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.