Potty Party!!!

Maddie woke up one morning in early January, walked over to the dresser, took off her diaper, and put on her Ariel underpants and said, "Maddie wants to wear big girl underpants." I was a little shocked and not sure what to do, but I went with it. I was thinking of potty training her using the concept in a book that my friend Mia recommended. You use a doll and "teach" the doll how to use the potty first, then teach the child, and when the child succeeds...you throw a potty party! There is a lot of planning involved for the day of the training/party and since Maddie decided on her own, I was less than prepared for this momentous day. But I started off with the concept of training the doll. So I sat the dolly down on the potty and said, "Maddie, let's show dolly how to use the potty!" And she said, "No Mommy, no dolly, Maddie's turn." And just like that, she sat down and did her business several times that day! I know it sounds weird to say this, but it actually was a lot of fun. We did nothing that day except play and go potty and it was nice to be able to praise her achievements, spend time together, and focus all my attention on her. That afternoon, we made a quick trip to Target (I was practically running through the store in fear of a public accident) and got a cake and decorations. Chris brought home some balloons and we had a potty party! She's been in big girl underpants ever since!

A Wonderful Christmas

I had expected this Christmas to be a lot of fun given Maddie's age, and I was not disappointed. We had a very fun, very peaceful Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Chris's family and Christmas Day with mine, then made a quick trip up to PA to Great Nana's house on the 26th. Maddie was so into everything this year from the trees, lights, Santa, snowmen, decorations, and yes presents. What was so nice though is that she didn't have any expectations for presents or ask for anything. It was truly just a pure enjoyment of the spirit of Christmas, not the "stuff." But she did get lots of stuff from family and friends and for that we are grateful, because she has been playing like crazy with all her new things.

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's (Santa even came!)

Christmas morning at home. Her Christmas present to us was sleeping until 8 a.m. That will probably never happen again on Christmas morning until she's a teenager!

This video demonstrates how much Maddie loved Christmas music this year. The look of awe on her face is not for the gift she is opening, but the sound of Little Drummer Boy playing in the background. We could have skipped presents and just played music and she'd have been happy. She was excited about her Bitty Baby too.

Christmas Day at Nana and Grandpa's House

Giving the "peace" sign. My dad says to Maddie, "Peace baby" and she says it back and does the fingers, so my parents made her this "Peace Baby" bag.

Day after Christmas at Great Nana Flo's

This is Heidi the Goat, the hit of all Christmas gifts this year. It is too funny. It is a goat that sings the puppet song from Sound of Music, Maddie's favorite movie. My Nana found it for her and she loves it. See the video below! Note: the video is very dark and it will make you dizzy (see warning on previous post below about Maddie's obsession with spinning).

Baby Aiden in his Santa suit, so cute!

Enjoying all her gifts.

The day after all the festivities, we spent the morning at home just playing. I looked over at one point and noticed Maddie had her Sleeping Beauty dress on, was playing with Heidi the goat, with her stoller and Snow White, on the trampoline. Now that's mulit-tasking.

And just in case you didn't get enough of the goat in the above video, here's an encore. This time she is also jumping, and spinning of course, on her new trampoline from Grandma and Grandpa. We will be loving this on cold winter days when we're stuck in the house. A great way to get her willies out!

Spinning and Singing

WARNING: THESE VIDEOS CONTAIN EXCESSIVE ROTARY MOTION. IF YOU GET MOTION SICK OR DIZZY EASILY, CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED!

Maddie is obsessed with spinning lately. Chris picks her up and spins her and she can't get enough. What's funny is the way she holds her legs out. See the first video.

Soon she realized that we cannot always spin her around and she took matters into her own hands and began spinning while singing to her favorite songs. Take one of Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book.

Sometimes she shows off some moves other than spinning. Take two of Bare Necessities.

Maddie Quotes

Maddie's language continues to develop and some of the things she is saying are either so funny to us or amaze us and make us question, "where did she get that from?"
So I had to record some of these so I don't forget.

Tonight, she was playing with her Little People nativity set and was carrying Baby Jesus around. She said, "Baby Jesus, you my best friend?"

New favorite word: actually - here is an example
"Mommy, look there's a camel." (pointing at a lawn decoration)
"I think that's a reindeer Maddie."
"No Mommy, it's actually a camel."

She told my mom today to "interrupt the movie" she was watching.

Instead of TV she says television - "Dora's friend is Boots the monkey...on the television."

She pointed to an inflatable lawn decoration and said, "Daddy, it's deflated."

Trying to leave the house yesterday, Maddie told Chris, "One second Daddy."

First thing in the morning:
"My belly hurts."
"Are you hungry? Do you want to eat breakfast?"
"Ummm, I can have........3 lollipops!"

At my parents house one day, Maddie came downstairs after her nap and was greeted by my dad saying, "Magpie!" That is his nickname for her since I am his "Bird" and a magpie is a little bird. She responded to him calling her Magpie by saying, "Stop it that Grandpa. My name Madeline Eve Moskal!"

Big Girl!

We have had no luck with getting Maddie to go on the potty. She would sit on it, but we've never actually had anything happen until today! Maddie went pee-pee for the first time on the potty. I think she surprised herself and me for that matter. It was very exciting. I thought she was going to do more because she was bending forward and pushing and saying, "Maddie going poo-poo" but nothing ever came out. It was a good effort though. And although it hasn't happened since, it's a start!

