big pop and grandma go to the zoo

what trip to milwaukee would be complete without joining madelyn at the zoo? and big pop and grandma wouldn't have it any other way! madelyn is always finding new things to explore and she got to do two very special things with big pop and grandma.

(she is finally tall enough to get her eye up to the eye piece and i thought that it was cute to see her on such extreme tippy-toes.)

we had to return the double stroller we ordered (it arrived damaged) so madelyn was expected to walk the entire time. she asked for the stroller when we first pulled in to the parking lot, but then she never mentioned it again. she did get a few rides from big pop and grandma though.

first on our new zoo activities was a trip to the seal and sea lion show. we just happen to be walking by three minutes before the next show started so we got our tickets and headed in to find seats. i think that madelyn was more interested in her snack than in the show, but she did seem to enjoy the parts she watched. the show was nice and short but still entertaining. i think that was the first time i had ever seen a seal jump up in the air like a dolphin.

next we went to a temporary exhibit that i knew would be right up grandma's alley. it is called "wings down under" and it is where you get some seeds glued to a stick and then go into a big cage with parakeets, cockatiels, and small parrots (i think that is what they were - they were red, blue, and green). madelyn was a little taken back when she tried to pet a parakeet and got bit, but before long she wanted to get the birds herself, without big pop's help. we were lucky to have big pop with us because the birds were up so high almost no one could reach them. big pop was getting them down for other kids too because he was the tallest in the room. i felt bad for the shorter parents who couldn't reach the birds to touch their sticks to the bird's chest (making it step onto the stick). they were just walking around with their sticks in the air hoping that a bird would show mercy and come land on it.

grandma and madelyn looking for more birds while grandma holds the small parrot on her popsicle stick.

big pop giving madelyn a parakeet to hold.

madelyn showing me the bird she is holding all by herself. you can tell that she isn't 100% about this. i wasn't really sure how this exhibit was going to go. it was a little overwhelming to be in a cage with so many birds - even for me. and, yes, mason came in too.

after a nap at home it was time for madelyn to head to swimming class with daddy so we all piled in the cars to watch. madelyn is very comfortable in the water and likes going under and jumping to daddy from the side of the pool. she often comes home from class to tell me that she jumped to daddy and its okay because he caught her. tonight is their last class for the summer and i think that madelyn will be a little sad. although daddy will appreciate not having to rush home from work everyday to make it to the 5:30pm classes. i think he will miss swimming with madelyn though. love.

last day of daddy's leave

today we went to the zoo as a family. mason slept through the whole trip except for one feeding. matt took madelyn to a "zoo music" class that lasted an hour when we first got there and mason and i waited at a picnic table. it sounds like matt and madelyn both enjoyed the class. she made a drum, a book about animal sounds, and painted a picture.

madelyn's animal of choice today was snakes. she could not get enough of them! she was particularly interested in their size - the smallest and the biggest she could find moving.

after the zoo we had a nice family lunch at panera.

madelyn took a nice long nap (about 4 hours) and got up just in time to go to the first of her swimming lessons for this session with daddy. again daddy reported that fun was had by all. madelyn was very happy to be home to see mason. i think she said hi to mason before she said hi to me when she first came in the door. and after dinner she really did some big sister-ing.

as we were finishing up dinner madelyn was getting upset that mason was crying a little. she would just say "mason" in a very sad, pouty voice and looked to us to do something to comfort him. we told her that mason was fine and she said, "i want to talk to mason first." ("first" and "today" are very common at the end of sentences these days - especially for negotiations.) then she wiped her face and hands clean with her napkin before going over to "talk to mason." i can't remember exactly what she went to talk to him about, but there were hugs, kisses, pushes in his swing, and other conversation/questioning.

she went to play with her mr. potato head in the playroom and came out after she had built a monkey one. she was coming out to show it to mason. it was so cute to see her telling mason that it was a monkey and then making the noise that monkeys make ("oo-oo, ah-ah"). she tried to give mason the monkey potato head but i told her that it was too big for mason and she put it on the ground next to his swing before running off. she came back with a smaller potato head for mason. she is just too smart sometimes. she posed the potato head in the swing with him and then told us that she needed to take a picture. maybe tomorrow i will post some of her pictures. you might be able to make out the little potato head under mason's elbow.

after her photo shoot with mason she went back to the playroom to "be a doctor" with her little doctor kit. there is an otoscope for looking in ears and matt said that madelyn was checking out his ears and declared that there were "no birdies in there". this was hysterical because madelyn's doctor, who she hasn't seen since she was 18 months, always says that she is looking for birdies and whistles while checking out madelyn's ears. matt asked, "how does she remember that?!" i keep warning him that she remembers everything so be careful what you say/promise. she remembers.

