Saturday, January 24, 2009

Dear Madeline,


My sweet baby girl, tomorrow you turn three. The things people say about the love you have for your children are all cliches- but they are cliches because they are true. One day you will become a mother and know exactly what I am talking about. Instead of peppering this post with cliches and Hallmark card goodness, I thought I'd tell you 100 things about YOU this year.




100 Things About You This Year


1) You met your playgroup friends this year. You get along with all of them, but you mention Connor( an older boy, go figure) a lot.


2) You do seem to love older boys. We are in for it as you grow up


3) Your most favorite friend is Gianna. You usually play really nice together, and give each other hugs when you say goodbye. We see her about 2x a week.

4) You love your stuffed animals, especially your "Fotty dog" *( spotty dog= dalmation)


5) you replace the "sp" sound with an "f" sound i.e fotty dog, fonge bob, frinkles, farkly. Its cute


6) you call an elevator an "aligator"


7) You went to Disney this year and had a blast. You especially loved Typhoon Lagoon. Daddy and i agreed that was probably the best day of your life according to you thus far. When I think of your toddlerhood, I will most certainly remember how happy you were on this day



8) we made cookies when it snowed


9) we made a snowman when it snowed


10) once we actually bought a sled, we didn't seem to get much snow

11) You like to play the 'balls' game( caribou)

12) I beam with pride when you say please and thank you to other people.

13) you get compliments on your curly hair every single day, every single place we go

14) we got your hair cut for the first time b/c it was too long, and now its not as curly :(

15) But you still get compliments every single day

16) I love your little dimple

17) You like to put your shoes on by yourself and usually get them on the right feet

18) Today Daddy took a pillow to work b/c he may have to stay over. You looked at the pillow and said " You showing you friends you pillow , Daddy?" he laughed and said " yes" and then you said " You show Rock Obama you pillow?" You think Daddy works with the President

19) you asked for a pink scooter for your birthday. I showed you a red scooter, but you are insisting it be pink.

20) You like to read and be read to. Over the summer we joined a library reading program where you had to red ( or be read) 20 books. We finished in no time flat

21) Some of your favorite books this year were: Pinkalicious, Purplicious, Fancy Nancy, any Dora book, Busy Busy Town, Curious George and Whats the Matter Pookie

22) I love that you love to read

23) We took many trips this year to see Mimi and Papa. You love the ferry

24) you have become very social this year. Lately anywhere we go, you ask kids if they want to play with you .

25) You say ' Whats you name? I Madewin. Wanna play together?"

26) this outgoing nature surprises me since you started the beginning of the year very very shy.

27) another Best Day of Your Life was the Fourth of July this year. We went to the beach, and by the time we got home , it was pouring out. We let you outside in the backyard to play in the rain and you were so happy


28) we went to Siesta Key beach 3 times while in Florida visiting Grandma and Grandpa. You absolutely loved it, playing in the sand, going in the water, trying to catch fishes. We had a tough time getting you to leave. Its another memory I will think of when I think of your toddlerhood.




29) this was the only way to get you to leave:


30) i love that you love princesses, but also love motorcycles

31) The movie you watched the most this year is probably Curious George.

32) followed by Cars

33) You are terrified of the Incredible Hulk. I had the TV on one night and they did a spoof of the IH, a midget dressed up like him ... and you freaked out. If you see him anywhere in a store or on TV , you run away and say ' i scared!'

34) You were taking a bath with your cousin Jack in RI and he put in his Incredible Hulk toy. You started screaming for him to get him out of the tub.

35) we did LOTS of bubble this summer. Lots. I love when you say we need more bubble juice.

36) when I want you to do something and you're busy, you tell me " I working on a project "

37) You absolutely melt my heart when you say ' i wub you Mommy"

38) especially when its unsolicited

39) Just as good is when you tell me I'm your favorite Mommy.

40) You went from being a wonderful eater to a picky eater back to wonderful, back to picky and now you're somewhere in the middle.

41) As much as I complain, I secretly love waking up with you in my bed

42) I don't like being relegated to a tiny corner of the bed, but I love your smooshiness in the morning

43) You like tofu and beans ( sugar snap peas). Really. You do.

44) You love going to the bookstore for storytime- but rarely do you sit to actually hear the story

45) The librarians in the childrens section love you. A few of them told me you are their favorite.

