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These are Madeleine’s latest words!!  She started saying Whoa when the basement demolition was going on and we could hear all kinds of thunks and bangs from upstairs. 

We had a very fun visit from Nonie and Grampy–Madeleine kept them busy going from activity to activity, including the playground, lots of walks, and the wading pool.  The other night I asked her if she liked going from activity to activity as fast as possible (she was running to the door to go outside as soon as she finished eating dinner) and she yelled out yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. 

She has done this a lot lately–a happy yell.  It is pretty funny.  We were in Home Depot the other day getting supplies for the basement and an employee asked if we needed help. She looked at him and shouted yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.  He looked pretty stunned.

This is random, but I have been meaning to note it down so as not to forget in the rapidlyl changing days that make up the life of a toddler.  Madeleine likes to run along the sidewalk during our walks–she is spending less and less time in the jog stroller–and her little legs go in circles when she really gets going.  Her little arms are clenched up by her sides and they sort of go in circles too.  It is just about the cutest thing ever.  We are going to try to get it on video soon.

Speaking of videos, we have a LOT to post (Rob, I hope you are reading this).

Some summertime updates:

Madeleine now weighs more than 22 pounds!!  She has finally crossed the 20 pound threshold. Phew.  She is a much better eater now–although still does better at school than at home.  She will eat beans, carrots, etc at school but looks at me like I am an alien if I give those foods to her at home.  She is eating chicken at home–prefers it cold, tried porkloin last week, and last night ate couscous for the first time!

Madeleine can now say “up”  and “down” and has mastered the signs for shoes, outside, and bicycling.

All of her canine teeth are in and I think her 2nd year molars are starting–she has been chewing her fingers a lot this week and has a runny nose–telltale signs of some dental happenings.

She got her first bee sting yesterday.  Yikes.  Right on the tip of her index finger.  Now she keeps holding it up saying bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, and laughing.  So I guess she wasn’t too traumatized! 

Last week we went to Colorado–first to Denver where I had a conference for work and then up to Loveland to visit Uncle Dave, Aunt Susan and baby Sophie.  It was a great trip.  Madeleine loved the hotel in Denver–very cool escalators, a piano in the lobby, and long hallways to run along.   It is so funny to see her run–her little legs go in circles nearly–don’t know how she stays up sometimes.  Madeleine and her daddy had many adventures in the big city:  riding the bus, eating at McDonalds, shopping at Virgin Records, picking out new books, and general exploring. 

When we got up to Loveland, Madeleine was very interested in Sophie–it was so cute.  She is around babies at school and kept bending her head down to look into Sophie’s face and smiling.  Sophie looks fantastic–yeah for mama’s milk–and it was wonderful to see her so robust and playful.  She will be chasing after Madeleine in no time. 

Madeleine can ride a tricycle!  The kids spend time twice a day in a large gymnasium at school that features trikes, push toys, slides, etc.  She has been sitting atop the tricycles and pushing with her feet for quite a while, but yesterday when I picked her up she was pedaling around the gym!  I couldn’t believe it.  I guess we will be trike shopping….

We leave tomorrow for the first of our 2 summer family vacations…we are off to CO for a conference in Denver (for Rachel) and then a long weekend visiting Dave, Susan and Cousin Sophie!  Last night I was gathering some of Madeleine’s clothes in preparation and asked her if she wanted to help pick out her clothes for the trip.  She opened her dresser drawer and started yanking shorts and pants out left and right.  Then she ran to the living room, opened the coat closet and pointed at the red bag we use for outings like church and the park.  She proceeded to stuff her shorts and pants into the bag.  it was so cute!  For church I have been asking her to pack some toys and books in the bag while I get ready (it has been interesting to see what she chooses) and I guess she has labeled that bag as the packing bag for leaving the house.  A reminder that even though she doesn’t have a lot of verbal words, she understands an awful lot!

Madeleine is slowly adding more words to her repertoire.  This past week, she has started saying “down” and “ball.”  Duncan is learning to give her more time to set up to toss the ball to him–we are looking forward to a day when he doesn’t ask one of us to throw the ball constantly but instead goes to her!  She teases him though by putting his tennis ball up on the kitchen counter now and again.  She also likes running down the hall with it, giggling all the way.  Duncan doesn’t go into her room oddly enough–we never trained him not to, but I think he is worried about what might happen in there–toy throwing, etc.

Her newest signs are outside and drawing.  Speaking of drawing, one of the things we love about her toddler class is that the kids do an art project every day.  The last few really show that she is “getting it” and starting to do the gluing, coloring, etc. on her own.  Case in point–her 4th of July “flag”  is completely crazy–stripes in all directions.  I loved seeing it knowing that she had glued them on herself without much guidance.  At this point, we are keeping all of her projects in a giant folder marked Madeleine’s Art Portfolio. I know this is not sustainable–but how do we throw them away??!!

