This past Saturday, Spencer, Madi and I decided to brave the dark rain clouds and head over to Gravelly Point (Airplane Park), which is right next to the Regan National Airport. This was our first time going and what a blast we had! Madi's become quite obsessed with airplanes this past month, so she was SUPER excited as each airplane approached. She'd squeal, kick her legs, and sign airplane while pointing into the sky. Some of the airplanes were a little LOUD and quite scary, giving Madi a few frightful moments. Otherwise, it was a prefect day- DARK, looming clouds, but NO RAIN!!!!
On our way home, we stopped at Theodore Roosevelt Island for a quick walk, over the Potomac river and through the woods!!!
Madi is 15 months old today and yes, the count down to attending nursery is on! We've actually already become frequent 2nd hour visitors. No one seems to mind that Madi and I pop in to say hello and stay for 10 or 15 minutes. But in 2 months, I'll start regularly taking her while staying in there. Then at 18 months, Spencer and I will finally be able to fully enjoy the remainder of our Sunday meetings again!
This past month has been pretty action packed for Madi. She's grown up quite a bit. From talking to walking (yes, she is finally totally walking now), Madi is a full on little kid! Some of my favorite things this past month include:
Her vocabulary! It's more than doubled from last month! Most of the day she walks around talking gibberish to her baby and toys, but when we sit down to chat, I can make out a lot of what she's trying to tell me. A few favorites.... "Si Ow-n" = sit down "Baby doll"= which is obviously what she has named her baby "More peez"= more please "Up peez"= up please "Mami"= Madi "No We"= Noah- from her Little Peoples Noah's Ark See Ping= Sleeping
She's also finally started using sign language this past month! It's about time since I've been trying to teach it to her since she was 9 months old! Some of the signs she now uses on a regular basis include: bird, dog, more, food/eat, please (she's only done this one a couple of times), milk, and airplane.
Her tooth count is now up to 6. Madi already had her first MOLAR come in- on the top left side. I had no clue it had come in until she was hanging upside down laughing and I noticed this HUGE tooth in the back of her mouth. It was so awesome seeing such a big tooth back there! However, I'm mostly looking forward to her 2 top front teeth coming in. Those fangs are just a little scary if you ask me! I've actually contemplated having her be Miss Dracula for Halloween!!
As for food, Madi has become quite the picky eater lately (yes, taking after her mom)! She refuses ALL vegetables. The only thing I know she will always eat is RAISINS. This is the one snack I am guaranteed a quiet, happy child. She is actually very opinionated when it comes to her food. She'll let me know what she wants- which can be a good thing and a bad thing. I can ask her, "Madi, do you want ______" and she'll either say "no" or get super excited. Most of the time I don't ask her though. I've just been waiting to make sure she's really hungry and then feeding her lunch. It's worked almost every time.
With all the singing we do in the car, Madi has finally started doing the actions to songs like, "Popcorn popping" and "Wheels on the bus". It's been fun having her join in on all the crazy car fun!
Just a couple videos we took after church today to document Madi on her 15 month birthday! The sound on my camera is really bad- which is sad because I had some great videos of her talking, but it's too quiet and you can't hear anything.
Fridays are a favorite day here at the Jenkins' house. Spencer doesn't have class, so we always go on some type of family outing. However, this Friday it was quite the RAINY day which unfortunately ruined our original plan. Not willing to stay at home all day, we headed to the Westfield Montgomery Mall. I had been given gift certificates to Build-A-Bear at one of my baby showers for Madi. We've been waiting to use them until she's old enough to appreciate it. While this was a little earlier than we had anticipated on going, Spencer and I couldn't wait any longer! The look on Madi's face when we walked into the store said it all! She kept squealing while pointing at all the stuffed animals and dolls. We began walking her by every animal, seeing if there was any particular one she'd want. The only tricky thing was that she LOVED them ALL!
She ended up picking out a black lab. After being stuffed, given a heart, a quick bath, and LOTS of hugs and kisses, we went over to name him and get his birth certificate.
The name was an easy one! He had a close resemblence to our Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob's dog, Cubby....
So of course Madi needed her own Cubby! Can you see the resemblence?!?
This is the box that Cubby was carried home in and is now where he sleeps at night.
Madi is already doing such a good job of taking care of Cubby! She already calls him by name- walking around the house calling "Cubby dog". She and daddy put him to bed in his box every night. Madi then peeks on him (through the little window on the box) several times before she goes to bed. Then she makes sure to wake him up and get him out of his box first thing in the morning! She also makes sure to give him monster bear hugs throughout the day.