46) They probably don't love you so much when you scream your head off as I take you away from the computer. You love that Dora game!

47) You stopped taking naps this year. You went one day from taking a 3, sometimes 4 hour nap and still going to bed at 7:30- to *poof* not napping. If you did nap you wouldn't get to sleep until 9 or 10 pm.

48) I started a rest time. You sit on the couch with your paci ( yup, you still have a paci)and watch some programs for about an hour

49) this means your new bedtime is about 7pm.

50) You call rest time " Paciandrewax" as in " I want paci and rewax on the couch"

51) we changed you over from a crib to a big girl bed in October. I would've left you in the crib forever, but you became pretty adventurous, trying to climb out, jumping, etc

52) In October, you weighed 36lbs. I know you weigh more know, we'll find out in a few weeks when we go to the Dr for your check up

53) you are not a fan of the doctor

54) nor the dentist

55) you make me laugh every day

56) After you get out f the bath and I put your jammies on, you give me a big hug as I lift you up. You look in the mirror and smile and laugh.

57) You know how to buy songs off iTunes. I found this out when I saw Kellie Pickler on my iPod

58) You love the Happy Birthday song by the Tings Tings

59) You have some really cool dance moves

60) You are somewhat afraid of dogs. A few of them you can muster up the confidence to approach, but most of them you cling to me and say " I scared"

61) But you tell me almost daily that you want a dog ;)

62) We painted pumpkins at Deepwells farms this year. You were in a 'purple and glitter' period.

63) For about 2 weeks after that day, you asked everyday if we were going to a pumpkin farm that day

64) You dressed up as Snow White for Halloween- or as you call her Snow Wipe

65) We were at Grandma and Grandpas in Florida for Halloween and you went Trick or treating with Kelli and Katelyn

66) you LOVED Kelli and talked about her constantly


67) we went to the pool a lot this past summer

68) You coined the phrase" you. don't . talka to ME !!". Its fresh, but Daddy and I always giggle to ourselves when you say it.

69) You love clickity clackity death trap princess shoes. When you wear them you say " Clickity clack, clickity clack"

70) when Daddy goes to work, you sit at the front door waving goodbye

71) I organized your toy room one day and when you walked in and said " heeeeeey where' d my toys go?"

72) you love your cousins. You feel pretty special especially when Samantha reads to you

73)You're so cute.

74) Sometimes I say " You're so cute, Madeline, I'm going to eat you " to which you reply indignantly" No, don't eat me!!"

75) You have a wonderful imagination. You spend the bulk of the day pretending to be a puppy, or Dora, or Diego or Boots or June or Leo. You say ' I'm Dora, you're boots,okaaaaaaayyyy?" or " I'm Leo , you're June, okaaaaaaaaayyyy?"

76) you love playing soccer and are pretty good

77) Everytime you see someone playing hockey on TV you say " i want to do that"

78) Yesterday your friend Angelina hit you. You started crying , and then she started crying b/c you were crying. For the rest of the day, you would randomly start to cry and say ' Angelweena hit me" and soon after followed an indignant " She's suppost to PLAY"

79) You love sitting on the step in the dining room and eating your strawberry yogurt

80) You hate Ozzy Osbourne. When the commercial comes on you run into the other room

81) You asked for a pink guitar for Christmas.

82) We got you one, but it broke about 4 minutes after you opened it. We owe you a pink guitar.

83) Christmas with you this year was amazing. You 'got' Santa, had a blast opening your presents, and played w/ all your toys .

84) you love taking baths, you hate taking baths, you love taking baths, you tolerate taking baths, you hate taking baths...( you tolerated it tonight, last night you freaked out on me)


85) you like pizza


86) you LOVE ice cream. Chocolate ice cream


87) You like doing crafts


88) Especially if they involve glue


89) You are not potty trained and tell me you are 'scared' to go on the potty


90) If I am away from you for more than 2 hours, I miss you


91) Sometimes I miss you after you go to sleep and I want to wake you up and play some more.
I never would do it, but I think about it.


92) When your friends sang you Happy Birthday the other day, you gasped and said " For MEEE?"


