Week 91: October 7 - 13

BEDTIME UPDATE:
It is safe for me to say that the problem is now solved. The average for this week is a little up, maybe 25 minutes, but I think that's due to teething and me not giving her medicine before bed. She hasn't had the obvious symptoms of teething, so I'd stopped giving her ibuprofen, but after a conversation with a friend, I think she IS working on her last molars and needs medicine again. Will be starting that tonight. I'm so thrilled that we tried the bath before dinner thing. And that it was the solution!!

AWESOME SATURDAY
We had a great Saturday again. We started out with a trip to the Atlanta Tree Sale. Sounds strange, right? Well, Matt saw a little ad for it in the paper, and also featured was a lamb petting zoo. He was seriously so excited at the thought of Madeleine getting to see real lambs. And it was obviously a must-do. So downtown we went. Wish we could have purchased a tree or two, but since we don't own this house... waste of money.

Anyway, in the back were the lambs. And two goats, just for fun. The petting zoo was provided by eweniversally green, a company that uses sheep and goats to rid your lawn of unwanted plants. Landscaping... with sheep. FABULOUS idea, love it. Anyway, so I held Madeleine and we looked at the sheep. Then I fed one with my hand a couple of times so she could see. And you know, you never know how kids are going to do with live animals and new things. The goats especially were all up in your business if you got too close, not shy at all.

Matt and I petted the lamb, and eventually, Madeleine tried it. She liked. Then I fed one again, and Matt gave Madeleine some food pellets. SHE FED THE LAMB. What happened next?

"MORE."

She was crazy about those lambs and goats! She kept wanting to feed them, pet them, but mostly feed them. Every time her hand was empty, she said, "more." And when mommy and daddy didn't replenish her food supply, she went over to the bucket and helped herself. IT WAS AWESOME and so worth the drive!! I was thrilled that she liked them so much, that she wasn't scared of them. I think having a big dog helped. Oh, and there was a sheep dog there with the sheep, brought over from Scotland, actually. I bet he was happy getting to do what he'd been bred for.

That seems like a big enough Saturday, but it didn't end there. We next went to Sublime Doughnuts near Georgia Tech, a gourmet doughnut shop. If that sounds odd.... it isn't. It is DELICIOUS. AMAZING. Next time you're in town, we'll have to visit. Anyway, we got doughnuts for us and some friends and sat down to eat them there. It was game day, probably an early game, because there were tons of people in Tech gear who came in.

After doughnuts, we went to Ikea to make a return and a purchase. Then we took the doughnuts to our friends and hung out for a few minutes. Then home, then baby down for her nap. Woo-hoo! Awesome Saturday, and that was all before lunch! (If you're interested, the afternoon was just spent hanging at the house, watching UF v. LSU. Sad. Though Madeleine really enjoyed watching the football.)

Speaking of football: She was eating her after-nap snack when Matt turned on the computer to get ready for the game. At some point, the sound came on while we were all at the table, and Madeleine said, "football" when she heard it. We were so proud!! LOL.

WARNING: Maybe Too Much Information? If babies going potty on the floor and people bother you, then read no further... Although I've now told you the basic gist... ;)

Monday evening was somewhat momentous for Madeleine. We've recently discovered the secret to happiness--i.e., how to help Madeleine fall asleep quicker at night: Bath before dinner. This simple little switch, which we tried for the first time September 24, has led to two solid weeks of under-an-hour-fall-asleep-times, most nights less than 30. REALLY!!

Okay, now to the story. Since we do bath before dinner, we have been putting Madeleine in just pants and a shirt--no diaper--for dinner. Sometimes she's had misses (not in the true EC sense of the term), sometimes not. Tonight, she was a bit squirmy, then she looked at me and said her word for "potty." I asked if she needed to go, and she said no. (Also, possibly related: she wasn't eating hardly any of her dinner.) A few minutes later, she started kinda crying, but the, "I don't like my situation" cry. I asked what was wrong, and she indicated she wanted up. Turns out she'd peed a little bit in her pants. SO I got her up, took off her pants, put her in new pants.

