Gobble Gobble

Which is the bigger Turkey? This year our Tom the Turkey was 26lbs for just our little family. Miss Madison is only 23lbs now. Funny, she looks so much bigger than the turkey. She was signing 'apple' in this photo as she is sitting right next to a plate full. Madison had a great time hanging out beneath our feet in the kitchen as we made Thanksgiving dinner this year. She went from dining room to kitchen saying 'no, no, no' when we weren't paying her enough attention. She also tried taking off her shirt-arms thru the neck of the shirt, and pulling her pumpkin tights off by pulling at her feet. I'm still not sure she realizes the difference between socks and tights.

Daddy taught Madison how to cook a turkey to perfection. She stayed busy until dinner when she enjoyed turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce but went to bed before pumpkin pie time. I'm sure she'll try some for breakfast tomorrow. We wrapped up the night pushing Madison around the house in her favorite, 'vroom, vroom', a Pampers diaper box. Of course she HAD to have all her bears with her too.

We are thinking about taking Madison out for her second Black Friday shopping morning tomorrow. Last year we were in FL. Mommy, Madison, and Uncle Matt met Daddy and Uncle Daniel (they spent the night at Best Buy) at the mall early in the morning for some shopping. We left empty handed, but had fun anyway. Madison hung out with Mommy in her Baby Bjorn. Stay tuned for more info on this years shopping adventure.

Fifteen Months Old

Can you believe Madison is 15 months old already? She is just a ball of energy these days.
She is still wearing size 4 diapers and is almost solely in 18 month clothes now.
Her vocabulary is really growing too, both signing and verbal.
Lots of people ask us why we decided to teach Madison sign language. People ask if signing slows her verbal skills. Signing helps Madison communicate her needs and wants with ease. Some letter combinations are tough to say as a baby. Things like 'th' and 'ch' and 'sl' are tough say when you are first learning to verbalize. When we learn a new sign together, Madison gets excited and still tries to say the words. We've found it is important to SAY the words we are signing. Nothing should REPLACE your verbal interaction with a child. Signing simply supplements her learning. She tells us when she wants to eat, drink, nurse, sleep, bathe-it's great. Don't get me wrong, we don't practice 'child led' parenting in our house. We still have a regular eat, sleep, bathe, play schedule. Signing just helps Madison tell us what she is feeling or discovering. Its so fun to play outside with her and see her little hands go wild when she sees a bird, or plane, or cat. She LOVES to sign to us what she finds. She even signed her first SENTENCE this month, "Eat cheese!". So fun.
This month she really started showing her excitement more, too. When Matt gets home from work, she's always been excited, but now she runs to the door shreeking with excitement. Sometimes she runs to the front window with Sierra yelling, 'Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad'. She's such a crack up.
She's discovering how things work more and more too. Including figuring out how to stack smaller things on top of each other to create stairs to get to places she isn't supposed to be. Or learning how to pull her baby gate down while Mommy is in the shower so she can cruise into the kitchen and 'bathe' in Sierra's water dish.
Everyday Madison learns a new way to get herself into trouble. Daddy says we are in for it!
Mommy and Madison are working out a new weekly routine. We played with some friends during the day this month and tried out MyGym- a mommy and me group here in town. When the holidays are over and we are back at home, we want to get Madison involved in more play groups. She has such a great time interacting with other kids, we really want to build on that.
Time certainly is flying with this little one.
Most of our daily ins and outs were covered in the trip to Fl, and Halloween posts. Madison also learned to climb the ladder while she 'helped' Mommy and Daddy hang a new ceiling fan in their room and some fun storage crates in her own room. She enjoyed lounging in her glider holding ALL her bears, babies, and dogs while we worked. She still loves going to the park to swing and run around with Sierra. Her favorite part of being outside is riding in or pulling around her wagon. When she's playing in the house, if she sees a hat she'll put it on- even if she already has one, or two, or three on. She has also taken a liking to socks and shoes. Hers, Mommy's, and Daddy's. She'll put them all on- or try anyway. We are having fun with every change and looking forward to every new day.
For those who are interested- Yes, we are trying for another baby. No luck yet but we'll keep you posted. Matt sure is having fun 'trying'.
Check out pics from this month.

Happy Halloween

This year Madison was a pumpkin fairy for Halloween. Not just any pumpkin fairy, but the cutest little pumpkin fairy you've ever seen! Madison was more interested in playing with her wagon than taking pictures by the giant pumpkins. The big one was 292 lbs and the smaller was a nice 64.5 lbs. Only a few months off before we start conditioning the soil for next year's pumpkin. We rode thru the neighborhood a little in her wagon before heading over to see her friends Kate and Carolyn Briggs. It was a nice quiet Halloween for us this year.

