- madelyn sings a lot. about everything. she makes up lots of songs and remembers them week to week. there are even a few cute ones about God loving her. and i know, video would be nice. she tends to sing them when she is playing on her own and doesn't like the camera right now. i would rather just enjoy them.
- speaking of playing on her own, her imagination has gone to a whole new level recently. the plots of her stories have gotten much more complex and so has the cast of characters. some where she picked up playing that she, toys, etc. are "dead" or "died". this is not one of my favorite themes, but she seems to play like it is funny and not sad. she says that it just means that you have to "lay real still with your eyes closed". she does understand real dying though because she was asking about maggie being an old dog and if she would die. when i told her, yes, someday maggie will die she got a little upset.
- while she is not afraid of playing "dead", she has developed an extreme fear of fire. and it seems to have come from seeing it on tv. and it's not just destructive fire, rocket launches, campfires, etc. are what "scares" her at night. (she isn't a big fan of the red light that blinks on smoke detectors either.) she does like to sit by fireplaces when we see them, so there isn't a lot of rhyme or reason to this one either. being safe from fire is one of the things she prays about most often.
- and madelyn has been praying more frequently (other than bed and meal times). she likes to pray out loud and it appears that sitting on the toilet is her newest destination of choice for her talks with God. she will say, "i am going to the bathroom," and then come back to add, "and i am going to talk to God while i am sitting on the toilet". last night she was asking me - why does hair grow? when there are questions that i don't have the answer to i will say that "God made it that way" or "you will have to ask God one day". last night when i suggested she will have to ask God some day (thinking along the lines of when she gets to heaven), but she asked, "can't i just ask him now?" and she did. she went into the kitchen for a little privacy and had her conversation with God. apparently he says that hair grows, "little by little by little". there is an action too - she squats and lifts her hands higher and higher with each "little" before reaching her full height. love it.
- her sincerity and sensitivity to others has also increased.recently. she gives me the sweetest "i'm sorry" after giving a situation some thought; not because it is expected or requested but because she truly is sorry. it is usually followed by "i didn't know..."; as in "i didn't know biting my nails was a bad habit. i just didn't know."
- and the nail biting and thumb sucking have not occurred since the introduction of mavala stop. however, she has now developed a restlessness at bedtime. it just started three nights ago so i don't think that it is totally thumb related. it is often from her fear of fire and wanting to sleep with us if she gets too scared. the problem is that she is taking forever to go to sleep and loosing toys/privileges/activities (last night she even lost "friend" for a while; house rule is that she doesn't have to go to sleep but she can't scream like a banshee and keep the boys up) and she has started waking up between 5/6am. while this would be exhausting under normal circumstances, it is making it that i am only getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night for the past 3 or 4 nights! and that is the part that is killing me. i am hoping that she will get out of this funk in the next few days. at least it is not really effecting her daytime behavior. in fact, she seems to be better behaved overall... i am sure that sleep will continue to be an issue as we will be in wisconsin most of next week to close on the house and move out the furniture. and then maybe we can settle into a more peaceful nighttime routine for us all.
- madelyn wears 5T/5 clothes and seems to be in the middle of a growth spurt (another possible factor for the sleeping troubles). she eats almost non-stop! and not just because she is grazing, these are full on meals. yesterday she ate two pb&js, a yogurt, pretzels, trail mix, and a glass of milk for lunch - and she was still hungry 15 minutes later! i am pretty much feeding someone all day long - again, exhausted. it is a good thing that we will be in this weekend so that i can get in a nap or two while matt is home.
- in addition to teaching her about "magic", i taught her that you can look at a picture on the block package and then build it. seeing her follow the instructions with the blocks reminded me of myself (i try not to think that way too much). i used to use my brothers' block sets to build what they were intended to build. for some reason i just don't have a lot of structural creativity; i find great satisfaction in being able to figure out what they made in the picture.
- "whatever it takes" has become her catch phrase. not too sure about its origins and she doesn't always use it in a context that makes any sense.
and i think that is everything i wanted to note. love.
1 comment:
Great update - what a sweet girl :) Weird - Lorelai has had trouble sleeping the past few nights (makes up for it in a nap) and has a sudden fear of the dark. I don't think she'd really afraid of the dark, but tired/cranky/out of sorts and creatign a fear. We shall see.
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