Here Comes Santa Claus

It is an annual family tradition to attend the Belleville Santa Claus parade the day after Thanksgiving. It was cold but we all bundled up and headed out. We got there early and had a hard time explaining to Maddy why she couldn't run free while there was still traffic on the street.

After a but of compromise she settled for climbing up the dirt mound that held a tree in the landscaping. She did well walking up the mound but the return trip usually involved a huge tumble. She didn't seem to mind and this kept her occupied until the parade actually started.



Once the parade arrived Maddy had a blast. She ran and got candy and put it in her bag. She LOVED the bands and all of the dance groups. She was shaking it like crazy and shouting "I dancin!" and cracking up. We got a great video but that is Brian's department. When Santa finally made his appearance Maddy didn't seem all that impressed and was on the look out for more bands!

We are thankful!!

Our Thanksgiving started out with brunch at Aunt Janet and Uncle Ron's. The food was amazing and the company even better. Maddy enjoyed being spoon fed by cousin Ella, watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on the PV(TV), telling cousin Theo "no" and pretending to go to sleep with cousin Audrey.




Around 11 we decided to head over to my mom's to see if we could sneak in a nap for Maddy before the other guests arrived. The nap did not work out as we had planned. Maddy handed my mom her binky and said "Mima I want my mom back". So that scratched the nap idea.




We bundled Maddy up and went outside to let her run off some energy. Soon her cousins arrived and she had a blast being driven around by Emma. She also enjoyed two HUGE dinner rolls and all of the whipped cream off her pumpkin pie. For not having a nap she held it together very well. We packed up to head home and after 5 minutes in the car she was snoring. Brian, Madylin and I are so thankful for the wonderful families, friends and good fortune we have in our lives!

A Couple Quick Pics

First off, Happy Thanksgiving! I will be sure to post all our Thanksgiving fun soon. I was clearing off the camera for the big Santa parade tomorrow and came across a couple pictures from today that I love!



More soon!

1st Haircut

Maddy got her first haircut today! I am adamant about letting it grow, but her side will not catch up with the rest which has led to a very stylish mullet. So on a whim I had our hairdresser trim her bangs at an angle so the poor baby can see. Mad was amazingly still through the entire thing. Brian and I got the most hilariously tiny bag of hair to save. Hopefully those sides will catch up soon!

Maddy the Explorer

I had a few things to get for school next week and a birthday present to buy for cousin Emma, since Maddy was feeling good we all headed to Target. While getting sticky tack we saw this adorable Dora Backpack that is filled with markers, crayons etc. Maddy's eyes lit up when she saw it. So call us suckers or kids at heart ourselves we bought it!

She held onto it almost the whole time in Target. As soon as we got home she put it on and refused to take it off. She looked SO cute! I did finally convince her to remove it to eat lunch but only after she realized she didn't fit well in her seat. I had to quickly sneak it off at rest time too!

Pancakes & Hurt Ears

It was cold morning today so Maddy and Daddy made pancakes for breakfast. We wanted to get Maddy to eat because she had a rough day yesterday. It pretty much started Friday. Maddy went to Mima's as always but was a little on the crabby side. Friday night she was a little cranky so we put her to bed early. At 10pm she woke up and would not go back to sleep. She cried a little but mostly just looked around bug eyed. After laying in our bed for two hours awake I put her back in her bed.. She slept there fine until morning.

When Maddy got up she was running a low grade fever and was a little crabby. We gave her some motrin and some extra TLC. I was holding her on the couch and happened to look at her ear. It was so gross!! There was a huge bunch of wax sitting in it. I carefully got it out but there was tons of other wax inside. I looked at her crib sheet and could see that it had been draining over night. I called the doctor and her got us in to see him at 11. We had to wait forever to get in. Dr came in and looked at her yucky ear. He had to keep stopping to pull out more wax. Once it was clear he said that she had ruptured her infection in her left ear which is where all the gross leakage was coming from. Then her looked at her right ear and said she had an infection in that ear too! This is her first ear infection and it's a double. He said she must have a high pain tolerance to not have been very, very cranky. He gave us some antibiotics and ear drops for the pain and sent us home to rest. Today you wouldn't even know she was hurting yesterday. She has played, has been eating like a horse and has no fever. Pancakes really hit the spot!

P.S. Don't mind the Halloween shirt, some battles are not worth fighting!

