An Update on Two

Maddie had her two year visit at the doctors this past week. To nobody's surprise who knows her she is off the charts in her weight, height, and head circumference. However while being off the charts she is proportional and has been growing at a steady rate and the doctor has no concerns with her size as she has been growing at a good rate.

She is where she is supposed to be except for her language skills which for anyone who has met my child knows that she exceeds here. Maddie much like her mother is a talker. The doctor said that at her age they look for 2 to 3 word sentences. Maddie is typically between 5 and 8 words in her sentences and as Jym says she talks in paragraphs. He also mentioned that her pronunciation is very advanced too. We've lucked out on this front and I don't have any idea why but if i had to guess its because we don't speak to her any differently than we do anyone else. Sure we probably don't use as many big words but we don't change our inflection for her.

I think the biggest thing I've noticed with her language skills is that we don't have as many meltdowns as we probably would otherwise because she is good at telling us what she needs. Now don't get me wrong we have had our fair share of meltdowns but I think we've managed to skip a lot of them because she can tell us what she needs and the frustration level isn't as high. I'm very grateful for this as well as for my sweet little girl.

On the temperament front I feel everyday that we've lucked out. She is such a sweet girl and I love watching her imagination grow. One of her new things is to say, "Mom you're the best girl." It just melts my heart. And her imagination these days its great. She will say she needs to make soup for Goofy because he is sick. So she goes to her kitchen and makes him soup. I just love it! I can't wait to see what is in store for us over the next year.

Till the next time!

Early Resolutions

So the end of the year is quickly approaching and I've been thinking about the types of things I'd like to do better next year. Like always there is a pretty long list but I've managed to keep it down to just a few that I'm going to consistently work on. The first is one that I'm really looking forward to is doing a weekly craft/project day/evening with Maddie. Where she goes to school they don't make any projects (which is understandable because of the variety of ages there and we love it for many other reasons) and I figure this gives me the opportunity to do something that I enjoy doing and getting more of that quality time together with her.

And like this year which I didn't do as well as I want I want to try to blog more. I figure if we do a weekly project I can post a picture of the projects we do plus an update of sorts at least twice a month anyways. That way we have a little bit more of something to go back to see what was going on in our lives if we ever get the urge to look back.

I have a few more that are personal resolutions the normal be more active, get the house organized, and figure out a way to keep on top of the laundry. We'll see how that goes but I'm really going to give it a good go. I think it will help our nights be more productive. I figure take it one day at time and some will be good and others will be hard but just remembering tomorrow is a new day and I can't do it all in one day should be helpful.

I'm hoping that at the end of next year I'll have a lot of resolutions that have turned into habit because I think that's the real purpose of a new years resolution. To 2013 being a great year!

Two

Well Maddie is officially two years old. It's hard to believe that she's two already as the time has just flown by. We are still potty training and some days are better than others. Today was a pretty good day where Maddie did all her peeing on the potty. While we're not quite ready to go out in just underwear I've started letting her wear underwear with a pullup over it to contain any messes and we did go to the playground yesterday in just underwear. It's right on our street so i figured if there were any accidents then we could just walk home. Obviously some days are better than others but it's a work in progress and we continue to work on it.

Maddie has been so funny since turning two and even before. The week before turning two every time you asked her how old she was going to be on her birthday she would tell you "two". Now you ask her how old she is, she responds with "two".  My sweet baby girl is two. She is fiercely independent and will tell you exactly what she wants to do but will turn around the next moment and want to snuggle and hug. Her newest thing is to play with her friends (mickey, minnie, goofy, pluto, donald and daisy) and make them soup and have a picnic. She wants to bring at least one of them almost everywhere. For so long there wasn't really anything that she was too attached to and even now she doesn't necessarily pick one friend over the other but it is so sweet to watch her say "Come on Goofy, lets go have a picnic."

As our trip to Disney comes closer Maddie is starting to get very excited. She knows that Disney is after Christmas and that Minnie and Mickey live at Disney. We have recently started watching YouTube videos of Disney to prepare her so she doesn't freak out from the size of the characters. Her favorites are to watch Mickey dancing. I really hope we get to watch him do some dancing while we're there. I'm sure we will find some sort of show for her. Can't wait to post pictures of our trip!

A successful potty day

Today was a success day on the potty. We are in the process of doing some potty training with Maddie. We haven't transitioned any of it to daycare although I think next week i'll ask her to start putting her on the potty after nap time. While it is a little early Maddie seems to be doing pretty good.

