Madelyn is 17 months, and we feel like we learn something new about her personality about every four days...SO much fun. Here are the latest developments:
1. Elmo has entered our household in a fierce way. Not that I have anything against Elmo, but could someone please explain to me why this little red puppet is UNIVERSALLY appealing among the toddler population? She absolutely lights up when she sees Elmo in a book or in a video on the computer, and thanks to Nana, she has a little stuffed Elmo that takes almost every nap with her. Here's the thing: she's a bit confused about the octave of Elmo's voice. Our guess is that at some point, she overlapped Cookie Monster with Elmo and this is the result:
2. Madelyn is learning new words every week. Thus far, this is the vocab she has to work with: "mama, daddy (dah-dee), papa, nana, baba, mimi, up, off, hi, elmo (emma), uh oh, happy, apple, yummy, and yes (ehs)." Much to our surprise, she does not say "no." She gets her point across well enough by shaking her head, often quite vehemently, but she doesn't actually say the word. Even though she knows the correct context for these words or the correct people to whom they are assigned, she is sometimes a little stubborn. Well, that and she just genuinely loves her Papa...
3. We have recently added a potty to our house and have thus said good-bye, hopefully temporarily, to all modesty. Madelyn has started telling us when she wets her diaper...and hiding either behind furniture or her hands when she, well, more than wets her diaper. We thought we'd just get a potty and let her get accustomed to it, but she's a bit hesitant to sit on it...unless one of us sits on the big potty with her. So. There's now an open-door policy on all bathroom time at our house. Oh, and our kind hearted little girl insists that Kurt and I eat an M&M after each trip to the potty, like she gets, so we'll probably be ten pounds heavier the next time you see us. I drink a lot of water.
4. Madelyn and I have been doing some cooking together. Doesn't she look adorable in her little apron? She likes to be a part of the action, and she really likes to taste-test. Her most recent favorite is watching the bread machine knead the dough. And she loves eating a piece still warm from the oven with butter just as much as Mama and Daddy.
5. Madelyn is really starting to assert her independence. She still loves books and loves being read to, but she now prefers to sit next to us rather than snuggled in our laps. This is a good thing, right? Please, someone tell me that this shouldn't break my heart! When she is in a snuggly mood, I literally don't move. Seriously, the house could start to burn down, and I wouldn't move unless she did first.
6. Madelyn loves her Daddy. If he is home, she has to know where he is at all times, and she cries and cries if he leaves the room without her (which also contributes to the "open door" bathroom policy). She specifically asks for him to put her down for her naps (on the weekends) and at bedtime well over half of the time. She is smart enough to know that when I tell her he's doing the dishes or downstairs that this means he's still in the house and really should be with her. Let's just say that she doesn't exactly have to twist his arm to get him to comply :)
7. If you ever see photos of Maddie with a little "whale spout" pony-tail in her hair, it's because she has asked me to put it in. This just kills me. She will bring me a little hair tie and a barrette, and when I ask her if she wants a pony-tail, she says "ehs" and then sits down on the floor so I can coif away. She then gets a kick out of looking at her 'do in the mirror while we kiss her and tell her how adorable she is.
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