i am currently on a business trip and won't be posting again until this weekend. i had hoped to post pictures of my pumpkin masterpieces sunday night before i left, but it didn't happen. you will just have to keep waiting...
love.
madelyn debuted her halloween costume for a play date today (she is the lion to the right of the pirate). this group is made up of kids whose parents were co-workers of matt when we were all pregnant. almost all of them were in utero at a christmas party (a few are second babies). this was by far the best picture i got! it was a little challenging to get all these little kiddos to hold still and look forward.
she did a really good job of roaring nice and loud when asked what a lion says. she also did a nice job of saying "woof" to her friend jack who was dressed as a dog. most of the kids made "woof" noises for jack (jack is on the left holding his little sister claire dressed as a peapod).
madelyn was pooped from all the fun and passed out shortly after we got on the interstate. i thought that she was so cute and took a picture at a red light.
after her nap we got the most wonderful gift from her friend lorelai! - small gloves! they were the smallest gloves i had ever seen and fit madelyn perfectly. she was so excited to have them on that she kept showing daddy and doing a happy dance. here is some of the excitement captured in this video. love.
this morning madelyn finally had her 15 month check-up. too bad that she is 16 months and two days old... anyway, here are her stats:
34 - 3/4 inches tall (off the charts at 99.93%)
26lbs. 12oz. (89.6%)
48.6 cm head circumference (98%)
(she is also wearing 2T/3T clothes and a size 7 shoe.)
we talked about other developmental milestones to see how madelyn is doing. she was impressed that madelyn is working hard at trying to walk up and down the stairs while holding the handrail. and not to brag, just to document for future reference, madelyn has the vocabulary of a two year old at over 50 words. and that is not including her signs and animal noises which the doctor counts as "vocabulary".
when madelyn wakes up in the morning, she flies like a bee to couch as soon as we open the door. usually she is signing for milk and calling for "bob" as she runs past us. its amazing she can find the couch behind her hair covering her entire face. i am usually right behind her with a clip to tame her hair so that she can drink her milk and watch veggietales while i finish getting myself ready or whatever else i might have been doing when she woke up.
surprisingly, madelyn likes having a scarf around her neck. she picked this one out of the collection in the coat closet while i was hanging up my coat. this is not the first scarf she has worn around the house, but it was the first i took a picture of to share. the first time i jokingly tossed the ends of on she was playing with around her neck i thought for sure that she would pull it off, but instead she pranced around in it and whined when on of the ends fell off her shoulder. maybe we should get her some more size appropriate versions...
we had such a nice day, but i am too tired to post very much - sorry. she was in good spirits, i got a lot of work, work done, we watched the digger truck readying a lot for a new house, and we went to a fun girls only play date this afternoon. love.
after dinner can be one of the best parts of the day. first it is nice to have daddy home, second we are all fed and content, third madelyn gets extra silly.
it starts with her back and forth "hi" game, then comes the lap hugs where she comes over and hugs our leg and/or lap with the "hi", then she points at us while saying our names ("dad", "mom"), and then comes the dancing to signal that she is getting full and ready to play. we quickly get her hands and face clean before she starts getting her toys involved in the action once the dancing begins.
tonight she was especially silly! she had gotten a halloween package from papa and nana late in the afternoon and she really got to checking everything out after dinner. (i just realized when i sat down to post that i didn't take any pictures of the halloween gifts - sorry.) they sent her several things, but one was a bear dressed as a pumpkin that had a curly ribbon coming out of the top of the costume as a vine. this was the first game. she would pull out the ribbon and then let it bounce back while matt and i yelled "boing!" leading to lots of laughter and giggles. after that she worked her way up to our laps (we were sitting together on the couch while she was running around playing) and was showering dad with hugs. next she got down and i asked if she was going to give dad kisses. she immediately turned around and ran at full speed towards matt - we were expecting a kiss - instead she lunged at his lap before turning back around and running to the fireplace laughing hysterically! but then she turned and ran back to lunge into his lap before going back to the fireplace. i had to try and get some video and thankfully she kept doing it - although she did pause and tone it down when the camera came on. enjoy!
there was lots more running, laughing, and playing so i expect her to sleep really well tonight! love.
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.
i am proud to say that i am posting tonight from our newly completed basement office! matt has been working so hard on all the finish work so that we could move all my stuff down here this weekend. the lighting is so much better down here and it is warmer than the upstairs now that the weather is getting cooler (something to do with being under ground). 
the go about her business. recently we added "kiss it all better". which after a few times started to put an end to tears. now today for the first time, she came to have an ouchie kissed better. she was exploring the new office and pinched her fingers in a drawer. she ran right over to me and put her fingers to my mouth and then ran away after she touched my lips. i was sitting on the ground so she didn't need help reaching my mouth and i didn't even have to really kiss them. she did bring her injured fingers back a few times for some more kisses, but there was no more crying. love.