We returned to the table and I sat her on my lap to see if that would help her eat more. It didn't. But then she peed more (again after being super squirmy), getting on me and the floor and of course herself. I picked her back up and I asked if she was finished. She didn't really have an answer. We went into the bathroom where her potty is, I left her pants on, and asked if she wanted to sit on the potty. She did. Then she wanted me to sit on my potty (she says "baby's potty" and "mama's potty"), so I obliged of course. Then she picked up her potty and headed toward the hall, but she seemed ... interested in it, unlike before. My gut told me to stick with it, so I had her set the potty down and sit on it. I decided to just hang out with her for a bit, so I started to tell her a story. She wanted a book instead, so I got her some of her little chunky books. This made her happy. She wanted more, I obliged. Then I went to get the phone off the table to check the time, so I told Madeleine to sit on the potty and not get up (because she alternated between wanting to sit there and wanting to get up).

When I got to the table, I heard her make a little cry. I went back, asked what was wrong. She was standing up, kinda looking down at herself. I checked the potty.... YES! She's gone in the potty, through her pants!! I was so thrilled, I praised her, hugged her, told her good job. No idea if that was "right" or not, but it sure made her happy. She wanted to sit back on the potty! She said, "more potty." Oh, she's so fabulous!

NOTES FROM THE WEEK
~ More 3 and 4 word sentences!

~ And she's also doing a bit of parroting, repeating words and phrases that we use. It's so amazing how much and how quickly she's learning things. Her brain is just a little sponge.

~ OOOOOH, and speaking of learning! This week, Madeleine has shown a big interest in letters. Matt was the first to discover it while playing with our letter magnets. He'd tell her about the letter ("that's a blue T") and she seemed to really pay attention. When he told me all of this, it reminded me of the day when I wrote "Mommy Loves Madeleine" in crayon on a piece of paper. That day, when I read it to her, she really seemed to THINK about it hard; it made some kind of impact in her little mind.

Anyway, back to letters. She's got this little "alphaberry" thing that has all the letters, and if you press them, there's a little girl's voice saying the letter. In the car on Wednesday, she pressed the "O" and said, "O", and she did the same with "I". Then I asked her where the "O" was, and she pressed it. BRILLIANT!! You heard it here first!

~ New words of note: "go" and "ok." We were outside in the back yard one day, and I was holding Madeleine. Matt wanted me to put her down; "she wants to go," he said. I put her down, and she headed off across the yard saying, "baby go. Baby go." Over and over. "okay" she hears all the time but just started saying. It sounds like "oooh-keee" and is pretty cute. I'm sure that's surprising, right?

~ On Thursday, Madeleine picked up the word "pet," as in, "pet Layla." So of course, she had to pet mama, dada, baby, Lamby, and blankie too!

~ FINALLY, the way she says "no" is also quite precious. At bible study on Tuesday, one of the ladies heard it and commented on it, then asked me to make her say it again!

~ Also, Layla is the best dog. She is so good with Madeleine, so patient. She lets Madeleine pet her, hug her, kiss her, whatever. I'm looking forward to the days when Madeleine can really enjoy her.

SLIDESHOW

Week 90: September 30 – October 6

BEDTIME UPDATE:
STILL AMAZING! We are averaging 20 minutes. It feels kind of nice to discover that I was right in my gut when I thought it wasn't normal for her to take SO LONG to fall asleep. I heard other moms say to just get used to it, plan for it, not worry about it, etc., but I saw the effects it was having on her attitude/demeanor/temper, and didn't accept it. She is doing so much better! We've even been able to adjust bed times a bit, so that she's up a little later, since she's falling asleep well. We may even try 7pm next week! :)

SATURDAY
We've been having some awesome Saturdays lately. Matt read that Saturday, October 1, was supposed to be "a perfect fall day," so we planned a trip to Roswell Mill. We'd visited there the year before and really liked it. There's a big river, a covered bridge, mountain/hill to climb. Beautiful place. Last time, we climbed up and walked around. This time, we walked along the river in an attempt to reach the dam. There wasn't a clear trail, and we didn't make it all the way, but it was just fabulous. The pictures will probably help--whenever I get those up...