tomorrow we get back to a normal sort of schedule because daddy is going back to work. madelyn has a full week because she is starting pre-school on wednesday and then grandma and big pop get here on friday night. love.

pbs at the zoo

today was pbs kids day at the zoo and i think madelyn was a fan. we woke daddy up early to brave the zoo crowds on a saturday. madelyn has been so very excited to go to the zoo with daddy this weekend. she has actually been asking to go to the zoo for two weeks now, but it just hasn't worked out. when i heard about pbs kids day i knew we had a winner.

madelyn was really excited about seeing george, clifford, elmo, and cookie monster. surprisingly i think that she was most excited about clifford the big red dog. i don't think that she has ever seen the show, but we have read a few books from the library. madelyn was really excited about all the characters, but did an excellent job of waiting her turn to say hi and take pictures. here are the best ones with each one:

on top of meeting the characters, she got sheets of stickers for other shows including her current favorite - word world. daddy was impressed at her ability to name all of the characters on the sheet. it was a big deal for madelyn to have daddy at the zoo with her. not just because she loves her daddy - a lot - but because i tell her that she can do things the next time daddy comes with us as a way of avoiding things when we are out. for instance at the zoo when she asks to ride the train, i tell her that we should wait and do it with daddy. she always agrees that it is a good idea to wait so that daddy can go too. so it was no surprise that she said, "yea, ride the train with daddy!" when i told her that we were going to the zoo with daddy today. her memory is always impressive. it has been over a month since we were at the zoo talking about riding the train the next time daddy was with us.

during the summer there is a lot more going on at the zoo. there are all sorts of information desks set up at the exhibits. when we went to see the big cats they had a huge lion skin. i wasn't sure what madelyn would think of it, but asked her if she wanted to feel the lion's fur. there was no hesitation in petting the fur, but she said that she wanted the lion to wake up. thankfully she accepted that the lion could not wake up. then she wanted to pet the real lions in the exhibit.

as we were walking around shortly before leaving, madelyn was riding on daddy's shoulders. she then laid her head on top of his and started snoring. she would sit up and say that she was tired and sleeping. she would make the snoring sound for a little bit before sitting up to tell us that she was snoring because she was sleeping. i would have taken video but it was too loud out and she was too quiet to hear her well.

this is something she has been doing a lot of lately, telling us what she is doing. the funniest is when she cries and then stops to say "maddie's crying" or "i crying". today there was a little boy crying at the zoo and madelyn started to fake cry before telling us "maddie's crying too".

we had a great morning at the zoo and tonight matt and i are going on our last date night before baby boy comes.

and i have to add a special "happy 2nd birthday" to madelyn's cousin, annabell, who had her birthday party today. due to my poor counting skills her present didn't get there in time for the party, but grandma and big pop are going to give it to her tomorrow at church. at least it is way early for her actual birthday on the 29th! love.

feeding the goats

yesterday madelyn and i went to the zoo in the morning. the weather wasn't great at all (cold, windy, and rainy) and i was blown away by how many people were there! it was one of the most crowded days we have ever seen there.

as one last treat, i decided to let madelyn try feeding the goats again (it didn't go so great last year). she loved it! i think it has to do with all the time she has been spending with our dogs because she treated the goats the same way. she even hugged a few - at the end of the video you can see her tilt her head as she is going in for a hug but changes her mind for some reason.

i didn't get to post yesterday because i got in bed at 6:30 as soon as daddy got home from work. i have been waking up at night with acid reflux in addition to my bathroom and water breaks. not to mention madelyn threw in three wake-ups of her own just for fun. she came in our room at 3:15am to announce that she was ready to "watch george" after wishing me a "good morning, mommy". i was able to talk her in to going back to bed but she only stayed there for about an hour before repeating her morning greeting at 4:30am. again we went back to her room talking about the fact that the sun was not up yet. she did wake up one more time a little after 5, crying, but it was short lived and then she slept until 7:30. i, however, was more than exhausted.

i am going to take some mylanta tonight (for the first time in my life) in the hope of eliminating one of the many things robbing me of my sleep.

i did want to note one more nickname that i have given madelyn that makes us all laugh - "thumbelina poopiepants". i call her "thumbelina" when she is sucking her thumb with friend and the "poopiepants" when she won't let us change her poopie diapers. they have become a combo over the past two days because she will go to her room for the diaper change but then hide under the covers with friend sucking her thumb and laughing. love.

busy morning

if we don't get out of the house in the morning, there is a good chance that we won't get much done since she has been sleeping 4+ hours in the afternoon. i have tuesday mornings off, so i was looking forward to spending the morning away from the house today. and lucky for me we have lots and lots of time to get ready to leave because madelyn wakes up at 6am (or earlier). the library opens at 9:30 so we were there when they unlocked the doors. then we got to music class at 10:15 and after that the zoo at 11:45. and madelyn was delightful!

