Exponential growth

Madeleine turned a 1,000 days old yesterday. Here is her exponential growth chart.

Top Left: 10^0 days old

Middle Left: 10^1 days old

Bottom Left: 10^2 days old

Right: 10^3 days old

She'll be older than me for the next photo. I haven't even hit 10^4 days old yet. I won't until I'm 27.25 ish. 

21 Months

And just like that we went from "1 1/2" to "almost 2".

Madeleine is now 21 months.

She's around 25 pounds and is now starting to wear 2T. 

She still wears size 3 diapers, though lately she's been using the potty to pee. I ask if she needs to go and she'll look at me and run the potty. She'll then patiently wait for her chocolate chips that she carefully lines up on the bathtub rim and then eat them while reading her books.

Everything she does is deliberate and funny.

For example, if I tell her it's time to go, she grabs her stuff and stands by the door waiting for me. If I take too long, she'll grab my shoes and give them to me. Then when I open the door, she puts her dolls, blanket, and an extra binky in the seat next to her (we have a double stroller because of Baby X). She carefully props her dolls up just right before climbing in the stroller and buckles herself in. She'll sit there and wait for me to get my things together. If we have Baby X, then she carefully moves her dolls and binky in the basket underneath before cuddling back in the stroller with her blanket. 

Lego tower she made instead of napping

The blanket, her binky, and Sophie are her very favorite things. She flexible though. She has four other blankets that we can bring along too, and three or four extra dolls that she doesn't mind us bringing instead. Some of her other favorite toys are her green hotwheel cars, legos, and balls. She's lately fascinated by trucks, airplanes, and trains. She points them out every where we go. She still hugs trees and lights.

She loves picking out her own clothes lately. She picks most of what she wears and then accessorizes whatever I put on her. Baby X often has hats, necklaces, shoes, and purses put on him when Madeleine's best friend Be isn't around.

Running over to give me a hug

She's usually very conscientious of other people's feelings. A few weeks ago Madeleine was picking apples on Matt's shoulders. Sometimes she would accidentally drop apples on Matt's head. Each time after she did it, she would say "uh oh," before patting his head and giving him a hug to make it feel better. Another time, we were at baby store and there were a few babies were crying. Madeleine ran over to a pile of stuffed animals and started handing them out to the babies. 

She also is so good to Baby X. They are getting a cute little friendship. She's has become very concern with his well-being and lets me know if he cries. When he starts crying, she'll bring him all the essentials - his blanket, his binky, and his bottle. Then she'll sit there confused if he is still crying and gives him a hug before coming to me.Yesterday he was crying before his nap, so she crawled up next to him and laid next to him patting his belly.  

They also started to play together. Madeleine is so excited to see him most mornings and she'll chatter at him and try to get him out of his carseat. I often find her sitting across from him talking and trying to show him how something works or pretend playing with her doll.  She doesn't hit him or hurt him, so frequently I can just let them sit on the floor together and play. He'll throw the ball and she'll giggle and bring it back to him. Other times they play with bells and musical instruments.  I really love it.

Like all toddlers, Madeleine is so active. She runs, jumps, screams, kicks, climbs, and throws. She is careful but pretty fearless. She has no problem tackling most playgrounds. She spends at least an hour outside a day. I can let her out in the backyard alone and she'll stay near the house exploring. She often brings me back small treasures she finds - sticks, pinecones, you know, the usual. 

She loves chasing squirrels and throwing balls. Sticks are the currency among the kids in the neighborhood. The more sticks you have the cooler you are. Madeleine has her own little stash of sticks that she pokes and splashes puddles with.

One thing that I think is a bit unique is she adores grocery shopping. She sits in the cart and puts everything in the basket. She like touching each food as she puts it in, and every once in a while we'll find bite marks in some of the wrappings. She  unloads everything onto the conveyor belt (when she's not in the cart, she has no problem standing on her tip toes to push it on the counter) and then swipes the credit card and signs her name. She then takes the receipt and holds it until I buckle her in and trades it for her treat. She usually jumps up once or twice to bring me a fruit or veggie that she picked out. She usually will hold it the whole time and snacks on it on the way home.

I'm really loving this year of being a mom. It's been so much fun. She still doesn't talk much but she's a great communicator. She gives hugs often and still loves to be held. I love watching her learn and just interact with her surroundings. I never know what she's going to be up to next.

Apparently she needed to rearrange her furniture

I guess I should do these updates more frequently. There are so many little things I love about her right now that I don't want to forget.

18 months

Madeleine is 18 months!

She's 22 lb and 9 oz.

She's somewhere around 31 1/2 inches.

