we're still waiting

we might still be waiting on brother, but the weather has been great (until today that is - more in a minute) and madelyn has been itching to be outside. her desire to be outside has dramatically increased after one of her birthday presents arrived late last week - a new pool from big pop and grandma.

matt set the pool up on sunday while madelyn was napping and she could hardly contain her excitement when she saw it in the front yard! she was looking out to see daddy working in the yard and then saw her surprise. she could hardly get into her "swimming suit" fast enough!

and then she spent monday morning 'swimming' again. in fact, she was in her suit and outside by 8:30am! it was all i could do to get my computer and stuff together so that i could supervise. she even ate her snack out on the deck because i couldn't get her any farther away from the pool. she played in the pool and with the dogs until lunch time. she really had fun teasing lady by taking all the dog toys into the pool. when lady would dip her head in and snag one of the balls out, madelyn would say/yell, "lady, knock-it-off!" and then get out to try and get the ball back. she would play tug-of-war with lady, but lady usually won. madelyn would even refuse to let go and get drug across the yard by lady a little bit on her belly.

we only played in the pool before nap time because she was going to have her first swimming lesson later monday night. it isn't so much a 'lesson' as it is parents paying to play with their kids

in a community pool with minimal instruction from a lifeguard. the good (or the bad) part is that it is every night so she can easily build on what they did the night before. i went with them last night and tried to take pictures, but there were just too many parents standing around. you can see her happy face as she is coming down this fun frog slide - if you look closely that is.

today was cooler and overcast. i thought for sure that her class would be cancelled, but to my surprise ours was one of the few pools not closed. so i dressed madelyn in her swimming suit and put a fleece over it so that she would be warm enough. matt said that it wasn't actually that bad although there were some concerning warm spots in the pool tonight...

madelyn has been in the most wonderful mood for the past week and she cracks me up daily; we just love her. here are some points that i thought i would share here:

- madelyn's birthday is june 22 or as she says "june snack it"

- matt's co-workers threw him a baby shower and he was going through the gifts this weekend to write the thank yous. madelyn came across a toy that she was interested in claiming. when we told her that it was brother's toy she explained that "brother sharing and it's maddie's turn".

- since matt was working on thank yous madelyn got her crayons and some paper to "draw a card for grandma and big pop for pool". i was impressed that she equated a thank you note with having received a gift.

- when we got to the pool on monday matt was already there (he had a late meeting that required us to bring him his swimming gear to change there) and madelyn ran up to him for a "big hug". while hugging him she said sadly "i missed you, daddy!" she said this several times while hugging and kissing him. i got to hear it for me after class was over since i didn't do the class with her. it is just so sweet and sincere when she says it.

- after madelyn woke me up this morning she asked me, "where'd friend go?" to which i said, "i don't know where is friend?" after thinking for a minute madelyn replied, "um... friend is still sleeping." and sure enough when i went to her room later friend was tucked neatly in the bed as if he was still sleeping. now, if only she would let me sleep in.

- i have taught madelyn how to get her own milk out of the refrigerator when she wants it and then put it back in when she is done.

- tonight she was doing somersaults and kept asking us "how do that?" with her hands and shoulders shrugged as a question. when we would ask her to show us how she would happily reply, "okay", and do it again - with the same question.

- madelyn was shy for the first time ever at music class this morning. we haven't been in few weeks while waiting for the new session to start so i think that might have been some of it. there were also lots of new kids and we were meeting at a new neighbor's house. she was just really clingy and quiet. that is until the end of class when she felt like chatting with miss sarah, the teacher. at last she was acting like matt and my child - not the social butterfly she seems to be the majority of the time.

- lately when she wants matt and i to come with her somewhere she pats her leg and says, "come," like she does when calling one of the dogs!

- she likes to say "oh my goodness!" when something exciting or surprising happens. i don't know if it is how she says it or that i realize how silly i must sound using this super clean expression all the time, but it always makes me smile.

as you can see there is never a dull moment with madelyn around. love.