Now Spencer can't bug me anymore about getting a dog! Getting Cubby was definitely the way to go! Cute dog, no messes, no clean-up, kid can be totally in charge of, no cost for dog food, can easily come on trips, or be left at home, quiet, but also lots of FUN! Welcome to our home Cubby!
Tonight I gave Madi her very first hair cut!! While I was super nervous about doing it, and Spencer was totally against it, the hair needed to be cut! It was getting long and mangy looking (notice the picture below- ya, pretty bad)! So, not wanting it to grow out like a mullet, I went ahead and did it! Yes, now I'm sad and longingly look at older pictures wondering if I really should have done it, but it's done and actually pretty cute.
BEFORE: AFTER: (back view) (side view) Now the question is- what do I do with the hair? For now, I've decided to tape it to a piece of paper which will go into her baby book. Any other suggestions?
I was contemplating putting it into this this container that Madi was given (along with her first piggy bank and first tooth). But then where do I store the container??
Madi is officially down to taking only one nap now. We started the switch a couple of weeks ago. She did it one day and never went back. I've heard from many moms about the struggle of taking away a nap, but it's surprisingly been great! While Spencer has commented that he still doesn't think she's ready for one nap, I'm the one who's with her all day and believe me- she's ready. She was inconsistent with her afternoon naps before this-sometimes she'd nap too late, pushing her bedtime back (which I am not a fan of). With the one nap, she goes down around 11am (which will eventually be pushed back later), sleeps for 2 hours, and then is back in bed for the night somewhere in the 6 o'clock hour! It's HEAVENLY!!! I'm all about "Anie time," and now I get plenty of it every night!! The first couple of days that I took away Madi's second nap, it was a struggle keeping her up until 6pm! There were several nights that I'd look at the clock after closing her door and it would be like 5:45! I find it interesting how the earlier she goes to bed, the later she sleeps in, and the later she goes to bed, the earlier she's up in the morning! She still sleeps until 7am, I just get more time in the evening to myself! I've been using my evenings reading for book club, making bows, blogging (of course), finishing Madi's 1st year scrapbook, setting up my tutoring blog (scheduled to post on Craig's list by the end of the month (thanks to encouragement from Krista:)), Young Women activities on Thursday nights, and hanging out with Spencer when he needs a break from studying! Life with one kid is great!
Madi and I were out for a walk the other day and on our way back to the house we passed by the dumpster. I couldn't help but notice a big, brightly colored easel sitting to the side. I wheeled Madi around to take a look. I HAD to take it home with me! It was in perfect condition and something I've been wanting to get for Madi for quite sometime. So aside from a complete scrub down (just for germ purposes) Madi got a brand new/old toy for FREE!!! While I'm still probably a little more excited than she is, she's had a great time scribbling on it. I'm looking forward to starting "school" with Madi. One side is a white board, on the second side paper can be hung for various art projects, and the third side is a table that can fold up, allowing the three part easel to collapse down smaller. What a GREAT find! Can you believe someone would actually throw this away?!?
This morning, Madi and I joined some friends out at Butler's Orchard for some raspberry picking! Madi and I were both super excited about going-we haven't had raspberries since being in Camarillo, where every morning Madi would join her Grandpa Al in picking a few raspberries as part of their breakfast. This was something that Madi (and Grandpa Al) looked forward to every morning! So of course Madi was in heaven when she saw the rows and rows of ripe raspberries! She got right to work picking . . .
or should I say . . . EATING!!!!
Madi did not understand the concept of putting the berries into a container to save for later. She wanted raspberries and she wanted them NOW!! She picked from the bushes within her reach. Then she went for the bucket!
I kept putting raspberries in and she kept eating them up! After emptying what was in the bucket, she licked it clean-lid and all!
I knew Spencer was going to want to try a few berries so I had to take control of the situation. I took the container away and tried directing her to another bush while I quickly picked. This did NOT make her happy! The last 20 minutes I had to deal with this:
Thank goodness for nice friends who try to make things better! I love how Lexi is holding out her hand to Madi as a friendly gesture, trying to make Madi feel better. The twin shirts were NOT done on purpose either- just 2 moms who think alike!
Thanks Melissa, Laura, Krista, Becky, and kiddos for a fun morning!! And, I can't forget to thank Grandpa Al for creating a Raspberry Monster! Now I'm just waiting for a diaper blow out!!
