Pics of the week

These are my two favorite pictures from this week....

Here is Maddie with all her babies in the cradle made by her great-grandpa John. In order from L to R: Maddie (laying down), Shannie (in honor of Aunt Shannon), Mona (the neighbor's daughter), Abby (Sesame Street), Dada, and Beth (because she goes in the bath). Autzen the dog is on the chair. She carries these babies around all day long, feeds them milk, puts their clothes on and off, and puts them in and out of bed. She also sleeps with all of them every night.

This is a self-selected outfit. She wanted the leg warmers on the outside of the pants. Also note she is using two toothbrushes at the same time. She also drinks from two cups (with straws) at the same time. It grosses Tony out that she drinks her milk and water together.

Maddie is talking. A lot!! It would be way too much to post all of her words, because she repeating a lot and also stringing several words together. I don't know if this is common or not, but she uses "the" and "with" in a lot of her phrases. For example: "All done with the bed" means nap time is over. She is also counting. She can count to five. She also knows all of her basic colors. If you ask her what color something is she will say "the red" or "the blue." Her most often used phrase is "no way" which she says very emphatically, but not in a defiant tone...yet. She is also learning how to make choices. If I say do you want something to drink or not?, she will answer "not." Also if you tell her to ask somebody for something, she will look at them and say "ask." Maddie also likes to know what everyone is doing. For example Daddy is at the work, Mommy and Maddie are going to Jazzercise (which she can say and it comes out sooo cute!!) She checks up with people via video chatting on the computer and talking on the phone. She "cooks" a lot in her kitchen and also likes to help me with making dinner. She likes to draw, but would prefer a ball point pen to crayons. Just wait til she discovers markers!! She watches Sesame Street, and can name all the characters, but she only watches for a couple of minutes before she gets distracted by something else. She reads tons of books every day and we still make weekly trips to the library. Her favorites are about buses and trains or Elmo. She is slacking on her potty training a little bit, although she will stop what she is doing, look right at me, and say "pees" or poop after she has already done it. She has such a little personality, she loves to talk to people out in public. First she'll play it shy and coy, and then when they are paying attention to her she will turn on the charm with her big old smile! People comment all the time on how cute her pigtails are and how well behaved she is. I think it helps a lot that she communicates so well verbally, but if for some reason you are distracted from her or not quite understanding, she can get very upset. But the good news is that she is calmed down easily and reasoned with amazingly well considering she is not yet even 2.

Thanks for letting me indulge in my stream of consciousness brag session. I want to make sure her accomplishments are documented.