93) You like talking on the phone- the princess phone that is. Its usually Chrisie, for me, though


94) I try to take you out everyday for some Maddie-centric activity. Because Daddy works a lot, its often just me and you - so I have to drag you around to lots of stores sometimes. Thats why I try to throw in a Maddie-centirc activity at least once a day ( a trip to the bookstore, stopping at the playground,etc)


95) When we pass the playground, you say ' Hi Playground." When you see the moon during the day you say ' Hey Moon, its not nighttime yet"


96) If you see a bug you don't like , you say " Go to your own house, please"


97)This is the first year you 'get' your birthday, and I hope its a wonderful one.



98) I loved you from the minute I knew you were you.


99) Tomorrow we will take you to Pump It Up, a bouncy place, give you some presents ( your pink scooter) Then Mimi and Papa, Uncle Eric and Livi and Jack are coming to visit, we'll go out to your favorite restaurant( California Pizza Kitchen )

100) I love you more than I could ever express. The most beautiful thing in my life is seeing the world through your eyes.




Happy Birthday , my sweet baby girl.




love, Mommy

Monday, January 19, 2009

Daddy's Friend

Madeline: Daddy, you going to work today?
Greg: Yes
Madeline: You going to see your friends at work, Daddy?
Greg: Yes, I'm going to see my friends

After Greg leaves for work:

Madeline (to me)) :What Daddy's friends name ?
me: What do you think Daddy's friends names are?

Madeline " Rock Obama "

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

For Maryann


I got your message about Maddie's hair and her curls being gone :(

Just wanted to show you what a great job my stylist did. The first lady just cut the back- didn't shape it at all. My girl Janet shaped it and the result is a healthy head of curly hair. It looks so much healthier.
This picture is from her bday invitation shoot. I got some real doozies- you'll see them soon !

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Finally.

We've been living here for a year and a half and I've hardly 'done' Maddies room at all. Its purple, has curtains but thats about it. I have a million ideas, but I'm always looking for a way to do something cheaper. So what happens is I will find a cheaper version of an idea I like, but it will be only part of it, so it will never get done. Because by the time I find the other part, I'm already on to something else. So not only does nothign ever get done, i have a closet full of half baked ideas. Its how my brain works. Its annoying, but what are you gonna do?
I've been looking for polka dots for Madeline's room forever. The only ones I could find were the exact same color as her wall...kind of pointless. Finally I found some at Target. Ahh, Target, is there anything it can't do?
Then Jessica brain went into over drive. How should I arrange the polks dots? Should I make like a polka dot picture frame around a big M ? Hmm, maybe I'll paint a tree and make a polka dot tree ( ha! will never happen!). Should I try to make a big polka dot " M" ? Needless to say , nothing was getting done.
Yesterday i walked into Madeline's room. It had been too quiet for too long. I walk in and she's on the bed , putting her 'buddons' on the wall. You know what? It looked really cool. Iwent and got another little project i had lying around and ta da! She has some sort of decorations on her wall.
Now I just have to figure out my living room, bedroom, bathroom, etc.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Happy New Year!!

Goodbye, 2008, hello 2009- gulp.

2009?!!?

Anyway, we celebrated the way we usually do... Maddie in bed by 8pm, me and greg watching TV. I couldn't even make it past 10pm. In fact I can't remember the last year I was actually awake for the ball dropping. Greg assured me that it was less than spectacular, and that the musical guests on the NYE shows were people he had neevr heard of. I reminded him that we are :

a) old

b) un-cool

c) pretty OLD


We attended a Countdown to Noon party earlier in the day for the younger kiddos. She loved counting down and yelling " Happy New Year !" in fact, she is still saying it to salesclerks as we leave stores, ha ha

In big Maddie news, we got her haircut yesterday for the first time. I anticipated some tantrums and some squirming, but she did really well. I would normally post pictures here of her new 'do, but you can't tell the difference b/c she has curly hair. Because I am her mother, I can see a difference, and I don't like the way it was cut at all. I thought about taking her to my stylist- but then I thought ' Thats silly. She's two. Anyone can cut hair, it'll grow back...etc"
While the latter is true- it will grow back, turns out NOT everyone can cut curly hair. The lady cut off the dead ends on the bottom of her hair, and left the top all moppy looking. Like I said, I only notice b/c i am her mother, but yes, I am calling my stylist this week to see if she can touch it up. I am also in need of a new 'do.