13 Months Old

I am running a little behind on this post. But, better late, than never. Madeline was 13 months old on New Year's Day. It seems like she is growing and changing very quickly.

Something that is starting to stand out to me is her sweet and obedient heart. Now, don't get me wrong, she certainly tests us. But, the majority of the time, she is a good listener. She will put something back when I ask her or not touch things when told. She is really funny when she wants to do something that she knows she shouldn't do. For example, if she wants to touch something that I have told her not to, then she will get close to it and then sometimes she will start squinting her eyes a bunch. I can almost see a conversation going on in her head. "No, no, I shouldn't touch it. But, I want to. But, no, I shouldn't. Oh, but I want to." I know that she will constantly be learning her boundaries and testing us as parents. But, I pray that she will always have this sweet spirit about her and that her heart will be soft and obedient towards the Lord.


She has started to enjoy Swiffering. I should give her a swiffer duster and see what she does with that. My house might actually get cleaned.


She loves the fish accesories in our house. She is not too crazy about the fish themselves anymore. Although, she will point at Spot (a fish) when we ask her where he is. She always wants the fish food. I don't know if she wants to eat it (which I have caught her doing) or if she wants to feed the fish a lot. She does get to feed them with her daddy in the mornings. She also likes to put the fish nets in the water. Sometimes the fish get stuck in the lower filter tank and Andrew has to fish them out. So, Madeline wants to help as well.


She is really enjoying her child sized furniture. She sits in her rocking chair a lot and she sits at this table a lot. A lot of times she eats a snack here. She also plays with her Noah's ark and Zoo and reads books at the table. The reason she has no clothes on in this picture is because she spilled a cup of water all over her. So, I waited until I took the curlers out to put new clothes on her. This was the second attempt at putting curlers in her hair. It went a little better.


It still needs some perfecting though. It's a little weird to see her with curly hair after a year of stick straight hair. But, it is sweet.

Our little girl still loves the outdoors. She loves to swing, ride in the stroller, take walks, and go "vroom, vroom" in the car. She is on the go.

Her new obsession... her snow boots. She will find them in her closet and then bring them to me, sit in my lap and wait for me to put them on her. She has a very hard time walking in them. But, she thinks they are the coolest.

just some cuteness...

Madeline is starting to get a little snugglier lately. She has even learned how to give kisses (when she wants too). She is her snuggliest when she is around a lot of people she doesn't know. She has also been a little extra ticklish this past week. So, we have gotten to hear a lot of sweet giggles coming from our sweet girl.

(And one just to prove that I actually play with our daughter, not just Andrew. )

Madeline went through a spell where she didn't like her bath (again). But, we made it through and she is loving it once again. She is getting braver in the water. She likes to lay on her belly. We are working on blowing bubbles. She actually did it a little bit this morning. But, then she just started taking giant gulps of water and coughing a lot. I'm sure she will get it eventually.

Madeline made her first trip into the city over the holidays. That's all I have to say about that.

Other details:

Communication: Madeline's talking has really started to take off these past few weeks. She is attempting to say a lot. She can now clearly say- hot, baby, slide, bye bye, hi, ice, fish, dada and mama.

Other "words":

ahh-roar for a lion

zzzzz-bug

papa-Papa Paul and Pawpaw

row (rhymes with cow)-cat

sss-star

ss ss-strawberry

bubu-bubbles

side or ow side-outside

mo mo-Elmo

mmm-moon

p p-pepper (like a green pepper)

pu pu- paci

bu bu-blueberry

clicking sound-for duck or cracker

fow-flower

f f- ruff for a dog

ho ho ho-what Santa says

She is using around 30 different signs now.

dog, airplane, hat, ball, car, bird, train/truck, fish, book, water, bunny, more, eat, apple, all done, butterfly, bear, elephant, bath, diaper, mommy/daddy, flower, tree, lion, please, sleep, baby, mouse, monkey, apple and milk

Eating:

Lately she has decided that she enjoys eating. Her breakfast might consist of Oatmeal made with heavy whipping cream and a jar of fruit. Or maybe some pancakes or french toast with fruit as well. For lunch she has been enjoying our leftovers like fajitas, chile chicken casserole stir fry or sometimes just some PB and J with greenbeans or peas or cheese. Her dinners look pretty similar to lunch. She will eat some of what we are eating for dinner or some jars of baby food.

She still loves green beans and peas and will eat them for most lunches and dinners. She also loves blueberries and strawberries. She finished a whole pound each of blueberries and strawberries between Sunday and Thursday this week.

She has been asking to eat a lot more this past week. She must be going through a growth spurt. We are still trying to get her onto Whole Milk. She isn't too crazy about it. We are down to 2 oz of formula mixed with about 6 oz. of Milk. It is hit or miss if she will drink it during the day.

Sleeping:

She has been a great sleeper. I can't remember the last night that she woke up in the middle of the night. (Over Christmas she had a few early mornings.) She goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps until about 7:30 in the morning. This week she has been sleeping in until 8 or 8:30. It has been very nice. She went back to 2 naps for a while and seems to be back to 1 nap this week. Although they have been 3-3 1/2 hours naps, I don't think she is ready to quite give up both naps completely.

My heart just melts when I think about our little Madeline. (We have been calling her Maddie Ann a little bit lately because a little girl in our bible study calls her "Ma-ye-ann" and it's just so cute. I don't know if it will stick. But, we will see.) Madeline is a busy girl, but I think I have the best job in the whole world. There is no place I would rather be than with my little girl. What did I do without her?