1.5 years old!

Go Heels! Beat Duke!

Maddie's stats from her 18 month appt:
Height: 30.5"
Weight: 22 lbs
She has gained a pound and grown an inch in the last 2 months! She's continuing to follow her 15% growth curve perfectly. The appointment went well, she didn't like her shots but seems to be over her fear of anything touching her ears, so that was a relief. The pediatrician was not concerned that she isn't talking yet, he said she seems to understand plenty for her age, and we won't worry about actual words unless she hasn't made any progress by her next appointment when she is 2.

Her words right now are: dada- meaning Daddy, and often said in her "monster voice," which her Daddy thinks is hilarious and encourages, mama- meaning please or I want something, dat- meaning what/who is that, doe- meaning where did that/they go, hi/hey- meaning hey look at me, and yay- meaning yay. I took a little video of her words- the only ones she will say on command are dada and mama. Although it kind of sounds like she is trying to say please for real in this clip! Sorry it's sideways...for some reason I just held it the wrong way.

We went to the kid's museum with some of Maddie's friends yesterday, and she got to play dress up a lot there, which she loved. She also colored her first picture (markers are much more fun than crayons I guess) and groomed some dogs in the brand new pet shop.






Maddie's favorite things to do this week are play with the dogs and sit on the couch like a big girl. She and Ginger are hilarious together- they have started playing a game where Ginger licks Maddie and knocks her over, Maddie buries her face in the floor while laughing hysterically, and Ginger noses her head underneath Maddie's body until Maddie stands up and the whole thing starts all over. Mia doesn't love Maddie quite as much, but she is very tolerant of Maddie's incessant hugs and kisses.

Snow, snow, go away...

I am still in NC, right? Because I'm sitting in my house with about 5 layers of clothing on and the heat cranked up and I'm still freezing. And there is snow covering my backyard- AND it's been there since Saturday. Bizarre.

I know a lot of people were very excited to take their kiddos out into the winter wonderland last weekend, but me, not so much. I'm not feeling too hot (quite the opposite actually!), and it takes a good 30 minutes of prep to stuff Maddie into the 43 layers of warmth required to brave the snow for all of 10 minutes until we decide it's just too cold to be outside. I was a tiny bit excited about taking her "sledding" for the first time, but she was very unimpressed by it all so I'm really quite ready for the snow to make it's exit now.



So enough of that- on to the good stuff. Maddie is really turning into a big girl lately! I can officially call her a toddler now that she is walking for real. She took her first steps a couple of days before Christmas, and by early January she was a walking pro. She rarely crawls anymore, and although she does fall frequently, it's usually because she is trying to run. We took a "tumbling tinies" class in January through our local parks and rec department, and she had a blast. It seems like she has pretty much caught up in the gross motor skill department.


Along with her new skillz comes the fabulous toddler attitude. Sometimes a "no, you can't have that right now" is met with a scream and meltdown so loud that you'd think I kicked her puppy. Other times, it is met with a mischievous smile as she grabs for the item anyway. But as far as toddlers go, I think that so far she's a pretty well behaved one (I'm sure my opinion of that will change as she gets closer and closer to the terrible 2's). Maddie has long outgrown hair pulling and for the most part she is extremely gentle with everyone (and everything- the dogs are relieved) around her, giving lots of hugs and kisses all day long.


She's also turning into quite the girly girl. She hasn't touched the cars that she got for Christmas, preferring to spend her days chatting it up with her massive stuffed animal collection. She also loves to carry around her little pocketbooks and tries to play dress up with any stray piece of clothing that she finds. Her fave dress up item is her stethoscope, which I'm pretty sure she would wear to bed if I let her. I can't believe I don't have a picture of her wearing that thing. She also LOVES to "read" and be read to, which makes her Mommy very happy, even if she has entered the phase of wanting Mommy to read one book 87 times in a row.


And, of course....Her name is Maddie....she likes to DANCE! Maddie looooves the show Yo Gabba Gabba, which is most likely written by people on some serious drugs. But it's fun, funny and teaches good lessons, and nothing can cheer Mads up faster than a little YGG.

I guess that's a pretty good summary of what Miss Maddie is doing at (gasp!) almost 18 months (that's 1.5 for the non-parents). I feel so lucky to be her mom- she is just a very happy, social, sweet, gentle, funny girl. Speaking of social, I've decided to register her for Mother's Morning Out in the fall! She'll go 2 (half) days a week, and I think she will love it. And I probably won't mind having a few hours to myself each week either :).