up, around, and slidin' down

after a full afternoon of outlet shopping for winter clothes (and - hurray - a winter coat for maddie). we took maddie to the park to run off some of her energy. she has gotten so good at safely coming down the slide that we can actually sit and watch her play some of the time (its short, but it is nice to be able to sit down for a bit). she also had fun with a little boy that we met tonight. they really enjoyed playing with each other. he is 23 months, so his vocabulary was a lot better.

madelyn gets some crazy static hair on the slides which always makes us laugh (you can sort of see it in the picture of her and her playmate tonight). and here is some video of her climbing up, sliding down, and running around to do it all again. (matt is just off frame for those who like to worry about madelyn's safety.) she doesn't normally crawl as much as she did tonight, but it helped her to slide on her belly.

madelyn did so great shopping today. we were hoping to find her a winter coat and luckily we did (at half price). i have been shopping coats around for about a month because i refuse to invest much for a one winter coat, but warm coats are expensive. we had maddie try the coat on in the store to make sure that it wasn't too big to wear in the early winter but big enough to make it all the way to spring. madelyn liked the coat so much that she didn't want to take it off! she was pretty cute running around the store with a winter coat on over her summer dress. at least we know that it was comfortable. it is pretty tough to use our psychic powers and guess what size will get us through the winter. love.

i feel pretty, oh so pretty

madelyn discovered the joys of jewelry today. i am not a huge accessory wearer, but i have ideas to accessorize and have a few pieces that i have collected over the years. madelyn went for my bracelets today - all of them at once! she was so ecstatic about them and the fun noise they made when she shook her arms around. she was just prancing around the house laughing about it before sitting down on the couch to really examine her booty. she must have played with and examined them for at least an hour!

it was so cute how instinctively she knew to spread out her hands and keep the bracelets from sliding off her arms. we tried to wear rings too, but her fingers were too little to keep them on and they were ending up in her mouth. maybe we will try again when she is a little older. love.

just hanging out

a new game in madelyn's exploration of size and space is to try to stuff things (and herself) between the screen and the sliding glass door. she has only gotten herself stuck once - her knee. most things she picks to experiment with seem to be small enough to fit behind the door. and then there is bear. the reason that bear is so funny to me is that she will put him there a few times and then just leaves him there. bear just hangs out until i go get him and take him back to her bed. its the small things in my life...

after running a few errands this morning and then taking her nap, we went to madelyn's friend ethan's house for his 4th birthday party. i think that madelyn had a really great time. she always likes playing with someone else's toys, but there was a full sandbox (full of toys with a little sand) and a toy car

that she spent a lot of time with outside. and inside the fridge magnets were a huge hit! madelyn pulled off every magnet she could reach which released several works of art. she left the party dirty and sticky - both signs of a really great party!


she is totally rebounding from her liquid diet over the past week by eating every five minutes or so. i had been starting to worry about her because she was just nibbling twice a day and not even drinking very much milk. plus she was acting cranky over every minor things. but all that has passed and she is making up for her lack of food with a vengeance. the funny thing is that her appetite takes longer to satisfy than she is willing to sit in her chair. so she gets down and then starts signing to eat again.

once i got her home and stripped down, she ate some more. and then she at dinner. but after that, she got bear and started to come down from the party high. maddie decided that she would climb up into her 'new' chair from our neighbor's goodwill donation. i couldn't even get her to look at it yesterday, but tonight she just climbed right up in. it took some help from me for her to get out because it reclines so much.


good night. love.

its new to us

i have been away from blogging so long that it has been difficult to remember what to write about. and i am still not taking enough pictures, but i will get back in the swing of things soon - hopefully.

because i work for the most amazing woman, maddie and i are going to be able to get out and about more during the day. it is just too good to be true! i am still in shock a little about the whole situation, but i think it will really help me out this winter.

today madelyn were taking a break to play outside before nap time and our neighbor across the street came to let us know that she was taking a bunch of toys to goodwill that her grand kids had outgrown. she invited us over to see if there was anything maddie might like. well, madelyn was instantly drawn to a grocery store register set. she picked up the scanner like a phone and said "hi". we also got a play doll stroller, a folding chair, and a few other fun items. here is some video of her with the grocery store register set - nothing fancy, but she says "hi" into the scanner at the end.