i almost didn't attempt all these stops because madelyn was in quite a mood this morning. these early morning wake-ups make her temper much shorter than normal. but i am happy to report that she cooperated, shared nicely, and was a general joy to be around all morning! the first picture is of her 'swinging' at the zoo - i loved the big smile on her face!

as we were coming around to the giraffes and elephants madelyn realized that she had pockets. she stuck both hands in as deeply as she could and was running like she was wearing a straight jacket. she was so happy about the pockets and seeing the giraffes that she had the biggest smile of pure joy on her face!

not only did we have a great time at the zoo, but she fell asleep on the ride home and stayed that way until i woke her up at 4:45! again she was passing the 4 hour mark and i wanted to get her to the park to burn off some more energy in the hope of her going to bed easily and on time.

daddy is putting her down right now and it looks like we are going to make it by 8. now if i could just get her to sleep until 7... love.

zoo buddies

i worked all day yesterday so that madelyn and i could go to the zoo with some friends this morning. we actually met up with 5 other families and had a very nice morning. some of the other moms had the great idea to take pictures of some of the kids sitting together. i couldn't believe how well everyone sat still! it was a little difficult to get them all to look the same way and smile, but they were pretty cute. (the only good one i got with them all looking at me came out blurry.)

today was the first day at 80 degrees since last september and we were very excited to be outside! the zoo was busy, but not so bad that it couldn't be enjoyed. madelyn loved having her friends with her! she also liked having all their moms there too. she kept taking their hands (the moms') and telling them to come and see the animals. she just loves to share everything - food, experiences, information, etc.

there is a map in the ape house that madelyn just loves. i think she likes it more than the primates. today she was counting the number of monkey markers on the map.

she fell asleep on the way home - as expected, but did not sleep an extra hour like she normally does after a trip to the zoo (not that i am complaining because she still slept for 2 hours). she woke up just before one of my meetings this afternoon, but she quietly watched a few cartoons while i took care of some work. then she ate her lunch. i had packed lunch in her veggietales lunch box for the zoo, but we left without eating it because it was getting late. she doesn't normally eat lunch on days we go to the zoo, so it wasn't a big deal. she really liked getting to eat out of a lunch box. i will definitely have to pack her up a lunch again - just for fun.

after spending the rest of the afternoon sitting at the dining room table 'reading' brochures about gardening plants and telling me about the seeds that she and daddy are growing (there will be another post about that later), we decided to take her friend ava up on a swimming invitation. ava had the coolest pool! there was a slide in the middle of it and madelyn had a wonderful time playing with ava - i think ava enjoyed having madelyn to play with too. here is one of her first trips down the slide and the only time she didn't sit on her way down. i should have gotten more video but was too busy chatting with ava's family.

and just in case madelyn's day wasn't full enough already, she got to eat her first dinner sitting outside (since being in a highchair). daddy grilled some turkey burgers and madelyn thought it was so exciting to be able to eat outside. and since we were outside we let her have an ice cream cone 'treat'. the thought was that we could go messy because we could just let the dogs up on the deck to lick everything up after she was done and she could head straight to the bathtub. while waiting for the burgers to cook madelyn was singing an original "mickey mouse dance" song and jamming by herself. once i took the video madelyn realized that this was a good show. she then demanded that mommy and daddy come and watch - over and over. enjoy her show!

on last note - yesterday, madelyn discovered that my belly button is an outtie now. she thought that it was so funny and kept trying to pinch it - which tickled me. she was then "kissing brother" over and over (aka kissing my belly).

as you can see she had a really full day! hopefully, this means that she will sleep later than 6am for once! love.

finally! a trip to the park

as soon as i saw the forecast for this week i cleared my friday morning so that we could go to the zoo. it was going to be 48 and sunny - a real heat wave in comparison to what the weather has been. it actually got above 50 today (i think). it was so nice to be out and our neighbors michael and dylan, with their mom tina, met us at the zoo. madelyn was so excited to see them and quickly took dylan's hand so that they could walk and run around together. they were so cute talking to each other and pointing out what they could see. i probably should have gotten some video, but just took stills - sorry.

it was such a nice day and the zoo was packed with other families who just needed to be out of the house (we saw several other friends and neighbors). as a special treat, we went on a train ride around the zoo. we didn't go last year because the line was always long and we didn't think that madelyn was old enough to appreciate it. and it doesn't run in the winter, so this was our first trip since it started running this year. every time it went by and the whistle blew madelyn froze in her tracks to watch. she would call out "choo-choo" and get excited. michael - who is a train fanatic - suggested that we take a ride before we left. i wasn't sure that madelyn was enjoying the ride until she cried when it was over. she didn't want to get off the train. tonight at dinner she kept telling daddy that the "train ride all done" when we were telling him about our day.

