In addition to keeping you all updated on our humble little lives, this blog also serves as our family journal. I try to make the posts as interesting as possible, but some, like this one, might be more for our benefit--a random collection of Madelyn's latest antics so we can look back on her first day of college and laugh (or sob, in my case).
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.
We're taking a brief break from Olmsted updates to post this little clip. One of our friends found it and sent it to us, and we have watched it everyday and have laughed heartily since...poor little guy! Hope you enjoy it!
This is the hardest time of the year for me. The fun and festivities of the holidays are over, but there are still two solid months of winter left. Even though spring comes mercifully early in the Pacific Northwest, January and February still feel like an eternity of short days, cold and rainy weather, nasty viruses, and cabin fever. I feel bad for January and February, though: they didn't ask to be the winter months that nobody likes (although in fairness, they get to be the summer months that everybody loves for 50% of the world...). So, we've done our best to "carpe diem," if for no other reason than to make January and February feel a little more loved and accepted.
We have at least one tea party every day at our house, but the invitation list seems to get longer every day. Madelyn is really into her stuffed animals and routinely incorporates them into her play. She also has to bring one with her everywhere we go. Well, she would bring all of them, but Mommy and Daddy cap it at one, much to her angst. She's very sweet with her stuffies. She shares her tea with them and wipes their noses and gives them kisses. She also takes at least one with her for every nap time and every bedtime.
Speaking of bedtime, this is how we found Madelyn one night around 10 p.m. just before Kurt and I went to bed. Ha! The crazy thing is that we remember when we used to lay her down this direction in her crib and there was at least five inches of room to spare on either side...
Madelyn has been drawn to Mommy's things lately. She likes using my make-up brushes to put pretend make-up on herself in the mornings, and evidently, she likes walking around in my shoes, although "walking" wasn't exactly what happened as "dainty" has never been an appropriate word to describe my shoe size.
We also celebrated Kurt's 29th birthday on the 17th of January, but we don't have any photos. What kind of wife am I?! We had a great day: breakfast out in the morning, motorcycle fix in the afternoon, and dinner and a movie out that evening while Madelyn played with cousin Caryn.
Lastly, here's a little video taste of our evening routine. Madelyn likes to wake us up from our pretend naps with kisses only to be "surprised" and chased around the room. Her laugh is just great. We'll gladly make fools of ourselves repeatedly just to hear that little giggle :)
So I got a new haircut. Most of you know that this is certainly nothing new for me. I change my hairstyle all the time, operating under the philosophy that it's just hair and it always grows back so why not mix it up and have some fun? Some cuts have, admittedly, been less successful than others. But some have been genuinely great hairstyles. This past Saturday, I had bangs cut for the first time since I was 15 years old. It's an obvious nod to Katie Holmes (who picks weird husbands but great hairdo's) and is only slightly on the shag side of pixie. I love it. I think it's one of the best haircuts I've ever had, and I feel genuinely confident, at ease, and (dare I say) sexy sporting it. I've received really positive feedback from most of the people in my life, both personal and professional. But some comments have been a little, um, awkward. One woman at work today greeted me enthusiastically and proclaimed "You cut your hair!" and after I affirmed her observation, she just continued smiling and said nothing else. Hmm. A couple of other people have gone on and on--profusely--about how fantastic I look..."like a whole new person!" Which begs the question: "Was the old look that bad?"
1. Madelyn is a true Portlander. While riding in the car this afternoon, the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and shone, gloriously I might add, right in her face. She fussed and wiggled around until it went back behind the clouds. Where it evidently belongs.
2. To my utter delight, Maddie seems to really like African music. We were listening to the radio while riding in the car and a South African song came on complete with choir and drums. It was the only point in the car ride when she stopped jibber-jabbering to pay acute attention.
3. Madelyn will no longer be wearing the color white. Or any light color. Actually, now that ketchup is a mainstay at every meal, we are purchasing an entirely new wardrobe for her made up of nothing but red garments. Either that or I need to start purchasing BacOut in the 5-gallon buckets.
4. Maddie may have an imaginary friend that only visits her in her crib at bedtime (we've actually known this for awhile, not just today). She has full conversations, complete with laughter, after we turn out the light and say goodnight, sometimes lasting up to 30 minutes. Given that she's always reaching through the slats to pull the lid off her wicker clothes hamper, maybe that's where he/she lives...
5. She becomes measurably more adorable every day :)
Kurt and I have become "those parents..." You know: the ones who are willing to do (nearly) whatever it takes to get their kid to eat? Our adventurous little eater has taken a sharp turn toward finicky these past few weeks, and against our pre-baby pledge that our children will simply learn to love foods of all flavors and textures and that is that, we brought out the ketchup (I just had a thought for a future post: "Mmm, yummy: Words We've Eaten Since Becoming Parents.") Maddie still has her sure-fire foods. Fruit, of course, and I can mix anything into a pancake and she'll eat it. Blueberries, squash, pumpkin, etc. Good nutrition, and with a hint of maple syrup, she'll gobble it right up. But meat seams to be a problem for her (and I just can't quite bring myself to mix pureed meat into a pancake, even with the promise of maple syrup). So alas. Ketchup. I seriously think her first official word might end up being "ketchup." Bites of beautifully marinated chicken or tender, juicy pork can sit on her tray, untouched, for 30 minutes, but as soon as we bring out the ketchup bottle and douse 'em up, her face lights up and she becomes an eager carnivore. She'll ask for more at least four times throughout a meal, so we've learned to put the ketchup bottle out of her view (as if that really works...blast the whole "object permanence" phenomenon). Oh well. Suffice to say, no need to "BYOK" to the Olmsted residence--we have plenty. Just don't wear white :)
