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