madelyn likes socks, i would almost say that she loves them. since its been summer we haven't been putting them on her, but it got cool the other night and i put a pair on her feet. she just thought that this was the coolest thing ever! several times over the past week she has brought me socks and sat down to have me put them on her. today we came in from playing and took off her tennis shoes and then her socks. i guess she wasn't done wearing her socks because she tried really hard to put them back on. of course she was done when i got back with the camera. she has been really trying to put on her clothes (and accessories) lately and depending on the day, getting dress is easier or more difficult as a result.

and now i just have to brag a little about how easy she is - as if you couldn't already tell. since we have moved her to the toddler bed, bed time is super easy (and cute). after bath, she gets into her pjs, picks a book and then gets up on matt (or my) lap. while she drinks her milk we read. when she is ready for bed she just gets off our lap and goes to bed. it is so cute.

tomorrow we are going to a neighborhood friend's 4th birthday party. i will try to take some pictures. love.

walkin' tall

madelyn is enjoying spending the last few warm days of summer outside. she likes to walk around the whole house and check everything out. we spend time finding all the buds on some of the plants in the front, picking tomatoes and playing with the dogs in the back, and sitting on the front porch waiting for daddy to come home from work in the afternoon. people were actually out in sweaters and jackets this evening when we went to the park!

today we had music class and then went to the zoo with maddie's friend jack. i have been working with madelyn on staying with me while walking and she did really great today! she would even hold my hand while moving from one exhibit to the next. matt and i made a major breakthrough in the handholding this weekend. madelyn used to to fight having her hand held and then insist on being carried if she couldn't roam freely. we taught her that she could have fun by holding both of our hands at the same time and she has willingly held my hand ever since.

madelyn also walked all the way to the park this evening! this was a big accomplishment because it is uphill and she has never walked that far on her own with a destination in mind. we took the stroller with us so that we could walk around the neighborhood for a while after the park, but we didn't have to use it (except for a quick in and out climb). it will be nice to not have to bring it to the park next year.

another new 'thing' is that she lays down after her nap and is slower to get going. here she is drinking her milk laying down. the nice part of this is that she will lay down with me and snuggle for a while - matt doesn't believe me because it is so out of her character so i am hoping she keeps it up, at least until the weekend.

love.

just to get your blood pumping

since matt is around in the mornings more often now, i take a shower and get some work time in before he leaves. so madelyn gets tag teamed as she moves around the house. this morning we found a flaw in this system - madelyn.

i was working in my office and matt was in our room getting ready. i don't worry about maddie as long as i can hear her and she was babbling and giggling away this morning roaming around with "bear". so i was sort of surprised when matt came in and asked where madelyn was this morning. i said "what do you mean? isn't she right there? i can hear her". we both had an "i thought she was with you" moment and then matt noticed that the screen door to the deck was open - and madelyn wasn't on the deck! she was still 'talking' so i knew that she was fine, but we couldn't figure out where she was.

she went down the stairs with bear and was playing in the backyard with the dogs! as you can see from the photo this is a tall set of stairs with a concrete landing at the bottom so things could have been much worse. and madelyn doesn't like to go down stairs normally so this morning's events were scary and surprising. i still can't believe it happened, but at least she was safe. bear on the other hand got some good morning kisses from the dogs and needed a bath in the washing machine before his company was required for nap time.


we will no longer leave the sliding door only covered by the screen door when she is not in our line of sight. what a morning...

in other updates, madelyn has added "grrr" for tiger to her animal noises and identified matt's watch as a "clock". the "clock" one was a total surprise because that isn't really a word that she has much exposure too and then to connect that matt's watch was a "clock" was pretty impressive.

that is it for tonight - i've got to get some work work done yet tonight. love.

miss me yet?

