Madeline's Monthly Message: Month 15

Dear Madeline,

Today you are 15 months old. It's the holiday season, and like this time of year, many things about you remind me of the pure and simple joys in life. The way a simple wave from you can bring a smile to a frustrated face; the fact that just a hug from me or us reading a story together can make you so happy. It is nice to have a constant reminder (you) of what is important in life. It's the simple things that mean the most and make the most difference. I can see it in you, I can see it in your father... when our simplest needs are met, there is peace and happiness in our home. It helps me realize even more what an important job I have as a wife and mother.

The other day we were going out to the mailbox to get the mail - you love going to get the mail - and there were leaves scattered all over the yard and the driveway. We don't have trees in our yard big enough to produce such a massive amount of leaves, but there is a gigantic tree across the street that showers our yard with leaves every year. It was windy out that day and suddenly, as we were walking back up the driveway, a miniature swirl of wind wisped past you and began spinning the leaves all over in circles. You let out a high-pitched squeak and immediately began running after the leaves as the wind tussled your clothes and hair. I sat and watched you giggle and chase these leaves for a good ten minutes. That moment made my week.

I love how happy you are. You are always smiling and laughing. You also try to make other people smile and laugh a lot. You have your moments. You are a typical toddler - a day doesn't go by with at least 4 or 5 fits or tantrums - and when you are tired you are like a short fuse and may cry at the drop of a hat.

But you are a happy little person most of the time. You are an extremely busy person. From the moment you wake up you are in go GO GO mode.

You eat pretty much everything we eat. You are very good at using a spoon now, but you still love making messes and spreading stuff out all over the tray of your high chair and on your face. You still eat better when you are eating "on-the-go", but we always start with you in the high chair. I still don't let you eat some things... just stuff that isn't good for you anyway. Every morning when you eat breakfast I put on the "Your Baby Can Read" video. I will write more about that later.

You drink milk and water mostly, juice very rarely. Ice water is your favorite beverage. You love it. You began saying the word "ice" this month. You say it at every meal and when you are thirsty. Sometimes I think you are just telling us you are thirsty, but I think most of the time you really want a piece of ice.

You are still breastfeeding about 3 times a day - morning, nap time, and evening time. It is common for you to come running up to me and point at my neck and say "boob" when you are sad. I am trying to teach you that breastfeeding is not the answer when you are upset or sad. The plan is still to begin the weaning process after we get back from our Christmas vacation to New York. I have to tell you that nursing you has been a wonderful thing for me. I know that it is a different experience for every woman, but I have really loved it. I feel like you and me have a very special connection and bond because of it. I also feel like you are healthy and have not been sick a day in your life because of it also. I will miss it.

Every morning after breakfast you have you bath or "tubby". I say, "Madeline, are you ready for your tubby?", and you immediately run into your bathroom and start to point at your tubby toys. After we get your clothes off, you try to get in all by yourself by lifting your leg up over the side of the bathtub. You're not quite big enough for that just yet, but it's really cute to watch. You enjoy splashing a lot still, and you like to help wash and comb your hair.

After your tubby we get you all dressed and then I ask you to put your dirty clothes in the hamper. You go right to them, pick them up, and put them in the hamper. I love that you understand a lot of what I am saying. You also know how to put your dirty diaper in the garbage, close doors, pick up toys, get a book, get your shoes, turn off lights, go get your dad... it goes on and on. You are very smart.

You love wearing skirts and jewelry. We haven't been wearing skirts much this month because it's so cold out, but sometimes when we're just hanging here at the house I will dress you all up and let you walk around with my purse - which you love to go through. SUCH a girly girl.

I bought you some sparkly, glitter-filled bracelets at the mall this month that you keep in your play purse. You put them on every day. Your hair is getting longer. Long enough now I can put curlers in your hair and make your hair all curly, which is fun. You also love to comb and brush your hair, as well as mine.

After you are all dressed, we brush your teeth. You have a mouth full of teeth now. You don't do the best job at brushing yourself so I try to help. You don't like this very much.

Usually when we are changing your diaper you help me out a little by lifting up your bum. There are other times you just kick like crazy. You think it's funny to kick. I don't think it's too funny, especially when you kicked me in the face. You know what a diaper is and where they are kept. One day we were in your room playing and you were clearly having a poopie. When you were done you walked over to the diapers, grabbed one, brought it over to me, and then layed on the floor ready to be changed. How cool that you recognize this! I think potty training will be an easy thing for you when the time comes.

Your dad was home the entire week of Thanksgiving and every morning when you woke up you would yell "Daaaaaa" and he would come running into the room. So now, every morning you yell for your dad. It makes me sad that most of the week he isn't there when you call (because he's at work), but the weekends are fun because he is there, and this revives your excitement.

