so much to share

as i am sure you can imagine, we have a lot of entertainment here. i just haven't had the time (or energy) at the end of the day to post it all. here are some updates from the past few days:

- madelyn likes to snuggle up and read books more often lately. usually reading only happens at bedtimes, but she wants just as many stories read throughout the day now. this picture is not from a bed time. madelyn requested to read and instead of sitting on the couch she wanted to read in her bed so mason and i joined her. i called matt to take a picture because mason was looking at the book too, but he moved his head once daddy got there with the camera.

- madelyn has a renewed interest in her mr. potatohead set and play dr. kit. she plays with both of them at least once a day. one thing that she likes to do with the mr. potatohead set is to put the pieces in her mouth so that she can wear the smiles, noses, etc. i was trying to get a picture of madelyn and me because we both had in the toothy smile, but she wouldn't look up at the camera when i leaned in to be in the picture with her - sorry for the disappointment.

- speaking of the play dr. kit, madelyn decided to give mason a physical exam on thursday morning. she used the stethoscope to listen to his entire body. i liked this picture of her listening to his feet. every body part got the "thump, thump" sound effect.

after the stethoscope came the otoscope, but this one makes me a little nervous near mason (or when she does my exam for that matter). madelyn's pediatrician says that there is a "birdie in there" when she does a exam of madelyn's ears and makes a bird-like whistle sound. madelyn had declared that "there are no birdies in there" while examining daddy's ears on monday evening. then she looked in the play otoscope and pointed that there were no birdies in there either. we were surprised that she still remembered that about her doctor's visits because we had not been in about 7 months.

- i was changing mason's diaper on friday and madelyn came in to help. before her nap she had requested that he wear an elmo diaper. she had been trying to find one in the diaper hanger but i was already done changing him by the time she found one with elmo on it. while she was napping i set aside an elmo diaper to put on mason after she woke up to make up for not doing so before naptime. when i told her that we were going to put an elmo diaper on mason she started screaming, "no! i don't want it!" and then she started to take out all of the elmo diapers from the diaper hanger and took them to her room. later in the day i went into her room and found them all lined up in a row on her bookshelf. she loves to line things up...

- mason has sucked his thumb a few times that i have seen, but during his bath on thursday night he was really going to town so i had to get some video to share.

- we got our replacement stroller on friday and madelyn could not wait to try out her new seat. she is almost too tall for it! her head hits the sunshade, but it almost does that in all of the strollers now. i am sure people see her and think, "i can't believe that they are pushing around that 5 year old!" just like i think when i have seen a child clearly too big for a stroller. she still doesn't ride the whole time, but it is easier for us to have it as an option.

- madelyn bit her tongue while eating her dinner and came over to get a kiss (to make it all better) and i thought that she just wanted a kiss on her mouth, but just as i was about to kiss her she stuck out her tongue! at least matt had a good laugh.

- madelyn can say her last name now - and it is obviously a mouth full for her to say. i have yet been able to get her to say it for the camera. while trying to get her to say her full name and birthday, she has combined the two. she now says that her name is "maddie june". full name video to come...

- these are just some sweet pictures of maddie and mason having some tummy time together and then mason asleep afterwards (it was the first time he had fallen asleep on his belly).

- big pop made his famous ribs for us while he was visiting. we all went to madelyn's swimming class before dinner and matt was telling madelyn that we were going to have ribs and potatoes - his favorite - when we got home. madelyn kept saying that ribs and potatoes was her favorite too. and she must have convinced herself that they were too because she ate quite a bit of her ribs! madelyn eats almost no meat and she couldn't get enough ribs. i guess there is a reason big pop is famous for them!

- when madelyn counts to twenty she skips the numbers 5 and 15. it is not that she can't say the numbers or that we don't correct her every time. she just counts "4, 6, 7". it is just funny to me that she also skips 15. i wonder what the number 5 did to get left out...

- and last we have madelyn singing "ring around the rosie" while dancing with friend. finally, she will do it without mommy or daddy spinning in circles with her! love.