we have been really busy at our house this week! and madelyn has been a crabby girl trying to get back into her routine - she pretty much forgot how to go down for a nap while missing out all but one day of our trip. we will get back to normal eventually, but it's difficult in the mean time. thankfully, i have gotten a neighborhood girl to come over and babysit a few days this month for me to work. that way maddie can go outside for a distraction when she starts to get fussy.

today we went to the zoo for "a la carte at the zoo" which is sort of like a 'taste of the town' event. we have never gone before so thought we would check it out (and hopefully wear maddie out). madelyn gets more and more into the zoo every time we go and i was really excited for matt to be able to go with us. we let madelyn lead the way as much as we could (we had to put her in the stroller when we would come to a food crowd). in the "big cats" building she got to get up close and personal with the lions. and she was saying "roar" over and over as loud as she could but it was crowded and i couldn't get close enough to her to get any video, but matt was able to get a few still shots. the 'cage' has a glass wall and a rock ledge that madelyn can stand on and be right up against the glass and close to the lions - pretty cool, huh?

later we were snacking in the shade while watching the ducks on a lake and maddie broke out a new animal sound - the duck "quack". it surprised the the first few times, so i would ask her to say "duck" and then "quack" to make sure that she was saying both and that it wasn't just "duck" sounding like "quack". anyway. then when we got home we were playing with her noah's ark toy and when we pushed the sheep to hear it's lifelike noise, maddie said "baa". and that was really exciting since that isn't a sound that we talk about very much.

after the zoo maddie fell asleep in the car and slept a little longer once we got her into bed, but i think that her dirty diaper cut that nap short. after some tear filled lunch (i had to wash bear and she saw me walk by with him - and since she isn't napping like she needs too everything is devastating) we went to the grocery store. while i was putting away the groceries maddie decided that she was ready for a snack. she has been trying to help pick out her snacks by opening the fruit drawer while i have the refrigerator door open getting out her food. today she actually took out a nectarine and after a few minutes of examination started to eat it! matt and i were very surprised and i washed it off, put a bib on her and let her go at it - she ate almost half of it all the way to the pit! here is some footage:

once i get through (and somehow survive) this month, we are going to give potty training a try. we bought her a potty almost a month ago and encourage her to sit on it when in the bathroom. she loves sitting on her potty and claps her hands when she does. we have almost gotten her to go on it a few times while filling up the bathtub for her evening bath, but haven't really tried to get her to use it. i think she is ready. she comes running whenever matt and i go to the bathroom and sits on her potty. plus her new thing is to flush the toilet for us. or just flush it for her own entertainment. i was asking matt last night if maddie was in her room when "flush" - guess where she really was... we will give it a try and if it works, it works and if not, well, then we wait.

i am off to kansas for a few days this week (maddie will be with a babysitter all day for the first time!) so there shouldn't be much from me until next weekend. love.

its a jungle

madelyn has been making the snake sound for a while now, but saying it on command (without a picture) is new. and she has also added a lion "roar" and a dog "woof, woof". the dog sound is pretty inconsistent because daddy says "ruff, ruff" and mommy says "woof, woof" (i just discovered this yesterday). she also sticks out her tongue when you ask what a giraffe says (its from music class), but i wasn't able to get her to do it for the camera. enjoy.

and since the post is short today, here is another video of her playing hide-and-seek with me. she just figured out that she can stay hidden as long as she wants. (before she would pop out pretty much as soon as you said "where is madelyn?"). she started doing it by hiding from us in the hotel closet while we were gone last week - a little scary the first time we really couldn't find her. in the video she giggles waiting for the time for her to be "found" (she giggled several times the hide before i got the camera, but that is how it goes...). love.

san diego-kansas city-home

the rest of our time in california was spent in the laguna beach area for a wedding (julie and joe's). madelyn got to go 'swimming' in a big pool for the first time at the hotel there friday afternoon before we went to dinner (where she enjoyed the flowers outside again). i took some video of her splashing on the steps but none of her actually 'swimming' - matt and i were both needed for her to go back and forth. she is so fearless! another lady at the pool was commenting on madelyn's bravery ("go girl" was the repeated phrase) and was surprised to hear that it was her first time in a big pool. madelyn was even kicking her legs and arms a little when matt and i would send her surfing on her belly back and forth between us - with a huge smile the whole time. she really liked that she could hold the railing on the pool steps to step into the pool. that was something new she did on this trip - walked down a flight of steps. she had started walking up steps (not crawling) about a week before we left, but refused to walk down more than 4 steps so this was huge! (particularly since we have stairs in the house.)



