Month 25: January 14 - February 13

BIRTHDAY
This month started out with Madeleine’s birthday! Mimi came up for the weekend to spend with her, and Madeleine had a great time. We didn’t have a party this year because I just couldn’t get things together. Hopefully, it won’t happen again.

But, Madeleine’s birthday did not go unheralded. On Sunday, we gave her a few wrapped gifts (some books and some puzzles) and then her big gift, a swing set! She totally loves swinging. Despite the cold temperature, we of course had to go swing. The swing set wasn’t QUITE finished; we only had her infant swing and not a toddler swing yet, but we heard no complaints from Madeleine.







After swinging for a while, we gave Madeleine her other big gift (too big for her now, really): a tricycle from her cousin Lola! Madeleine had played with it over Christmas and had a lot of fun. And Lola was sweet enough to send it with Mimi for Madeleine to use.



POTTY TRAINING
To summarize, we did not have a successful venture with potty training this time around.

Madeleine seemed to get it, she got to where she would go pee-pee in the potty with no problems, but never poo-poo. We ended up giving it 3 weeks, and by the end, she wasn’t even really trying to go pee-pee in the potty anymore. Plus, she was super anxious. Despite us never saying a negative word to her about mistakes, the fact that she messed her underwear eventually bothered her. She wasn’t her usual self, so we decided to stop and give it a break.

As soon as we put a diaper on her, she was back to normal. She could play by herself again, she was calmer …. It was definitely the right thing to do. No big deal, we’ll try again later! I do want to start potty training the next one sooner, though.

BIG GIRL BED!
Toward the end of potty training, we thought that maybe having a big girl bed would help her want to keep her sheets and underwear clean when she slept. This idea was solidified by a trip to Nathan and Teda’s. Madeleine saw Scarlet’s little bed, hopped right on, and said, “I love this bed.”

I found a toddler bed on craigslist and procured it one rainy morning. We ended up stopping potty training that same day, so the two never went together, but we went ahead with the new bed and putting the crib in the attic. First, though, I had to get some sheets and a blanket for the little bed. It’s the size of her crib mattress, so twin sheets would be too big. (I can’t wait for her to get her bed from SuSu, the one that SuSu slept in when she lived with Uncle Red. That’s her next bed, and I love it!)

I wanted a set of sheets that would match everything in her room, but I had no luck finding any. I tried finding fabric so I could make some, and no luck again. Then we went to Goodwill, inspired by someone else’s story on Pinterest, and I found a set of full-sized sheets that would go perfectly. So for a mere $10, I got enough fabric to make three top sheets (already have 3 bottom, fitted sheets), plus the two pillow cases and lots of leftover fabric for who-knows-what? I was happy. Oh, and Madeleine decided she wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles blanket for her bed, which thrilled Matt, so we got that too.

Then, finally came the time to make the transition. Madeleine loved the bed, the sheets, the blanket. We wanted the first sleep in the bed to be night time, and she was completely happy and thrilled. However, she was a little extra tired that night. When we went to put her in the bed, she protested with tears and asked for her sleep sack. We obliged: removed the sheets and blanket and put the sack on her. She went right to sleep! We’ll have to work on weaning her from the sack eventually.

The following day at nap time wasn’t so smooth. Madeleine got off her bed and was excited to explore her new freedom. I calmly went in, put her back in bed. Well, she didn’t nap that day. Or the next. Finally on the third, we put up the pack-n-play and put her in that so she would hopefully sleep. After an hour, she was upset and crying for her big girl bed. I went in, rocked her, and she was asleep in no time. I put her in the bed and she slept fine.

The next day we brought out the PNP again, and she fell asleep in it. I went in and moved her to the bed because I’d read that it’s important for them to wake up in their new bed. That was the last day we had to use the PNP. The next day, I told her that if she got out of bed too many times, she’d have to sleep in the PNP. She did not like that idea, so she stayed in bed.

Occasionally, we’d see her get up so she could get Lamby or Blankie or Puppy, but really, that was it for getting out of bed. Big girl! We theorized that she liked having the power to get Lamby if she fell out of the bed, because in the crib, once Lamby was out, she was out. So she just had to remind herself (repeatedly) that she could retrieve her lovies whenever she needed it.

There were just a few instances of falling out of bed. Once she fell while awake and just got back in bed. The second time, she was asleep, but it didn’t really phase her. The third (and final) time, she fell out in the middle of the night and landed very hard on the floor. She cried big time, so we went in to soothe her and then I rocked her. However, she was a bit over tired, and ended up being awake for almost 3 hours. We eventually just had to put her down and let her cry herself to sleep, which only took a few minutes. That was the last time she fell out of bed!

I’d been worried, because she was SO active in her crib, moving all over the place in the course of a night. But now she pretty much stays at the head of her bed. It’s neat how we learn to sense those edges even in our sleep.



OWIES and WOWIES
We scheduled Madeleine for some Valentine’s pictures, so naturally she had to fall and get a black eye the week before! (This happened before our family pictures back in October as well.) She was on the bench, and I had my back turned so I don’t know exactly what happened, but she fell somehow and hit her cheek on the wheel of her blue stroller.

I heard her fall, then cry really hard, but I didn’t see anything. I held her for a moment, but she was in pain and was squirmy. When I saw her face again, maybe 30-45 seconds after I first looked, I could see a huge bruise forming under her left eye and just a tiny bit of blood where the impact had broken the skin (very slightly). Poor little girl! She recovered quickly and went on to play, but that bruise was still there at the end of the month.

Our favorite photographer, Joanna Penny, did the Valentine pictures, and worked her magic so that the boo-boo wasn’t visible.