not only did madelyn have a lot of fun with her friends, but she took a 3-1/2 hour nap when we got home. it is a double bonus for me - a nice long walk outside and a nice long break when she takes a long nap afterwards.

tina had mentioned that her boys had gone to the neighborhood park yesterday with their dad. i hadn't realized that all the snow had melted and it was dry enough for playing. so after madelyn's nap we headed down to take a look. madelyn was so excited to be going to the park that she skipped her snack and after nap cartoon. i guess other neighbors had the same idea because we got to see a lot of our friends there. we even got to meet some new neighbors.

madelyn tried out her friend ben's big wheel today. her feet could reach the petals, but were not quite long enough to push them forward. she mainly steered and scooted it backwards with her feet. besides the big wheel she spent most of our time there swinging. she loves to swing! she would reach out to me and call out "hug" so that i would catch her on the upswing in a big hug before letting go so that she would resume her swinging. she was also enjoying acting as the unofficial greeter to everyone that came down to the park. she would say (yell) "hi, girl" or "hi, boy" to anyone coming down the hill until they got close enough that she could tell who it was and then she would call them by name - if she knew it.

the big accomplishment today was that she climbed the rock wall for the first time. she needed a little help because her jeans are a little small (she has pretty much outgrown the 2t clothes now) and she couldn't quite lift her foot high enough. she needed me to help her with the last 1/2 inch to get her toe on the rock. i think that is going to be one of her new favorites this summer. she climbed the wall (which is taller than i am) 3 or 4 times while we were there today.

it is going to become cold/rainy/snowy again this weekend, but it is nice to have a little taste of spring weather to give us hope that we will play outside again soon. love.

first zoo trip of the year

even though the temperature said 9 (degrees), it was sunny and i decided that madelyn and i would try a trip to the zoo. we both needed to go somewhere to stretch our legs and i didn't really want to spend any money if i could help it. i figured the worst case was that it would be too cold and we would head out for "plan b".

madelyn was SO excited to be at the zoo! as soon as we pulled into the parking lot she started with repeating, "yea, zoo"! she practically ran to the entrance and started saying "penguin" as soon as we got inside (that is the first animal you can see). she remembered everything about the zoo and would get frustrated when the way we usually went was either closed for maintenance or was not cleared of snow. in the picture she is giving an enthusiastic "zoo" near the penguins.

surprisingly there were quite a few people there. any time madelyn would see someone outside the exhibits, no matter how far away they were, she would call out "hi" really loudly and wave. there were a few elementary school groups there that thought she was pretty funny and yelled "hi" back.

what was fun today was finding out how many new words she had for the things we saw today. and then being able to talk to her about it all later this afternoon. after we saw the birds madelyn started asking for the lions. i had not planned on seeing the lions because it is kind of a long walk outside and i was trying to limit our outside time. i decided that we would see how she was doing after the monkeys and the fish/reptiles. after we left the fish/reptiles madelyn was still asking for the lions. she was practically crying because she thought i was going to wrong way to the lions when i tried to take a shorter path instead of the longer route we normally take.

when we got to the big cats pavilion madelyn ran in calling out to the "cheetahs". she was just screaming "hi, cheetahs" over and over. i could hardly pull her away so that she could see the much requested lions. and she still had to go back and see the "cheetahs" one more time before we could leave.

another highlight of our visit to the zoo were the chimpanzees. they were particularly feisty today! normally we don't see much movement from them, but today one of them was running around pushing a crate along the floor. madelyn loved this and kept calling to the chimp to "come" and "run". this chimp was just running all over and chasing the other chimps. when she finally gave up on the chimp running any more, she enjoyed her snack on a bench in front of the orangutans. she liked watching the baby orangutan climb all over and play with a plastic swimming pool. this came up when she was telling dad about her day. he was a little confused when she told him that the monkey was in the pool, but i confirmed that it was indeed true.

we were at the zoo for about 2-1/2 hours and did the trip without a stroller. i only carried her twice during some of the longer outdoor stretches to try and keep the exposure to a minimum. towards the end she did start to get upset from being tired and hungry - like crying and saying "no" to everything i offered her. once we got in the car she was still in a "no" kind of mood. sometimes when she is fussy in the car i just have to let her hold my hand and that is good enough for peace. she fell asleep in the car, without any lunch, and slept for a little over 3 hours. i am so lucky.

it was really nice to get some fresh air. even if it was really cold fresh air. and the walking was really nice too. madelyn has been asking to go outside for a walk a lot lately.

lastly, i couldn't resist taking a picture of madelyn reading several books at the same time while wearing her "book worm" shirt. she brought them out from her room one at a time and set up on the coffee table to 'read'.

