December

Whew! We've just capped off an amazing holiday season, filled with everything that makes the season what it is - Christmas decorations, family visits and tons of food. Madeline, now 22 months old, was completely immersed - she even learned how to operate the cd player in our living room so she could turn on the Christmas music every morning ("Jingle Bell Rock" was her favorite tune, though she also learned most of the words to "Silent Night"). She loved decorating the tree and going on Christmas-light tours in the neighborhood, and even inspired us to string up lights on the columns and rails of our front porch.

Aside from the holidays, Madeline has had an active month. She can now count to 13 without interruption or repetition, and can accurately identify small numbers of similar objects (two shoes, three squirrels). Her longest sentences have contained seven words, but five- and six-word sentences are common.

The most exciting part for me is that we can have genuine conversations together. Each night as I put her to bed we talk about that day, and it always amazes me what details she remembers. I don't feel like I'm coaxing words from her, but rather I'll briefly mention an activity and she'll describe what she remembers, such as where she was standing, the texture of an object or who else was there. When I talk to her on the phone (she loves talking on the phone) I can ask what she had for dinner or what she did with the babysitter that afternoon, and she'll tell me with accuracy.

Perhaps it shouldn't surprise me that she can remember those types of details. I'm more impressed that she can verbalize her thoughts so well, and by her huge vocabulary (one baby-development site says a typical 22-month-old's vocabulary consists of 20 words). She's even started to pluralize words and experiment with pronouns.

Potty training is going well so far - she lets us know when she has to go (sometimes) and seems to be pretty good about controlling it and waiting until she's ready to go. And she makes adults feel special by cheering when they emerge from a restroom, just like mommy and daddy cheer for Madeline when she's successfully used the potty.

At the beginning of this year I speculated that the major story of 2009 would be Madeline's cognitive growth, and she hasn't disappointed (although her physical growth has been impressive, too, according to the pencil marks on the back of her bedroom door). In fact, I don't think I quite realized the amazing development that would take place in the past 12 months.

Here are some photos from the past month:

In the spirit of the season, Madeline made her own wrapping-paper-tube trumpet.
























All decked out in daddy's "outdoorsman" flannel jacket and holding a spatula, Madeline is ready to assist with the steak-grilling duties one late-fall evening.

Madeline enjoyed a visit with her great-grandparents and other family members during our annual holiday trip to Roanoke.

Madeline, holding Baxter the Dog, spread her holiday cheer throughout the retirement community where her great-grandparents live.

Madeline lends mommy a finger - a duty she relished at wrapping time.
























Madeline writes a greeting on a gift that she will later present to Aunt Hannah.

A late-December storm left about 8 inches of snow at our home - Madeline's first experience with snow since March,
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This time, Madeline loved being outside in the snow, although it was so deep and dense she couldn't really walk in it.










Madeline hugs her very first snowman.
























Madeline, taking a break from cooking Christmas treats in the kitchen, spends a quiet moment with the nutcracker. Madeline and mommy could be found in the kitchen many mornings this month, and I always enjoyed waking to the delicious smells of whatever was cooking.

Madeline spent a few days on Christmas week hanging out at Grandma's house with mommy and Hannah, doing Christmasy things with the girls. Daddy later got to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Madeline gives Uncle Stephen a hug during our Christmas Eve visit to Nana's cabin at Bear Creek Lake State Park.

Madeline readies the milk and cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, and was perhaps confused why she couldn't share them.

The first gift Madeline saw on Christmas morning was her new kitchen set, and she played with it for most of the day. We had to pry her away to get her to notice other presents and people.

Madeline helps Papa extricate her new baby doll from the seemingly adult-proof packaging.

Madeline enjoys an alphabet puzzle she received from Santa - the old color and shape puzzles had become too easy for her, so now she has a new challenge for 2010.

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Madeline chats on her new Pooh phone after Christmas morning breakfast at Granddaddy's house.

Madeline's 2009 Christmas portrait.

November

The season is in full swing here at the end of November, and it's been an eventful month for us. Aside from the usual holiday hubub, we've also had a big family wedding to celebrate (see a few pictures from the wedding here).

Madeline continues to impress us daily with her intellect. She can express herself with accuracy in almost every situation, using five- and six-word sentences to convey action, emotion and nuance. Even the words that she would have no reason to remember come out in the proper context days later.

The same is true with her books - she's familiar with them after the first reading, and she can recite several phrases per page of her favorite books. She sometimes sits and reads for 30 minutes or more, and I love listening to her read aloud, and realizing where she is in the book from the words and inflections she's using.

Her counting is coming along, although she seems to have forsaken the number three. Madeline counting sounds something like, "one, two, four, five, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine," getting hung up like a broken record on the "four, five" segment.

Here are some pictures from this month:

Madeline explored the live oysters on display at the Urbanna Oyster Festival.


Barely awake, Madeline clutched Debby the doggy during a long car ride.

Madeline enjoyed being showered with leaves in the backyard.

Madeline shoots the breeze with friends and family on the porch at Grandma's house on a pleasant fall weekend.


Clowning around.

Madeline proudly shows off her half-marathon finisher's medal. She spent much of the morning calling herself the "champion" and offering high-fives.

Spending a lazy fall afternoon on the front steps.

After mastering the skill of walking along the railroad tie on the edge of our driveway, Madeline looked to mommy for assurance before jumping off the side.

Making the leap.

Pleased with her success.

Madeline cautiously investigates a large slug. . .

and then reaches out to touch it.

Grasping on the kitchen counter for a tasty snack.

