We went to Ikea and she fell in love with these stuffed animals!
She climbed up this bed by herself
Every morning we read tons of books. Yes, we read all the books that are in the picture pretty much every morning.
At lunch at a new restaurant called Cheesies (a grilled cheese restaurant)! They had tables painted with chalkboard paint which makes for great entertainment.
Here are a few random new videos of our favorite girl!
Joseph put a photo collage of us in her bedroom and she likes to look at the pictures and point out Mama and Dada.
For some reason she loves playing with clean diapers. She grabbed a couple of them and decided to play basketball with them.
Here is she at lunch today. She was messing around so I removed the tray from her chair and she nibbled on a large piece of cucumber while dancing. Believe it or not, she did not have any sugar with this meal! And look at that gorgeous messy hair flying around!
Maddie has started to LOVE anything and everything Elmo! She has an Elmo stuffed toy and a couple of Elmo toys. Once in a while we will show her videos on our phones or on the laptop and sometimes we play her an Elmo or Sesame Street video. She has said the word "Elmo" for some time and says it very clearly.
Lately she will repeat the word "Elmo, Elmo, Elmo, Elmo!" whenever she wants her stuffed toy, wants to play with one of the other toys, or if she sees our phone or the laptop and wants to see a video.
It's cute but we are hoping she starts to like another toy pretty soon.
Over the holidays, we took pictures of the majority of our relatives so we could make magnets for Maddie. A friend of ours has magnets of their relatives, and Maddie loved looking at them, and they weren't even of her own family!
I ordered them shortly after the new year (thankfully Shutterfly had a deal) and Maddie has had them for about a week. They are 2 inch x 2 inch flat magnets (so not a choking hazard).
She LOVES them! She is starting to remember a lot of the family members and will often point to or grab the correct one when we ask her to find someone! We normally stick them on her wipe off board, and she loves taking them off the board to walk down the hallway and stick them onto the side of the fridge.
Maddie can now eat out of a plate or bowl without throwing it or making a mess! She is careful and deliberate with her grabbing. She has always loved grabbing food off a plate or bowl (even if she has the exact same food in front of her). The other day at snack time we put a plate of snacks on her table in the living room and made sure she did not move the food from the table. Then at dinner last night, we had a bowl of noodles, and rather than lay the noodles on the tray, we gave her the bowl which she gladly picked up and ate out of!
On Sunday, we braved the cold and went to Little Beans for a play date with my friend Nancy and her 8 month old baby boy Otto! Maddie explored the space on her own more, there were a few times I would look up and couldn't see her, then she would pop into view. Maddie would always make sure to find me though. She would walk away, play with something, find a toy on the ground, and bring it to me.
We had a very fun time and are looking forward to many future play dates!
Mama and Maddie selfie before heading out.
Future Fire woman!
Lunch break with Otto
There was a birthday party with a balloon artist. Someone left their sword behind us and Maddie picked it up and loved playing with it!
We signed Maddie up for a new playgroup at a different park about a mile away from the house, for January through March. It's a better playgroup than the one at Wicker Park. It's a larger space and they actually have structured activities! Maddie enjoys play group a lot more since she is older and can explore more!
On Wednesdays, after some free play, one of the class instructors will blow bubbles! Then afterwards, everyone sits in a circle for singing.
On Fridays, there is free play, then bubbles, and then they bring out the parachute!!
It's no surprise Maddie loves to eat!! She has picked up words so fast, especially food words!
Her favorite things to eat (and say!) are apples, bananas, crackers and cookies! Here are a few videos of her talking and eating.
Maddie says "Cracker!" If she sees a cracker or a cracker wrapper, or she hears us say "the c word" she will automatically say "Cracker! Cracker! Cracker! Cracker!" until she gets one.
The same with apples and bananas. Maddie LOVES both of them and wants them all the time! Here she is at breakfast eating apples and singing. (I still need to take a video of her saying banana, she says "nana!"
Here is a video of Maddie eating corn on the cob for the first time! She loved it! We had to be careful not to lose a finger while feeding her!
