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