love.

thanksgiving visit

papa, nana, and uncle derek flew home yesterday and we were glad to have gotten to spend some time with them. unfortunately, i didn't get a lot of pictures (at least with everyone dressed and cleaned up - most were early morning pics). but we did do more than just eat thanksgiving dinner. what trip to visit maddie would be complete without a personal tour of the milwaukee zoo? it was a beautiful day to be outside and not terribly cold. i didn't even wear a coat - although i probably should have...

madelyn had a lot of fun holding every one's hands as we walked around checking out all the exhibits. we paused to take pictures at the photo-op outside the giraffe house. madelyn was really excited about putting her head through the whole after watching daddy and uncle derek do it first. but she was so excited that she just kept looking at the giraffe to see what she looked like - at least nana smiled in this picture.

as always, madelyn fell asleep by the time we got back to the house and stayed asleep for almost 4 hours! we had to wake her up so that we could head out for some cheese shopping and dinner.

cheese shopping is a popular activity for all of our out of town guests. not only is cheese here delicious, but the store we take them to offers samples of their cheese and produce. madelyn has learned that this is a tasty stop as well.

after stocking up on cheese, we took papa, nana, and uncle derek out for sushi (one of matt's favorites). papa and nana had never had sushi before and i don't think that they were very excited about trying it, but they were good sports about it. all in all, i don't think it was their favorite, but it wasn't too bad. madelyn had a lot of fun eating with chopsticks. we eat with chopsticks from time to time at home (because i love it) and madelyn was so happy to finally get a try at using them. she liked how she could dip them in the tempura sauce and that the rice would stick to them long enough to make it to her mouth. she also insisted that i use my set to feed her rice. it was difficult to get my chopsticks into her mouth with her sitting on my lap - i couldn't see her mouth.

we spent saturday like most other families - watching college football. unfortunately, uncle derek had to head to the airport before getting to see his GT alma mater win. but it was really good that they left saturday because they might have had delays today.

love.

hat for breakfast

while enjoying her breakfast of waffle, avocado, and banana this morning, madelyn paused to request a "hat". i thought that i had misheard her since this was an unusual request, but she pointed at her head and said "hat". once the hat was place upon her head she requested "shoes" (another new "s" word). i explained that she couldn't wear her shoes yet, but i could get her some socks. she agreed to the substitution. but once her socks were on the next word was "go" as she headed for the garage. i had to explain that we couldn't leave in just her pjs because it was too cold out, but maybe we would head out later.

after breakfast and a diaper change, i stripped her down to get ready for the day but she wanted to play first. we must keep the house warm enough because madelyn loves to just run around and play in her diaper lately - in fact she insists on it. she was giving me a "ta-da" every time she made the credit card noise with her register toy (a difficult skill because you have to slide the plastic card with just the right touch) so i was taking some pictures. i was really trying to get a good picture of the scratch on her neck that i posted about yesterday but couldn't really get one. this is the best picture and if you enlarge it you can see a little the scratch on her neck; it is at least three times as long as the part you can see and just as wide.

since she was in good spirits and it was the warmest day of the week (high of 41) i decided we could both use some fresh air after more than a week of wet and cold keeping us indoors 24/7. the other reason i decided that we needed some fresh air is that yesterday my consistent 2 hour napper (sometimes 3-4 hours) only slept for 50 minutes - all day! she did fine too, which made me worry that she was starting to think about giving up napping. i knew that it was most likely all the indoor time, but it was enough to freak me out a little. as a reward for the outing today, madelyn slept for more than 3-1/2 hours! yea for mommy getting lots of work, work done! the outing was two hours of my day very, very well spent.

as you may have guessed, we went to the zoo again. madelyn gets so excited when we get to the parking lot and starts running through all the noises she has for the animals we will see. today we saw a new animal that we normally don't go near - mountain sheep. they have a real name, but i can't remember what it was; the point is that they hop all over the fake mountain in their exhibit, have the big, curly ram like horns, and were very active because of the cold. i think i noticed them because of their white coats as they were jumping all around. madelyn really enjoyed them so they might become part of our normal circuit through the zoo.

she has also taken an increased interest in the bird aviary. she will stand at each display listening to and looking for the birds. she points them out for me when she finds them too which is fun. the picture is from the shoreline birds and it just struck me as funny because the aviary is very warm in general (except for the penguin area) and this was a beach scene with madelyn bundled up in her heavy coat and gloves. today she wasn't that into the ducks that are loose so we didn't really spend any time there except for just passing through on our way out.

madelyn walks more and more of the time we are at the zoo. she really only rides when taking the time to eat a snack. today she was talking non-stop, running, and dancing as we made our way on the long outdoor portion from the fish and reptile building to the big cats. i would say that we are walking outside for at least 15 - 20 minutes - longer when madelyn stops to check out other animals on the way.