Probably my favorite thing was going out into the middle of the river on some rocks and sitting down with Madeleine. We watched the river go by, and Matt threw in big leaves and things for us to watch go by. It was beautiful, peaceful, fantastic. Baby really seemed to enjoy it as well. Plus, she got to walk on some rocks, a big sewer pipe (yay?), the regular trail, and the covered bridge. She also got her foot wet in the river, accidentally dunking it in the water, shoe, sock and all. So we took off both her shoes and socks, and she walked a little bit in some sand and on the bridge. Barefoot outside! So luxurious. :)

WORDS AND SUCH
Most of my notes from this week involve words, so I needed a whole section for it.

~ To start, baby learned "walk," which sounds an awful lot like "rock." She uses "rock" for when she wants to rock in a rocker and for rocks outside.

~ I put a lemon in her little toy colander, and she said, "lemon bowl." "Lemon" is quite new, bowl not so much. But she knew what was going on!

~ BIG: Madeleine understands more than one of something. She may see a book and say "book," then she'll see another book and say, "more book." She does this for all kinds of things. It's super cool.

~ She is saying longer sentences, 3-4 words. She's also saying a LOT more words that we don't know yet. She'll put together a string of words, and I just have to scratch my head and try to get her to repeat it. This rarely works. I hope she doesn't get too frustrated and that we figure out what she's saying quickly!

~ I'm almost certain that she said, "don't want to" this week!

~ A not-new word but one I don't think I've recorded yet: she says and knows "umbrella."

~ She has a word for a teddy bear. It's something like "eh-ee" I think? She uses this for my bear, a little bear on one of the pictures in her room (she usually kisses this bear before bed each night), and the teddy bears on the sides of U-haul boxes (they also get kisses).

~ Tied for my favorite for the week: Madeleine says "hold mama" when she wants me to pick her up or hold her. &hearts

~ Also tied for favorite: This one requires a little background. Some of the ladies at my church have a weekly Bible study, and we alternate homes. One of the other women is a mom with a little girl about 8 months younger than Madeleine named Emmeline. This week, it was at my house. Madeleine usually naps through the first 2/3 of the time they are here. She woke, and I went to get her. Usually after naps, she likes to play for up to 10 minutes in her crib before getting out. This time though, I wanted her up quickly so I could get back to my guests. I told her, "Let's get your sleep sack off. There's someone here to play with you." Madeleine looked at me, then looked very thoughtful. Then she laid down on her crib and said, "Emmy?" I about DIED. I grinned so big and said, "Yeah, that's right, Madeleine. Emmeline is here to play!"

It was the first time she's used a name for someone. "Layla" means Layla, but also most other dogs (although, she calls Lelu "Lelu," but she called another dog who looked like Lelu "Lelu" too, so.... anyway.....). No one else had a name before Emmeline. And Madeleine continued to call her "Emmy" all day. SO ADORABLE AND WHEN DID SHE GET SO BIG?????

NOTES FROM THE WEEK:
~ Madeleine wore some pants with pockets this week, and Matt showed her that she could put things in her pockets. SO CUTE. Especially when she took the cardboard flap out of her pocket to show me!

~ Baby has been hopping really well in her crib. One day, on the monitor, I saw her hopping. She holds on to the rail and bounces as best she can. She gets some air sometimes. Anyway, she'd hop, then stop, and say, "More. More." And then hop again. Remember, no one is in the room with her. She's telling herself "more" the same way she does whenever she wants Matt or I to keep doing something. So anyway, she hopped some more, then stopped to pick up Lamby for some more hopping, and then of course Blankie had to join the fun. All of this, all on her own

~ Leaning against things (walls, windows, doors, etc.) is making a comeback in baby's life. It was in vogue around 18 months, then she stopped doing it, but it's back. And this time, she wants mama and dada in on the action! We happily oblige her.

