man, its been a week!

i can't believe that i haven't posted since tuesday! this week just flew by, so here is my long catch up post.

- madelyn is very interested in mason's "tummy time". i explained to her that mason's neck isn't very strong yet and it is really hard work for him to pick his head up so he needs practice. usually she lays down on her tummy too and shows me how she can pick up her head with a, "i'm doing it!" declaration. this week she decided that since it was so much hard work for mason to lift his head, she would help him. she was telling him, "i'll help you mason. i got you," as she tried to help him hold his head up.

- we had a visit from papa and nana's friends john and liz on friday as they were making a road trip around the great lakes. we were glad that they were able to stop by and have lunch with us. unfortunately, i failed to get a picture of them with us! but they did kindly take a picture of our family. this is the first and only picture we have of the four of us so i was really grateful for liz suggesting that we pose for her before they left.

- matt had an allergy-like cold this week. nothing serious, just runny nose and sore throat for a day or two. one night i was running up to walgreens to get him some medicine to help with the congestion. madelyn asked to go with me and even though it was late i told her that she could come. she decided that she needed to find her wallet before she could go though. she was so sweet and concerned that "daddy is sick. we need to buy him medicine." in the store she helped to select and carry it to the register. when it was time to pay madelyn took a dsw rewards card from her wallet and slid it through the little card reader to pay. she was so proud and matter of fact about it. i tried to get a picture with my phone but it came out too blurry to use.

- on the way home from walgreens she told me that it was "getting dark out there". i guess because she is always in bed before it gets dark she was almost surprised about it being dark out. obviously, she already knew that it gets dark at night.

- for some reason madelyn has started using our couch pillows as blankets for her and friend to sleep on the floor.

- madelyn has taken to say "... or something" when she isn't 100% about what something is or what she should say. as in, "are you sick or something?", "can we read a book or something".

- mason outgrew the miracle blanket this week and we moved him into a sleepsac. not only that, but i moved him from sleeping on his tummy for naps to sleeping on his back. the first night was a little rough and it took about two or three hours to get him down (as opposed to 15-20 minutes), but after doing naps in the sleepsac too he went straight to sleep the next night and slept 7 hours. mason is just the noisiest sleeper. he makes so much noise even though he is not really awake. it is not a non-stop kind of noisiness; it is just when he is thinking about waking up.

- madelyn is quite polite and has added "no thank you" to her responses.

- when madelyn is holding your hand but wants to hug you she will rub her cheek on the back of your hand. it is so sweet and tender a gesture.

- when we were leaving church today one of the greeters asked if madelyn would be starting school this week or if she had one more year. he was shocked when i informed him that she was only two! i guess she looked school ready in her khaki pleated skirt and knee high socks. he said it was because she was so tall.

- madelyn asked to go home after someone pushed her away in puppet class on friday. she started crying and when i asked her why she said that one of the girls pushed her away. i explained to her that not everyone was going to want to play with her all the time and she might have to choose to play with something else (they were drawing on a white board in the back of the room).

- we took daddy with us to the zoo on saturday and brought a picnic lunch (madelyn's favorite). madelyn was taking a long time eating her lunch. she wasn't stalling though, she just had more food to eat than matt and i did. matt started to pace around because he can't stand to be still and i told madelyn that daddy was "itching to leave" so he was walking around. a few minutes later madelyn was trying to scratch her back and said that she wanted to walk around. it took a minute, but i realized that she was "itching" like daddy and wanted to be scratched before walking around. i love how literal she can be.

- while at the zoo with daddy we came across a snake talk. i took madelyn over just to see the snake that was being held by the zoo employee, but she said that everyone could come and pet the snake. madelyn was very excited (and a little scared) to pet the snake. she didn't want to pet it without my help, but i practically had to drag her away after she got her first touch because she wouldn't stop petting it.

- stalling at bedtime has been a problem this week. she thinks of anything and everything that she can ask us for to delay actually going to sleep. here is a sampling of the requests: milk, water, stuffed animals, kisses, hugs, music, hair bows, and needing to go potty. she has learned that going potty is the one request that gets her somewhere. she will sit on the potty as long as we let her. she sings and plays until we go in and make her go back to bed. i have found that if i go in and whisper that i love her but do not love this behavior and do not want to see her come out again she stops stalling. it actually makes matt and i laugh as much as it frustrates us. she is pretty creative in her requests.

- madelyn and mason had their first bath together (thanks for the idea, kellie).

sorry for the rambling post. i just needed to cover everything so that i can try to start fresh tomorrow - or the next day... love.