slacking off

well, on the posts anyway... apparently, even though i am feeling energetic during the day, by the time 6:00 hits i hit the wall and just want to go to bed - hence the lack of posts. at least my daytime energy makes the work day easier. i am only slacking on my personal duties.

madelyn continues to amaze us every day with new words, phrases, and actions. here is a list of notes since my last post (some are things i keep forgetting to post that i wanted to note now):

- madelyn got some pretend food in the fall and we had to put them away for a while because she was having trouble cleaning it all up when she was done (we take away toys that she doesn't help clean up when asked). we got the play food back out when she got her kitchen for christmas. she accidentally stepped on a cardboard box (of pretend food) squishing it flat. she picked it up, examined it, then ran over and opened the closet we keep the recycling bag in and threw it in. i was pretty impressed. whenever she finds some paper on the ground or rips something, she puts it in the recycling bag. and only paper products too.

- i think it was on thursday that madelyn said "kiss" and "hug" for the first time. she was asking the dogs for "a kiss", but she stood with her arms spread saying "hug" to me. and when i ran over to give her a hug, she said "love my mommy". she often says "i love you" (not that clearly, but we are positive that it is what she is saying), but this was the first time she had said this. it was such a happy day with lots of hugs and kisses for daddy and i.

- on a related note, madelyn gets very affectionate after meals. she will come over to you and give you a huge hug. the downside is that it is usually when she is coming to get her hands and face wiped. it is hard to turn down her hugs, even if she is covered in peanut butter. and when i point out that she got some on my jeans, she tries to wipe it off for me.

- similar to "i love you", madelyn does not say "thank you" clearly. these are the only two things she says that are not really even close other than their context and the number of syllables. instead of saying "thank you" or after she says "thank you" she will also say "welcome" - very clearly. it is funny because she says "please" and "welcome" but "thank you" is apparently much more difficult to pronounce. who knew?

- "welcome" was the greeting i got when i went to get her out of her room this morning. usually, she greets me with "morning" (very clear). sometimes i get a "g'morning". but today it was "welcome" over and over while she got out of bed. maybe she meant to say "thank you"...

- i had gotten madelyn's halloween candy down off the top of the refrigerator to raid the chocolate and set it on the kitchen counter. i had forgotten to put it back up and the next day madelyn used a bumbo chair as a step up to reach the "candy" when i left the room to take a phone call. i had never heard her say "candy" before and she has never shown interest in it (even when it was given to her). but that day all she wanted was candy. since she willingly gave me back the candy when i asked her for it, i decided that i would let her enjoy a lollipop for being so cooperative even when she really wanted to eat the candy. she really enjoyed her pineapple dum-dum!

- so bear's new name is "friend". as with a lot of new words, it took me a minute to figure out what she was saying and what she was looking for. before christmas i started telling her that bear was for sleeping and she needed to go put him back in bed. she would turn back around and after a few minutes come back with a "yea" and clapping her hands. we had a few weeks of this easy cooperation, but then she started to not give him up willingly. so i would hide him as soon as she put him down and looked away in the morning and after her nap. she never asked for him or looked for him until nap time or bed time. that is until this past week. now she asks for "friend" and cries when she can't find him. luckily, i can usually distract her and she is fine. the reason for removing bear is that she was starting to carry him around and suck her thumb during the day. she doesn't suck her thumb unless she has bear. and she doesn't look for or ask about bear unless she sees him so that is why we started to hide him away during waking hours. i am hoping that the "friend" requests lessen over the next few days. it is nice that she finally gave him a name that she can say and we can understand - "friend" is it!

- madelyn now requests specific videos on lorelai's blog. she will say "ho-ho-ho" for santa visiting her house, "painting" for watching lorelai paint, or "dance" for an older video or lorelai and trae dancing together. she also comments on the video's more. she was watching a video of annabell running and pointed and said "annabell run". she used to just watch and laugh and then comment when the video was finished, now she comments during the action.

- she has added more phrases to her conversations - "fix it", " i (verb)" (i.e. "i cook", "i color", etc.), "see it", and "dump it"

- she requests peanut butter and "jelly" for lunch. she says something before the "jelly", but i always miss it because i am in the kitchen making her lunch. i think she says "pea jelly".

- madelyn loves, loves, loves any veggietales cd. i get a new one every now and then from the library because i get tired of the two or three we have. we have been listening to a christmas one for over the past month and just recently switched back to our original cd purchase. madelyn loves this cd and has heard it at least 300 times (not that i count, but we have been listening to it since she was born and it feels like more than that). she and i were going out thursday night just to get out of the house and listening to the cd on our way. madelyn often sings to herself along with the tune, but not usually the actual words. but that night were were listening to a song (i think it is called "God is good") and it ends "good to me" and madelyn sang the "good" and "me" right along with the song! i was so impressed with her singing the actual words! it makes me really excited for our music classes to start up again in a few weeks. she loves for us to sing, but she mainly listens, dances, and/or plays her instruments. it will be extra fun to have her sing too.
- madelyn has discovered that she can push one of her toys to the front door and unlock the deadbolt to open the front door. i don't think that she is trying to get outside, but now we have to make sure and check that it is locked.

- she got new step stools with daddy a few weeks ago. she got one for upstairs and one for downstairs so that i don't have to lift madelyn to wash her hands (she is getting heavy and i need both hands to help her with the washing and drying). madelyn has discovered that they are also good for reaching the light switches. she has a lot of fun making the lights "on" and "off" or "light" and "dark" (depending on what she wants to call it each time). she has been having fun trying switches all over the house trying to figure out what they all do in each room. not that she really needed any help reaching things, but i love that she has even more independence.

- other food related words - "broccoli", "eat", "fork", "spoon", "plate", "bowl", "pizza"

okay. i think that i am all caught up for now. love.