Today at home Maddie did all her peeing on the potty which was great.  She peed first thing this morning a few minutes after she got up. While her diaper wasn't dry (some mornings it is others its not) she still went a significant amount which makes me think the pee that was in her diaper was probably either from late last night or very early this morning. Either way a success!

Then after picking her up from daycare this afternoon we took a quick trip to the bank and then had a fairly quick dinner with my friend Tara (Auntie Tara to Maddie). We we got home she was still dry from her last diaper at daycare (about 2 hours after i picked her up) so I put her on the potty. She peed again and we let her wear some of her underwear around the living room while she played. About 45 minutes later she peed again! And now its bedtime so she'll go into a diaper for the night but all in all a pretty successful day for the training.  I'm hoping that she's mostly (except nap and night) potty trained within the next few months. I know there will be accidents but she's doing pretty good so far.

I think the more time she spends either in underwear or with nothing on the bottom the better she'll be able to recognize that she has to pee. Tomorrow Jym will have some time alone with Maddie and I'm hoping he'll put her on the potty a few times and we'll see how that goes. It might be an underwear day if they are hanging at home - she loves getting the stickers for her chart and we might try a little piggy bank as she's very into coins/money to see if that will entice her a bit more to sit on the potty. I will most likely post more about this aspect both the struggles and the triumphs. I'm hoping there are more triumphs than struggles but either way I know it's a work in progress.

First Night without Mom and Dad

So this past weekend Maddie had another first in a long line of firsts. Jym and I got invited to a wedding without Maddie and decided to take the opportunity to schedule our first night without her.  Now Jym has taken a few trips overnight whether for work, conferences or with friends since Maddie has come into our lives but this would be the first time that I wouldn't be there at night with Maddie.

We made plans with Geepa to come down and watch Maddie for Friday night and headed out around 3pm for the wedding. We had a great time at the wedding and a really nice night. I missed Maddie but she did great. Slept all night long and was having a great time with Geepa when we got back the next day. It was nice that it was only one night to start with and we were only about 30 minutes away in case something did happen. I think it will make it a little easier the next time we go away (which probably won't be for a while) but it was good to have the experience.

Till the next time!

I Think We're Alone Now

Mel and I had our first night without Maddie on Friday. I've been away for the night (as many as 4) several times but this was the first time we were both gone. Things went very well.

Geepa came down to watch Maddie so we could see Danny and Julie get hitched. It was a beautiful wedding at Bluemont Vineyards in Bluemont, VA (directly across the street from the farm). It was a fantastic day, at a fantastic facility and a fantastic group of people. They really lucked out all around.

Getting back to the main point, we stayed at the Holiday Inn outside of Leesburg, VA on Route 7. Anyone that knows where we live realizes how hilarious it is that we stayed there (maybe 25 minutes away from our house). I've commented several times that I wanted to go there because it looks like a grand old plantation home yet it's a Holiday Inn. It turns out it's a banquet hall with the hotel on the side.

Mel did a great job keeping the check-ins at a minimum. I was very impressed. I believe the total count was one text in the evening and one in the morning.

We went out for a lackluster breakfast at Virginia Kitchen (food is normally excellent there) but it was a nice treat to go out just the two of us.

Maddie did great with Geepa. She didn't fuss at all and slept very well. Geepa took her shopping all over town. She got a snazzy new vacuum (Minnie of course) and a Minnie costume that she demanded.

Maddie did however refuse to take a nap yesterday. Today she fought it. I think she is still a little mad at me for my BBQ school adventure. She kept saying "Daddy with Justin" and yelling when trying to go down for a nap. I think she needed confirmation that we were both there. It appears she didn't realize we were gone until the next morning when we weren't there.

Overall I think we can do overnight adventures again. Maybe next time we'll go somewhere a little more exotic than Leesburg but it was a great start.

21 Months

I'm not sure when it happened but my baby is an independent little toddler. And much like her mom she is a talker. She loves to sing and knows the words to quite a few songs. My favorite to listen to her sing is a bicycle built for two, which we refer to as Daisy. She's a smart little cookie too as she counts to 20 pretty well for the most part (sometimes she skips 15 or 16) but i think is pretty impressive.