Madeline enjoyed helping us decorate the tree, and is a huge fan of Christmas music. She dances and sings along, and her favorite song so far is "Jingle Bell Rock."

Here's an outtake from Madeline's holiday photo shoot. Stay tuned in late December for Madeline's annual Christmas portrait!

October

It can be difficult to look back over an entire month and remember the small details, but here are some highlights from our October:

Sleeping: Madeline made the transition from two naps to one early this month. We had tried earlier, with poor results. But this time she took right to it, and she started getting better sleep during the day and at night. With the two-nap schedule she never seemed to be tired, and getting her to go down was getting more and more difficult. But now she's tired at the right time and bedtime has mostly been smoother. One critical element to the new schedule has been . . .

Television: We finally introduced Madeline to television - she watches about 30 minutes of Sesame Street in the mid-mornings during quiet time (her former morning nap time). She loves Elmo and is getting to know some of the regular characters and features. She loses interest after about 30 minutes, so I'm happy that she's not becoming infatuated with it.


Skills: Madeline can count to five and is beginning to learn her letters. She can accurately count my fingers when I hold them up in different configurations. She knows her major colors and loves coloring with crayons and colored pencils at her table in the kitchen. She's also learning about written words and numbers.

Halloween? I am sorry to report that we missed Halloween this year. We never made it to the pumpkin patch and had no decorations other than the pumpkin Lacey's parents brought us. And Madeline stayed home on Halloween night. Every weekend was just so busy (or rainy) that we didn't find time for the seasonal activities I had hoped to accomplish. But I think Madeline is still young enough that missing Halloween won't leave a lasting scar, and we'll make sure to make the most out of the holiday season that now begins.

Potty: Without getting into too much detail, Madeline has commenced potty training. She's getting better at letting us know when she has to go, and has even "performed" in her toddler potty a few times.

Here are some photo highlights from this month:

Madeline has apparently inherited her mother's hatred of ants, as displayed by her cool, methodic stomping of them in the driveway.

Madeline was quite excited to hear a woodpecker in the backyard during a brief lull in the seemingly endless leafblower cacophony that envelops the suburbs.

Something I long dreaded to see - my daughter rendered expressionless by the television. But with the elimination of her morning nap, she now gets a few doses of the tube per week.

Madeline enjoys collecting acorns and rocks in the yard.

At some point she learned to climb the stars at the playground by herself. Next she'll be asking for the keys to the car.

Peek-a-boo!

Who knew the playground slide would offer an object lesson in static electricity?

Madeline begins to notice the changing of the seasons.

Too cool for school -Madeline has pockets and she knows how to use them.

Madeline enjoys helping around the house -here she's giving mommy a hand with some banana bread. She also enjoys helping with chores such as the laundry and the dishwasher. We'll see how long this lasts.

Madeline enjoyed visiting with the chickens and her other animal friends at the farmer's market.

What would autumn be without a big pile of freshly raked leaves to redistribute? I generally subscribe to the laissez-faire school of lawn care, so the only reason I have raked leaves this year is for Madeline to kick them.

Madeline attempts to lift a heavy jar of peanut butter.

September

September was a whirlwind for us, as we packed up our old home and moved to a new one. Madeline stayed with Lacey's parents for several days while we were moving, and we were distressed when she came down with a fever on the morning we were set to drop her off. We still went through with the plan, and Madeline was OK aside from cold-like symptoms (runny nose, slight fever, lethargy).

The sickness and the break from her normal routine took their toll, and she was, um, a handful for a couple days when she returned to us (and the new house), but it didn't take long for her to accept the new place as her own. Now when we return from walks she even says, "home!"

This month Madeline's skills continued to impress us:

Counting - She can now count to three. She will sometimes count objects as she picks them up and puts them down in a different place. "Unn, too, tree. . ."

Reading - Madeline has started reading books to herself. And not just baby talk, which she's done for months. Now she picks up familiar books and flips through them, page by page, using real words to describe what's happening on each page. She also picks up inflections that we use when we read those same books to her.

Vocabulary - Taking a walk with Madeline is to experience a vocal accounting for every animal, object and event within view. She'll see an animal, make its noise and describe what it's doing - such as running, hopping, barking, etc. She even anticipates what might happen - at the beginning of a recent walk I said, "Madeline, I wonder what we'll see today." She responded, "animals?" and I said, "what kinds of animals?" She then listed a few of the common animals that we see on our walks - squirrels, birds, doggies. . .

Here's what else we've been up to this month:

Madeline checked out the scene on the back porch while daddy was cooking on the grill one fine late-summer evening.
























Madeline and Pink Bunny helped out as mommy packed one of the 6,387 boxes we filled for our move to a new home across the neighborhood.

Madeline said bye-bye to the only home she's ever known before heading off to spend a few days with Grandma while mommy and daddy (and some other kind helpers) moved all those boxes.

Then she took a tour of the loop to say bye-bye to the neighbors (and their mailboxes, and cars, and trees, and squirrels, and. . .)

Madeline (holding White Bunny and Blue Bunny) even said goodbye to the familiar bump in our driveway.

At the new house, Madeline didn't waste any time offering her own organizational suggestions for the spice drawer mommy had recently finished stocking.

After the move, we spent a couple days getting away from it all in Urbanna, were Madeline met this friendly calf.

Madeline took a minute from happily running around an "old truck" (her phrase) to check for precipitation.

Madeline cajoled daddy to sit with her behind the wheel of the tractor in Papa's workshop.

Standing atop the "big wagon" outside Papa's shop, Madeline makes sure mommy knows how she really feels.