her main source on entertainment on today's walk were the "sticks". she was just ecstatic about the sticks she was finding on the ground! i kept wanting to get video, but was too cold to slow us down any more and i didn't think that i could walk and push the stroller while taking video. you can see in these stills from when we stopped to see the zebras, madelyn has a fist full of her beloved "sticks". she kept showing them to me and calling out "sticks" the whole time as well. it was very cute to see her so happy to be outside. like i said, the fresh air was really good for both of us.

as we were leaving the big cats building i was waiting for madelyn to push the handicapped button so that the doors would open automatically (a must when she is walking while i am trying to keep up with the stroller - it gives me a free hand). normally she runs right up to the button and pushes it. not today. she ran over the opposite side of the room towards the bathrooms and then started grabbing at her diaper. i asked her if she wanted her diaper changed and she said, "yes", as she turned and ran into the women's restroom. when i got in with the stroller she was standing next to the changing table waiting for me! i really was surprised that she knew where the bathroom was, would stop her zoo fun for a diaper change, and that her diaper was only wet. this girl is going to be ready to potty train before the winter is over i am afraid... i am really excited to have her potty train, but with all the winter layers, i was hoping that i could wait until summer. time will tell.

in addition for "shoes" as a new "s" word of the day, i remembered another recent "s" addition that i had forgotten in yesterday's post - "stop". i wonder what letter will be the favorite next... love.

bye, grandma

we took grandma to the zoo again this morning before making our way to the airport for her afternoon flight. it was colder out (27 when we left the house), but without the wind and a little sunshine it felt a lot warmer than our trip on sunday. madelyn was in a really great mood and ran around crunching leaves, laughing, squealing, and taking in all the animals with grandma. by the time we left madelyn was getting tired (she had a melt down as soon as we got into the parking lot) and we were all hungry and cold.

off we went to get some lunch before saying our final good-byes. madelyn was all sunshine, smiles, hugs, and chatter throughout lunch. i think that her little cat nap on the way over may have had something to do with that change in temperament. she was fine the entire time that we were in the zoo, but the second we got to the parking lot she slid out of her stroller and threw herself down on the pavement. she repeatedly laid herself face down and was crying. i haven't seen her ever behave like this so i was very thankful that it didn't last into our lunch since we had some time to kill before dropping grandma off.

somehow madelyn managed to stay awake long enough to say good-bye to grandma at the airport. in her normal fashion, she was a little delayed in saying her "bye" until we were driving away. she just kept looking up at the sky and waving while saying "bye" softly to herself. she must be getting the hang of the airport/airplane correlation from all of her own travel experiences. she then requested for "bob" to "sing" "please" and fell asleep before the first song was over. she must have really been worn out because she slept for a little over 3 hours!

after she woke up she had a happy snack and dinner before heading to tumbling class with daddy. then straight to bath and bed for our little sweety.

it was very nice to have grandma visit and we were even more grateful that we had no excuse not to go out for our anniversary. we went to grab a quick dinner where we were able to sit at a table next to the fireplace, then went to see fireproof (a wonderful date night flim) where we were one of three couples in the theater on a monday night, and were still home by 9 so we got a decent night's sleep too. we were both very grateful that we took the time to celebrate the marriage that we are both very grateful to have - reflecting on our past and looking forward to our future. love.

grandma z. visit

we have been busy entertaining grandma z. since she arrived on friday morning. she would say that mainly we have been eating. a lot. and maybe we have, but no more than the normal three meals a day. madelyn hadn't been eating very much over the past few weeks, but right before grandma got here her appetite returned with a vengeance! this has meant lots and lots of snacks are brought on all outings and that meals can take a while because she never seems to actually be full.

i have been working with maddie all week on saying "grandma" so that grandma can have a maddie assigned name, but all see says back is "buddy". this would work except that she wanders around and says it to herself and it seems to have no real meaning to her even though it is a real word. if you ask her to say "grandma", she will reply "buddy". it has been very funny to us all.

madelyn has enjoyed eating out because it is not something she does on a regular basis and even when we do it is just somewhere quick not where there is a waiter and utensils on the table. she has enjoyed having her own full-sized fork. here she is enjoying her macaroni and cheese on friday night while the rest of us ate some yummy bar-b-que. she was so silly with excitement over her meal and the special cup that was just for her.

besides eating (and eating) we have played, read books, gone shopping, gone to the zoo, and gone to stonefire pizza company for "mommy and me" breakfast.

we went to the zoo yesterday and it was about 33 degrees out, overcast, and sleeting/snowing off and on. needless to say, we were almost the only people there besides employees. luckily, our zoo is open 365 days a year and is therefore set up for not the most ideal outdoor weather. a lot of the exhibits are indoors year round, but now that it is cold out we got to see some indoor exhibits that we have never gone in before.