However, we were still doing potty training at this point, and we went to the photo shoot in underwear. Ha! I’d thought that two extra outfits would suffice, but no. She was in a fun, new place (with swings!) and so there was no thought given to potty. And we went through all of those pants and underwear in a very short amount of time.

Still, Joanna managed to get some great pictures!




2-YEAR CHECK-UP
January 18th I took Madeleine to the doctor for her 2-year appointment. She did fabulously, with the usual crying when the doctor came in the room.

She finally got out of the 4th percentile for weight and soared into the 25th! She weighed 26 pounds 4 ounces. And apparently, Madeleine had gone through a growth spurt, because her height was now 34.5 inches—though it is hard for them to get a super accurate measurement when she is crying and fighting the whole time. Still, we’d been noticing that her clothes were getting snug, and even some of the things she’d just received for Christmas were tight. Pants started to be too short. It was clear she’d been doing some growing!

We also asked them to repeat the milk allergy test, as awful as that is for Madeleine. She did great again for this. When they first stuck the needle in her arm, she cried and said, “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” which is what she’s been saying lately when something isn’t okay and she wants it to be. Or because it’s what I say when she gets a bump or falls or something and she was trying to comfort herself.

Anyway, the test result came back that she does still have the milk allergy, though it’s a stage 1 (out of 6). Last year, she tested at stage 2. So, maybe when she’s 3, it will be gone! The doctor recommended that we go ahead and test her with some dairy, which we were happy to do. But I think it still caused a looser poop consistency, and one time we saw the familiar splotches on her face.

Crazy! Just go away, milk allergy!

LITTLE THINGS
Just a couple little-big things to report. I suppose these are kind of big things, since I’m not writing down every new word or phrase she says or every new thing she does. These are worth remembering, specifically, to me. Not that the other things aren’t, but I can’t catch them all!

Matt and I have been modeling polite interaction since Madeleine could talk. “Please,” “thank you,” and “you’re welcome.” We haven’t really made a huge deal of it with Madeleine, since she’s still just learning how the English language works and she has no clue about being polite and what it really means.

But I guess our example is enough in some respects, because Madeleine started saying “you’re welcome,” when one of us tells her “thank you.” It’s not every time, but I’m still thrilled! Whenever she says it, I’m sure to praise her for talking nicely.

Since this has proved effective, we’ve started asking her to say please when she wants something. It did not sink in at first. She’d ask for a drink, and I’d say, “Say please,” and she would respond, “Okay.” After a little time, however, and working on it more, she’s to the point where she says, “say please” if we ask her to ask nicely.

Here’s an example:
Madeleine: “More yogurt.”
Me: “What’s the nice way to ask?” or “Can you ask nicely?”
Madeleine: “Say please.”

It’s very cute, because she doesn’t pronounce it quite right, and it comes out “say pweese.”

The other little-big thing is the reappearance of Weasel Ball in Madeleine’s high favor. She played with weasel ball a lot after we first got him (after Layla decided she was done with him), but then a long time passed where he got no attention. She rediscovered him, and it’s been ALL WEASEL BALL ever since. She can open him up, take out the battery, and close him back now. Matt is going to get some special rechargeable batteries so we don’t have to keep buying them. She goes through a battery in about 1.5 days!

And when he isn’t working, she knows why: “He needs a new battery.” Which she reminds us of as often as necessary. :)

Madeleine loves playing "Where's Madeleine?" in her kitchen!



CURLS!!!



BIRTHDAY PARTY
We were invited to Madeleine’s friend Liberty’s third birthday party this year. We had a blast, especially Madeleine. When we walked into their house, there were balloons on the floor, and Madeleine about lost her mind with excitement. She talked about those balloons for weeks afterwards!



There were a TON of kids there, 13 including Madeleine, most of them older than her. She doesn’t really play WITH anyone right now, they just kind of play near each other. So while the bigger kids interacted (mostly on the trampoline), Madeleine was content with the little play house in the back yard. She went through the yard and house, collecting things to go in the house. Like chairs, a vacuum, and balls. No house in complete without balls, of course.

After the presents were opened, Madeleine did sort of play with Scarlet, the little girl 2.5 months younger. But only for a minute or two here and there. I can’t wait until she is older and really PLAYS.




Oh, and Madeleine selected her shirt for the day!

TRAIN MUSEUM
Joanna, my photographer friend, told us about a caboose in downtown Kennesaw that you could actually go inside. It sat next to a museum on trains and the Civil War. Since Madeleine is currently train—and especially “the Little Red Caboose”—crazy, we decided to take her one lovely Sunday afternoon.



There was the caboose, red, just as it should be. She loved it! We played outside for awhile, then went into the museum. While I paid, a train went by, so Matt took Madeleine outside to watch it. Madeleine knows about the different cars (boxcars, flat cars, oil cars, coal cars), so we try to point them out whenever they go by.



The museum was deserted but for us, so we let Madeleine walk around. She actually seemed to enjoy going from exhibit to exhibit, seeing what she could see and what she knew. Naturally, anything train-related was a big hit.

Then we got to the area designed for kids and it was all over. Mimi joined us at the museum just in time for this area. The hit of the day was the table with the tracks and trains on it. We sat there for at least 15 minutes until it was time to go.





There was a playground across from the museum, and we let Madeleine spend a little time there before heading home for dinner. No swings, though. She enjoyed climbing and walking through the equipment, but she did not brave a slide.

NANA
With mom on this trip came Nana, who spent the week at Susan’s house. One day, she came down to visit Madeleine, and the two hit it off instantly. Nana was her favorite for the day, who read books with her, played Legos—all sorts of Madeleine’s favorite things.



SLIDESHOW