Her canine teeth–top and bottom–are in!  They really didn’t seem to bother her very much at all.  She is sleeping great these days from all the fresh air and sunshine she gets now.  On Friday, she and her classmates go on their second summer field trip to the zoo!!  I am chaperoning, and we cannot wait.

Madeleine got her first haircut this weekend–really just a bang trim as she was starting to cross the line from cute crazy baby hair to scarecrow.  I am not ready to cut off her baby curls yet…so we just had the bangs tidied up.  She wasn’t too crazy about sitting in the chair way up high.  But, she liked the hairdryer and getting to pick out a new comb afterwards.  She looks very sweet. 

We had a busy weekend–lots of outdoor time as it was gorgeous, especially on Sunday.  We biked around the lake–Madeleine is doing a great job keeping her helmet on for the whole ride.  She doesn’t like when her snack gets bumped all around in the trailer though!  We stopped at one of our many neighborhood playgrounds on the way home from the lake and saw her school buddy Chloe there!  The girls were very puzzled to be seeing each other out of context–it was funny.  M loves the playgrounds and is a good climber and slider. 

Madeleine and I ended the day with a wonderful outdoor concert at Lake Harriet.  We sat up on the hill in the shade listening to the MN Pops Orchestra and eating our picnic supper.  White sailboats glided by and the water was sparkly blue–such a pretty spot.  M loved the music and clapped/tapped with joy.  We walked close to the stage on our way home and she was waving her arms like crazy.  We also saw some ducks on our walk back to the car, so all in all a very happy trip to the Lake. 

In other quick news:  Madeleine’s talking is picking up.  She says “Duh” for Duncan quite clearly now.  Over the weekend she said mamamama a few times while hugging me, so I am accepting that as mama.  Her newest signs are bird, bunny rabbit, gorilla, thirsty, and bib.  She is starting to sign more spontaneously instead of just in answer to questions–it is fun.

So Madeleine can now ROAR like a tiger, lion and dinosaur (they all have the same roar).  She roars with her mouth fully open and head back.  Hilarious.  We saw tigers and lions at the zoo recently so maybe that is why she is doing these animal sounds first.  And she says moo when we ask what a cow says!   That said, there are sometimes variations on these dialects.  The other night at dinner, this was our conversation:

what does a lion say?  “ROAR”

what does a tiger say?  “ROAR”

what does a dinosaur say?  “YES”

I almost fell off my chair laughing. 

In other news, we noticed the other day that she hasn’t been doing loud smacking kisses anymore.  It is hard, as she does new things all the time, to notice what things she stops doing.  It made me sad as those loud kisses were so sweet.  Yesterday we were blowing kisses on our walk and when we got home she gave me one of those loud “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” kisses–what a sweet moment. 

The toddler room will have field trips this summer–Madeleine is signed up to go to the zoo, story time at the Mall, and a few other things.  Some field trips come to school–like the ponies and the inflatable bouncy castles!  Good times!

Madeleine has progressed from just making dots with crayons (very Monet of her) to starting to scribble with lines and swirls.  She has been very interested in drawing the last few days.  She likes when I draw something so that she can “finish it.”  She can now get her own shirt and pants on!!  She needs help pulling them all the way up and getting the arms in the right sleeves, but she is getting there!  She puts her own shoes on every day before school—and when we are lucky, lets us tie them without yelling!  We got a hand-me-down climber and slide for our yard, which she loves.  Somehow she knows about the Dizzy Game that Uncle Dave and I used to play—because she climbs on top of the climber and spins around and around. Yikes.  And over the weekend, she answered “moo” for the 1^st time when I asked her what a cow says! 

Her words these days are dada, no, yes, uh-oh.  Her signs are more, milk, hungry, thirsty, shoes, outside, walk, music, airplane, diaper, and bath. 

Madeleine plays With Daddy in the front year, then works hard practicing her stepping skills on the Front Steps.

Hope you enjoy the YouTube video shot 20080523.

Tackling the Front Steps with Daddy

We all went to Colorado two weeks ago to celebrate Sophie’s baptism. Rob and I are very lucky to be godparents! Madeleine was a super traveler and seemed to really like the hotel. She thought eating breakfast in the same room where we slept was pretty cool–except when Grampy tried to give her a blackberry on her plate. No no grampy!

Sophie is doing great–gaining weight and smiling. Dave posted lots of new pics of her on their website–see link at right.