one of these exhibits was where they keep the giraffes when the temperature gets below 40. we did learn that the giraffes are given the option to go outside at least once a day because the indoor space is only a fraction of their outdoor exhibit. the neatest part was how much closer you could get to them! i don't think that i have ever seen a giraffe so closely before. it was neat and maddie enjoyed watching them eat. not to mention that it was very warm in that building which was nice too since the temperature felt like it was dropping outside.

grandma is on babysitting duty tonight so that matt and i can go out to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary! we are both exhausted and thought about just going to bed early, but we are going to drag ourselves out for dinner and a movie instead. i couldn't even tell you the last movie i saw in the theater - it has been well over a year (or two) - and i am looking forward to some popcorn. it is going to be so nice to have some uninterrupted time with matt. we haven't had time to ourselves in at least two months. he spends his evenings working on his computer, or most recently working in the basement until after midnight. and i work on the computer after maddie goes down, clean-up, and make preparations for the next day before collapsing in bed. needless to say, i am glad that we are pushing ourselves to take this night out.

more on grandma's visit tomorrow. love.

election day

fearing the worst, i got together several hours worth of snacks and water, books and toys, and headed out to vote a little after 9am this morning. when i got there i was able to park up close to the entrance (at a local high school), register without a line, and vote with only one other person in front of me. all in all we were done in about 10-15 minutes. but since i had gone through all the effort and planning to be out all morning, we went to the zoo. even though we had also gone to the zoo yesterday afternoon; because i thought that we would be trapped all morning today. i hope all of you voted too and didn't have to wait long!

the weather has been unseasonably warm - low 70s - so i have felt the need to be outside with maddie as much as possible. yesterday, madelyn insisted on wearing her sun glasses almost the entire time we were at the zoo - even inside the exhibits! but today, she got over the novelty on the car ride over and we didn't even bring them in.

since we had just been to the zoo yesterday, we went to the bird sanctuary/aviary today because that is an exhibit we don't normally hit. it is not on the main loop through the zoo and madelyn hasn't really been that in to it when we have gone over there in the past. which has always surprised me since she really likes birds otherwise and is always pointing them out. for some reason she really got into the exhibit today! she was pointing out all the birds flying around and trying to pet the ducks. she would get really close, but when she reached out to one it opened its bill and made a noise that got her to take a few steps back. it wasn't enough to keep her from getting close again, but she didn't reach out her hand. (she carried that yellow leaf we picked up outside through the entire exhibit).

madelyn we a bit of a grump over the weekend, but by monday afternoon she seemed to have it out of her system and we have had so much fun the past two days. she has been so silly and hyper after dinner and it has been a great way to end the day. somehow it helps me not feel quite so worn out when she ends her day happy.

now hopefully i will resist the urge to stay up all night and see how all the states turn out (not like all the networks won't call the whole election within the next few hours anyway). momma needs her sleep or nothing that should get done does. love.

side note: i have the video monitor on while i blog so that i know when it is time for

me to break for goodnight kisses. poor matt is reading the book madelyn has picked for tonight - a lift the flap book on states that we got at the dollar store. she loves these books and i bought one on states and presidents for future use (she also has shapes, colors, and first words). right now he is reading state capitals, state birds, and state flowers as a bedtime story! maybe all the election coverage inspired the choice...

enjoying a sunny day

after spending almost all day inside yesterday due to a cold, rainy day, when i saw sunshine this morning i knew that we were going outside. i did have a moment of doubt when i saw 36 on the local news graphic, but that's what coats are for, right?

madelyn and i bundled up and headed to the zoo - of course. after about a half hour is was warm enough for me to take off my coat and maddie's hat, but i kept her in her coat until we got back to the car. it was so gorgeous! not a cloud in the sky and all the fall colors. here are a few picks from the zoo for you warm weather folks...















madelyn had such a great time. her skills of observation have dramatically improved. they have always been really good, but in the past week there has been a substantial jump. we spent more time than normal in the fish and reptile building today. madelyn took her time at each exhibit and seemed to look at every animal and plant available. at one of the fish tanks she kept calling out "turtle" and pointing. i was in the middle of correcting her and saying that there weren't any turtles in that tank when i saw the turtle she was seeing. and for only the second time she showed interest in the snakes. not only that, but she said "snake" instead of "hiss". she was excited running between exhibits with some little boys - maybe elementary school age.

and those weren't the only boys she took an interest in at the zoo. she is a huge flirt! there were some boys acting silly while we were watching the cheetahs pace outside and she kept laughing at them. of course that only made them act sillier and sillier until their dad took them away. then we ran into them again on our way out of the big cats' building and she just gave a coy smile while hiding behind me a little.


