Week 70: May 13 - 19

Well, LOL, not a whole lot to write about this week. Mimi visited for a few days though! We went to the Farmer's Market in Marietta with our friends Liz, Molly and Thomas. Madeleine saw a LOT of dogs, some cool bubbles, and the violin lady played "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" for her!

SLEEP
We are still having a crazy time with sleep for Madeleine. It's still taking about an hour for her to fall asleep, though there have been some good days this week. I can't help but feel like she's getting into some kind of sleep deficit. All I want is for her to be well rested. I know the difference between my normal-sleep baby and my less-than-desired sleep baby. They are both fantastic and precious, but the normal-sleep Madeleine is much happier and creative and energetic. I just want that for her!

DIAPERS
We're still in disposables. We saw a dermatologist recently who said that the sores might be a kind of viral infection that there's nothing we can really do anything for. She said it is definitely not us, we're changing her frequently enough, all the right things, but that some kids just have this virus and it'll be a battle until she's potty-trained. We haven't done any EC because Madeleine HATES sitting on the potty now. She cries awfully, and I don't want to press it. Maybe once the sores are all healed, totally, we'll give it a couple of weeks and try again. I think she associates all things potty with the pain of changing her diaper, so she doesn't want anything to do with it. Once she's not in pain when we change her, maybe her little mind can "forget" that it ever hurt and we can move ahead with EC. We would really love it.

WORDS
This week was all about new words for Madeleine, it seems.

* book - she's long been able to say "buuuh" for book, but this week, she started really trying to say the "k" sound at the end. "buuuk".
* bottle - there's a bottle of lotion that we keep by her changing pad, and she often likes to play with it. This week, she started calling it a bottle!
* apple - have I mentioned that she is fabulous? :)
* "bye, bye, dada" & "bye, bye, mimi" - you saw that right! Madeleine has combined waving, saying bye-bye, and saying it to someone. She did this the first time at naptime, when I went to put her down and Matt left the room. She said, "bye bye, dada" and waved. She did it later for Mimi, too! WOW! Her first actual sentence!

ONE MORE THING
We've never made a big deal out of a Bible with Madeleine. She's got a few little Bible story books, but we read them the same as all of her other books. In Bible class, I think they did a little exercise called "pat the Bible" (what the purpose is, I'll never know!), but other than that, no special significance. Well, Madeleine can pick a Bible out of a stack of books, and of course she actually says "bible." Matt had some books on a chair, his Bible being one of them. It wasn't even on top, but she pointed right to it and said, "Bible." We have no idea how she knows to do this, but she does!

SLIDESHOW
Matt left a neat patch of dandelions in our back yard, and I thought they'd make for some neat pics of Madeleine. Let me know if you agree!

Week 69: May 6 - 12

Well, I will start by saying that Madeleine is amazing. I love, LOVE watching her grow and change every day.

WORDS & SIGNS
I feel like every day Madeleine learns something new.

* This week, she kind of learned the sign for asleep.
* She started saying "pillow" (there's a pillow I use when she nurses for her to lay her head on).
* A personal favorite: "Uh-oh"! She says this whenever something falls or when one of us says it.
* While reading a book with daddy, Madeleine said "baby" and kissed the baby in the book! Matt didn't even point to the baby.
* The BIGGEST development this week: "DADA!!" It happened on Saturday. She was standing by Layla's crate, and I was with her. Matt was on the ottoman. I don't even really remember what happened, but she said "DADA!" And it STUCK!!!!! YAY!!!

LITTLE THINGS
Remember how last week I mentioned that she loves doors? Well, that is still quite in effect. She loves shutting me or Matt in the closet, though she quickly calls for us and wants us out. Anyway, this week she figured out how to open drawers. She accomplished the task on my nightstand drawer, which has a pull handle. I don't think she realizes the scope of her new skill though, as she hasn't attempted to open any other drawers.

One day, while sitting outside with some books, Madeleine "hid" something between the pages of the book, and of course did her "where is it?" motion with her arms thrown wide. I've mentioned that she's awesome, right? :)

She learned to nod this week when one of us says "yes" or nods.

