Week 94: October 28 - November 3

So. As of this week, there are just 10 until Madeleine turns TWO. Two! I cannot handle that! {Not to mention we have to get through Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years before then!}

The beginning of this week saw us leaving Gainesville and heading home. NOT FUN--the trip, I mean. The morning started well, with Matt bringing French pastries for everyone. YUM, pain chocolat! (Chocolate bread, or chocolate croissant) Madeleine ended up not even napping, which put me into all modes of stress--that I tried not to feel. After an hour or so, I decided to get her up and get on the road. It was nice to head out a little earlier than we'd anticipated. The trip home was just... rough. No nap for her meant that she dozed in the car for just half an hour. She was stupid tired by the time we got home, and she went immediately to sleep. YAY.

Madeleine also had a little case of the sniffles when we got home. All the traveling, plus the sniffles, made for some really solid sleep--at first. Now her cold is affecting her nights and her naps. But, at least I know that it will end when her cold does. :)

We had a pretty quiet Saturday morning, just recovering from the trip. After Madeleine's nap, we headed to Jet's house for a Halloween party! With being out of town... and just being in general uncreative... we didn't have anything for Madeleine to dress up. But she managed to enjoy the party anyway. LOL. It was designed for families, so there were lots of other kids to play with. Naturally, though, she just wanted the balls. All of them. They were playing the Charlie Brown Halloween video, and Madeleine would glance at it occasionally while doing other things. But when Schroeder played the piano, she stopped, stood in front of the TV, and watched, rapt, until he stopped. I think it's because Matt plays and she knew the sound, knew that it was special. :)

FOOTBALL
I went out to try and scrounge some costumes during Madeleine's nap. When she woke up, Matt got her up and left her in her sleep sack. He took her out to the rumpus room to watch football. She sat on his lap for a good long while and watched with him. Matt reports that she said "oh no!" just about every time someone got tackled. And she said "football" a WHOLE LOT. There were also a few moments where she cracked up. Matt wasn't sure if it was too many footballs to process or what, but she got a kick out of something! And of course, daddy loved every second of it.

Oh yeah, she says "oh, no." IT IS SUPER CUTE. I'm running out of adjectives!

BIGNESS
BIG thing this week: PLURALIZATION! Madeleine has started saying words in plural. She's just started practicing this, so she's a little slow with her words. She'll say the word, there will be a teeny tiny pause, and then "sss". HILARIOUS. Matt reported that she said "hangers" and that it was getting his nomination for cutest word ever. I already love how she says "hanger," so I can't wait to hear hangers.

One final thing about the plurals. When looking at a book Sunday night, Madeleine saw a page of pigs. She's hasn't said "pig" in a long time, she just makes the oink noise. So what did she do about that page with 7 pigs? She made the oink noise, then added the "sss". We cracked up!

LEAVES
A lot of the pictures this week are from us playing in some leaves. Madeleine and I were outside one afternoon, and it was just perfect. The light was awesome, the temp was perfect.... She played, I snapped some pics. Well, then I got the idea to rake some leaves. Matt joined us, and he took up the call, gathering a good little pile. He and I took turns walking through the leaves, tossing some in the air, and playing. Madeleine started out pretty timid, just kicking them, touching them. But it wasn't long before she was kneeling beside them, then picking them up, then "hopping" on the pile, then laying on it! Her hopping was hilarious. She'd crouch down, then basically just put her knees on the ground. Matt and I cheered her on, and she was super pleased with herself. She wants to hop SO BAD.

It was one of the most fun times we've had yet, and I really saw that Madeleine is getting bigger. We could do something as a family, all together. It didn't have to be me or Matt keeping a close eye on her or holding her at all times. We all just played. Best day ever. I even filled up my memory card and had to fight all the instincts to capture every second on "film." It probably took 10 minutes before the kick in my brain to snap, snap, snap went away. Then it was all joy. And thanksgiving. It was delightful to me to see the delight on her face, the fun she was having. LOVE.

FINALLY
I know, I know. Super short. But it's just really hard these days to make notes. I don't know why.

Madeleine now knows "wipe", as in the wipes we use at diaper time, and that we wiper her hands and face after she eats. She's even started wiping her own hands together. It's kind of nice because it's another way we know she's done eating. She'll say, "wipe, wipe," and wipe her hands.

One night at dinner, we had buttered bread. Baby wanted seconds, so I got another piece. She said, "baby, butter." It wasn't a perfect "butter," but she got her point across. :)

SLIDESHOW

Week 93: October 21 - 27

Mimi came for a visit this week! We had a fabulous photo shoot on Friday with our friend Joanna, who has taken quite a few of Madeleine's pictures over the last year or so. She does an awesome job, and I can't wait to see the results! Then we took a short trip to visit a friend. Full, fun week!

LITTLE THINGS
Madeleine seems suddenly taller. I've heard many, many stories of such a phenomenon, but to see it in real life is crazy. Pants she wore last week are now too short! Yay for growing babies!

Baby got some more scrapes today, including one around her eye. She was standing by the stairs, and she started to fall. Matt tried to catch her, but he thinks doing so only made her fall worse. She hit the corner of the steps, and it looks so sad. She cried a lot, but she is a trooper and was playing again after not too long.

