Lunch

This is what happens when Madeline is tired and cranky and refuses to take a nap. She had her own food for lunch. She wanted what Ben was eating. He was not willing to share. She yelled at him. When she yells or cries or makes any loud sounds, Ben always responds by whining at her. The camera is shaky because I was laughing. Because if I didn't laugh I was going to cry or yell. It's been a tiring week.

Fourteen Months Old

She may not be walking yet, but Maddy Rose is definitely getting to be a toddler.

Her main goal in life is to sit at the kiddie table.  She tries to stretch her legs so her feet touch the ground.  She has slipped off the bench twice while doing this.  I have to watch her like a hawk.

She very much wants to eat with a spoon.  She tends to dump the contents of the spoon about four inches in front of her mouth.

Still idolizing her brother.  He still allows her to be in his presence most times.  He is getting increasingly annoyed with her now that she's really good at getting into the middle of whatever he's doing.  She wanted to eat spaghetti because that's what Ben was eating.  Right after I took this photo she puked a bunch of unchewed spaghetti noodles onto the table.  Both kids kept right on eating while I cleaned it up.

Watching TV together.  Maddy was climbing around on the sofa and made her way to Ben.  I ran to get the camera before Ben realized he didn't want her there.  He didn't mind and let her stay for a really long time.

The instrument table, one of her favorite perches.

Another perch, but this one lets her stand up almost straight.  Once in a while she tries to shuffle her feet like she's trying to walk while holding onto the chair.

Other recent Maddy stuff:  She is starting to throw tantrums by kicking both legs and hitting her heels into the floor so hard that her back comes off the floor.  She is smiling more at strangers.  She loves to look at herself in the mirror (but sometimes headbutts herself, can't tell if that's intentional).  She is finally starting to drink some milk from a sippy cup.  She tries to sip from a regular cup but it all dribbles out of her mouth.  She drinks water only from my water bottle that has a straw.  She loves to share food, and if we're lucky she hasn't already chewed it for us.  She is increasingly annoyed by being in the stroller and wants to be held up everywhere we go.  She is showing a bit more interest in books though only reads them on her own terms (which means quickly turning a few pages, then slamming the book shut).  She has bitten us several times but I'm pretty sure she didn't understand that she was hurting us and hasn't done it in the last few days.  She is getting back into a better sleep pattern and usually only wakes up once for milk.  She recently discovered the joys of cookies and ice cream.  She is constantly saying "hi" and "bye" to people, animals, dolls, and characters on TV.  She points at things she wants to look at.  And she is still thrilled to bits every time she sees the cat.  Calvin has been sleeping on the heating vents, making it very easy for Madeline to hunt him down, smack pet him, and shriek at him with glee.

Someone from Help Me Grow, the county's early intervention program, came to evaluate her this week.  Of course she's quite far behind on gross motor skills.  She's doing well with the other areas, especially communication.  In a lot of ways, she's a by-the-book kid.  But our "easy" baby is turning into a fiesty toddler.  I have a feeling she's going to give us a run for our money pretty soon.

Maddy Cuteness

How cute is Madeline in this video?  Let me count the ways.  She eats Cheerios, with Daddy, at the kiddie table.  She points to herself and says her version of "Maddy" which comes out as "meh-meh" or "mimi," depending on what day it is.  She gives a cheesy smile for the camera.  And she makes the sounds that she makes every time she sees the cat.  Cuteness overload.

Ben's Party

We waited until school was back in session after the holiday break to have Ben's 4th birthday party.

There were two kids from preschool, a girl who lives across the street, and several families from Mike's squadron.  There were a couple older siblings and really young ones.  Since we'd never thrown a birthday party for Ben we weren't sure of what to do or how structured to be.  I went with the "they'll play with toys" strategy.  That worked.  The cash register and play tent with tunnel were popular.  The kids also discovered the play area and toys in the basement.

The only game we planned was "pin the nose on the lion."  As Mike put it, it went over like a lead balloon.  Ben went first and didn't understand the concept.  He wanted to take the blindfold off so he could put the nose EXACTLY where it's supposed to go.  He had a meltdown.  Most of the kids cheated.  Lesson learned: preschoolers don't need games, just toys.  And cake and ice cream.

Toys.  That's all they needed.

The theme for the party was "stuff Ben likes."  It was a mish-mash.  Mike ordered an awesome cake that had a Mickey Mouse pilot figurine.   The cake was half yellow, half chocolate.  But I forgot and thought it was all yellow, which was what all the kids got.  Then the yellow ran out and the adults HAD to eat the chocolate.  Honest, I didn't plan it that way...

Ben already looking pretty beat.  And he hadn't even opened presents yet.

I was prepared for the swarming that would happen when Ben opened his presents because we saw it happen at a different birthday party.  It was controlled chaos.  Ben was a little overwhelmed and needed help tearing off wrapping paper (funny, he didn't need help at Christmas), which our neighbor was happy to help out with.  They made a good team.  Ben was thrilled with every single present.  He got some great ones.

Here's the last few seconds of the birthday song.  

It was a great party and Ben had a blast.  Oh, and seeing all those kids playing with his old toys that he's been ignoring for months suddenly made those toys seem interesting again.

BROZICK!

Last week Mike's best friend from college came to visit.  It had been a long time we saw him and I think this was his first time meeting Benjamin.

