Author: Andi

Last weekend we had my mom, stepdad and brother over to help clean and carve pumpkins. Maddie had a fun, just like last year.

First, here are a couple videos of Maddie helping to clean out her pumpkin. She was a little hesitant at first and really didn’t want to touch it, but she eventually got over it and had some more fun.

She’s very particular about touching things and being messy. So the pumpkin cleaning went quite well.

Then I decided to let her finger paint her pumpkin. It went all right, but she really didn’t like the paint on her finger and needed her finger cleaned every time she used a color. I eventually got her a paint brush and she was much happier with that.

Then Maddie painted her shirt and was so distraught over it! She needed a napkin to wipe it off!

She did the same thing to her hand and cried about it and then to her foot. Such a silly little girl!

Overall, it was a hit and she seemed to have fun. Quite honestly, though, her favorite part might have been when we cleaned her up and then let her play in the water to clean off her hands.

I haven’t decided what costume I am going to put her in yet. I bought a frog costume for her and I also got an Elmo costume from a friend. So I will probably let Maddie pick what she wants to wear. We did get a couple cute pictures of her in the Elmo costume last weekend when we stopped by our neighbor’s house for their Halloween party.

Well, she was cute after she stopped crying!

She was much happier when we gave her a KitKat, too.

Have a great Halloween!

I have a few things saved up about Maddie that don’t really need a full post. So I thought I would just put them all in one little post. I didn’t want to forget about these little tidbits!

* Maddie has started to say “grandpa,” but she says it “ba-ba.” She gets really excited when I tell her one of her grandpas are coming over. And when she sees a picture of one of them, she gets really excited, too! They love it!

* Maddie has started to talk on her play phone more often these days. She picks it up and says hello. I’ve heard her have little conversations (usually involving “ba-ba” and “baby”) and then she says “bye” and takes the phone away from her ear. When I ask her who she is talking to, she will pause and think about it then tell me whom she is talking to. It cracks me up!

* I let Maddie talk to my mom on my phone the other day. Then she talked to Chuck and my dad on the phone, too. Maddie gets so into it. She listens so carefully to what the person on the phone asks her then answers. The look of concentration on her face is so adorable!

* I was sitting on the couch one evening and Maddie came up next to me, pulled my shirt up and was touching my stomach saying “baby.” She will kiss and rub my stomach all the time. This particular night, the baby was moving a lot, so I put Maddie’s hand on my stomach and she got this weird look on her face when she felt it move. Then I told her the baby would come out in a couple weeks and we could play with her. And she started say “out out” and trying to open my stomach. If only it were that easy, kiddo!

* I have been trying to get Maddie to say some of the names we have on our baby list to see if she likes them. Usually when I ask her to repeat it, she pauses briefly and says “naho” (which is a silly way she says “no” when we ask her to say something she doesn’t want to say).  When I ask her what we should name the baby, her answer is usually “BABY!” Good thing toddlers don’t name children!

Last night, Maddie decided she wanted something. So she came on the couch next to me and said “leh-low.” In Maddie speak, that is yellow or window. I kept trying to figure out what she wanted and she just kept repeating “LEH-LOW” with growing frustration in her voice. Finally, after a couple tries of me not getting it right, she got about 3 inches from my face and very slowly and deliberately said “LLLEEEHHH-LLLOOOOWWWW” and pointed at the refrigerator.

I finally figured out she wanted to play with the playdoh that I keep on top of the fridge. After I stopped laughing at her, I asked her if she wanted to play with playdoh. Her response was a mixture of irritation and relief and a long “yyyyeeeaaaahhh.”

Maddie is thinking: Gosh, mom. You are so dumb. Figure it out already. I’ve been trying to tell you for minutes what I want.

Mommy is thinking: Let’s not make 4 things mean the same word so I can figure out what you are talking about.

Then she happily got some tools from her play kitchen and played with playdoh until bed time.

What a character! I can’t get over how funny she is. I think she is 20 months going on 20. She surely keeps me on my toes! It’s a good thing I am having another baby soon, because this sweet little girl definitely isn’t a baby anymore!

Chuck came home one day with a huge stack of paper cups for Maddie to play with. They had loads of fun building towers and knocking them down!

I love how patient she was with Chuck waiting for him to build a tower before she knocked it down. Who knew paper cups could be so much fun!

I came across a few projects recently that I thought Maddie would like. I picked up some popsicle sticks from the craft store. I had intentions to cut a small hole just large enough for the sticks to fit into on a peanut jar or other canister. But then I realized that the opening on one of my mugs was the perfect fit.

Maddie immediately started putting the sticks in the cup. And she didn’t stop for a long time! I took some pictures of her playing with it. I just love how hard she concentrates and that she sticks out her tongue while she concentrates.

And there are more little projects I put together for Maddie recently and I took LOTS of pictures. Those will be coming soon!

Maddie likes to play with toilet paper. With a toddler in the house, I don’t usually get to go to the bathroom without her joining me. So I can usually keep her happy by giving her a square or two of toilet paper. She likes to wipe her nose with it, clean things with it and some times she will even pretend to wipe herself.

But a couple weeks ago when I gave her toilet paper, she took off into the kitchen. She was tearing away some small chunks and then she decided to try sticking it to the back of the couch. To my surprise, it stuck there. And then she decided she needed to go nuts and stick it all on there! I have now dubbed this her “toilet paper art”.”

I think the cutest part of all, was when she was done playing, I asked her to clean it up. And she did! She picked up all the pieces and put them in the trash. She is such a good girl. She hasn’t tried doing this again, but I was proud of her for being so creative!

Maddie is at such a fun and curious age. She is always trying new things. The other day I was washing her clothes and she thought it would be fun to play with her hamper. She was walking all over the house with it on her head….or really her body.

She brought a toy phone inside so she could talk on the phone.  The thought she should try out her kitchen with it on.

Then thought she should push her stroller around while wearing it.

I was laughing so hard at her. And man, it’s hard to get pictures of her these days because she moves to darn quickly! But Chuck came home and took a video of her….making more laps around the island with the hamper.

Maddie has recently realized that running around the kitchen island is fun. She does it all the time. I remember my parents had a place we could run in circles around their house and my brother and I spent a lot of time chasing each other around it. When I saw the island when we looked at this house, I immediately thought about our kids running around the island. Little did I know at the time, I would be required to chase them around it hundreds of times! Here’s a video of our island fun.