Videos: I Love Balls

Joseph and I were discussing what the "theme" of Maddie's 2nd birthday should be... In deciding between Cars or Trains, Maddie then said Ball, and we decided we'd make the theme "balls" and have a ball pit and lots of balloons!  I asked Maddie if she could say "I love balls" which she did so of course we had to video it!!

3 videos below, the last one is the longest and the cutest.  She says "no cookie" because I told her no more cookies. Then I asked her if she could say [I love balls] one more time and she says "one more time" and she says "I. Love. You" which is why I say Awwwww. Then she proceeds to say "I love balls" a bunch more.

Maddie-Free Weekend in Omaha!

We had a Maddie-free weekend in Omaha!  Grandma Kathy came in on Wednesday to watch Maddie, and Joseph and I went to lovely Omaha, NE on Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon for a friend's wedding. It was a short trip, but Joseph and I enjoyed a couple of nights of good food, drinks and friends.

Omaha was a lovely town and we'll surely visit again if we have a reason to.
Here are a few pictures of our weekend in Omaha.We unfortunately did not get any pictures of us at the wedding though!

While walking around the water downtown, we found these 2 huge metal slides and of course had to try them out!

I did NOT want to go down the slide and used my feet to slow me down.

They have a long pedestrian bridge that connects Nebraska to Iowa. When we saw how far & long it was, we decided to turn back and explore more of the city.

Singing in her crib

Here's a cute video of Maddie babbling / singing "bee" or "beep" in her crib in the morning.

Maddie and the Tall Okra

My aunt grew this very tall okra-type Chinese vegetable in my grandma's backyard garden!  Maddie would not stand still for a good picture.

After Nap Smiles

After her nap Sunday, Maddie was all smiles and giggles!  For some reason, she laughed up a storm whenever she said the word "Gamer" and I said it back. Cute video below of her giggling!

 

Playdate at Otto's

This past Sunday we went over to Otto's house for a playdate with 3 other kids, so 5 total kids including Maddie!  It was so much fun!  The kids ranged from 18 months to 3 years old. We played outside with all of their fun outside toys. They had TWO slides, a bike and a motorized Jeep!  Otto's mom Nancy made Jello Jigglers which Maddie LOVED, and I brought pumpkin muffins.  I think the bees loved the sweets more than the kids as they were all around us. We went inside because the bees were too much to handle.

There were a ton of toys inside to keep the kids occupied. Maddie took to a little ring stacking toy and loved  to stack and unstack the rings. We headed back outside for a little bit before heading home for naptime.  We had a great time and look forward to many more playdates!

Eating some jello

They grew these pumpkins in their own backyard! We got to take one home with us!

Finally! Maddie says "MADDIE"

It finally happened last night (9/28 Wednesday) as I was putting Maddie to bed...

She said her name correctly!

Not "Mah Mah" but "Mah DEE!"  She had knocked something off of the table and I jokingly said "Maddie!" and she said "Mah DEE!" emphasizing the "DEE" sound. I asked her to say it again and she did!  I pulled my phone out and got it on video!!

Here's the video of her from last night saying MADDIE!

If you listen carefully, after the second time I ask her if she can say "I can do it" she says very quietly "I can do"

This morning I tested her to make sure she remembered, and she did!  Yay!

On another note we are also working on getting her to say the word Water better. Right now she pronounces it as "gnaw gnaw" but today she said "gnaw TER!"