Brozick brought his dog Arthur with him.  Ben insisted on making signs for the guest room door.

Arthur is the sweetest dog ever.  But all it took was one lick on Madeline's foot for her to decide he was a major threat.  She screamed and cried almost every time she saw him.  Nevertheless, he followed her everywhere because she was the person most likely to drop food on the floor.

I'll end with a short video of Maddy welcoming Brozick shortly after he arrived...

Up

Here are two clips of Madeline asking to go "up." She focuses so much on saying the "p" that she never says the "uh" part. The second clip is right after a nap. She's getting several teeth in at once (molars? I'm not good with teeth names and locations) which explains why she's drooling so much and looks like she's trying to eat her own mouth.

In case you're wondering why I'm posting more videos and fewer photos... part of it is because videos are, strangely enough, faster. But it's mostly because there's now a limit to the photo storage I can use on Blogger, and I'm at 80% capacity and gobbling it up fast. Not sure whether to pay for more storage or start a new blog when the time comes...

Maddy says "Hi!"

Maddy saying "hi" to herself using the webcam a couple weeks ago.  This is how she greets me when I get her from her crib in the morning.  Since this video she's gotten better at saying "hi" with an "h" instead of it sounding like she's saying "eye."  And now she's trying to say "bye."

Bugging Each Other

Annoyance is a two-way street.  Ben is trying to watch TV while Madeline is trying to get to the side table beside the couch.  Apparently these things have to take place in the same 3-foot-square area.  And they're already fighting over the remote control.  Ah, siblings.

Climber

These days Madeline climbs on EVERYTHING.  Like Ben's new cash register.

She climbed on these boxes so much that we moved them to a different room.  She'd get stuck on top of them and cry.

Of course, still trying to climb the stairs.  This time she brought a snack.

Failed attempt at standing at Ben's picnic table.

That's better.

She is getting very close to consistently getting her leg up onto the step by herself.  She has actually done it a couple of times.

 Enjoying the view after climbing the bottom step.  She desperately wants to get to the second step.  Now that she is more mobile, she is happy that she can do these things by herself and also frustrated that she can't do more.

Climbing to Stand

Taken last week.  She's gotten faster since then and does this many times a day, usually starting as soon as she wakes up.  I thought she just liked being upright.  Turns out she's trying to sit on the bench like Ben does and she gets really mad if no one helps her do it.  She loves to sit at the table and eat, play with toys, or look at books.  Benjamin is not thrilled but mostly puts up with it.  Also not sure how thrilled her orthopedic doctor would be about us letting her sit like this.  I only let her do it for a few minutes at a time.

Christmas 2011

Before going to Christmas Eve service.  (We're trying out a Lutheran church that our neighbors invited us to.) Ben saw Daddy wearing a tie and insisted on having one, too.  And wearing it over his sweater.

Putting out cookies and milk for Santa.  Ben helped make the gingerbread men and said that Santa needed precisely five of them.

Christmas morning, before the sun came up.  Madeline slept in so each kid had their own present-opening shift.  Worked out pretty well, actually.  Ben is so serious when he opens presents.  Here's a sampling of all the stuff they got.

Ben saying "ooooooo!" as he opened his electronic toy cash register, the big hit of the morning.  He stopped everything to play with it for a long time.

His police costume.  It came with a dry-erase card that listed ticketing violations.  He played out each one with Daddy and checked them off the list as he went.  He is the friendliest cop ever.

They still make ViewMasters!  I had to get him one.  He liked it for a minute.

The big present from Nana and Pap-Pap, his first bicycle with training wheels.  He really did try to ride around the living room.

Sleepyhead finally opening her gifts.  Ben was more than happy to help her unwrap them.

Can't quite press down hard enough to pop the marbles yet.  She is fascinated with the flash cards in the box beside her, from Aunt Katie.  She talks to the ones of the cat, dog, and baby.

Surrounded by her new toys.  These kids made out like bandits this year.

Holiday Fun

Here's a bit of a holiday roundup.  In early December the kids and I went to Cincinnati for our LPA chapter's Christmas party.  It was tricky handling both kids by myself (Mike was working) but I'm so glad we went.  I got to meet a few more LP families and talked to a lot of people about Maddy's surgery a few days before she had it.

All the kids got a present from Santa.  Maddy did not like being on Santa's lap.  She did like her toy xylophone.  Here she is eyeing a nearby parent suspiciously.  "Stranger danger" is still in full effect.

Ben was plastered to Santa's side while he gave presents out.  Ben had a blast playing with all the kids.  Both Ben and Maddy were exhausted by the time we headed back home.

On a day that Ben didn't have preschool and Mike was off work, the two of them visited a place called Entertrainment Junction.  Ben loved the train displays.  He really loved getting cookies from Mrs. Claus.

Another visit to Santa.  This time, Santa told Ben that he had to go to bed early on Christmas Eve so that he could get presents to open in the morning.  Thank you, Santa!  It worked.

Ben now gives cheesy smiles every single time the camera is pointed his direction.

Photo op.

Cheesy smile.

Cheesy smile at photo op.

Ben taking Daddy's picture.

I was starting to think we weren't going to get a tree up this year but Mike made it happen.  Ben helped to decorate it.  Maddy liked looking at the ornaments and only tried to eat a few of them.

Trying to steal from the container of ornaments.