeleine heard the fwapping, she said her word for Layla. Matt heard her on the monitor. :D

Madeleine has started noticing the sky and other things that are up. When Matt took her for a walk recently, he said she spent a lot of time just looking up at the sky. She hadn't done that before.

She's also really started imitating sounds. We'll make some repetitive noise (like ooh-ahh-ooh-ahh), and she will copy us.

Matt reports that walking with Madeleine is easier than it once was. He doesn't have to bend over as far, and baby is more confident and capable just holding one hand.

Madeleine gave her first hug this week to -- guess who -- LAYLA! LOL. She stood and petted Layla for a few minutes, then gave her a little hug. It was too adorable.

While reading books this week, Madeleine pointed out a couple of things. A pair of shoes (she pointed to them and said "shoes!" or "szhoos!!" and someone's nose. Then she touched my nose.

Matt has always played this game with Madeleine with a "floppy dog" that Marshall gave her. He'll sniff and move the little dog closer and closer until it gets to her, then she'll cuddle it and giggle and smile really big. This week, Madeleine found the floppy dog and started making the sniffing sound herself! It was so cute. She scrunched up her nose and sniff repeatedly. SO VERY CUTE.

MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
Monday night, Madeleine woke up at 8:35pm. She hasn't done this since she was maybe 4 months old. Matt and I didn't know what to do! LOL. She's made individual little cries before, but never fully woken. So we were in major uncharted waters. We decided to leave her and see what happened. Well, the crying escalated; she wasn't settling. We decided to go in. I picked her up, and then she REALLY started crying. It took about 45 minutes to even get her calm. We changed her diaper, tried to take her temperature, all kinds of things. Nothing worked.

I went to call my mom, and Matt took her for a minute. He sat down to rock her, I left the room. I heard her calling "Mama! Mama!" and I ran to her. Gave Matt the phone, took my baby. Then I rocked her for a good 15 or 20 minutes. She finally, finally settled down. Put her down, she didn't cry. She took another ... 20 minutes or so to fall asleep again. In all, she was awake for 1 hour, 45 minutes. It was scary! Couldn't tell what was wrong--still don't know! I was all ready to take her to the ER if we couldn't get her calm. But fortunately, she did. Just needed some time and some mama time.

SLIDESHOW

Week 54: January 21 - 27

It feels like I haven't posted in forever, even though it's only been like, 10 days. Feels much longer.

Here's what's been going on with Madeleine this week:

BOOKS
Madeleine has always enjoyed her books. Not necessarily being read to, but her books for sure. One things she's always enjoyed (but I've never really mentioned it before I don't think??) is sitting with a stack of them in front of her. She is perfectly content to just sit and play with her books for a long time. I don't know what she wants to do with them, but she holds them, pats them, turns pages, and sometimes throws them. But not very far; certainly not out of reach. I dunno!

BALL/BOOK/MOMMY
Madeleine had quite the dilemma this week. One day, she was feeling kinda clingy, but she wanted to stand at the couch and play with her weasel ball and her favorite book (Pat the Bunny). She'd hold the ball in one hand and my finger in the other, then look at the book. She'd let go of my finger, grab the book, and then start to cry. After a second, she'd put the book down, take my finger again, and we'd repeat the process.

PAT THE BUNNY
Speaking of her favorite book, it got messed up this week! The cover got torn off. Madeleine didn't do it; the cover got stuck under an arm or an elbow when she and I were playing on the floor, and riiiiiiiip! Off it came. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it--now her book was in BOTH hands. She tried to put the cover back in its place, but it didn't stay. Eventually, she just tossed both halves and moved on to something else. Later in the week, she was back to playing with the mostly-intact book half again.

"EAT!"
I know I've reported before that Madeleine has been saying "eat." Well, we thought that she meant she wanted to eat. At the very least, it had SOMETHING to do with food. Now we aren't so sure! She says "eat" and holds her hand out toward objects. So we kinda think it just means "I want that!"

This week we went to visit some friends for half the day. We went through a drive-through for lunch to save time, thinking we'd eat once we got there. But not five minutes after getting the food (Chick-fil-A, of course), Madeleine started saying "Eat! Eat! Eat!" We thought she was hungry. So we pulled into a parking lot, got her set up on Matt's lap with some tomato and chicken, and watched her ... NOT eat. LOL. She took a few bites, but the way she said "eat" made us think she was really hungry. Guess not!

She's done this a few other times too, said "eat" but then eaten very little. This also makes us think it's less about food and more about just wanting something. Though, I wonder if it WAS about food at first, but since she always got food (what she wanted) when she said it, maybe that made her think she could get anything she wanted with that word. Sometimes we have no idea what she wants.

MILK
Last week, Madeleine had her 1-year check-up and they did a blood test for a milk allergy. I was SURE she didn't have one because I've been able to nurse her for practically a year with no symptoms. All she ever had was the red splotches on her cheeks when eating dairy. Well, the doctor called on Monday and said that the test was positive. I guess she just has a really mild allergy? The doctor told me Madeleine needs to continue avoiding dairy products for a full year. She also told ME I need to stop dairy as long as I'm still nursing. BOO!

My first thought was "ridiculous." I've been drinking a TON of milk her entire life. I mean, a TON! I drink 3+ glasses of milk a day, not to mention the other dairy (cheese, yogurt, etc.). I LOVE MY MILK. [And I've already given up sweet tea for the winter. Maybe for the duration, I dunno. I may try it when warmer weather comes back, but then, why risk it? Though I can't imagine ONE LARGE SWEET TEA from Chick-fil-A ruining everything. /aside] So I was resistant to the idea, but decided to do some research (GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND). I found a lot about severe milk allergy, but not much about mild. Most milk allergy is diagnosed quickly after baby is born, not at a year. I'm still looking for info, but I did find one site that said that the less exposure she gets to milk protein, the better chance she has of outgrowing it.

CONSTIPATION
Fortunately, we haven't had any more problems with this. Madeleine LOVES her prunes, and at the doctor's suggestion, we've been giving her fruit juice. We've been much more consistent with offering her drinks, and she can now drink from her sippy cup. Though, we still have to hold it for her. LOL. One thing at a time. Holding it herself will come soon!

NEW THINGS
One fun new thing Madeleine has done this week is shuffle forward on her knees. She's just recently grown okay with the idea of sitting on her knees, but Matt got to see her move across the rug on her knees!

She is talking A LOT. Not using words, just baby babble. But it's hilarious. Her funniest string of "words" sounds like "A-bee-ya-bee-ya-bee-ya-BALL!" Matt and I disagree as to what she's saying. He thinks she's super stoked about her ball and messes up "ball" the first few times. I think she's trying to say something before she gets to ball. Like, "I want my BALL." I dunno, I guess maybe we'll find out someday?

Madeleine tried to put her hat on this week! She usually insists on taking it off ... oh, about five seconds after we put it on her. Maybe she got cold and realized the hat keeps her warm! It was adorable and quite ineffectual.

Also new, Madeleine started experimenting with utensils this week while eating. She totally knows what is supposed to happen. She puts her spoon in her bowl (oh yeah, she's been getting a little metal bowl to eat some foods out of too!) and puts the spoon to her mouth. Sometimes there's food on it, and occasionally she gets it in the right way. Rarely do those things happen together! But she is determined, and she enjoys trying. Until she's tired of it and tosses the spoon off her high chair. FUN.

SLIDESHOW