The Zoo

We had no plans one Sunday a few weeks ago and decided to go to the zoo. I have a goal of going downtown to the zoo at least once a year. We didn't get many pictures of the zoo, mostly Maddie playing in the leaves. The big cats (Lions and Tigers) were a hit and of course the elephants were awesome. Can't wait to go back next year!

The Napping House

My friend Mia sent Maddie a book called The Napping House. And I'm happy to report that we have returned to being a napping house. We had a great week with Maddie napping every day. Some days it still takes her a while to settle down. Her latest sleep time adventure was taking ALL of her clothes out of her drawers. The drawers are now empty and Maddie's stuff has pretty much taken over the guest room. So sorry folks, we can't have any visitors right now because that room has boxes of diapers and wipes, all of Maddie's clothes, all of her shoes, her books, and the changing table!
And there are benefits of Maddie being in a bed now. This morning she woke up at 6:40 (kind of early for her) so I went in her room and got under the covers in her bed with her and we snuggled there and both dozed off until 7:30. Aaaaahhh, heaven on earth.

The bed issues continue......

No pictures for this post. If you need a picture to go along with this post, see "Big Girl Bed" below. If I don't document these stories, I'm afraid I'll forget them so here goes. It has been a roller coaster ride these last few weeks with Maddie's naps and bedtime. Long story short, she has been enjoying the freedom of being in a bed versus a crib. We however have not enjoyed it as much. She discovered how to get out of her room (she was previously unable to open a door with a knob). Check that off on the developmental skills checklist. Opens doors with knobs, check. Great. Now what? We tried the baby gate in the doorway after repeatedly, and I mean repeatedly as in 20-30 times, coming out of her room during naptime or bedtime. That went over horribly and we listened to a pitifully screaming child, "Mommy, wanna get out!!" for an hour one night and realized that was not the solution. Put the door knob covers on you say? Nope, tried it and Maddie/Houdini still managed to get the door open. So we got serious and switched the door knobs around so the lock is on the outside. Bed time has gotten much better, in fact, I sit here tonight writing this after putting her to bed, not locking the door and watching her drift off to sleep quietly in the monitor. Maybe that's because she didn't nap today and she's exhausted!!! So we still have some progress to make on nap time. Maddie often prefers to just play instead of sleep. But at least it's contained play. The highlights and funny things I don't want to forget of these sleep challenging weeks are the following.

1. I found her on top of her changing table with a bottle of lotion all over herself. Yes, she climbed up there all on her own. How? I don't know. But it's no longer in her room.
2. She fell asleep one night after taking off her pants and diaper, on the floor with her bare butt facing right up into the monitor.
3. Has started telling us to "Wait!" as we leave her room. She stands up, holds her finger up and says, "Wait!" Then the words that follow are enough to crack us up (me, Chris, and my mom).
"Wait!.....Can you do me a favor?"
and one night, it was
"Wait!.....I have to go potty." This coming from a girl who otherwise has no desire to sit on the potty. Man, she's good.
4. At my mom's house, Maddie was grunting in the monitor which is a sure sign she has pooped. Then it got totally quiet. Since she was out of view on the monitor, my mom went in to check on her and found her sound asleep on the floor. She stayed asleep the entire time Nana changed her diaper and never woke up.
5. And finally, last Sunday morning, we were woken up by a smiling face in our room instead of hearing her wake up in her room and call for us. Chris said that's a day that he'll always remember. She is getting so independent.

Some days I find humor in all of this. One day when she wasn't napping and doing all sorts of crazy things in her room, I called Chris at work and was laughing so hard telling him about it, that he put me on speaker phone so his coworker could hear me and he asked if I had been drinking! Other days, I'm at my wits end, trying to figure out why my child won't nap. Those days I usually call a friend or my mom. Thank you Chris, Mom, Mia, and Michelle for keeping me sane. Misery loves company and it's nice to know Maddie's not the only one having a party in her room at nap time!

Halloween Fun.... Go Big Red!

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Maddie was a Nebraska Cornhuskers Cheerleader. Grandma Mary's friend Nerita gave her the outfit a while ago and it made for a perfect Halloween costume this year. Chris was born in Nebraska and although their football team has seen better years, we still need to show our Husker pride!

We started early with a neighborhood parade on the Sunday before Halloween. My parents and Chris's Mom came out to see Maddie in her costume. The kids did a treat hunt where the they walked around and gathered treats and then had a parade. Maddie walked around the whole circle during the parade by herself and loved it. She started with some little friends but was so interested in everyone around her, she slowed down and ended up on her own. It was beautiful weather and a really nice thing for the kids.

Then on Halloween night we had a pizza party in the court, a group picture with all the kids, and then went trick-or-treating with Paul, Michelle, and Livia. The girls were so cute together, Livi was Minnie Mouse so they matched well in their red, white, and black. They both enjoyed a lollipop while riding in the wagon. They went up to a few houses of people we knew and then we walked around the neighborhood with them in the wagon to see all the action including some crazy decorations (blow up Shrek and Tigger being the favorites) and even a movie being projected on someone's garage. Our neighborhood really goes all out. Each year it gets more fun to celebrate this holiday!