Pumpkin Patch

We got back from FL at 1am today, just in time for Halloween. Madison adjusted to the time change nicely so we decided to pick out a 'Madison size' pumpkin for her. The patch was pretty picked over but we still had fun. Madison watched all the bigger kids pick out their pumpkins then found one just her size. My favorite part was watching her sign 'ball' every time she saw a pumpkin. She still thinks the pumpkins are orange balls. Silly girl.

October trip to FL

October 17th Madison and Mommy left for FL to visit Mommy's family and friends. We had such a great time visiting. Madison played with Shanon and her kids, Declan, Alex, Riley, and Bobby. She wore her Gator outfit from Uncle Matthew that day- needless to say it was NOT the day of the Georgia-Florida game. Shanon's youngest, Bobby also had on a Gator outfit, which confused Riley. She thought our little baldy Madison was 'another Bobby'. We also had a great time playing with Reagan Kelly, Macy Baker, Dylan and Kaisley Carswell, and Kendall Sines. Kendall was a little timid the first time we played. By the second time, she and Madison were dancing and running around Old Navy together trying on hats.

Uncle Matthew taught Madison how to use Gramm and Grandpa's sofa like a jungle gym (thanks a lot Uncle Matthew!). Aunt Abby taught Madison how to go down the stairs face forward (with two hands for assistance of course) instead of inching down backwards as she used to do safely. When Gramm and Grandpa's dogs barked, Madison learned to tell them, 'No, No'. Unfortunately she used this new found word on Mommy when she didn't want to go down for naps too. She also perfected shaking her head back and forth (like saying no) when she is doing something she shouldn't be. For example, if she pulled on the lamp cord she would look at us and shake her head 'No'. It's great, she disciplines herself now. HA

Gramm had surgery on her elbow while we were there. Madison was a great nurse, sitting down next to Gramm and snuggling with her every opportunity she could find. She was especially happy when Gramm's cat, CC was on Gramm's lap. We taught Madison, 'gentle cat' so she didn't pull CC's whiskers and hair too much. Surprisingly Madison was pretty gentle and CC was pretty tolerant. All and all, I think CC was happy to see Madison go.

One of her favorite activities was waking Mommy up early to open the blinds and look out the front window of the bedroom to watch the cars go by. She learned the word and sign for 'car' and used it every time one drove by. She also learned the word and sign for 'ball'. And the sign for 'cup'. She knows she has to sit down to put on her shoes and now will sit down and try to put them on herself.

Gramm bought Madison squirting frogs for bath time. It didn't take long for her to figure out how to open the door handles at the house and let herself into the bathroom. She just stands by the tub pointing and saying, 'frog, frog'. Uncle Daniel brought out his GIANT Cha-Cha the tree frog from Rainforest Cafe too. Madison thought it was great fun to hug and lay on the frog. We thought we were going to have to buy an extra seat on the plane for our giant new friend!

We also got to spend a night with Aunt Dar and Uncle Michael. Aunt Dar showed Madison a special doll in Mommy's old room. Miss Madison remembered the pretty 'baby' and ran back to the door often, touching the door and saying, 'baby, baby'. She wanted to go back in and play with the baby more. We were quite impressed by her memory. She also got to play with Emma and Jack Ryan from across the street. They had lots of fun pretending they were cats and chasing Madison around the house. Of course whenever they would 'meow' Madison signed and said, 'Cat, Cat'. Poor Emma tried and tried to entertain Madison, but she was so enamored by Jack Ryan she barely paid attention to her little red-headed friend.

Madison did manage to get a sinus infection while we were in FL, so she got to meet Mommy's old family doctor. We learned Madison is allergic to the antibiotic Septra, which Mommy is also allergic to. No serious reaction, just a rash and yucky diarrhea. Madison also had her very first projectile vomit at Olive Garden with Mommy and Gramm the afternoon of the day we were leaving. Even with her cold, she was a trooper on the plane. As usual a fantastic flyer.

One of Mommy's favorite parts of the trip was watching the GA-FL game with her Gator friends, Jen and Tina. We had a great time harassing each other all game long. In the end the Bulldogs pulled through with a long awaited victory over the FL Gators. Go Dawgs!

Daddy says Madison grew a foot in the two weeks we were gone. She did get THREE new teeth while we were gone. Each day she seems to grow and change so much.