veggietales live

so i was so excited for today! we had three tickets to see veggietales live at a local church. the show started at 4:15 and i was shocked when it ended after 6pm (granted there was a 20 minute intermission)! it was a really long time for maddie to sit still during dinner time without any food. i started talking to her about "going to see bob" yesterday and today she seemed to understand what we were doing. i told her that when daddy got home we would be going in the car to see bob, and when matt got home she was excited and couldn't wait to get her jacket and shoes on.

just for good measure i let her bring her bob toy in the car with her. we were also listening to veggietales music on the ride to set the mood. the picture shows her hugging bob tightly in the backseat (you can only see his hat sticking up near her cheek) with anticipation. the bob toy is hard plastic, so you know that the squeeze is for love and not a snuggle. the other benefit of bob is that madelyn held him with one hand and dad's hand with the other on our way into the church. handholding has been a little trouble lately, but then i discovered that if she has something to carry she will hold our hand without complaint while walking. so far it has worked and made a huge difference in our trip from the car.

so back to veggietales. i wish that i could have gotten video of her in the beginning of the show. we were just starting to loose her when the show finally started (it was general admission so we got there kind of early to make sure we could see well). at first she froze in her tracks and studied everything before realizing that this was fun and got up to dance. she was waving her arms around like the dancers who were not in costume. she was so happy and enthusiastic. after 4 or 5 songs she started to get really wiggly, but by the end of the show she got back into it for the last 3 songs busting out an impromptu dance in a burst of energy.

after the show we thought that we would make a night of it and pick up some dinner. madelyn had apple juice with dinner and it gave her a huge second wind! we had a chatter, laughter, and song filled car ride home. all and all a fun evening.

i thought that veggietales was all i had to report for the day until i downloaded today's pictures off my camera. its amazing how far away morning seems after all day with madelyn...

the day started with purple lips. yesterday started the same way, but after milk, changing out of pjs, and eating some breakfast they were not purple anymore. today, they stayed purple. so i broke down and turned the heat on - to 65. that made the difference. it is funny because madelyn kept saying "hot" when she obviously meant "cold". i did get her to give a few "burrrr" it's cold equivalents though.

madelyn has always liked to play and hide in the laundry room, but lately she has taken it one step further and "hides" behind the ironing board. i had to squat down a little to get her face in the picture and that is where the "hiding" comes in. no eye contact equals hiding. which is fun for both of us all day. we hide behind blocks, hands, toys, knit blankets, anything large enough to cover our eyes.

something new for today was play-doh. i had read that a plain place mat used repetitively for new activities can help with attention and focus. so i bought this purple square one at the dollar store this summer. little did i know that her tumbling class would use a red square to indicate where the children should sit. and when i decided that we should play with the play-doh on the floor she sat down on her square.

madelyn did not really know what to do with it. and really, neither did i. going for the easy solution we made a snowman (we have been reading a snow book where they make a snowman) and a snake. madelyn liked the snake best and was upset when it 'broke'. i showed her how easy it was to pinch it back to fixed and that really got her into the play-doh. there was lots more "uh-oh" it's broken and then smiles for it being fixed again. and the best part was that none of it got eaten. it got sniffed a lot and licked twice, but none was consumed. surprisingly, most of the fun was putting it back into the container and trying to get the lid on. we probably took it out and put it in four times before finishing up our arts and crafts for the day.

we have a pretty full chore list for this weekend, so there may not be many posts. love.