miscellaneous catch-up

time is just getting away from me! here is a long update:

- madelyn is starting to wean off napping. she is basically only napping every other day right now (at least 3 hours). when she naps it is always a long nap, but she just doesn't take one everyday. her behavior doesn't seem to be effected by napping or not so it hasn't been too big a deal - except that i have no alone time. yesterday she napped for four hours and then slept from 8pm until 7:22am! it is a huge improvement over the pre-5am wake-ups we have been dealing with for the past few weeks.

- mason is still up and down when it comes to napping but we are starting to get a little more regular. the problem is that he wants to nap it is usually time to take to or pick up madelyn from school. and his overnight sleeping has been really rocky, but the solids seem to be making a difference. last night he woke up twice to eat, but would then wake up an hour after each feed. the good news is that he would let daddy put him back to sleep instead of needing to eat. progress.

- madelyn's new favorite phrase is "not quite" - as in, "do you want to wear this shirt today? not quite." it makes her sound so sophisticated!

- i found a veggietales cd at the library that has "b-i-b-l-e" on it. i let it be a surprise for her when we were listening to it. and she was really, really excited to hear larry singing her favorite song! when i started singing along she said, "no singing, mom! larry is singing to me."

- while we were at the library she sat at the puzzle table with another little boy and this was their conversation:

madelyn: hi, what's your name?
boy: devon. (i can't remember what his actual name was, but it was something like this.)
madelyn: hi, devon. nice to meet you.
madelyn: what's my name?
madelyn: what's my name?
boy: what's your name?
madelyn: i'm madelyn g. (she said her full name)
madelyn: we're playing puzzles. what puzzle are you doing? i'm doing this elmo puzzle. do you need some help?

this boy was at least madelyn's age and she definitely dominated the conversation!

- madelyn is really in to building forts and always asks to sleep in them.

- i joined matt for a work dinner on tuesday night and we got a babysitter. since it was the school week our regular sitter wasn't available so we had to use a new one - lexi. madelyn has never met lexi, but was really excited that a sitter was coming over. all day she kept making pretend phone calls that went like this - "hi, lexi! how are you doing? you are coming to my house tonight and we are going to have pizza, okay? okay. see you soon!" she was trying to make this 'call' again but since she has never met lexi, she couldn't remember her name. she came over to me and said, "what's the word i don't know?" i thought that it was so cute that she said "word" instead of "name" and that she knew to ask about it in the first place.

- we have been talking to madelyn about having a new baby at our house (not that there is a baby on the way now). here is her response, "one mommy, one daddy, one madelyn and one mason is enough." not that it is her choice.

- another frequent expression is "my/his/your fault". she is interested in blame. not in a mean spirited way, more in getting a handle on the meaning of the word. when something happens she will say, "its not my fault."

- our new thing for dinner preparation is having a dance party! madelyn and i jam to pass the time i am busy in the kitchen and we are waiting for daddy to come home. now that mason has an exersaucer he gets to join in the fun too. one day i was holding mason and sort of dancing around. madelyn said, "mom, can i hold mason and dance with him?" the videos are just a taste (don't worry, madelyn was fine and didn't even cry).

- madelyn likes to 'get mason' when he wakes up from his naps. when she hears him crying on the monitor she says matter of fact, "mason's awake! i will go get him. you stay here, mom. stay here."

- we got more than one veggietales cd at the library and today we switched from the one with "b-i-b-l-e" on it to a different one. madelyn didn't know the songs and was bopping along with the music instead of singing. when i asked her if she liked this cd she said, "i don't know the words yet. i am trying." and when she didn't recognize the voices singing she asked if they were "junior's friends" (she often tells me which character is singing each song). you can see that mason is learning to have a love for veggietales too...

- mason is just the sweetest, content little guy. here he is laughing at himself in the mirror. and, yes, he is always hanging next to the walls. he really does like looking at the light coming through the curtains though. believe it or not he laughs at them when they move (from the ac, fan, madelyn, or him).

and with that i think i am caught up. we have a pretty busy weekend so hopefully i will get it all posted quick instead of falling behind again. love.