Madeleine will be 18 months old on Sunday, 5/25!!  Wow.

She is really enjoying playing outside and taking walks–powered by  her own two feet instead of the stroller all the time.  She can now get her own shoes on–is very stubborn about this.  She has just started saying “yes” and “hi” and she said “dada” on Wednesday!  One of her new favorite games is “chase”–she starts running, looks back over her shoulder, egging you on, and then runs away, giggling like crazy.  She also loves to watch the school bus come in the mornings–it stops at our corner at 7:20.  To celebrate our long weekend, we are going to the zoo tomorrow to see the giraffes and friends.  We are also going to buy her a bicycle helmet so that she can enjoy our new bike trailer!! 

Sophie pulled through her surgery like a trooper. What a strong spirit she has! Her mama and daddy were able to hold her and feed her as of Saturday. Hurray!! Will try to post some pictures.

Click the photo to see additional pictures.

Well, it seems that Madeleine was definitely ready for the challenges of the toddler room at school!  She is nearing the end of her second week and is enjoying lots of new things.  She gets to play outside!  She gets to take naps on a little cot!  She gets to eat breakfast and lunch at a table with all her friends!  She gets to do art projects!  She gets to wear her treasured big girl shoes (which she lovingly places on the shelf in her room at the end of the day).

Her learning has been on fast-forward lately–from being in the toddler room where they do more “teaching” and just her developmental stage.  One of her placemats features 8 different animals–she can point to them all correctly if you ask “where is the pig, the dog, etc.”  She can point to our eyes, ears, mouths, noses, hair, and cheeks.  She can point to her own eyes, ears, hair, cheeks and sometimes nose.  She likes to “count” things in her books by placing her hand in ours and having us guide her index finger. 

She is enjoying taking walks with us–powered by her own 2 feet!  She has made it all the way around our block a few times–once while pushing her dolly Emily in her radio flyer wagon. 

Fun days!

A new picture from Aunt Paula, in role of super babysitter:

Madeleine has her 16 month checkup on Wednesday–I think she has finally cracked the 20 lb mark!  She is eating well these days–mostly!

She is “talking” all the time–her only real words at this point are “dada” and “all-gone” which she uses for food, dogs walking by, bye-bye,etc.  She is doing well with her signs–we are working on the sign for airplane and help.  She consistently signs hungry and more. 

She is a good helper–her favorite thing to help with is emptying the grocery bags.  She will take items one by one and put them in the fridge!  So cute.

She is still a hugger–hugs and kisses her friends at school all day, gives us lots of hugs and kisses (very loud wet ones!); the other day she saw a little girl crying at the library and went over to give her a hug.  We were so proud!

Rob surprised her with a dolly stroller–and she went crazy!  She spent most of Sunday giving rides to her dollies and doggies–also wrapping/swaddling (mummifying) them before putting them in. 

And finally, she can walk up the stairs holding hands –it is funny to see her take such huge steps to go up. 

We will work on some new videos/pictures as we can….stay tuned.

One of Madeleine’s favorite activities is reading books. We just recently started bringing her to the local library. Wow does she go crazy! Books, books, everywhere! She runs around, pulls a book off the shelf, brings it over to us, then runs around some more, finds another book, and repeats like 10-20 more times. It is truly awesome.

Last trip, one of the books she picked was Pepito the Brave. At least for now, it’s her favorite story.

Here is a YouTube video of Rachel reading the Pepito the Brave to Madeleine. Hope you enjoy it.

P.S. Image courtesy of BN.com

Madeleine got a shiny new stroller today and she absolutely LOVES IT!  She pushed the stroller around the house for hours, giving her dolls and stuffed animals rides all about.

Hope you enjoy the YouTube videos.

Natalie is the lovely daughter of good friends Bob and Michele. Natalie just turned 2, and man! does she know how to throw a party. Padded gym, bouncy castle, cake, ice cream — yowza!

Click here for a link to some pictures Michele shot at the birthday party.  Natalie is the cute one with her hair in pigtails.
Here are some videos we shot and posted to YouTube. Hope you enjoy them.

Video 1 - The kids watch the castle inflate. Then Madeleine plays with a beach ball.

Video 2 - Madeleine and Daddy play on the trampoline.

Video 3 - Birthday girl Natalie and others join Madeleine and her Daddy playing inside the bouncy castle.

Just another typical, awesome, lovely afternoon — Madeleine running around with Hanna the Hippo, going crazy with books and playing on the Castle Slide.

Hope you enjoy the YouTube video.

Madeleine laughs hysterically at the popping sounds Rob keep making.   Awesome!