she barely stayed awake until we got to the interstate. and then she slept for three hours. since the sun was still out and it looks like we are going to have more rain the rest of this week, i took madelyn to the park this afternoon. she had a lot of fun crunching the leaves. they had blown into strips or piles and madelyn ran from one to the next stomping her feet. it was cute, but i didn't get a good video. then she had fun trying to keep my sunglasses on her face while swinging.


yesterday, madelyn and i had our first day in the basement office. madelyn really enjoyed having all the open space to run around in. we haven't gotten the dogs cleaned up and groomed yet, so they are mainly in their crates/cages when they aren't outside. plus, they are too excited to see madelyn and she doesn't like their forever kisses and bumping. she does love them and even brought her book out to read to lady. i know that she was "reading" because she pointed out everything she had a word or noise for as she turned the pages. it was so sweet. of course, she also tried to feed lady tissues... love.

every time is something new

every time we go to the zoo madelyn discovers something new or decides to be adventurous in a new way. today it was giving the baby gorilla statue hugs, figuring out how to turn on the water fountain (or locally known as the "bubbler"), and climbing up into the foot massage chairs throughout the zoo.

it was a blustery fall day and pretty much the only people there were parents of toddlers. when we stopped that the playground in the "family farm" on our way out the 2-5 play equipment was crawling with kids, but the 5-12 set was totally empty. the zoo has put out some halloween decorations so that was something new to see and talk about as we worked our way around to all the animals.

the most entertaining animals of the day were the hyenas. they were pacing around and one of them would do a turn on its hind legs when it got up near the glass. the first time it did this madelyn just looked at me like "what just happened here? that isn't normal." but then we both started laughing as it did it again and again. i bet we watched at least 20 rotations. here is some of maddie laughing at this trick - and asking for it "again".

on the way to the zoo i was singing madelyn songs. when she would call out "again" and "please" i asked if she wanted me to sing, so she said "sing" "please". it is so funny the words she says and the ones that she still doesn't. we can't believe that she doesn't say "bear" with as much as she loves hers and as often as we say "bear". i know that she will say it some day. love.

new bubble game

after a few rainy days, today was a beautiful fall day. (granted matt had frost/ice on his windshield this morning that couldn't be scraped off by his windshield wipers.) since it rained last night, i thought that the playground might be too wet for playing this morning. instead we went back to the lotza fun room. we haven't been there in at least 6 months and they had a lot of new toys. and madelyn had the whole place to herself for over an hour! i guess they were really busy the past two days because of the rain, but we were the only ones all day today.

madelyn was totally overstimulated by all the toys. she went around the whole room saying "hi" to everything and could hardly play with anything before seeing something else that needed her immediate attention. she did spend quite a while feeding all the baby dolls in the play house in the middle of the room. and any other toys that got her attention for more than 5 seconds took a trip through the jungle gym tube. she would carry them through at least once and laugh the whole time. the picture shows her taking the bottles through when she was finished feeding all the babies.

after the lotza fun room we went home for some lunch and her nap. i had to fight to keep her awake on the drive over there because it was 10:30 and if she is in the car at 10:30 she falls asleep and if it is long enough that is her only nap for the day. i have been working on getting her back to a 1:00 or 2:00 nap time. she starting going down for her nap before noon after we got back from california and i hadn't really tried to push it back because when she sleeps 2-3 hours it didn't really bother me. but it is starting to be inconvenient to feed her lunch after her nap and it makes it difficult to keep her nap time consistent when we have to run errands in the morning.

because it really was a beautiful day out, we went to the park late in the afternoon. madelyn has been obsessive with her bubbles lately. she carries them with her everywhere when we are outside (i don't let her bring them in the house). sometimes she wants me to blow them, but most of the time she wants to "dip" the wand herself and can even blow out a bubble or two. so here is a new game that got her laughing when she was swinging with her bubbles (it is pretty bumpy because i am pushing her and picking up the bubbles).

yesterday afternoon we went to the park for a few hours. the sun had finally come out and the rain had stopped for a while. we did have to bundle up (i wore my first scarf of the season), but with the sun out it was a nice time to go. my trick for getting a little more out of her warm weather clothes is to put a long sleeved t-shirt under it. it was a lot easier this spring when she didn't care, but now she didn't like having to put on two shirts because it slowed her down from being able to "go".

all of the gorillas/apes/chimps/monkeys were inside and madelyn was very excited about seeing animals in every cage (usually at least half of the exhibits are empty because the animals are outside) and as a bonus almost all of them were swinging around and playing. she also gave a baby gorilla statute a close examination. she has never had any interest in it before, but we had also never gotten to see so much activity from the gorillas before and spent more time at that exhibit than normal.

love.