the wedding was lovely and the church was just what you would expect a beach side catholic church to be - very calming. (that is the ocean behind us in the picture.) we were lucky enough to be able to sit next to double doors that were opened to a little courtyard with a fountain. this came in very handy for a couple of reasons - one, there was a great ocean breeze since the church was not air conditioned. two, we could make a quick exit when maddie got too squirmy or chatty. and three, the water fountain made for great white noise to make maddie less disruptive to the ceremony.


madelyn really enjoyed watching malikai (sp?), aubry, and keturah at the reception and really took a liking to keturah. once the dance floor cleared for the cake cutting in the other room, maddie and keturah made their moves on the dance floor. maddie got her knees bouncing and roamed around on the dance floor. keturah was really good and twirling and that got maddie even more excited about dancing with her. it was too dark to get any video - i tried. they were so cute and both laughing.

we were so spoiled by the thought and effort liz and julie put into making maddie content during the reception! they had a 'goodie bag' for her at the table (and for the other children in attendance) that was personalized especially for her. her goodie bag had a stuffed dog, which she kissed repeatedly upon receiving it, a doggie book and a good night california book, and assorted snacks. these items were very useful for everyone at our table to have an enjoyable meal with a very content little girl. in fact, madelyn did outstanding that night! it must have been all the excitement and having other children to entertain her didn't hurt either because it was well after 10pm when we called it a night! and we left more because we had to get an early start back to san diego for our flights than that maddie was fading.

amazingly maddie was all smiles the next morning too with the monkey her uncle derek got her at the zoo. after a long ride back to san diego, we said goodbye to uncle derek and boarded our plane with papa and nana on our way to kansas city. thank goodness for laptops and dvds is all i can say about that flight! madelyn was starting to get cranky before getting on the plane and waiting for take off was torture. i think that is the worst part of flying - waiting on the hot plane for take off. matt and i have concluded that pre-boarding is not really an advantage when traveling with a lap child. once we got above 10,000 feet we got the movie going and after watching for an hour maddie fell asleep for about an hour - that was the only nap she had all day. she didn't even get to bed until around 10pm.

we just love how excited maddie gets to be back home after a trip. she must have pulled out every toy in the house just to say "hi" - literally. it is just so sweet. it is going to take a few days to get her back on central time but it was nice to take this trip and see everyone out in california. i know that madelyn enjoyed seeing her papa, nana, and uncle derek again too.

we start construction on our basement this week and since our personal computer is in the basement, i don't know how frequently i will be posting over the next month. (i say this, but with her doing new things everyday i don't know if i will be able to stay away other than from sheer exhaustion from my work project this month.)

just one more note and video. madelyn now really says "hi" - not in a soft, baby voice, but in a real speaking voice. that is the best way to explain the change. it is totally different from how she said it before even though it was clear that she was saying "hi" before too. she did it for the first time at our first hotel in california while playing with the phone. i didn't really get it video of her best "hi"s, but you should get the idea. love.

san diego z-z-z-zoo

today we tackled the "world famous" san diego zoo. maddie fell asleep in the car on the way over this morning and continued sleeping for more than a half hour after we got there. she missed a few of the animals near the entrance so we took pictures to show her later. the zoo is huge! there aren't as many animals as you would think for the size, but it was very nice. they are also a site for endangered plants and the 'landscaping' (i know that is not the right word, but i am too tired to come up with something else) was really great. they actually grow some of the animals' food in the zoo. including the bamboo for the pandas.

we got to see a mommy panda and her one year old baby (maddie's age). the baby panda was up in a tree, out on a branch, sleeping. maddie watched him the whole time. she really got excited when we left the exhibit and there was a panda mural painted by kids - she must have touched at least half the pandas on the wall as we made our way down the hill.

