My Heart Is Full

Dear Reader, 

Nothing I say or do can ever fully explain how it feels to watch my baby do this. She and her therapists have worked tirelessly and endlessly to meet this milestone. Avery gave us all quite a challenge in finding a piece of equipment that meshed with her particular needs, but her PT (the very wonderful Eda Lewis) soldiered on, and on and on! and found exactly what she needed. Couldn't be more grateful or excited for this new chapter for my lil'bub. 

22 Month Firecracker, Part Two

Like I said, there's just too much to say about Maddie Brynn! One of the biggest things I want to mention is her caring heart. If anyone is sad or hurt, she is right there asking, "You ok?" and kissing boo-boo's and giving hugs. Her gentleness and kind spirit is just like her daddy's. She is {shockingly} good at sharing and plays very sweetly with her sister.

Another thing I can't get over is how compliant she is at this age. I keep waiting for the tantrums to begin (not like we don't see little ones here and there) but most of the time she is very agreeable. I explain to her why we can't (or shouldn't) do something she wants to do and I get an "ok mommy" that just makes my heart melt every time. She also follows directions very well, and enjoys helping people. I know for sure that this won't last but I am savoring every moment of it!

Some of Maddie's favorite things right now are going to the park, playing with "siketballs" which is her trying to say "basketball"--referring to any kind of ball-- and splashing on her "wader table."

having a Marilyn moment at the park!

Recently we started reading a nursery rhyme book and she has begun singing the words to BaaBaa Black Sheep, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Hickory Dickory Dock and Twinkle, Twinkle. And Row, Row..! Her little singing voice is quiet, a bit shy and totally adorbs. And her love for reading- morning, noon and night- has not changed. She especially loves when we go to the public library for toddler time and checking out new books.

library bear is cuddly

Her current obsessions include, but are not limited to: stickers, crayons, balloons, puzzles, jumping (especially on the bed :), Disney Junior shows, Cinderella, pillows, baby dolls, cars, puppies, kitties, hats, choo choo trains, flags, and phones.  

"Hello? Dolly? You there?" lol

Now I have come to the bragging portion of this post where I have to say that I am completely blown away that Maddie Brynn can recite the alphabet song, recognize and organize her letters, and count (correctly) up to 15! Are we ready for kindergarten or what? I'm going to have this girl reading books to me at bedtime in no time at all haha :)

My precious bub, you absolutely light up our lives. We cannot wait to see what turning TWO brings! You already seem so grown up, we can hardly stand it. We hope you always keep that twinkle in your eye and that your beautiful smile keeps growing. We love you so, so much.

22 Month Firecracker, Part One

I have to do another Maddie update before this sweet girl is officially 2! We continue to marvel at our youngest sugarplum, every single day. Will that ever stop? Probably not. I know she'll be my 20 year old marvel in the blink of an eye, so I want to make sure I remember everything she was doing at 22 months. There's so much to say though, I have to split this into two parts!

Have I mentioned that I love, love this age? Certainly not momma's baby anymore (which does make me a little sad) but such a bubbly, loving, brighter-than-the-sunshine little pixie! Everywhere I take her, Maddie Brynn elicits big smiles. "Bye-bye, see you soon!" is what usually gets some laughter. It's her little trademark farewell to each and every person she meets, as well as her family. Our other favorite is, "night-night, sweet dweams!" You can't help but giggle a little.

Her talking has absolutely soared in the past couple of months. She's been speaking in sentences for at least a month now. Some of my favorites and their translations:
"help you mommy?"= will you help me mommy?
"momma's phone play?"= can I play with mommy's phone?
"yummy in my tummy"= I like it and I want more
"read lama lama!"= wants to read one of her fav books, Llama, Llama wakey wake
"dollie stroll park"= wants to stroll her dollie to the park
"go shoppin da-da's car"= wants to run errands in Bub the hub's car

She's so interested in everyone's car, what color it is and who is driving.  She likes da-da's car the best and would ride it in always if she had the choice. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Sigh. We've had some tears over it. If she does have to ride in momma's car, she requests to sit in "Nay-nee's chair." In fact, she wants to sit in all of her sister's chairs. I think it makes her feel like a big girl! Her first question when she sees me in the morning and whenever I walk in the door is "Nay-nee?" Even though she can say Avery's name now, she likes to use her nickname and she always wants to know where she is. Makes my heart smile :)

first donut at Shipley's! she's a fan

And let me say, this little pumpkin loves her food. She's always in the mood for a snack. Words we hear a lot are: gwapes, muppins (muffins), ah-sauce, check-up (ketchup), dog-dog (hotdog), cake-cakes (pancakes), juice, zania (lasagna), fren fries, peas and squizee (pureed food in pouches).

Back in March we got Maddie her first dollhouse, and she hasn't stopped playing with it since. She loves to feed the little dolls, run her cars around the house and rearrange the furniture constantly. She also loves her big dollies and stuffed animals and takes good care of them. She offers them her own foods and drinks, puts them to bed, sings to them, dances with them, and my very favorite, READS to them. She even insists that they turn the pages (see below).

Listening to her read books to her dollies really kills me with cuteness. She remembers so many of the words, and uses the same intonations that her daddy and I use. She has a set of six Strawberry Shortcake books that she especially likes to read out loud right now.

I have to continue this post later, but not without mentioning how much Maddie loves her daddy. I didn't have time to do a true Father's Day post this year, even though he certainly deserves one! Each day when he comes home from work, she shouts da-da and gives him a running hug. He is so patient and sweet with her, and always has time to be silly and play some dress-up!

He'll love me for posting this one I think. You are the BEST, Bub the hub, and the girls wholeheartedly agree. To be continued....