The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Madeline and Santa 2012

We have been having a wonderful holiday season, taking advantage of all the events leading up to Christmas. After a little tickle from me, we got a good smile from Madeline for the annual photo with Santa, and we had a good (but cold!) time at Zoo Lights. One of my friends at work makes cute outfits/hats for her grandchildren, and I convinced her to let me buy a holiday hat and tutu off her hands for Maddy, since I just knew she'd love them. She did, and said "pretty!" when she looked in the mirror and saw her new outfit.

Maddy's school had their annual "Winter Fair" where they turn classrooms into little wonderlands, such as the Enchanted Forest, Ice Queen, Gnome Lair, and Wizard's Palace.  There was a puppet show, face painting (which Maddy tolerated quite well!), crafts for sale and yummy food to eat.  Maddy was a little shy and I think a little confused about the changes at her school, but we all had a fun lunch with her schoolmates.

I love this time of year and I enjoy sharing my holiday spirit with Madeline. 

Happy holidays to all of you! 

Happy little Santa -Maddy

Steve and Maddy at Zoo Lights

Pretty!

Goofy Maddy!

Maddy and her Santa Bear book

Winter Fair: Enchanted Forest

Waiting for the puppet show

Goodnight Moon

I'm sure most of you who are parents know the book Goodnight Moon (probably by heart, as I do), but a funny thing happened last night/this morning and it had a lot to do with it...

For those of you who don't know the book, it's about a little bunny going to bed and throughout the book, we say goodnight to all the different things in the bunny's room.  One of them is "Goodnight to the old lady whispering hush" (imagine the  mommy bunny in a rocking chair).  Recently Maddy started pointing to the bunny, saying "mommy" and I thought it was really sweet although I'll admit I tried not to be offended that the book said "OLD lady."  Then last night I realized she was saying "BUNNY" only it just sounded like mommy.  (How did I know?  She added in "hop, hop" after it).  Once I figured that out, I tried to teach her the difference between the words mommy and bunny.
 
This morning as Maddy was eating her breakfast, she pointed to a picture of me on the wall and said "hop, hop."

Thankful

We spent Thanksgiving with the DeCock family near Seattle this year.  We had a wonderful time with Dave, Jane, Chris, Kim and Riley (or as Maddy likes to say "Rila").   Maddy was infatuated with Riley and was so happy when he read to her!  Our Thanksgiving meal was wonderful, with the traditional fried turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, root vegetables, pearl onions, lefse...and more! 

On Friday we braved the rain and went to the Seattle Market.  After walking around the market, munching on mini-donuts, we stopped at Elliot's Restaurant for the traditional appetizers and oysters.  I even tried an oyster this year - and it wasn't half bad. 

It was so nice to see everyone again and introduce our little Madeline. Thanks to the DeCock family for everything!

Annual Turkey Frying Ritual

Chris, Dave and Steve

So many good things to eat!

Me, Maddy, Chris, Riley, Dave, Jane and Kim at the Seattle Market

Dave and Maddy

Maddy's new friend Riley!

Love of Reading

We are happy that Madeline has discovered her love of books at such an early age!  Reading is a part of Madeline's daily routine, both at home and at school.  On Saturdays we've been going to our neighborhood library for Story Time and we have so much fun!  Here's a look at Maddy "reading" on her own (she's saying "butterfly" among other things).

Reading and practicing Baby Signs

Green Eggs and Ham!

Happy little reader!

Enjoying a library book

One and a Half Years!

What they say is true...time really does seem to fly when you have a little one.  Madeline is 18 months old now, that's one and a half for those of you who wonder why parents insist on counting age in months (I did, but now I get it!)  Steve and I have been pretty good about living in the present with Maddy and enjoying each day and each stage with her, but even still, it's hard to believe how big she's getting!  We just had her 18 month check-up (length - 30 inches, weight - 21 pounds) and although she's still pretty small (15th percentile - but up from 4th percentile!) she's doing great.   Maddy had a rough time with her vaccinations this round and developed a fever the day after and her legs were really sore from the injections.  It took two days for her to recover, but she's back to her usual antics now! 