Madeleine has started saying her own name! After many months of referring to herself as "baby," she now says, "Ma-lyn." IT IS ADORABLE. She usually does it in a possessive sense, like, "Ma-lyn ow" for Madeleine's drink.

As mentioned already, Mimi visited this week. One day when getting baby up from her nap, Mimi laughed at something she did and slapper her knee while laughing. Apparently, Madeleine thought this was great fun and started copying her. :)

Another fun story related by Mimi: one day, Madeleine was sitting in her chair and she said "eee" (which can either mean sit, eat, or kiss). Mimi said, "sit?" Madeleine repeated herself. Mimi said, "kiss?" Madeleine then said "eee" again, but also did the sign for eat while she said it. ISN'T THAT HILARIOUS??!?!??!?!


GAINESVILLE
This week, we decided to go to Gainesville, FL, to visit some friends. Or, rather, for me to visit a friend. Matt came with and stayed with his brother. We had a FABULOUS time. It was relaxing for me in many ways. Madeleine's schedule was off, but she handled it all very well. The first night, though, I think she got overheated, because she woke up quite upset at about 2am. I was in the room with her, and we were next door to everyone else, so I couldn't just let her cry. I got her up and tried to help her go to sleep with me. It took over 2 hours. YEAH. And she fell asleep on me, while I was sitting up. It was the only way she would sleep. After I decided she was good and asleep, I slowly slid down so that I was lying down, her atop me.

It was really neat; I've never slept with her beside me before. Thankfully, she slept in until about 8:20. That was neat too, waking up with her right there. :)

We went to about 4 parks in 3 days, had lots of PB&Js, went to Chick-fil-A family night and the library and played with cars, planes, trains, and blocks a WHOLE BUNCH.

My friend has two boys, almost 3 and 14 months. It was interesting to watch them with Madeleine. When we got there, I put her down with their younger boy. He went right up to her and kinda pushed her, which is what he does with his brother (and how his brother does with him). Madeleine didn't understand and after a couple of light pushes, she started to cry. From then on, when she first saw him (Vinny) in the morning, she was a bit afraid of him. But once they were together long enough, she got over it.

Madeleine was really interested in whatever Baer was doing. She quickly learned his name and said it often when he wasn't around. Similarly, Vinny was really interested in Madeleine and wanted to interact with her as much as he could. But Baer barely noticed Madeleine, and she was wary of Vinny. So nobody really got a play friend out of the deal! Oh well, I got to be with my friend. :)

We also got to spend a little time with Matt's parents. We met them at a park and Madeleine got to swing for about 30 minutes. [That is ALL she really wanted to do at the park, but there was one place where she got into the slide for a few minutes. As in, she'd go up the stairs and go down the slide by herself.] We showed Papa Pete and SuSu Madeleine's high five and fist bump, and they were both big hits. Then we had dinner at Uncle Russ' house, yummy BBQ.

FABULOUS trip, can't wait to make it again! Next year, sometime, Lord willing.


SLIDESHOW

Week 92: October 14 - 20

This post is so much after the fact. I hope I can flesh out some of these details because I don't have much in my notes...

Madeleine turned 21 months this week! Just 3 more until she is 2! I'm excited and... not. Ha!

OKAY?
We had a big development this week. I think I've mentioned before that Madeleine doesn't really have any affirmative word or nod or anything. WELL! That changed this week. She started by just saying "okay" because she likes copying what Matt and I say. A day or so later, she started saying "okay" when we asked her if she wanted to do something and the answer wasn't "no." It is a super cute word, pronounced kind of like, "ooo-kay-ee," almost 3 syllables. And the inflection is on the end of the word, which we like.

One more little thing about "okay:" You may recall the story of Madeleine wanting Matt to ride the elliptical and her being upset when he stopped. This week, she wanted him to go on it again, which he did. When he stopped, she said, "More. More. Okay." Matt said it felt as though she was feeding him the line she wanted to hear, which was him agreeing to keep doing it.

BIG STUFF
Madeleine has started being excited about doing things. I'll say, "do you want to go for a walk in the stroller?" She'll raise her eyebrows, form an "O" with her mouth, and say," ooooooh!" Then she'll hop right up from what she was doing and head toward the stroller.

We THINK that she understands what "two" means. We think. It may have been coincidence that she'd see two things and say "two." It's possible. She IS only 21 months old. But she's done it more than once, with balls and something else.

BOO-BOOs
Baby had two new falls this week, bumping her head both times. :( The good news is that she got over them both pretty quickly.

EXCITING
Last but not least, (again, sorry so short), Madeleine got to see the sheep I mentioned last week again! A friend of mine heard the story, and while driving home one day, saw the flock of sheep at an elementary school. She called me, and Matt and baby hopped in the car to go see the sheep! There were a few other families that had pulled over to see the sheep, but Matt led the pack in getting closer. Madeleine said, "More baa" a whole bunch. Then they walked around on a dirt field next to the school, Madeleine running as best she could, braving the uneven terrain.

FUN ADDITION
The bars on our front steps aren't connected to the rail-end-thing on one side. Recently, Madeleine discovered that if she grabs the bars and shakes them, they made a really loud clanging noise. She gets a HUGE rush from this and laughs and laughs.... :)

SLIDESHOW