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