~ Maybe my fave this week? Madeleine has been doing "where is it" with her hands for a long time. Walk into a room, hands up, looking for something. Peek-a-boo is also really big right now. She'll hide something behind her blanket, put her hands up. We say "where is (fill-in-the-blank)?" And she finds it by removing the blanket. Well. One day this week, baby, Matt, me and Layla were standing in the hallway. Madeleine turned her back on Layla, put her hands up, and said, "Layla." Like, "where's Layla?" Then she turned around and went "ooohhhh" when she saw the dog. She then proceeded to do this with Matt and I, just turned her back to him or me and saying "mama?" or "dada?" Hilarious! She cracks us up, she's so funny.

SLIDESHOW

Week 89: September 23 – 29

BIGGEST WIN OF THE YEAR: figuring out how to help Madeleine fall asleep quicker at bedtime!!! Seriously! One little tweak in the bedtime routine, and voila! Magic. At least, it feels like it! So what was this cure-all, you ask? :D

Bath before dinner.

I don't know why, or how, though I suspect it's that bathtime, especially when daddy's around, gets her amped. Which makes it hard for her to settle down at night. And, really, the proof is in the pudding, as they say. We just Since switching dinner-then-bath to bath-then-dinner, the longest it's taken Madeleine to fall asleep is 41 minutes, but most nights are closer to 15-20. A huge improvement from an hour! We've only got 6 nights of data for this, so I'm still half expecting for our good luck streak to end, but it looks amazing so far. Will keep you posted--because I KNOW you'll be on the edge of your seat, waiting to hear! :)

BIG ADVENTURES
First up was a trip to Kennesaw Mountain. We played in the grass a little bit, then headed up a trail. It was a long, low trail, not the one I've been on a couple of times. It was great because it was pretty empty, so we could let Madeleine just walk ahead of us. Which she did, because she's so big. She enjoyed looking around, but her favorite thing was all the rocks. Finding a biggish one in the middle of the trail that she could sit on was especially fantastic.

Next, Madeleine and I spent a couple of days at Teda's house. Madeleine got to play with Liberty and Scarlet and Adelaide a whole bunch! It was ... crazy being in charge of 3 little girls! One of Teda's friends from church came and got Liberty at about 2, and Adelaide got home from school at 2:40. Teda took a nap at 2:30 and was pretty much out for the rest of the time I was there. Which is great, that's why I was there. And her girls were very good, Adelaide a big help. But. Going from one baby to three in an afternoon! Yikes! :)

Actually, maybe it just sounds worse than it was. All the girls were super-well behaved and awesome. So it was not much extra work at all!

NOTES FROM THE WEEK
~ Madeleine recently discovered our elliptical machine. What does she do with it, you ask? Well, she wants daddy to get on and make it go! On Saturday, she indicated that she wanted him to make it go. So he did it for a few minutes and stopped. Then she stood next to the ottoman, picking her feet up one at a time like on the elliptical machine. Seriously, so cute. But then she wanted daddy to do it again, so he did, for a longer time this time. She just stood there, leaning against the ottoman, watching him. When he finally DID stop, she cried! Talk about slave driver--wonder where she gets that? ;)

~ Matt reported that dinner one night was tickle-fest. I wasn't there (at Teda's). Madeleine tickled everything--Dada, baby, her plate (which she calls bowl), her cup, her food.... It is hilarious to see her tickle things that make no reaction, unlike her parents, who fake-laugh (Matt is much better at this than me!). Yet she still continues to tickle inanimate objects. WHO DOES THAT?

~ I've reported that Madeleine is working on colors. One day this week, I was hanging clothes, and she learned the word for hanger. It sounds like "ongh-uhr". She likes to play with extra hangers, so I let her. Then she handed me one and said, "blue hanger." And it was a blue hanger!!

~ Madeleine has also learned the word "bug". And she pretty much wants to kiss every bug she sees.

~ One of my favorite Madeleine words is her "word" for steps/stairs. She says "ew-ihh ew-ihh" for stairs. Go figure!

~ Last but not least: Madeleine learned to blow bubbles in her drink through her straw this week! LOL!

SLIDESHOW