19 months

Madi is 19 months old today. While this stage is often VERY exhausting and quite trying on my patience, there always seems to be something new going on in Madi's head and something new that she's learning- making it hard not to LOVE being a mom!

A few things to note from this past month include:

* Madilyn LOVES us and FINALLY told us so!! With everything that Madi can say, Spencer and I have been so annoyed that she won't say "I love you" back to us. Then a couple of nights ago, Spencer was leaving and said, "Love you, bye bye. " Then Madi says, "love you!" Spencer had to come back upstairs and hear her say it one more time just so he could believe it! So, it's official- Madi has now admitted to loving her parents!! We love you Madilyn!

* It was last month that Madi said her first sentence, "What's Daddy doin'?", but now she's added several more simple sentences to her vocabulary such as:
"Where'd _______ go?" (she'll fill this in with whatever it is she's looking for).
"What's ________ doing?" (again, filled in with various names).
"I feed baby!"
"Here ya go baby." (This is actually her very favorite sentence which she says a hundred times a day. It started when she'd be giving her baby a bottle or wrapping it in a blanket, but now she'll even say it to me!)

* Nursery has been a major issue! When I'm in there with her, she hardly pays any attention to me. Sometimes I think she would never even notice if I left. But sure enough, within 10 seconds of me leaving, she becomes completely hysterical and NOTHING seems to calm her down. She's not the type of kid who likes to be held or cuddled by anyone else. If you invade her space, she instantly become unglued! I really hopes it's not too long before we can beat this thing.

* Her favorite movie is Charlotte's Web (BEST Christmas present we got her)! Up until now, Madi wouldn't sit in front of the TV for longer than 10 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to encourage television watching, but it is nice when there is a movie that can keep her entertained while I'm on my elliptical in the morning.

*She now counts to 10 (well, with skipping a few numbers at the end). Her counting is: "one, two free, four, five six, nine, TEN!"

*According to my mom, I was potty trained at 18 months. So naturally I've been very interested to see how Madi would react to using the potty. She talks about it alot and will sit on it and even try to go. However, it's not until AFTER she's gone "poopy" that she decides to tell me. Wanting to run to the potty BEFORE is what we gotta work on. I'm not planning on starting the potty training until her 2nd birthday, so I figure the next 5 months is for getting her excited about the whole idea!!

* Aside from drawing and reading, another one of Madi's favorite hobbies is building! And she's become quite the builder too! We probably ought to get her some more blocks, but she usually just wants to make one tower- over and over again. She especially loves building with her daddy. Once they've finished a tower or plane/boat contraption, she always insists on showing me. I think she just loves seeing my reaction to what she's built. It always leaves her beaming with delight, getting me like 5 or 6 BIG hugs, and LOTS more towers!


*Madi's starting to become the queen of excuses. She knows the things that make mommy and daddy worried and the things that we'll baby her more for. For example, when she doesn't want to be in her highchair, but knows that she's supposed to, she'll make a yucky face and say, "I poopy." A month ago it might have worked and we'd get her out to check her bum. But NOT anymore! Luckily Spencer and I have quickly caught on to her sneaky excuses and no longer put up with it. Yes, there's nights where she screams a little harder and pouts a little more, but in the end she knows her behavior is not acceptable! It was just the other night when Spencer had to hold her with her arms folded throughout the prayer while she screamed to read more stories (and this was AFTER reading at least 10 stories)! After the prayer and a forced "amen" on Madi's part, she cuddled against Spencer's chest to sing a few songs before bed. In the middle of one of the songs, Madi lifts her head off Spencer's shoulder and says, "I sorry dad, I sorry." She kept insisting that she was sorry, with Spencer reassuring her it was ok. At least she knew her behavior was unacceptable!

* We still struggle with getting Madi to eat. She eats so little that we often wonder how she's even growing. Consequently we find ourselves feeding her alot (or should I say shoving food into her month). This is not something I pictured myself having to do with my 19 month old, but I don't know what else to do. I'm starting to believe the whole "what goes around comes around" saying. I was the pickiest eater growing up, which I know HAD to be frustrating for my mom. Now I feel like I'm getting a taste of my own medicine!

With all that we deal with on a daily basis I am still surprised at how I rarely want a break away from Madi. The nights that Spencer does bedtime routine and puts Madi to bed (whether I'm gone to mutual, visiting teaching, book club, or whatever it might be) I always find myself missing Madi and wanting to go into her room to give her a big hug when I get home! My favorite things are still the dozens of random hugs and kisses that I get during the day- just because. Love you baby girl!