We listen to music quite a bit so I shouldn't be surprised by the songs she knows but here is a list of them

Mary had a little lamb
Bicycle built for two
The bear went over the mountain
Mickey Mouse Club House
Daisy Bo Peep
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
It's Raining It's Pouring
Head Shoulders Knees Toes
Old McDonald
The Ants go Marching
The Muffin Man
Row Row Row your boat
Twinkle Twinkle
Where oh where has my little dog gone
Hotdog Hotdog

I'm sure there are more but those were the ones that i could think of. We are trying to teach her you are my sunshine for Jym's gramma and while she will sing it with you she won't sing it by herself.  She is an absolute treasure but she is definitely more work these days. Her newest thing is to say 'nononononononononono' when she doesn't want to do something. She has her tantrums like any child but I think we are able to keep those down a little because she is so vocal and able to verbalize what she wants.  I love to watch her try something new and she can be so focused on things and is inquisitive. She loves trains and animals and of course Mickey and friends.

In January we are taking her to Disney World and I'm so excited to be able to give her that experience. I'm just hoping that the big characters don't frighten her.

From the Mouths of Babes

Maddie is hilarious these days. She is very into asserting her independence and has started repeating things that people say (time to watch what we say). This past weekend Maddie and I went up to NH/ME for Kelly's bridal shower (maddie is the flower girl). Here are just a few of the gems she's said over the last week along with a little bit of background on them.

A few days before we were leaving i was picking Maddie up from daycare and said, "Are we going to see Geepa and Papa this weekend?"

Maddie's response was, "And travis?"

"Yes and Travis" I replied (she loves Travis) and then out of the blue she goes "No more hotdogs Papa"

The funny part about the above sentence was the last time we had visited my parents was the fourth of July and they had their normal party.  Maddie was hungry and is a big fan of hotdogs however there weren't any left and had to go tell my Papa that there were no more hotdogs. The fact that she remembered that was both amazing and very cute.

The next was on our way up to Maine from NH.  On friday night before heading to NH, Jym and I had taken Maddie to Costco to pick up a few things.  While there she had found a play kitchen and we had to pick her up to get her to stop playing with it. There was a slight tantrum to go with it but we did manage to leave the store without it.

We were in the car driving to the shower when Maddie randomly asked "Where's my new kitchen?" She was not overly impressed when I told her that it was at the store and daddy would work on getting her a new one soon.

The last that I can remember was on the way back from the shower. Maddie was playing with her shoes and I asked her if she wanted to take her shoes off and her response was "and stay a while?"  If you can't tell one of the things I ask Maddie on a fairly consistent basis is if she wants to take off her shoes and stay a while (normally at the end of the day).

I'm sure more will come to me and I'll be able to capture them because they typically have at least one person in stitches.

A trip to the farm!

Today we took our first trip to a farm. Along with our friends Brock and Erin we took Maddie to Great Country Farms in Bluemont, VA.  We had decided last fall after spending a great day with Brock and Erin apple picking that we wanted to go peach picking the next summer. This was the weekend we decided to do it. Great Country farm is a fantastic place for all ages. The weather was perfect being the upper 70s when we got there and probably hitting a high of about 85 for the day. The peaches were just so so (i think we might have been a little late in the season but we got a few good ones) but the blackberries were fantastic as were the cherry tomatoes.

We got there about 12:30 and had a nice picnic lunch near the parking lot before heading up to the main building where you catch the ride to the orchard. We picked our peaches first and then rode to the blackberries. After all our picking we paid for our fruit and brought it back to the car. We then headed to the petting zoo/farm animal part of the farm. While we were in line a woman had handed us some extra food for the farm animals and we took our crushed corn and headed to see what they head.

Maddie was a little hesitant at first but after watching dad feed the animals she was all for it. She had such a great time feeding the miniture horses, goats, and donkeys and kept wanting more. It was such a great experience and probably one of our favorite parts of the day. After feeding the animals we went to the little playground where maddie went down the tractor slide. It was pretty steep and went fast but our little daredevil loved it!

It was a long day and we were at the farm about 4 hours. All in all we had such a great day and I'm sure we will go back again.

Once we get the few pictures we took I'll post them.

Hello May!

Well the year has been going by very quickly and despite my good intentions obviously I have not been blogging. I am hoping to do a bit more and perhaps if i schedule the time I will actually do it. This year has been a little crazy but a good year all in all. In the past few months we have switched daycares and now I'm switching jobs, and we just got back from our first family vacation this year. 

Jym, Maddie, and I spent a nice long weekend in South Carolina. Most of the time was spent in North Myrtle Beach but we did manage to go to Charleston for a day as well.  We lucked out and the weather was absolutely perfect. Maddie got to actually spend some time in the sand playing and she even spent some time in the ocean! I do have to say watching her experience the ocean for the first time was the highlight of the vacation for me.  I had originally brought her down to the water to put her feet in while expecting the water to be cold. It was actually pleasant and she decided to run right in and enjoy it.  To watch her laugh when the waves hit her was an utter delight. She loved playing in the sand and filling the buckets and smushing the castles that mommy and daddy built for her. And while she didn't mind sitting in the sand she did not like when daddy tried to bury her legs.