A new thing this month is holding your dad's hand. He might be sitting on the couch or standing somewhere and you will walk up to him, reach out your hand for him to grab, and pull him somewhere. Sometimes, it's just a walk around the living room and kitchen. Sometimes you are actually taking him somewhere to show him something. It's the cutest thing in the world.

You still enjoy sitting in all the cupboards and the drawer under the oven. You regularly get stuck under a side table or a chair. I think most of the time you are crawling after kitty.
You love to run after me, kitty and your dad. Sometimes you just chase kitty all around the house laughing your head off. Kitty occasionally joins in and gets hyper and playful. I am trying to catch these moments on camera but it's not as easy as it sounds. You love peek-a-boo still and will hold anything in front of your face - blankets, shirts, books, balls, etc. You also like to hide behind things.

You always carry one of your stuffed animals or dolls with you around the house, and regularly hug them with a "awwww" noise. You also like to fall asleep on your stuffed friends. It's really cute.

Anything that looks electronic or is the shape of the phone you will play with as if it were a phone. You put it up to your ear and say "Hiiiiiiiii!" in a high-pitched voice because that's the way I fake talk on the fake phone. It's so cute.

You still love to dance. Anytime you hear music you dance. You also like to play with the microphone on the karaoke machine. You sing along to a lot of songs but you don't really say words you just sort of do this light hum like you aren't sure if you should be singing but you can't resist. We listen to the radio a lot when we are cooking or when we are cleaning and you and me dance together every day in the kitchen.

You also love the laptop and the computer. I believe by the time you are three you will be able to build a computer. You show such a great interest in it.

You still love going bye bye. We take you places like the mall or Wal-mart just so you can burn off some energy and do some investigating. You love walking around and being independent. You get very frustrated when you are in the stroller for more than 10 minutes. And if I take you out of the stroller and then try to put you back in??? Aye-carumba is it ever a scene to behold.

This year for Thanksgiving we had dinner at our house and our friends Misty and Brooke joined us.

You didn't take a nap that day - I thought you would because we woke up pretty early to get the food going - so you were fussy and tired when it was time to sit down and eat. You didn't eat much at meal time, but later on that evening you ate like a horse. You really liked the turkey and the pumpkin pie. You have never been a huge fan of mashed potatoes. It was really fun having our friends here, and I personally thought the food was awesome, but they had to go home early because I was on call for work and I actually got called in. It wasn't a bad surgery though and it was pretty quick so I was home in a couple of hours.


We decorated the house for Christmas the week after Thanksgiving. You really like all the decorations and lights. You love candy canes and ornaments...

so we had to put the gate around the tree. You broke one of my ice snowmen that I got from my mom, but it can be fixed. One of our decorations in particular is this blue snowman with lights all over it that sparkle when you squeeze its hand. You carry it around a lot. It's a pretty tough decoration.

Here you are in your Christmas Dress for this year. I have to say that you are getting even cuter every day. And I think you are getting used to the camera because you are such a little model.

You usually fall asleep around 8:30-9:00 pm, but there have been nights when you are still running around like speedy gonzales at 10:00 pm. We need to get better about setting a bedtime for you and sticking to it. That will be one of my 50 New Years resolutions.

Right after you turned 14 months old we ordered the "Your Baby Can Read" series. I heard about this a long time ago when you were newer and talked to your dad about it, but we never got it. Then your Aunt Misty mentioned that she had purchased it for Brooke, and that Brooke really enjoyed it so my interests were rekindled and I talked to your dad again and we got it.

You were immediately interested in the videos, and it didn't take long until you were anticipating what was coming up, recognizing and acting out words before the man or child on the video would say them... and now you know so many words! You can say a lot of words too, and every new word you say sparks this excitement in me. You are very smart and you are absorbing things so quickly sometimes it scares me. I didn't even know you knew what a Christmas tree was until the other day when our friends were here and one of them asked you where the Christmas tree was and you pointed at it and ran in the room, excited to show her.

You know a lot of animals and the noises they make and you can point to and say several of your body parts. I have also started showing you words of the things in your life that you already know so you can recognize them if you see them in a book. You love to read. You love books. And I think this series of educational videos will only add to that love of learning. I'm excited to see all that you do this month to come and in the future.

You are still a very affectionate girl. You regularly offer me and your dad kisses by leaning forward and making the "mmmm" sound. You give me hugs all day and always want to be by my side whatever I am doing. You've become quite clingy, sometimes making it extremely hard to get anything done. I can still hold you just fine, but you are getting much heavier so it's not the easiest task after a while.

You also hold onto my legs alot and sit in front of me wherever I am standing. I trip over you a lot because of this. I don't mean to, but you are always under my feet. I try to always remember that there will be a day when you don't want my attention so much. When the thought of hanging out with me might be "uncool". So I try to enjoy all of these moments with you. I'm glad you love me. It makes me feel like I am doing a pretty good job. And I hope you know that no matter what happens in your life, me and your dad will always be there with a hug or a kiss or our best advice. We love you.

Love,
Momma