maddie in mittens

madelyn had a great day today. after a later than normal wake-up (7:30 instead of 6:30) and a good afternoon nap (2 hours), madelyn was all smiles today.

she has really been into hugging lately. she hugs everything - pictures, toys, clothes, socks, books, mom, dad, everything she loves. when we are watching cartoons after her nap or sitting a reading books, she will put her arm around my shoulder to grab my neck and pull me in for a kiss or hug. the kind of hug where our cheeks are squished together. i love being her buddy like that.

we spent the morning at home while i was working. madelyn played by herself most of the time, but she wanted to watch "lorelai" "talk" when it was time for one of my meetings and had to go to her room. by the time i got back to my office and flipped on the video monitor i was just in time to see her door swing open and hear her happily making her way back to my office. again i had to leave my video conference (luckily it was just with one of the girls from my department and not a huge deal to interrupt) to occupy maddie. this time i opted for veggietales since apparently maddie can open doors now! i am hoping that i just didn't close her door all the way and not that she can turn a doorknob now - we will see.

the picture to the right is of her hugging and dancing with her caterpillar/lovebug. she was just laughing and hugging it and then started spinning in circles with it and that is when i went for a camera. i missed the perfect shot of one of the times she fell down and had her face on the bug's head with a big smile and her hair mirroring the bug's antennas - oh well.

after her afternoon nap i decided that a very good girl deserved a trip to the park. she was so content that it took me asking a few times before she was interested in getting dressed and putting on her shoes. once she was dressed she ran and got her red mittens. these mittens are really fuzzy and madelyn often plays with them and the matching hat - of course she hugs them a lot too. she brought them to me so that i would help her put them on. typically, i put them on and then she wants them off, but not today. today, she clapped her hands together and headed for the garage door to leave for the park. she wore them the whole way there, in the swing, up and down the slide twice, and even picking up sticks! i couldn't believe how long she wore them. they finally had to come off when she couldn't manage to hold two sticks at once. sticks trump mittens.

it is encouraging to know that she will keep them on when playing because i was worried about trying to keep mittens and gloves on her this winter. hopefully her affection for them will last that long. love.