Big Girl Cup

Last night we had a home visit with are PAT coordinator Tiffany. She brought over some toys and books for Maddy to play with and some Ages and Stages information for Brian and I. In case you are interested between 18 and 24 months Maddy should hit these signs of development. She should weigh between 20-32lbs, be 30-37 inches long, walk well, eat with a spoon, drink from a straw, drink from a cup (with no lid)place it back down without spilling it, roll a large ball, pick up toys with out falling.

She should also show a preference between toys, know 200-300 words, point to body parts when asked, be able to listen to short stories, use 2-3 word sentences, try to sing, say please and thank you when prompted. The developing self portion that follows has been aced by our little girl. Maddy should imitate others ("oh damn it), is learning to say "no", has difficulty sharing toys, uses me or mine frequently, and enjoys attention form adults.
Needless to say Tiffany thought Maddy was doing great. She said that she had an amazing vocabulary for her age and she even got to see Maddy reread a story to herself. There were a few things that we needed to help Maddy work on. If you have had the pleasure of seeing Maddy jump, I;m sure you had a laugh. Tiffany showed us how to have Maddy jump off of a phone book to help her learn to jump with both feet instead of just one. We had never even thought of giving Maddy a cup that wasn't a sippy cup. So at any meal we eat at home we give Maddy a big girl cup. The amount of liquid we put at the bottom is pretty sad, but she seems to do well. She thinks she is pretty hot stuff with her big girl cup!!

Leaves

Today despite the cold weather we decided to help Daddy get the leaves to the curb. We took Maddy to play in the leaves last year but she wasn't to sure about the whole thing. This year she had a blast! Daddy blew a big pile in the middle of the yard. At first Maddy just walked around it playing with a few leaves.

It didn't take her long to figure out she could climb in them too! Nola loves the leaves too and Maddy thought it was hilarious the way that she dove into the leaves after her ball.






Daddy was brave( or crazy) and actually jumped into the leaf pile. He later wondered how we jumped off the roof into piles as kids. I hate to break it to him but we are not kids anymore.



All in all Maddy had a great time! We let her help with the rake. She did manage to actually move some leaves with it. Daddy also made her a huge pile at the bottom of her slide. After that I was worried she was getting cold so we bundled up to head in.

20 months old!!!!

Maddy turned 20 months old today! It won't be long before I have to start referring to her as a two year old. How did that happen so quickly. This month Maddy got to celebrate her 2nd Halloween. She really liked it this year. She carried her bag, knocked on the doors and said "Trick or Treat" or "A ghost says "BOO". She fell in love with pumpkins and was pretty sad when they were all gone after Halloween.
Maddy is continuing to add new words to her vocabulary daily. Unfortunately "Damn it" is the newest. I am sad to say that I must take responsibility for that one. She doesn't say it often but when she does it is loud, clear and usually in public.

Maddy has really started to play pretend. The other night we had a birthday party for baby with a pretend gift, cake and candle. She is also in to her animals. She is always dragging one of them around. She takes them with her and talks to them and shows them things. We were having dinner with Grandma Katie and Papa Bob the other night and Papa had her "motorcycle", it's really a tricycle, apart to fix it. She realized it was broken and was pretty sad. She picked up her doggy and pointed his face at the bike and said "see doggy, see my motorcycle broken". She does this with everything! She likes to show baby her toys and have the baby pet the cats. Whenever we leave she holds up the animals paw and tells them to say bye too.
She is sure turning into a neat little girl and she keeps us entertained and on our toes too!

We Love Clifford!

I heard from our Parents as Teachers coordinator that Clifford was going to be visiting Barnes and Noble today. Mad has a bunch of Clifford books that she loves to read so I thought I'd see how she felt about meeting him. We met Stac and Logan at the mall to pick up a few items for Christmas pictures and then headed over. When we got there they had just started reading the Clifford stories. Clifford himself was not there yet. For a girl who could read books all day, she does not like story hour. She and Logan lasted a few minutes before we had to browse our own books. As you can see Maddy made herself at home on the floor with a book of her choice.

After the stories, Clifford came. We were third in line and Maddy kept saying "hi flifrd hi". It looked good so far. When it was our turn I put Maddy down so she could approach him at her own speed. Well she did it at Maddy speed, running! She wanted to touch him and kept saying "my flifrd".

Since she seemed to like him I plopped her in his lap for a picture. She smiled and looked at him lovingly. I think she could have stayed there all day.

Since we were third in line we had to say bye and let the other kids have a turn. Maddy gave Clifford a kiss before we left. We love you Clifford!!