Growing up, I loved my dolls! I was definitely the little mommy, and Madi has seemed to follow suit with taking care of her baby doll. On several occasions, I'll walk into the room and find Madi giving her baby hugs, pushing her around in the stroller, and talking to her! But then there are the other times when baby is chucked across the room, found laying face down on the floor, or dragged from room to room by the leg! I've been working with Madi on ALWAYS remembering to take good care of baby! I'm determined to properly train Madilyn so that one day, she'll be my reliable clone!! There's nothing wrong with that, is there???
Last week Madi and I both got a new toy! This is Madi's new toy.
Originally, we had planned on getting her one for her birthday, but since we were away, and living out of suitcases, it had to wait. The week after getting home, I took Madi out shopping for a late birthday gift. She had the BEST time pushing this stroller through the aisles of Toys R Us and I knew this gift was going to be a hit at home! Sure enough, we have all been VERY pleased with the purchase! Not only has it helped with her walking, but it's been cute watching her take such good care of her baby doll. Sometimes "baby" gets tossed out though as Madi tries going for a ride herself!
This is MY new toy!! Three days after getting home for the summer, my computer crashed! So Spencer and I had to share his computer for a week. It was a total pain not having computer access during the day while he was at school, and limited access in the evening while he studied. We were intending on getting an iMac for me anyway, but it just happened a little earlier than we had originally planned. No complaints here! While we still have to figure out what happened to my old computer, I'm having a great time figuring out all the fun accessories on my new computer!!
Madi is at such a FUN age right now! She is learning so much everyday that it's hard to keep track of when she started doing something new. Her whole first year of life I kept a very detailed calendar of all her "firsts" and major milestones. Now that her one year calendar is finished I have no other way of recording everything that Madi is doing, except right here! So, just a warning- many of you might want to stop reading here and just scroll down below to see a few pictures.
It is just truly amazing how quickly kids learn and change in such a short amount of time. Being a first time mom, I am in awe everyday of all the new things Madi surprises me with. One of my favorite things is that Madi has become such a big helper! I've heard that this is when kids start becoming interested in wanting to help, and sure enough- Madi now takes things to the garbage when I ask her to "throw it away". When buckling her into the car seat, she hands me the strap and holds the buckle to help me latch herself in. After I heat food up in the microwave and hand it to her, she'll begin blowing on it and say, "HOT!" When picking up toys, all I have to say is, "Madi it's time to clean up" and then Spencer or I will sing the "clean up" song while she proceeds to put all her toys into their correct place. Once, Spencer tried being tricky by putting toys into the wrong containers. Madi quickly found the mistake and moved them to their correct home!
She has totally mastered folding her arms (yes, on command now) and has actually made it through an entire prayer- well, with taking a sip of milk during the middle. Now I'll I have to say is, "Madi, it's time for prayer" and she quickly folds her arms! I LOVE it! I am totally one of those moms who loves seeing kids walk into and out of church with their arms folded. When we walked into church on Sunday I told Madi to be reverent and she proceeded to fold her ams as we walked from the car into the church building. However, it didn't last long as she became a little too excited when we walked in and saw all our friends at church. Then the screams began!
Ya, I guess with all the great and fun things of growing up there's bound to be frustrations. My biggest frustration is definitely the screaming!! Nothing gets my blood boiling faster than when Madi let's out her ear piercing screams! I'm currently at a loss of how to deal with it too. I've tried flicking her mouth (just leads to crying- but doesn't stop the screams). I've tried being calm and saying, "use a softer voice Madi". I've tried ignoring. We've even done time-out (in the bathroom for 30 seconds)! I've just come to the conclusion that my daughter is a screamer and I don't know how to fix it. Does that make me a bad parent?!?
Along the lines of screams, she's actually become quite the daring and adventurous type (well, more so than she's ever been- which used to be not brave at all)! She loves the slide at playgrounds and has no fears about going down head first! Then she'll proceed to climb back up!
It's actually fun talking to Madi (or should I say bossing her around:), maybe because now I KNOW she is listening and understanding. She follows almost every command I give her. For example, at bath time I'll say, "Madi, stand up so I can wash your bum", and she stands up. "Madi let's clean up your toys", and she starts cleaning up. "Give mommy a kiss", and she gives me a nice big kiss! "Take a drink" and she'll grab her sippy and take a drink (she's not a huge milk drinker, so I have to remind her to do this a lot). It's SO great! I do realize that this might be one of the few times in her life that I'll get a positive response with no complaining and/or objection! She does give me a "no" every once in awhile, but usually related to not wanting to eat something that I'm forcing on her.
Being a mom is by far the BEST job I've ever had! I get excited about all the things that Madi has learned, and look forward to all the things that she will someday be able to do. What a BIG girl!
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