While 18 months is just at the beginning of toddlerhood, Madeleine doesn't toddle. She doesn't even walk much. Life is too exciting, so we end up running everywhere. It's adorable. Her little arms jiggle as she pumps her arms, and she is fast! I end up having to run after her which usually makes her burst into giggles as I chase her down.

She loves parks. We go at least twice a week. Swings and slides are her favorite. She has no fear going down any slide by herself. Other parents always give me weird looks as I sit watching her climb up these big structures alone, but she's careful and so independent. 

She's curious about everything. She oo and awes at everything she likes and points to any baby or shiny shoe. She waves to cars. She love picking up stuff of the ground and looking at them.

 She frequently shares what she finds neat too. She hand us nuts, mushrooms, leaves, and even charcoal, gabbering at us the whole time.

At her 18-month appointment, she swiped the doctors pen and continued to fill out the developmental questionnaire for the parents. She knows how to swipe my credit card and then will grab the stylus and sign her name on the electronic signature pad. Sometimes it even accepts her signature.

Madeleine still likes to imitate us. She will carry our adult-sized broom around the house and try to sweep. She will stand between us and the shopping cart and help push. The other day at Gap kids, she found a doll baby carriage and pushed it around the store, navigating obstacles with surprising prowess. She then proceeded to head for the entrance and was very upset when she wouldn't let us keep it. In nursery on Sundays, the other kids will usually sit fairly obediently, but Madeleine spends all of her time trying (and on one occasion succeeding) to break the locks on the cupboards so that she can get to the toys and snacks early. She insists on drinking from a cup or water bottle when possible and is also a big fan of drinking fountains. She washes her hand in sinks and loves automatic paper towel dispensers.

Sometimes she finds socks or shoes on the ground. Shoes are one of her very favorite things, and in her mind, every shoe deserves a foot. We frequently find our feet being attacked as she tries to put shoes on us. Poor Baby X gets this more than the rest of us. I walked in the other day on her trying to put Sophie's shoe on him. He was looking at me all confused. And then the other week this happened to my foot.

Shoes are not her only accessory that she's obsessed with. She has this uncanny knack of finding a bracelet in any store we walk into. At home, we don't have any bangles, so she improvises.

She puts on her own headbands, hats, and necklaces. Her little friend Bea spend a lot of time taking off each other shoes and hats and putting them back on. It usually goes well, except sometimes Bea's hat is attached to her head. Then Madeleine will pull on her hat and make Bea cry. They have a bit of a rough relationship, since neither of them understand the laws of physics. But other times they will hold each other hands and walk together. 

 Madeleine also has a great laugh. Sometimes she'll be doing something she finds incredibly hilarious, such as hiding behind a curtain or trying to bite our noses as we tuck her into bed and she will laugh, pause, smile at us, and then laugh some more in a very infectious way. She is a big fan of jumping on the bed, only she doesn't have perfect balance yet, so what she'll do is stand on the floor next to the bed and bounce on her butt from sitting to standing over and over again. More laughs.

She loves food. She eats all the time. She's worse than an hobbit. Last night I made us a smoothie for after dessert snack. I poured it in a large cup and put two straws in it to cut down on dishes. Madeleine sat there on the stool across from me on the kitchen floor sipping on her straw. Every time I took the straw out of my mouth, her little hand would shove it back in my mouth. When her straw no loner got to the bottom though, she took that straw and finished it up. If we try splitting  a milkshake her Matt and I are lucky to get a sip in and we have to sneak the glass to the waiter to avoid any tears. 

She loves to draw. Right now her favorite thing to draw with is markers and pens. But we frequently play with chalk, paint, paint pens, and colored pencils. Her favorite color is still green. Her little green blanket is her constant companion with her binky and Sophie. If we need her to go somewhere we just shake the blanket in the direction we need to go and she'll run. Her binkies are funny because if she find one around the house, she'll pop out the one in her mouth, and sit there on the floor, putting on in and taking it out before she decides which one she wants.

She's really sweet. She gives hugs and says "aaaaw". She rocks Sophie in a car seat and puts sunglasses on her and says "bye!!" She cries when other babies cry. She holds hands with other kids and tries to help them. She cuddles. She gives Baby X his blanket if I give him the wrong one. She rocks him when he cries. She's going to be a great big sister one day. She loves to say "Mummie" while spinning in circles.

Basically, 18 months is really cool age. It's fun and I love watching Madeleine grow from a baby to a kid. There are so many other things we can say about her. She's basically just really awesome.

15 meses

Coming in at 2'6" and around 21 lbs 9 oz, our Goobie is 15 months old!

She walks, runs, climbs, and even jumps on a trampoline.
She has discovered the silverware drawer and the joy of standing on the coffee table.
She can also reach some things on the counter and loves helping me with the dishes.