Madeleine has always been attracted to the bright, big necklaces I wear on occasion. I let her play with them, and she always pulled the necklace up to her neck , then pressed her chin into her chest to hold the necklace on. Whenever I tried putting it over her head, she would cry and try to pull the necklace off. Well, she finally learned to take it off by herself AND put it back on! So many hours of fun were had with mommy's necklaces.

Last but not least, Madeleine has started moving around in the tub! I reported that in week 62 (7 weeks ago!) we moved her to the big bathtub. It's taken her this long to actually move in the tub. Until now, she would just sit where we put her and play with what was in front of her. Now, she'll crawl around, try to stand, and she's getting more playful. YAY BABY!!

SLIDESHOW

Week 68: April 29 - May 5

When I sat down to catch up for the last 5 weeks, it hit me that Madeleine does so many cool, new things that I can't really capture them all. I'd be writing non-stop, and I really just want to watch her learn, watch her experience new things. I think I'm excited about keeping up with this blog again, so hopefully the coming weeks will be more informative. Thanks for your patience!

DOORS
No, not the band.

Madeleine is crazy about doors these days. She loves to close them, open them, close them, repeat. She likes closing mommy in the closet. She likes it when mommy and/or daddy hide from her when she opens a door. She likes when we talk to her through doors. Most of the doors in our house don't close all the way (to the latch) when she pushes on them, so she can easily open and shut, open and shut.

FOOD
Madeleine LOVES bananas. They're almost up there with the ball in terms of her love expression. Matt reports that when she knows she's going to get one, she gets a bit giddy. Saturday night, she was headed for bed, when she saw a banana peel on the counter. She started saying "Nana, nana," and we said, no, it's bedtime. Well, then her cries for the 'nana got ridiculously pitiful, so of course we obliged her. She ended up eating a third of a banana. But her pleas for the banana were just ... so sad! So sad it was hilarious, you know?

Baby tried nutella this week, since Harry's was out of their smooth peanut butter. She wasn't a huge fan, but her parents sure are!!

WORDS
Madeleine now knows what pants are. She can find her pants, mommy's pants, and daddy's pants!

We've also observed that she seems to be speaking in sentences. Or, rather, babbling in sentences. She no longer just says one word or sound, but there are multiple words/sounds, and inflection.

5 LITTLE MONKEYS
Madeleine got really into a reading of this story this week. She patted her head when the monkey hit his head, she pointed (imitating the reader) at "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!" She made her sign for phone when mama called the doctor (imitating us again). It was precious and hilarious. What a little monkey!

LITTLE BIG THINGS
Madeleine was hilarious at bedtime Saturday night. She took my face in her hands, and tried to clamp down on my nose with her teeth! I kept evading her, and it just made her laugh and laugh... It was awesome, and totally delightful.

Saturday night, Madeleine got her lamby in her crib! First stuffed animal! I don't want to sound superstitious, but when Madeleine discovered Lamby in her crib, she was asleep within 5 minutes. UNPRECEDENTED!!

Speaking of Lamby, Madeleine has a name for her! It sounds a lot like "mee-mee" or "mae-mee". For floppy dog and elephant, there aren't words but specific sounds that mean each animal. Floppy is kind of like a "ahh, ahh" and elephant is like "bvvvvhh!" (imagine trying to mimic the sound an elephant makes, then imagine a baby trying to imitate THAT!)

Matt has a shirt (very old) that has 3 frogs on it, each with a speech bubble that says "Blood" "Doh" "Ner". One day, he was reading to Madeleine while wearing this shirt, and they came across some frogs in the book. Matt pointed them out, and then Madeleine pointed to his shirt!

Madeleine had her first tangle this week! Her hair is getting long enough that is sticks out in a little tuft in the back. And is it quite curly! Not really surprising anyone with that revelation, am I? :)

FINAL THOUGHT
This week, Madeleine and I went outside. We both kind of did our own thing, but then she wanted to explore the yard a bit. I carried her around, showing her some flowers on a tree, then she pointed at an area of the yard she wanted to see. It was in the front but by the fence separating the front from the back yard. It's kind of overgrown right there, but she pointed to the ground nonetheless. It wasn't somewhere I would sit or want her to sit, but then I remembered that part of being a kid is getting messy, touching new things, exploring everything. So I let her sit in a patch of dirt with just leaves and sticks.

