This girl is full on walking now. She is the cutest little walker I’ve ever seen. She is loving this whole new mode of transportation. She is such a little person now, it’s crazy! (Side note: writing this post at about 13 1/2 months) It was a few days before her first birthday when she decided to take a few steps on her own. And from then on she’s just been getting better and better! And faster! It is hilarious when she is trying to go fast because her steps get higher and her belly sticks out more. She is such a cutie.
She is starting to get #E and F (upper front two), but they are taking forever to come through. I saw them a few weeks ago and F just finally broke through the gums. They are certainly taking their sweet time! I actually want her teeth to come now so she can eat more things! But she has done a good job chomping away with her gums.
Our nights have been a little better! Not every night, but for the last 3 weeks, she has kind of been sleeping through the night! Here is what a typical night would look like:
7:30 pm get her settled and nurse and start to rock her to sleep
8:30-9:30 finally be able to put her down in her crib. It might take 2 or 3 tries. A lot of times she would fall asleep in my arms, and then all of a sudden she would get super restless. OR she may fall asleep really quickly and get her down fast, but then she’ll wake up every half hour to hour until 10 or 11.
10:00 wake up (half hour after getting her down)
10:30 get her back down
1:00 am wakes up
2:00 get her back down (she’s been asleep, but not deep enough that I could put her down in her crib)
4:00 wake up
5:30 wake up
7:00 wake for the day
It was really awful. Some nights were worse than this and some were better, but this is roughly how things have gone. Some nights now are still bad. BUT over the last few weeks, she has slept TEN HOURS STRAIGHT!! That has NEVER happened before ever in her lifetime. It’s a miracle. The funny thing about it is that THE VERY first night she slept through the night, I had posted a question on facebook asking friends about crying it out. She must have known I was about to let her cry!! It was just really funny timing. She has been so much better with her naps too. She hasn’t done as many 30 min snoozes. She will usually nap between an hour-two hours all on her own. Sometimes she will go half an hour and you go in and she falls right back to sleep and will sleep another 2 hours in your arms. I just think of how different things will be for our next child… I probably will have to let them cry or they just won’t get as much sleep cause I won’t have time or the ability to sit and hold them while they sleep!
So now I just need to get her to work on putting herself to sleep. If I only I could give her my boob and walk out it would be so much easier.
Madeline loves to explore. In drawers, in boxes, in rooms, in closets, outside. Everywhere. She also loves to touch and pick up everything. Madeline is not the type to sit and quietly play with her things. No no. She likes to be busy. She will play with one thing for about 30 seconds and then she is on to the next. She really enjoys being outside and walking around. We have this patch of grass down at the end of our dead end and she loves walking down to that and picking up all the leaves and the flowers and smelling them. But once I turn her around to walk back she gets so angry! She just wants to keep walking away and exploring! She loves waving to the cars driving by. She gets really shy when people talk to her or come up close. But she likes people from a distance. It cracks me up every time we go out and she picks up a leaf and sniffs it and holds it up to me and is sniffing and then she will walk around just sniffing. It is hilarious. I just love this girl.
Madeline loves little kids. Anyone her size is an automatic friend. She gets so excited and just wants to touch them and snuggle them and play with them. Most of the time, it’s (usually the hugs/snuggles) not reciprocated haha.
She hates having bows or headbands in her hair. I haven’t tried doing a little pony on the top, cause I know she’ll just rip it out along with a bunch of hair. But I’m anxious to try that cause I think it would be so cute. She enjoys wearing shoes, especially because it means we are going out. She loves to look at my earrings. Sometimes when I pick her up from a nap, she will turn my head to look at my earrings. If I let her hold one she will try to put it back in my ear or up to her ear. Madeline also loves to put tops back onto things- her puffs, chapstick, marker, pretty much anything with a cap or top!
Madeline is obsessed with her pacifiers. She loves to hold one or two, and switch the one she has in her mouth with the one in her hand and she will just keep doing that back and forth. It’s hilarious!
Madeline hasn’t said any words yet (except for making the mama and mostly dada sounds), but she definitely understands a lot of words! I’m always surprised by the things she recognizes. She understands the words mom, dad, shoes, snuggles, pacifier, open, close, bath, banana, cracker, food, more, all done, nurse and milk (HER FAVORITE!), drink, clap, fold your arms, hi, byebye, and probably a few more, but those are the main ones.
She is beginning to have a few more melt downs. Luckily, nothing in public so far. But at home if she doesn’t get what she wants, BOY will she let you know!
I love Madeline’s deep throaty laugh, her hammy sense of humor, her sweet smell, her occasional snuggles and signs of love, her big blue eyes, her soft, squishy skin, her bravery, her little lips, her curiosity, her playfulness, and her normally happy little body. I am so grateful that she has a strong, healthy body. We just adore our sweet, Madeline!
She is obsessed with her snack cup that Grandma Jean got her!
Going… going….
Gone… 🙁 grrrr.
Mmmmmm those cheeks!
