A short answer - Madeleine.
A long answer and update, keep reading!
I have been up to my eyeballs lately with processing images and making tutus - I've been feeling like Madeleine's updates have really taken a back burner.
She has been an interesting toddler - hmmm, that is the nice way of saying she has hit her terrible twos way to early. She wants up - you pick her up, she starts screaming (we're thinking she's saying, "why the heck did you pick me up?" you put her down, the cycle continues! We were really spoiled with such an easy baby so I'm sure she may seem perfectly common in comparison - luckily the one thing we still have going for us is her ability to be an excellent sleeper. She still naps twice a day for about 2 hours each and sleeps from 8-8 at night. On the opposite scale, she is a TERRIBLE eater. Any ideas from you creative moms? I am all ears - I would stand on my head at dinner time if it would get her to eat more. I don't know why she's had such a dropoff interest in food. As a baby she ate EVERYTHING! There really was nothing I would give her as a baby that she wouldn't eat. We went to the doctor for her 15 month checkup (this was the followup after we had that nice kidney scare), she was weighed and again she is not even on the growth chart for weight. She is 17 lbs 12 oz and 29 1/2 inches long (at least the 25% for height!). I was really hoping it would be now tagged as genetics - nope! Now they want to do allergy testing. Okay, back to the foods she will eat. She loves just about any fruit and could really eat that all day, vegetables are another story - it's difficult to get her to eat any of them. She will do some chicken (depends on her mood) and some bacon, but meats in general aren't what she would go for. She does okay with breads - obviously loves crackers, cakes and cookies, and does okay with beans. I've been giving her two packets of instant oatmeal with the complex carbohydrate supplement the doctor gave me to give her and she loves that because she is learning to feed herself, but it makes a royal MESS! She's just started doing better drinking milk - the doctor reccomended giving her Pediasure or Carnation Instant Breakfast so we do the latter (it tastes like a milkshake so she downs those!) which reminds me - she LOVES ice cream and milkshakes. She is hit or miss with cheese, and I used to give her the Yo Baby yogurts, but recently stopped because I think it is causing her to have more than the normal diaper changes (if you catch my drift). I dread mealtime because it is such a battle (even though I don't want it to appear as such for her - I don't want her to have any negative connotations with meal/snack time). The parent I thought I would be with giving food is totally a lost thought. I thought I would be a tough love parent when it came to food - I did not want to raise a picky eater, now I think whatever will work to give her nutrition, I am game for. I try to give her a variety of foods each mealtime, but most end up on the floor with her screaming holy terror - leaving me a good 30 minutes of cleanup. I've really tried to limit her fruits to give her an opportunity to try other foods - it doesn't work, she just won't eat until she has something she will, and as soon as she gets down, she immediately runs to where the snacks are kept begging for those. Can you sense my frustration? The doctor said to continue to give her variety (I do) and when I asked about her pickiness he told me to be firm until dinner time and if she hasn't eaten anything all day then be more lenient. Could someone please tell me where I can pick up the instruction manual for being a parent?!?
Okay - off my eating rant :)
She is absolutely the joy of our lives, and we couldn't imagine what life would be without her in it. We keep working with her on her language development, so far she can say: uh-oh, momma, dadda, hot, hi, all gone, tickle, and bye. At the moment she thinks all animals sound like a dog - and she could find a dog in the most remote places. She used to say boo for the cow, but lately it's still a oo oo for a dog. We ran into a little girl at the park that was born the day after Madeleine, and she knew the duck said quack quack (this personally had me in disgust because I have been working on that one for MONTHS!!!) the other day she said kack kack for the duck, but it has made an appearance since.
She is a dancer - if you know me, you know how near and dear this is to my heart! I love it and I can't wait until she's old enough to get in dance. If she's not running, doing her frankenstein walk (both arms outstretched in front of her) then she's doing her moves. If she hears the Sesame Street theme song, she starts bouncing to the beat. Or she'll do her dancing walk where she moves her elbow back and forth while twisting her wrist - I love her rythm :).
She's such a big girl and can climb and scoot down the stairs, and can get down from mommy and daddy's big bed all by herself. Luckily she's not tall enough so we don't have problems with her climbing on the furniture or tables (yet!).
At night night she sleeps with a blanket (no particular one), her baby doll (Daddy wants her to call it Dolly, Mommy just calls it baby), and her stinkin' pacifier. Oh the things I swore I wouldn't do as a parent - call me a complete hypocrite - the paci is here to stay for the immediate future.
She can find her belly button, head, hair, teeth, toungue, eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
She loves to be outdoors and likes to pick up leaves. She can go down big slides and has a big smile when she comes down at the bottom.
We love our little girl and our so grateful that she is able to be a part of our family.
Mommy skunk (love the look I'm getting - Mom, do you really think you can pull that off?)
