two steps for babykind

She finally did it...and it's exciting and terrifying at the same time. Last night Madison took two steps on her own! She started by standing and squatting a few times without holding onto anything. Kevin put a sticker on her hand and she wanted to grab at it, but she had to let go to do so. When she let go she was standing on her own, which she's done on occasion before, for very short periods of time. But then I took the sticker and told her to come get it, and she took a couple of steps towards me before plopping down on her butt. I don't know if she'll remember today that she was brave enough to let go yesterday, but one thing's for sure...she'll be walking before her first birthday, I'll bet. Yikes! I'd better get myself a new pair of running shoews because I understand that's when things REALLY get interesting. Yay Madison!!

wordplay

Madison, where's 'Mommy?'

Ma-ma.

Madison, can you say 'Daddy?'

Da-da.

Madison, what are these?

Nananas! (bananas)

This is an example of the conversations we've been having with our daughter these days--usually the same conversation multiple times each day. It's a game and none of us are tired of it yet! And since she's responding with words, I consider them real conversations. She understands a lot more than she can vocalize. She can identify a bunch of objects, including her stuffed animals (Pooh, Puppy, Bunny, and Dolly Madison), balls, piano, blocks, rings (the stackable kind), the window, Puffs (her beloved Gerber Puffs), and a lot of other things. It's really cool being able to communicate with the munchkin.

I also would like to say congrats to my friend Kim and her husband who just gave birth (well, Kim's the one who actually gave birth :) to her son Sean Michael. Kim is an old friend...we go waaaay back to our kindergarten years! You can read about their exciting news and see some pics on her blog. Welcome to mommyhood!!

Oh, and thanks to my friend Delaney and her son Logan (see previous post) for letting Maddi pose in the coolest of all vehicles..the Weinermobile!

schedules, playdates, and misc. stuff

Well it took 8 months, but M is finally on a fairly predictable schedule. I haven't wanted to mention this for fear of jinxing it, but for the past month she has pretty much been getting up, napping, and going to bed (well, this was slightly altered due to holiday madness but we're working on getting her to bed a little earlier).

It's SO nice to be able to plan the day around naptimes. Before everything was haphazard...she'd be fine, we'd go out, she'd get tired and cranky. Bad situation. You never knew where or when sleepy Madison would strike. The only problem now is that she still refuses to nap in her crib. Actually, the real problem is that she won't go to sleep without someone laying down with her. It can be Kevin or me, it doesn't matter (although I've started calling him the Madison Whisperer because he can get her to conk out really fast). So our new tactic is to spread a blanket on the living room floor, lay with her until she crashes, then get up and go about our business. It's only slightly inconvenient...we have to be quiet, but there are a number of things we can get done that don't require noise. This is another time I'm thankful to work at home, and that Kevin has a flexible teaching schedule so he's home during the day a lot also.

I had to include a pic or two from our most recent playday. We FINALLY managed to visit my friend Delaney and her little boy, Logan, who is just a month older than M. It was nice to spend some time with an old friend, and as an added bonus she's a mommy friend too. I don't have too many of those.

Well, predictable naptime #2 is over for the day. Gotta attend to the little one!