Week 73: June 3 - 9

This was a fun week. They’re all pretty fun these days, actually!

BABY PLAY
Madeleine loves to help mommy with the laundry. She used to pull clothes out of the basket and toss them on the floor. She still does that a little bit, but now she only does it until she finds something interesting. Then she’ll go off by herself and play with the clothing item(s). Or washcloths and towels; she really likes those especially. She’ll stand and spread them out, get all the corners flat, then stack them on top of each other. It is seriously adorable and fascinating to watch! I would love to know what’s going through her mind while she’s doing this activity. It is just so cool.

She also loves stacking just about anything. She’ll play with CDs, playing cards, mommy’s plastic cards, mail, sheets of paper. She will stand at the bench and play, play, play, stacking and moving and restacking and sorting. Again, I’d love a glimpse into her mind when she plays like this!

WORDS & SIGNS
This week, Madeleine did the sign for “more!” We often do the sign for more when she has finished all the food on her plate, but this was the first time she did it to indicate that she wanted more! It looks a lot like book, so I was worried that she wouldn’t get it, but she did!

RILEDNESS
We have a term in our family. “Riled.” It is defined as the state of gritting one’s teeth, of needing to stomp the ground or lightly punch the wall because Madeleine is too much to handle. It can also mean a state of heightened energy. It started with Layla and Matt. Matt would often get riled and then proceed to play with the dog. He’d use a tone of voice during these times, and now Layla recognizes the tone from anywhere in the house.

Well, we can get quite riled because of Madeleine, and Layla will come running to join the fray. It’s hilarious.

This week, Madeleine got in on the riled action. It was after a great nap. She was just bouncing off the crib walls, the mattress, laughing, flopping down, rolling around. Basically being awesome. Layla sensed HER riledness and came into the room, ready to play!

LITTLE THINGS
Madeleine loves to put on mommy’s necklaces. She just feels so proud of herself, walking around with a pretty on!

One of her favorite bath toys are her stacking cups from IKEA ($2.50 for the set, best toy bargain EVER!). This week, after a bath, she brought a couple with her into her room to play with on the changing table, and she put them on her feet! So cute! Then she rolled her ankles around and watched the cups move.

She put her blanket in her little shoe box this week and carried it around.

One day this week, Matt cleaned the floors. This is a LONG process that involves vacuuming, swiffering, and then mopping. During the swiffer stage, Madeleine kept taking the swiffer from him and trying to imitate him! So we let her, but he needed to work on the floor, so I found our extra swiffer (no idea why we have 2) and made her a short one just her size. SHE LOVED IT.

We’ve really noticed Madeleine backing into things these days. She’ll stand and back into the wall, or the cabinets, the couch, chair, etc. No idea why, but it is adorable!

On Monday evening, we went as a family to BBQ Street, a restaurant in Kennesaw, for dinner. It was “Jet night,” [Jet Penny] and if you ordered from the Jet Menu, some of the proceeds went to help he and his family go to a Spina Bifida convention this summer in California. Anyway, we went, and after the meal, we were talking with Jet’s uncle, one of the managers of the restaurant. He was talking to Madeleine with his arms crossed, and she started imitating him! It was so hilarious! He made her smile and laugh, and we got a kick out of her sitting there with her arms kind of crossed.


SLIDESHOW

Week 72: May 27 - June 2

SLEEP
Well, what we were doing wasn’t working. We’d put her to bed, and it would take her 1-1.5 hours to fall asleep. It just wasn’t right, we were getting stressed (more me), and things were generally rough. So Sunday night, Matt and I talked, and our new family policy with respect to sleep is: RELAX. No more letting it be a burden. I know we’ll still think about it, and do our best to maximize her sleep, but the heavy toll it’s been taking on my mental state has to stop. So we’re stopping!

And it’s been great so far. Madeleine isn’t really getting more sleep than she was, but mommy and daddy are happier, and that counts for a lot!

WORDS & SIGNS
* Madeleine has started saying “baby!” She says it when she sees pictures of herself or other babies.
* She also maybe sorta kinda said “pig” this week. She’s got a little piggy bank in her room that she loves to hold and kiss just as much as her lamby and her floppy dog and her elephant. LOL.
* Speaking of the pig. It’s a bank, so there is some money inside, and it rattles around whenever she holds it. And we always make the “oink” noise for pigs. Baby has started trying to make a pig sound, but it’s hard to tell if she’s trying to “oink” or imitate the sound of the money sliding around in the bank!

LITTLE BIG THINGS
Last week, I mentioned that Madeleine really enjoys the pictures on our fridge. This week, she pointed out the picture of Matt skateboarding. She said “dada” and pointed to it.

