if you're happy and you know it

tonight while i was preparing dinner, madelyn was busy rediscovering the different contents of the kitchen cabinets. she was assisting me with the meal by handing me different containers and tools to use in the meal's preparation (i.e. pots, strainer, bowls, etc.). when she found a particularly large metal bowl, she climbed right in and sat cross-legged in it. it was so cute that i ran for the camera calling out for her not to move so that i could take her picture. the likelihood of her actually waiting for me to get back was basically zero, but i figured it couldn't hurt to ask. since she was standing next to the bowl when i got back, i asked her to sit in it again. while she had no trouble getting in the first time (i didn't even hear her do it), recreating it took several tries. she never did get her feet all the way in again for the still shot, but the effort was entertaining so i switched to video and caught this complete version of "if you're happy and you know it" for your enjoyment!

this is only one of the songs that she can do complete motions with and requests repetitively. i will try to catch more in the future. in the mean time, here are some more little tidbits of things that have happened over the past few days.

- friday evening madelyn was running around playing and her socks kept sliding down so that there was a lot of extra fabric flapping around at her toes. i fixed it for her a few times by pulling her socks back up, but we were playing with her blocks and i guess that she had had enough because she pulled them both off. now this in itself isn't odd. what was new was that she got up and went to her room with both of them; they did not come back with her when she returned. remembering the she knows how to put her clean socks and clothes away in her dresser that is where i expected them to be, but low and behold - they were in the dirty clothes hamper! and ever since she has helped with putting all her dirty clothes away in the hamper for us. such a good helper.

- saturday morning i heard madelyn wake up and start her normal knocking on her door, but it was short lived and i dosed back off. the next time i heard knocking, it wasn't over the monitor. it was madelyn knocking at our bedroom door! (she was also calling for "daddy" even though i am the one to respond to her early morning wake-ups.) this was a first. i am guessing (hoping) that i just didn't pull her door all the way closed when i checked on her the night before.

- "cock-a-doodle-doo", "neigh", and "oink" are newly added animal noises (at least the ones i can think of right now)

- when we sit down for dinner (or any time we are all sitting at the table together) madelyn holds out both her hands for us to pray. we all hold hands around the table and pray. sometimes she holds our hands the whole time and sometimes she has to let go to take a bite or two, but she always manages to grab our hands again by the time we say "amen". once we say "amen" madelyn breaks out in clapping and sometimes requests "again" ('g-in').

- miracles of miracles madelyn has started to occasionally ask for a diaper change! and not only that, but she will stop playing to got to the changing table of her own freewill when i say that it is time for a diaper change - sometimes. this is the first that madelyn has ever shown any indication of even noticing that her diaper (or underwear when i tried potty training) was dirty.

- she has also asked to have her hands wiped off when they are dirty. again a sign that she is starting to prefer being clean. sometimes she wants her hands wiped off in the middle of a meal because she has gotten a little messier than she wants to be.

- i had to have some blood drawn for an annual exam and madelyn was remembering back to her two blood samples. i know that she remembered because she started looking scared and crying in her stroller when they tied off my arm. and when they started filling the viles she started to hold her own elbow/arm where she had given blood, crying and saying "no". i kept reassuring her that it was only for mommy and that she wouldn't have to give any blood herself. for being so brave, she got two stickers.

well, i think that is everything. love.