Here are some of Madeline's favorite things these days:

• Singing "Row, Row, Row" (...your boat - Crocodile and Lion verses, especially when she has the hand puppets on each hand)
• Singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
• Singing "Open, Shut Them"
• Singing "Wheels on the Bus" (see a pattern here? For each song, there are hand motions that Maddy loves!)
•  Reading books (and just recently, ripping pages - which we are nipping in the bud!)
• Getting chased, then tickled by Mommy and Daddy
• "Da-do" (Baby Doll)
•  Hiding with Daddy on the couch, then ROARING to scare Mommy
• Pacifier - only at nap/bedtime now
• Hat/Rainboots - to go outside
• Playing outside, running up and down the sidewalk
• Looking at trucks outside the window (we live across the street from the Whole Foods delivery area)
• Looking through the grates between floors of our house - especially when Daddy or Mommy is on the other floor and waving
• Signing to communicate - she does this well!
• Making faces during dinner
• Cheers! (during dinner)
• Her teacher (Krystal) and friends at school
• Coloring 
• Playing her instruments (drum, maracas, whistle)
• Story time at the library

We have so much fun with Maddy and it's nice that we're better able to communicate with each other.  Maddy has a potty in the bathroom that she sits on when she wakes up and before bed (we're not really potty-training yet, just getting her used to the idea at home) and she can tell us when she has poop in her diaper, which is nice for all of us.  She has the best smile and giggle and she likes to make us laugh.  She does have temper tantrums but they are pretty rare - usually when she's tired or frustrated.  All in all, she's a pretty spectacular little girl (in my humble opinion!) and we have lots of fun together.

Halloween!

Our Little Scarecrow!

Madeline had a very active Halloween this year.  Friday before Halloween Maddy's school had an event called the Lantern Walk at one of our local parks.  The park was very close to our friends Melissa and Eric's so we invited them to join us on our adventure!  The Lantern Walk began at 7 pm so it was very dark.  Each child received a lantern the kids had decorated at school, and we followed a path lit by paper bags with little lights inside.  Along the route, teachers from the school had "treasures" to hand out to the kids (pieces of cotton, cut up paper, string, etc.) and some teachers played musical instruments (ukelele, saxophone, flute).  At the end there was a fire dancer!  The kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes and seemed to enjoy the festivities very much.  Maddy had a good time, too, and was quite tired by the time we left.  We were glad Melissa and Eric could join us!

On Halloween night, we went Trick or Treating to our immediate neighbors homes.  Maddy was a pretty big hit.  We also walked over to our friends Jeff and Andrea's home to visit/trick or treat (only 5 blocks away) and they gave Maddy Reese's Peanut Butter Cups...which she wasn't so sure of at first, but once Steve convinced her to try one, she was hooked.  She kept asking for "more, more, more!"  I think we have a chocolate fan...she is definitely our daughter!!

Below are some photos from the Lantern Walk.

Row, Row, Row, Row

Maddy loves the song "Row, Row, Row your Boat" but her school's version is slightly different than what I learned as a kiddo.  We happen to have two puppets that are perfect for her favorite song! 

Fun at School - welcome to Toddlerhood!

Madeline's school is really good about sending photos, which I love.  It's as close as I can come to being a fly on the wall in her classroom! I love seeing how much fun the kids have, and seeing how much more they are starting to interact.  Maddy's now officially a "toddler" at ChildRoots, and with that comes more freedom...and adventure!  Here are some of my favorite new shots.

Sensory activity: Colored Ice

 

 

Playing in the Schoolyard

Sharing?

Group nap time

My happy girl!

Lunch!

Learning how the toilet works : )

New classroom  = new climbing structures

Bunny! (or, per Maddy: hop, hop!)

Playing with her friend Kai

Look Who's Talking!