It is neat being a parent and somewhat reliving childhood through Madeleine. I remember the things I used to do, the ways I used to play, the scary (when I think about them now!) things I did--like climbing a tree or going down a hill on a bike. I'm excited to continue watching her grow all the way up. I think it's neat the way God gives us little ones to remind us (parent AND grandparents!) of all the good times in life. He is so wise and good and He cares so much for us.


SLIDESHOW!

Week 67: April 22 - 28

Wow, still LESS for this week! How is this even possible? :)

WORDS & DISCOVERIES
On Monday, Madeleine discovered eyes. She put her finger on mine and said "eye." She's very good at it! So I showed her her eyes, and she pointed to mine some more. Then she started blinking at me! Very slow, deliberate blinks, and she'd nod her head a little with each one, as though she was thinking carefully about each blink. It is so NEAT to see her discover the world, discover herself and what she can do. Babies are amazing and so, so cool.

On Wednesday, she discovered her leg! She can point to her leg and our legs.

FUN
Remember last week, how I said that she learned the "Where is it?" game? Well, that has totally taken off this week. Now she'll hide all kinds of things. Toys, her blanket, anything. AND, she's started hiding things under her shirt and throwing her arms out, saying, "uhh?" She'll also tuck her animals under her legs and say, "uhh?" I can't describe it, I'm sure, but it is awesome.

NOT SO FUN
Madeleine's STILL getting teeth this week. It's disrupting her sleep and making her a little cranky. Argh!

ANIMALS
Madeleine has really taken to her stuffed animals. The lamb from the Rays, floppy dog from cousin Marshall, and the pink elephant from Jill Palmer. She now wants all of them, along with her blanket, when she nurses. Not every time, but more often than not. I'm sure it's quite a funny sight, seeing her lying there with all her little friends. And she is SUPER attached to them. It's adorable.


SLIDESHOW!

Week 66: April 15 - 21

Mimi was still here for most of this week. SUPER SHORT notes again. Sorry, I guess there was just so much going on that I didn't stop to write things down. Hopefully the pictures will make up for lack of information...

EC & SLEEP
I can't really comment on what was going on these weeks since it's been awhile. I can say that EC has pretty much halted. She pooped for daddy last week, but has barely even made the sign for potty this week. We are still (STILL) dealing with those diaper sores, so I haven't want to push her at all. There's plenty of time for working with the potty, and we are in no hurry. As for sleep, well, we seem to always be dealing with something, but this week was pretty tame. GREAT naps, great nights, great days. No complaints!! For once!

WORDS & SIGNS
Madeleine now says "nana" for banana. And boy does she love her bananas!!

VISIT
On Saturday, we went to visit the Rays, and they gave her a little Easter egg with some goodies in it! She got a little stuffed lamb in the egg, and she leaned over to kiss it. Everyone went "awww!" So then Madeleine pushed the lamb away, and we all laughed. Well, that upset baby girl. She cried and "ran" to me, it took a good while to get her calmed down. The good news is that she quickly took to the lamb once at home, so there were no lasting effects from her traumatic experience. I think she's just shy and didn't like all that attention focused so strongly on her. I CAN RELATE!

LITTLE BIG THINGS
While playing on Friday, Madeleine discovered that she could put her weasel ball together! I also FINALLY figured out that when she carried the weasel ball TO me and said "yee ball" what she wanted was for me to turn the weasel ball ON. For those who don't know about the weasel ball, it's a dog toy that moves kind of erratically around the floor. Madeleine stole it from Layla and was the favored toy for quite a while. But when it fell out of favor, we didn't bother keeping a good battery in it. So, we had to dig up a battery and make it go again. She knew that it came apart and something happened to make it go. This week, she was actually able to put it back together! I was impressed, it seemed like such a big girl thing to do.

