My Monkey

I cannot believe that Madeline is 16 months old. Where did the time go? All of the sudden she is an absolute character--copying almost everything we say; "reading" books out loud; dancing and singing; talking on the phone to her grandmas; mothering the babies in the church nursery; running; and thoroughly enjoying "spaash spaash"ing in the pool. I had thought about sharing some of her most used phrases, but there are so many. She speaks in broken sentences now and can really communicate her needs. Like her sister, Madeline is quite bossy-- she loves to point her finger at you when she is telling you what to do. Seriously where do they get this? Quiet Katie, Mom, and Jonathan! Recently Madeline pointed her finger at me during the intro to one of their favorite kid shows and said, "No, no mommy! Top (stop) singing!" She also likes to tell Hannah (in her most bossy voice), "No Hannah, top botty (bossing)!" But, also like her sister, Madeline uses her words to say some of the most precious things to my ears, like, "yud dju mommy" (love you mommy), and when asked, "Who made you Madeline?"-- "Gaaa!" (God).


Madeline definitely makes us laugh. Also like Hannah, she is so silly. Hannah gets cracked up watching Madeline run, because she pants and swings one arm-- quite amusing. Madeline and Hannah LOVE to play (and sometimes fight) together. It has been so much fun to watch their relationship evolve. They make up songs together, brush each other's hair, and get in trouble together. Their most recent favorite "sneaky" thing to do is to climb up on Hannah's bed and "dump dump" (jump).

This past week I weaned Madeline of her morning nap, and just this weekend we took away her "passy." Madeline can proudly say that she is almost 72 hours "passy free"--except we don't use the word "passy" in our house anymore. She asked for it (well, screamed and cried for it) the first morning, but she has gone down for naps and bed time with no problem since then, and the "passy" seems to be a thing of the past. What's next for Madeline?

Drum roll please . . .





That's right folks, potty training!!! This is NOT something mommy is pushing, even slightly. I attribute this in part to cloth diapers, and in part to desperately wanting to do everything her big sister does. Because Madeline has grown up in cloth, she is very aware of her bowel movements and wet diapers. She has been telling me for months when she has to go "poo poo." I will ask her if she wants to go on the potty, and sometimes she says, "djess" and other times, "No, no" and waves her finger at me. Because she has recently wanted to "go potty" every time Hannah does, I decided (today) that it was time for her to pick out her own little potty at the store. Now, she can sit on it whenever she wants to "try" and I don't have to worry about her trying to climb into the big potty when I am not looking. So, long story short-- she could be potty trained in the next few months, or it could be a year from now. Nevertheless, she is very excited about using her own little potty and she sure does look cute sitting there!