we made our way around on foot (or stroller in maddie's case) for most of the day, but then rode the skyfari buckets (i don't know what they are really called) and the bus tour. they have a 'children's zoo' there were maddie could run excitedly between exhibits and get a little more hands on. here she is playing with a little boy in front of a little monkey house (she didn't really care about the monkey).

its so funny for me how she just knows when she can run around wildly laughing because its a kiddie friendly area. not just at the zoo, she does it at malls, playgrounds, any where with a designated kid zone.

also in the children's zoo was a petting area with goats. maddie managed to overcome her fear and pet a goat!

we rode the bus tour last since it is near the entrance and maddie was asleep when we got there. it was really hot and we sat on the top out in the sun. madelyn fell asleep almost immediately because she was so tired and slept the whole time. matt and i were just trying to keep her covered up with our hats, arms, and hands so that she wouldn't get any more sun.

we were all pretty tired by the time we left the zoo and decided to go to nana's favorite mexican restaurant - el indio - for lunch. we were showing papa, nana, and uncle derek how madelyn can say "salsa" (matt taught her how when we were grocery shopping a few weeks ago) and maddie made her own salsa center piece for her plate - bob. nana had given maddie a plastic bob toy and maddie put it on her plate. she just left it there and ate around it. we thought it was pretty funny that she was saying salsa and then put a tomato toy in the middle of her lunch.

we are all tired from a day of fun in the sun. tomorrow we head up to laguna beach for a wedding this weekend. we are meeting some friends for lunch and then going to the beach where i got the rocks maddie plays with at home. i don't think that her hands will be big enough for all the rocks she will find tomorrow. love.

the pacific coast

madelyn took in her first view of the pacific ocean today in del mar, california. she was so excited! i didn't catch it in this picture, but she was squealing and waving her arms with excitement. we stayed for a while just watching all the surfers (sitting on their boards, there wasn't much in the way of surf) before going down a little ways to a kiddie park and maddie got a swing with a view! not only was there an ocean view, but there were train tracks so we turned her to face the other way in the swing when the train went by. she wasn't that in to the train. we didn't actually go down to the beach today we just walked down for a look after getting breakfast.

next we drove around going down 'memory lane' for daddy. we went by the house he lived in, the hospital he was born in, and so on. i don't think maddie was taking notes...

next we went to the scripps aquarium to prove to everyone that maddie really wasn't afraid of fish any more. she started out a little slow, but by the time we got to the seaweed tank she was running up, climbing up on the little step to see better and pointing out the fish to us. in the picture nana is showing maddie and papa some fish. the seaweed tank was one of the coolest things i have seen at an aquarium - it was around two stories tall! they even had a little theater seating built in so that you could sit and take it all in. maddie really liked these spotted fish and some bright orange ones in the tank.

they also had 'tide pools' set up outside to look in and older kids could listen to instructors tell about the sea life and touch a few animals. for real hands on action they had an area with fake rocks with plastic/rubber tide pool animals in water. madelyn was a little afraid to touch anything for a while. she would get real close, sometimes squat down for a look, watch the other kids, but wouldn't touch anything. she finally felt safe enough to touch a lobster leg a few times before deciding to pick up an octopus (i think that she picked the octopus because a little boy had just put it down in the water). she kept picking it up, turning it over and then dipping it back in the water over and over. once the front of her dress was nice and wet (and she was getting brave enough to try putting it in her mouth) it was time to move on.


as a final highlight of the day, madelyn got to have her first ice cream (well sherbet). the first two bites were more like licks because she didn't really like how cold it was, but once she got the hang of things she managed to eat the whole scoop! and the sugar didn't even keep her up later.

thankfully, madelyn has done really well with the time change. she did get up at 4:38am this morning but slept off and on until 6:45am so we got a little more sleep. matt and i were exhausted since we didn't get into bed until well after midnight and every extra minute helped. then she went until almost 3pm before getting a nap. she has been such a trooper and hopefully she will keep it up for the rest of our trip. tomorrow we are headed to the highly acclaimed san diego zoo - i am hoping that it lives up to the hype. love.