Mimi taught Madeleine the "where is it?" game. She would hide something, put her hands up, and say, "Where is it?" Madeleine quickly got into the hand motion, throwing her arms open, palms up, and making a little grunt noise. Like, "Uh?" They played it in the car to pass the time, and then Madeleine brought the game into the house.

15-MONTH APPOINTMENT
Madeleine's 15-month appointment was this week, on Matt's birthday actually. She weighed 19 pounds, 2.3 ounces (still like, 4th percentile), and was 29 inches long. And, seriously, Madeleine is still wearing the same shoes she wore a year ago. How is it that her feet haven't grown in a year?!? But the doctor wasn't concerned at all. She said Madeleine is just little right now, that she is perfectly proportioned, happy, and doing all of the other things she's supposed to, so there's nothing to worry about.

GOOD! Because she is SO little! :)


SLIDESHOW!

Week 65: April 8 - 14

I didn't take great notes this week. But Mimi came for a visit on Thursday, and we ran some errands all over Atlanta!

The biggest thing this week is that Madeleine decided that she is ready to walk, thank you very much, and please don't get in her way. Monday was the day. She woke up, ready to walk, and she hasn't looked back since. She can navigate through books on the floor, take side steps. She can even carry objects, most notably:

the FOOTBALL. FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL!

She enjoys rolling the ball as a game. Which is cool.

Also rolling this week is her ankle! She pointed to her foot, and while nursing one night, just stared at her foot as she rolled it around and around and around...

Madeleine had her first poop with daddy this week! LOL, it's an achievement of sorts.

And finally, she kind of listened to music in headphones. She wasn't too sure where the music was coming from or what was going on, but she liked it. :)

SORRY for the light week!


SLIDESHOW!

Week 64: April 1 - 7

SATURDAY
Was awesome. We started the day with breakfast at a French place, where we sat beside two men, one of whom was FROM France and passing through Atlanta. Very neat to hear his accent. Then there were two women inside speaking French to each other. Is it odd that I felt very at home? Anyway, we bought some sweet treats for some friends and took them over to their house and visited for a little bit. Then we went to the Marietta Farmer's Market, and Madeleine got to walk around the fountain and play in the flowers.

Needless to say, she was quite ready for her nap. After that, we went to Evos for lunch, and Madeleine had her first French "fry"! They are airbaked at Evos, not fried. Her first bite was not impressed, and she stuck to her tomatoes. But near the end of the meal, she tried the fry again and liked it.

BIBLE CLASS
Madeleine went to Bible class again this week. When I went to pick her up, she was standing without support with the other little boy. He can walk and move much better than she can. When I entered the room, she said, "Mama." One of her teachers, Miss Kelly, told me that Madeleine talked in class. Madeleine said "Bible" and "moo-moo" when they played with the little cows. Kelly said that they've never had a baby talk in class before! Yay! I do think she's advanced in her verbal skills, so it's understandable that she isn't as advanced in the motor skills. They tend to bloom in one area first and the others follow a little behind.

Kelly also said that they would put the animals in the barn and say "Where's the pig?" and Madeleine would open the barn door straight away and find the pig. It is super cool to hear other people talk about how wonderful she is. I don't know why parents like to hear this stuff so much; it's not as if I had anything to do with her brilliance. But it is definitely still awesome as a parent to hear it! I just thank God for her every day and give all the credit to Him. He made a delightful little girl for Matt and I to steward

BABY BOOK TIME
This week, when Matt came home from baby story time, he told me that Madeleine was going to be in the paper! There'd been a photographer at the meeting, who took pictures of the babies and their parents. So on Thursday morning, Matt went to a gas station and found the blurb and brought home a stack of papers. We clipped the article and sent it out to the grand (and great) parents.

WORDS & SIGNS
On Wednesday, Madeleine was at her high chair eating pasta, and I was sitting with her. Near the end of the meal, I noticed that she had spaghetti sauce on her ear. I said, "Madeleine, why is it that every time you eat pasta you get sauce on your ear?" She then reached up, touched her ear, and said, "ear!" It's more like, "eaa!" but still! It's not like we'd been working on body parts. It's not in her "Where Is Baby's Belly Button?" book. I have no idea where she learned about her ear, but SUPER COOL!!

