17 months and counting

Maddie will be 17 months in 2 days and the "terrible twos" have already invaded our house. Maddie has really become headstrong and has a fit if she doesn't get her way. This week we've had two constant battles with her. 1) she wants to walk the dog ALL THE TIME! And by walk the dog I mean she wants to walk and not be in her stroller. This past weekend it was so hot I just let her walk once in the morning and once in the evening. She banged on our pantry all afternoon for the dog leash and got really mad when I'd say no. The other battle is the car seat. She refuses to ride in her car seat now. She started the car seat fits about 2 months ago but they were only once in a while. Now, she throws a fit EVERY TIME I try to fasten her in. She climbs into the car and sits next to her car seat and tries to fasten the big seat belt around her. It breaks my heart that she won't have that option for many years. I've perfected the hold to force her in the car seat but I definitely limit our trips out now.

I decided that the pool is going to save us this summer. She spends the entire time at the pool walking in between the playground and the water. This way she can use up all of her energy and if we get too hot I take her in the big pool to cool off. My main concern is that she's in the sun too much so we may have to limit our time there. I'm already looking forward to cooler weather and we haven't even hit July or August yet!!!

So I wanted to talk a little about Miss Maddie's personality and developments.

• Maddie isn't saying much yet. She says the basics, mom, dad, and cat. She'll say a word but we can't get her to say it again so I don't really count those as words. The other day she said banana but I haven't heard it since then. She also knows what cows, sheep, and dogs say. She understands everything. I can tell her to lay down and she complies. I'll ask her to put on her shoes and she will sit down holding her shoes. One funny thing is she always sits down when putting on JoJo's leash because I tell JoJo to sit and she thinks I want her to. I hope that once words start coming she'll pick everything up easily since she understands so much. She also knows some body parts like eyes and head. Jon loves asking her where her belly button is and she'll look down and point to it. When he asks her in public she lifts up her dress to show him. It's probably not the greatest thing to teach her but it's awfully funny.
• Her new skill this week is opening doors, which I'm not too happy about. She started to shut doors last week by using the door knob. She has always loved opening and closing doors but she couldn't shut the door all the way because her fingers were in the way. Now that she can just reach the door knob she closes the door as far as she can and then reaches for the door knob to finish the job. She figured this out because if she'd reach for the door knob too early her toes would get pinched by the door. She also figured out if she keeps holding the door knob then I can't open it back up. One of the many times she asked to go outside this weekend she opened the door to the garage by herself and walked out. She now also opens the pantry door to grab the leash and the plastic bag (for the dog's poo) by herself.
• She has to do everything herself. A short list is fastening her car seat harness (when she actually climbs in willingly), going up and down the steps, brushing her teeth and hair, pouring water on herself in the bath and much more. She actually just had her first fall down the stairs this weekend. She fell down maybe 5 or 6 steps and the gate stopped her at the bottom. She was fine but it gave both of us a scare.
• She won't let me change her diaper. This is another constant battle. I've had to get creative and change her standing up. She also tries to put on the diaper and wipe herself which can get messy.
• She dances. Her dancing is turning around in circles. She usually gets so dizzy she starts bumping into things.
• She climbs on everything.
• She makes the funniest face. I squint my eyes at her and she'll squint back and make a goofy face. I discovered tonight all I need to say is "silly" and she'll make the face. It cracks me up so then she'll start laughing too.

If we survive the "terrible twos" Maddie is going to be such a fun little girl. I just can't wait till she starts talking so we can hear what she has to say. I remember Jenn telling me "be careful what you wish for" so I guess I should enjoy the silence (aka. screams) for now.

Eating a turkey burger

Graham crackers in the stereo. Good thing with don't listen to tapes anymore.

Picnic after nap time. Ever since Anna's visit I'm obsessed with picnics. We take our food everywhere.

"Maybe I'm supposed to sit on that blanket."

Ready for the pool.

Side profile

"How're you doin?"

The "silly" face

Opening the door