Our little Madeline has started talking!  She was already a whiz at her animal sounds but now she's learning "real" words and how to communicate.  We learned baby sign language (and they use it at her school) and have been signing with Maddy for her quite some time, and now she is putting the words with the signs (milk, water, eat).  She doesn't always use her words correctly, but hey, that will come soon enough!

At school, she learned to say "move back" when a friend gets in her space.  We were at a pool party for a friend's five year old this weekend, and Maddy definitely used "move back!" in the pool!

We've also been working on "please" as you can see here. 

First Camping Trip

We went on our inaugural camping trip with Madeline on Saturday August 11, 2012.  We attempted the first camping trip one week earlier, but it backfired due to lack of campsite reservations (and therefore turned into our first night in a hotel (with a pool!) with Madeline, which was lots of fun!)

We chose a car-camping spot near Mount Hood (Clackamas Lake Campground).  We ended up right across from the camp hosts (interesting people with two little dogs that Maddy loved, of course) at the campsite pictured below.  Nothing too fancy, but it had what we needed: a spot big enough for the gigantic 8 person, two room tent we borrowed from our friend Jon, a picnic table and fire pit.  The campground also happened to be an equestrian campground much to Madeline's joy.  She was ecstatic when the horses trotted by (and neighed!) and one rider let Maddy pet her horse's nose.  What joy!!  Wish I had gotten a photo of that.

Maddy liked the tent and had a great time looking out through the mesh windows, as you can see below.  We were happy that she liked being in the tent - hopefully this bodes well for future camping trips!

Timothy Lake was just under two miles away, so we went on a hike to investigate.  Maddy hadn't slept much yet that day and she zonked out in the carrier on the way there.  I was amazed she could sleep in this position, but when a kiddo's tired, they can fall asleep almost anywhere.  It was late afternoon when we arrived at Timothy Lake so we didn't stay long.  We were on the shady side of the lake and the water proved a bit chilly, but Maddy but I tested it out anyway!  It was Maddy's second time in a lake (the first being Lake Superior in July) and she and I had fun splashing around.

We had dinner when we got back (polish sausages, blueberries and chips), then cleaned up Madeline as well as we could (never realized how dirty campsites are for toddlers!) and put her to bed in the pack and play on her side of the tent.  That went pretty well!  Steve and I stayed up longer, roasting glazed doughnut holes over the fire (if you haven't done this, you should try it) and having a couple of beers.  It was nice and relaxing, and good to be camping again (for me, it had been two years!)

Nighttime didn't go quite as well as the day...it got colder than the weather websites predicted and Maddy woke up crying (probably due to being cold and in an unfamiliar place).  Considering we were car-camping at a packed campsite, we tried to calm her as quickly as possible.  We had a big air mattress so Maddy joined us, but woke up soon after -this time too warm.  Trying not to wake up all our neighbors, we turned on the car long enough to warm it up and Maddy and I spent the rest of the night snuggled up in the reclined front seat.  That worked and we slept until 7:30 a.m. 

We had breakfast the next morning, packed up and headed back to Portland.  All in all, it was a good trip with some learning experiences tied in.  I'm okay waiting a little while before we camp again...but it sure did feel good to be outdoors!

Our Campsite

Maddy laughing in the tent

Sleepy Madeline on our hike

Playing in Timothy Lake

Timothy Lake

Steve and Madeline on our hike

Beautiful hike on the Pacific Crest Trail

Look Who's Walking!

We now have a fully mobile little girl and she is very proud!  Madeline is walking, running, falling, getting up and starting all over again!  She started walking about 3 weeks ago and has been getting faster and bolder each day since then.  Although her balance isn't perfect yet, she's getting around without too many falls so we're thankful for that.  I'm glad she didn't start walking too early...it's definitely more of a challenge to keep up with her now!

Here are some shots of Madeline in motion, enjoy!

Here she goes!!

Fun new toy!

Gaining confidence