Some of Maddie's favorite things right now are Minnie and Mickey and all their friends.  She loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and asks for it by saying "Toodles!" It's very cute especially when she does it in her sleep. She's been doing a lot better at going to sleep. While in the past we would rock her to sleep or she would fall asleep taking her bottle 99% of the time she goes to bed wide awake.  Some nights are better than others but typically if she fusses at all its only for a few minutes. We have been about 30/70 in terms of sleeping through the night.  Everytime we get close to it (a few nights of 8-10 hours) we have a bit of a setback.

While on vacation there was a night of 7 hours and then 10 the next night but the two nights after that miserable.  Typically the reasons that she doesn't sleep through the night are not because she can't (as she proved by sleeping 10 hours) but because something is going on. The two miserable nights of vacation were because she had a cold of sorts and was coughing a good portion of the night.  Before that it was the 3 molars that came over a two week period. I find that once the teething is over and she's not sick that is when she sleeps the best. I keep saying we'll get there knowing that she can't teeth forever so hopefully the next few weeks go pretty well. 

We have another trip coming up soon where we are going up north for Kait's graduation with her pharmacy degree. It's a pretty quick trip and then we make our way back and I start my new job. Lots of changes but hopefully by the end of May we will have settled down. 

Hopefully the next one won't be as long in between as this was. Happy Friday! 

Weekly Update 1

So as I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to try to blog more and I was going to try to blog on Wednesdays as it's approximately mid week and normally a slower night for us.  And here we are on the first of those Wednesday blogs. I'm hoping to be able to keep it up but we will see.

This past week or so since my last post has been pretty busy. Maddie was sick but is feeling much better and has been great. We're working on getting her to sleep through the night still and the past few nights she's only gotten up once which is a lot better than where we've been in the past. While there are certain things that I would do differently next time in terms of sleep i don't regret the closeness that i have with Maddie and our nights of cuddling.

It's been crazy to see the changes with Maddie in her personality and even in looks. As she is getting more hair it is starting to curl more, especially after bathtime.  She is also learning cause and effect and likes to pull things off, knock things down, and just see what kind of reactions she can get.  She is talking more these days as well and signing more too. She has more down pat and is pretty good at eat and we're working on drink, please, and thank you. I'm always very excited when she says please as it's very cute and she always looks so proud of herself when we clap for her.

One of her favorite toys right now is her picnic basket that sings and talks and has shapes with it. She dances and claps her hands when she gets the shapes in the correct spot and its very cute. That's about it for this week. Until next week - Happy Wednesday!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012!

2011 was a great year and it went very quickly. So much has happened only some of which we've been able to write about. Maddie has grown so quickly and has gone from being our little baby to an independent little toddler.

She is starting to get into everything and give us a run for our money. Right now some of her favorite things to do include playing in the dog's water bowl, pulling tissues out of the tissue box, trying to make a grab for the toilet paper when it's bath time and anything else you can think of. :) It's sometimes hard not to laugh when she is doing these things but I've found for the dog bowl that raising my voice just makes her laugh. So now I just have to try to find someplace else for her attention and to put the dog bowls up when Marco's done eating.

Maddie and Marco are getting along better these days for the most part. Marco tolerates Maddie crawling near him/on him most of the time. Maddie will give him hugs and kisses which is very sweet. We do have to watch Marco sometimes during dinner to make sure he waits till Maddie is done to clean up but other than that they are pretty good.

As far as resolutions this year I haven't done great at them yet but I'll give myself a bit of a break because Maddie was sick on Wed/Thursday and then I caught it so was out of commission on Friday/Saturday. I figure they are a work in progress anyways but I will list them below.

1. Keep on top of laundry

2. Eat at home more

3 Keep up with housework

4. Blog More

I figure if by the end of the year i've improved in these categories that will be a success. Little by little I'll get there. We are slowly getting some of the tools that will make this easier. Other than the housework I think I'm going to try to blog on Wednesday nights. I can take 20-30 minutes to write about our past week and what we have upcoming and of course to post new pictures. Speaking of pictures here is one of Maddie from Thursday with a doll she got for Christmas. Soo sweet.

Not quite sure when she became a toddler but that she did. :) I can't wait to see how she grows this next year.

Till next week!