She loves her dolls, cars, and musical instruments.

Her big thing right now is organizing.

I was in the kitchen the other night and she bent over and opened her oven.

She pulled out three of my tupperware that were full of magnets.

Apparently they were done cooking.

She can climb onto our bed...which has surprised us 

She loves playing peekaboo in the curtains and making sure the fire and carbon monoxide detectors work.

Unlike me, she has a sense of directions.
She knows where her little friends live in the neighborhood, and when we go outside, she runs straight to their houses. She also knows where our neighborhood playground is, and more importantly the swings.

She sleeps twelve hours a night with a solid nap at noon.

She loves food.
Spicy, bitter, sour, sweet, she doesn't care.
She eats curry and peppers, along with many other things that most babies stay away from.
Her favorites are olives, dark chocolate, and sourdough bread.

She doesn't talk much, but boy does she know how to communicate.
If she wants to read, she'll grab and book, climb onto the couch, and sit on your lap with the book. If she wants to eat, she'll bring you either the food or her plate and spoon. Bathtime, she'll sit in the bathtub, and my favorite is nap time, she'll bring me her blanket and doll.

She does say a few words though, "mama", "dada", "daw" (dog), "duck", "woof", and lately "uh oh". Her favorite word by far is "Hi" followed closely by "bye".

She's man shy right now. She prefers females to males at the moment.
When we go somewhere, she'll always greet any woman, but hides behind my legs if it's a man.
She also only likes being held by women, the only exception is Matt who she absolutely still adores.

She's friendly and headstrong. She walks around holding my hand, when she doesn't want to be held. She gives hugs and smiles to strangers and loves being with other people.

Matt and I absolutely adore this stage.
She's adorable, sweet, and sleeps.
She also doesn't cry much anymore unless she's tired or hungry.
We spend most of our time watching her be crazy or soaking up her kisses.
She's wonderful, and we are so grateful that she's our goobie.

1 year

Day 26 of the photo challenge is "gift." 

Super easy since a year ago our Tiny was born.

Now she's not quite as tiny but it's mind-boggling how different she is.

When she was first born, she didn't do much.

She was actually quite boring.

Now she's anything but.

She's 19.3 lbs

This month she's learned how to...

Get out of her chair

Play on her own

Identify facial features

Copy sounds

Throw and push a ball

Walk

Sit at a table

Drink from a straw
Wave

She now brings books up to us and makes "rawwwr" sounds until we start reading to her.
She tackles us and removes every cord from our computers or lamps.
She pokes our eyes and mouths and makes random sounds.

She says "duck".
It's her only word.
We put a lot of effort into that. Every time she had a bath, we made a big fuss about her green rubber duck. And now, every time she sees the duck, she gets super excited and sings, "Duck, duck, duck, duck" over and over again. We still have to iron out a few kinks. She thinks that all small green objects are ducks. She also thinks that all non-human animals are ducks (with the exception of dogs; that might be her second word.) And sometimes when she feels like it, she just lets a few "duck"s out for no reason. I guess it must feel very liberating when babies begin picking up language. Madeleine's grown up listening to us chattering away, and now it's her turn! Now, if she can just learn "mama" or "dada" or "I'm about to blow out so please quarantine me", I think we'll be in business.

That said, she still does babble "mama" and "dada" a lot, but she doesn't seem to confine it to one particular parent or object (exception: when she is terribly upset, she cries "mumum" pathetically until Michele comes).

Even though Tiny isn't so big on the whole word thing, she has no issue with communicating.
When she's hungry, she kneels on the kitchen floor and "yumms".
When she's tired, she grabs her blanket and rubs it against her face.
She points.
She brings us books.
She pats us when she wants our attention.
She gives hugs and kisses.
It's so cute and I love knowing what she wants...
until she gets impatient and screams.

She loves stuffed animals and pictures of herself.
She thinks she is awesome.
She walks around the house with her mirror and kisses herself until she can't see her reflects thanks to the drool.
There is this one photo right above the couch that she likes to grab too.
She sits there and takes it down and points over and over and over at her eyes and mouth.

She still loves bathes, cookies, and the color green.
She loves anything that makes noise especially bells.
We have several different types of musical instruments for her
so we often wake up to the sound of her hitting her drum or shaking her maraca.
Her favorite ornament was the jiggle bells we had on the tree.

She's down to one nap that we are trying to move to the afternoon.
She moving pretty much all the time now.
Going room to room.
But she always comes back looking for us with a huge smile on her face.

I'm so happy that she is in our family.
She's such a joy.
We had an amazing day together as a family celebrating her birthday.