Also on Wednesday (must have been a good day for baby brain connections!), Madeleine first signed "down" to me. After she and Daddy got back from Baby Story time, she was clearly tired and about ready for a nap, but we needed to give her a little something to eat first so that she wouldn't be hungry and wake early. I took her and went to the fridge, but tired baby started crying. She kinda pushed away from me, then pointed down. I had to pull her close and hug her so that she wouldn't see me smiling. She was crying, and I didn't want her to think I was laughing at her. But come on, that is too adorable!!

She's signaled "down" a few times since this. Have I mentioned before how AWESOME baby sign language is?

FOOD
Madeleine tried to put her finger through the penne this week. So adorable. She got a really pleased expression on her face when her little finger was stuck in the pasta!

LITTLE BIG THINGS
This week, Madeleine escalated to dancing with no support! And she walked across the kitchen floor by herself! BABY STEPS!!

Baby says "baa" sometimes when she sees a sheep.

She likes walking around with the lime green tube from her cone (the plutonium core [from the Simpsons opening montage] as Matt likes to call it).

She's started imitating floppy dog. Matt plays with it with her, having it sniff and hop toward her and then kiss her face. I was never too good with making floppy dog sniff, so I made him pant. So this week, Madeleine played with him and made a panting sound!

Madeleine discovered her ears (and ours) this week. And she says "ear" really well, too!

So, finally, it turns out that balls are back in favor. Specifically, a football. She calls it a buh-buh. Even more specifically, the NFL football. We've got a tub full of footballs, cones, and flags for flat football, and there is an NFL ball, a college ball (or 2) and a high school ball (or 2). Her favorite by far is the NFL ball. No idea why--my theory is that it doesn't have the stripes? Maybe it's a bit thinner? I dunno


SLIDESHOW!

Week 63: March 25 - 31

Well, it is a LONG time since Week 63! I'm posting this in May, so I can't possibly remember some of the details. I'm not sure why it's been so long since I've even touched the blog. I've always wanted to keep doing it, but things just got a little crazy or something, I don't know! I'll probably just record the highlights for these older weeks and hopefully get back into the groove with the current week (68!)

EC
She went poo and pee on the potty this week! At one time! And I cued her to go pee after she went poo! :)

FOOD
Madeleine likes pasta! With our yummy family spaghetti sauce recipe! :) She also enjoyed some black beans at the Cuban Diner.

NEW!!
Madeleine took some "new" steps today! We defined them as new because she did not walk from one of us to the other, or toward either of us. She took a few hesitant steps toward something else, like a toy or Layla. Then, she took some steps while we were standing. She's feeling more confident in her abilities and doesn't need one of us right there with her all the time.

On Tuesday, she stood up and swayed her little hips! So adorable.

Thursday, Madeleine stood up from a crawl without holding on to anything. WOW. It will seriously be any day now...

WORDS & SIGNS
Madeleine learned the sign for grapes this week and used it to let us know what she wanted for a snack.

She said "bible" in class on Sunday morning, and really, she loves "B" sounds right now. Ball, Bible, Buh-buh... All words should start with a "B" if you ask her!

BABY STORY TIME
At the library near our house, they have baby story time once a week. Matt started taking Madeleine because Wednesday is "mommy goes to work day" where I get things done that need getting done that are on my to-do list. (LOVE mommy goes to work days). I love that they get to do this together.

LITTLE THINGS
On Saturday, we noted that Madeleine felt heavy.

Monday morning, Madeleine slept well. I woke to her talking to herself, and I even heard her laughing on the monitor! Love that happy, well-rested baby!

She loves the blue tube from her cone. It's her favorite piece to carry around.

Balls seem to have fallen out of favor somewhat. She likes balls in books now. It started with a little book where the dog gets a ball for his birthday. So now, all circles in books are balls. Hey, it's awesome, we get to point things out in books and talk about them a little bit.


SLIDESHOW!