big brother is always watching

no, madelyn isn't getting a sibling - we just have her under surveillance now. this weekend we bought a video monitor so that i can see what the little monkey is up to instead of interrupting sounds (and silence) from my office during the day. especially since she isn't in a crib any more i need to be able to see her when i am in meetings and can't get up to check on her. madelyn thinks that it is funny to see her room on the 't.v.'. she comes running in my office and giggles as she watches her room on the little video monitor. i am not really sure why she things it is so funny, but she laughs every time it is on and gives a little pout when i have it off.

she also had a lot of communication additions over the past few days. new words - fish, one (as in how old are you?), waffle, and diaper. new identifications - foot, hand, and hair. and new signs - water and eat. the signs aren't actually that new, but have been really useful because she can 'tell' me exactly what she wants instead of having me guess.

i have to finish up packing (we are headed to california tomorrow) and get all the other things done that need to be done before we leave. love.

sunday splashing - now

madelyn did something new on sunday. she went and got her bathing suit and demanded that i put it on her. she has never done this with clothes before. occasionally she will bring me her shoes and sit down to have them put on, but this was a first for apparel. so out we went to the pool. she didn't even wait for it to fill before getting in. at the start of the video you will see a first with the hose that caught her a little off guard, but the rest is just an afternoon with maddie in the pool. love.

meet me at the fair

any food you can imagine, fried and on a stick (from cheese and meats to snickers and twinkies). that is one of the major attractions at the wisconsin state fair. that and the "cream puff" (more about that in a bit). today madelyn made her second outing to the state fair. we took her last year, but she slept most of the time. this time was a totally different experience. we met our friends kate and aaeron and their two daughters avery and tess. we hadn't seen them in a while so it was fun to spend the morning together.

madelyn was really in to all the barnyard animals, but unfortunately there wasn't any petting available today. we were in the dairy section while the cows were being prepped for showing and the are just led down the aisles with the masses of fair attendees. there was more than one cow that passed less than a foot from maddie's stroller and she didn't even notice. i guess it was just something else walking by - just like all the people.

the fair is a really big deal here. it is on the evening news every night leading up to the fair and during the fair. one thing that equals "state fair" here is the cream puff. personally, i don't understand the appeal of the cream puff but people line up for them and can't seem to get enough. since it is part of the fair experience here we got one for maddie to try. she wasn't that in to it either. once she discovered that she could make a mess with it the appeal became more obvious...

soon thereafter all the sun and fun took its toll and maddie fell asleep before we made it to the 'milk house'. matt and i are big fans of the 'milk house' because they sell 5 different flavors of milk for a quarter each. and there is nothing like an ice cold cup of milk on a hot day - really it is refreshing - but it must be whole milk because it fills you up quick. we are pretty much ready to go home and take a nap after that.

madelyn is at a tough age right now because she wants to walk around, but doesn't want to hold your hand the whole time. that made our trip a little more difficult because there wasn't really anywhere that she could get out of the stroller and stretch her legs. luckily, it was a quick ride home and she was able to run around to her heart's content. love.

the dearly departed

last night we said goodbye to the rat tail. it was a little sad, but we are all thankful that the end came quickly and without struggle.

madelyn is continuing to be on a wacky schedule with her napping. last night matt and i went to give blood at the church and maddie fell asleep on the way home (around 6:30pm). i tried to wake her up since it was so close to bedtime, but she just didn't want to and so she didn't . after one of my attempts at waking her madelyn got comfortable again with her face in my lap leaving me unobstructed access to the rat tail for as long as i wanted. so matt went to get a rubber band and the scissors. i cut the rat tail down to match the length of the rest of the hair near her neck. and the deed was done with maddie none the wiser.

i took the picture with the ruler next to the rat tail trying to capture the length, but it curled up. when you hold it straight it measures a full four inches. i knew that it was getting long, but i didn't quite realize how long!

so madelyn had her first haircut (i also snipped a few other hairs that hung longer than the rest on her neck) and we will all soon forget that she ever had the rat tail - that is until she is old enough to date. love.