As I’m sure you recall, Madeleine loves footballs. Last time we were in Florida, Russ gave us some Gator cups with sports on them, mostly football. Matt was drinking from one this week, and Madeleine pointed to it and said, “football.” Or, her word, which is kind of like “buh-ball.” But the thing is, there wasn’t just a picture of a football on the cup. It was an image of a quarterback holding the ball. So it was small and mostly hidden in his hands. But she picked it out. How cool is that?

She’s started getting better at rolling a ball around.

One day, Matt took her for a walk down the street, carrying her. It was really sunny, and Madeleine wanted down. Matt stood between her and the sun to keep the sun off her, so his shadow was out in front. She stopped, pointed at the shadow, and said, “dada.” She would squat down and look at the shadow, and she was interested in her own shadow as well.

I’ve been singing “Hush, Little Baby” to Madeleine at sleep times for awhile now. I had to look up the words because I didn’t know them. In case you don’t either, there’s a verse that says “If that diamond ring turns brass, mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass.” Well, a couple of nights this week, when I said “looking glass,” Madeleine pointed to my glasses!

SLIDESHOW

Week 71: May 20 - 26

DIAPER NEWS
Well, much sadness this week in the diaper department. I got all the cloth diapers all clean. I mean, they were smelling perfect out of the dryer, and I was psyched. Madeleine's sores had healed nicely, so we were all set to return to cloth.

She was in them less than 2 days before she started getting red again, and one of the old sores looked like it wanted to come back. It wasn't a hard decision, but it was a sad one. I absolutely LOVE cloth diapers, and we've used them for over about a year. But it was time to say goodbye. They stopped working. All of the efforts I put in to making them work had nothing to do with why they weren't working. I finally felt like I'd done all I could.

So Matt and I are now disposable diaper parents. AND IT IS OKAY. (I have to keep telling myself this!).

That said, we're using Seventh Generation diapers, which don't seem to cause as much diaper rash. Madeleine obviously has some sensitive skin, so when she's in disposables, we have to be so careful. And traditional diaper creams are full of chemicals and stuff. Ugh. We're still working on all the details.

FOOD & TRUST
A couple of times recently, I've asked Madeleine to try something that she didn't want to eat--or at least, she didn't want to try. And it took me asking a few times, but she always tried it, and usually she ended up liking it and wanting more.

At first, I didn't think anything of it, but then I thought about stories I've heard about other kids and eating, and something occurred to me. If nothing else--if Madeleine still ends up only wanting chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese or whatever--we have established a trust relationship with food. She knows I'm never going to force something into her mouth, MAKE her eat something. Most importantly, we aren't going to make her eat food she's doesn't like. I will always want her to try things, and I will always ask her to try foods, but that's where it's going to end.

I just love that she trusts us when it comes to food because I think it will extend into other areas of her life.

PICTURES
Matt and I have had pictures on our fridge since we moved in. Madeleine has always seen them, and there have been phases where we show them to her, name the people in them. This week, she's started recognizing people in the pictures. Mostly, Matt and I, but she also knows Layla. We show her SuSu, Marshall, Lola, and our friends Molly and Jet (and his parents).

She also looks at herself, and tell her it's her, baby Madeleine. I'm sure she has no idea what I'm saying, I don't know if she even knows what "me" is, she has no concept of self. But she still likes looking!

I am planning to make a photo book for her with all of her family members so we can point to them and tell her about her family. Of course, she'll need to SEE people in order to remember them in pictures! Hopefully we can get some visits in this summer.

WORDS (& SIGNS)

* Following up on one of Madeleine's new favorite pastimes, she has solidly learned the word "door." :)
* Also this week, she said "dada mama". LOL!

LITTLE THINGS
Madeleine loves bubbles.... in the bubble wand. HA! She isn't that interested in the actual bubbles, but she LOVES the little bubble wand. When she holds it, it looks like a little light saber! I hope I got a picture of her with it!

This week, she pointed to eyes in a book! And said "eyes!"

This little baby loves putting lids on things!

Matt and I have long called Madeleine the best baby ever. I mean, we're totally qualified to make such a statement, right? Totally unbiased. (*wink*) Well, she's not a little baby anymore. She hasn't been for awhile. So that moniker has evolved over her lifetime. It's been "Big Little Baby Girl", "Little Baby Girl", and who can remember them all. This week, though, she's just ... so BIG. So we couldn't leave "Little" beside "Baby" anymore. So now, she's "The Best Big Baby Little Girl." :D

SLIDESHOW