If they only knew...

If our little ones only knew how much we really worry about every single hair on their head, every single morsel that goes in their mouth, and every single thing they see, hear or say...

I remember my mom saying more than once, "you will understand when you have kids", and I can honestly say, I now understand, mom.

My latest worry and guilt stems from the food we sometimes feed her, and the amount of t.v. she watches. Those things just weren't an issue when she was teeny-tiny because I knew she was getting all healthy stuff from her milk, and any and all veggies and fruit we could get down her along with that, was great. We also didn't let her watch tv until the past month or so, and really never had any reason to. Now that we have a full grown toddler on our hands, she's busier, we're busier, and unfortunately we find ourselves driving through for breakfast on the way to daycare, or grabbing a fast dinner on those days of the week that have drained all the energy from us. Of course, she gets a balanced, healthy meal for lunch every day at daycare, and we do our best to feed her healthy dinners as well, but when we drive by Whataburger and Madison says, "quito" (taquito), I start to worry...

Oh, and the tv...it started with A mickey mouse clubhouse episode every once in awhile when she or Dylan and I needed a little downtime. She then started begging to watch it every time she walked into the living room. We didn't let her, but I think that is when one episode went to two in one day. She has now gotten a taste of disney movies and I have seen "Finding Nemo" so many times within the past month, I could recite it word for word in my sleep! I know that as she gets older it will be even harder to keep her from the tv, and all the other crazy gadgets we have now. It doesn't help either that when a new disney movie comes out, I think, "oh, I bet Madison would love that!". I get that a little bit of tv time is ok and that we don't need to become overly sensitive about this issue, but I am a bit worried that she is still only a couple of weeks from her second birthday and I think she would be perfectly content sitting in front of the t.v. if we just played Nemo over and over for her for hours.

Just a talkin'...

So, I thought of a couple of other things Madison has said lately and I thought I bet write them down now because I have the worst memory!! Who knows if these little things are as cute and funny to everyone else as they are to me, but knowing Madison's personality, seeing her facial expressions, and hearing the expression in her voice when she says this stuff just makes it that much more cute!!

I mentioned the other day that Madison loves singing and saying "Happy Birthday" and that it can only be "Rara's bday" when we sing it. Well, this morning on the way to school, I told her, "Guess, what, tomorrow is mommy's birthday..." to see what she would say, and she got this shocked, excited look on her face and responded, "WooooW!" Too cute!

Yesterday was my day off with Madison (I am home with her Tuesday's and Thursday's now), so we were out doing some shopping and when it was time for lunch, I asked her, do you want a cheeseburger, or chicken or a taco, and she sat there really serious for a minute, as if in deep thought, and said, "uummm....lunch!". Well, that takes care of that, huh?!

Then a couple of nights ago, I was woken by her crying in the middle of the night (seems to be a common thing these past few days for some reason - think it is just because we got off our schedule a bit with our recent camping trip, etc), so I went in her room and bent over to try and calm her down and get her laid back down, and she said, "rock you time". Though I was still half asleep and had only been able to stumble into her room, I said, "ok, let's rock". I sat in the rocking chair and she was perfectly content cuddling up with me. I was just about to fall back asleep while rocking (which we had only been doing for maybe 5 mins) and she sat up and said, "lay in my bed now". So I walked back over to her crib, laid her down, and she didn't make another peep! What a little munchkin! She so has us wrapped around her finger it isn't even funny... :)

Our little ballerina?

Madison recently started a little dance class at school. An outside dance teacher comes to the school every Friday for about 30 minutes and takes all the little ones (starting in the Early Preschool I class, which is mostly 2-3 year olds) out of their class and into an open area in the school to do a little dancing. Though they don't have to wear dance clothes, the dance instructor said that they can if they have something or they can wear a Dance Fun uniform that we can buy. Tara bought Madison the cutest little leotard with an attached tutu for Christmas, so I had to put it on her! I snuck up to the school one Friday and attempted to get some pictures of her in class without her seeing me, but some of the little girls spotted me and wanted to come and see what I was doing instead of dancing. That gor Madison curious too and before too long, she wandered around the corner and caught me! I was so afraid she was going to cry about me leaving again, like she has been doing in the morning, but she really didn't - she did great! And now I have some cute pictures of her in her dance outfit.

Camping x 2

The weekend after Father's Day, the Wiltshire and us packed up and headed for another Jellystone Campground in Waller, Texas. This camping experience was quit different than the last, but we still had fun. For one thing, there were a LOT more people - Dylan even said it looked as though we didn't leave the city. The campground was PACKED. We squeezed our tent in between two other families all set up and though it was a little ackward in the beginning, we quickly became comfortable around them. They were super nice, had 3 little girls very close to Madison's age, and even shared the best watermelon I have ever had with us - it couldn't have come at a more perfect time either...it was SOOO hot, as you can imagine. We had a fan to use in the tent at night, and it actually did keep us cool once the sun went down, but during the day we had to stay in the water otherwise I'm quite sure we would have suffocated. :) You couldn't even sit in the shade for more than a few minutes without sweating off 10 lbs! Guess that isn't such a bad thing (for me at least)...

Luckily, there was a really cool water park with 4 big water slides, two or three pools, and more. Madison absolutely loved it and wore us out! She wanted to be in the water the whole time and not even 10 minutes after getting in, she was already climbing out, and standing on the side saying she wanted to jump and didn't want us to catch her! Dylan put his arms out but still let her go under and she popped back up (with his help) and immediately said, "MORE". She probably jumped in the pool 20 times in the first 30 minutes, and each time went completely under water (quite a ways some times!). She didn't cough or choke or seem to get water in her nose one single time either! When in the really shallow water, Madison would get down on all fours as if crawling and then put her head under water and try to swim underwater. Again, she didn't get any water in her nose! She also loved the slides so much. Dylan and I took turns going down them with her because neither of us had the energy to go as many times in a row as she wanted. :) This reminds me that I don't think I ever mentioned on here that Madison completed her first swimming lessons last month. She went Monday through Thursday for about 30 minutes a day for two weeks. At first I wasn't sure she was getting anything out of them, and though she has always been fearless in the water, I am convinced now that those just encouraged her even more!

Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day weekend Dylan and I went to a Cory Morrow concert together and then drove to Beaumont to spend Sunday with Dylan's dad. Sherry bought Ron a kayak so he can go kayak fishing with Dylan, and since Dylan picked it out, we took it to Beaumont to surprise Ron with it Saturday night. He was so surprised and I think super excited about having the ability to go out with Dylan now. They got to spend the morning and early afternoon of Father's Day out on the water with eachother, which I know Dylan was really excited about and later said he wouldn't have wanted to spend the day any other way. Madison and I went to church with Sherry and then we all had lunch together that afternoon. It was a great weekend and, of course, I have pictures to share...

Funny girl

Before I post a bunch of new pictures, I just wanted to share some of the funny things Madison is saying these days.

First, the other day I went to clean her nose and she said, "mocos in ner". At first I didn't know what she said and then it dawned on me that she was saying the spanish word for boogers! I have heard her teachers say that to other kids in the class when they have a snotty nose, but still I asked Madison where she heard that just to hear what she said, and she said, "teacher say, mocos in ner!". So funny and pretty darn smart, I have to say! Since then, she uses the word pretty frequently and even told me, "no! my mocos!" when I tried to clean her nose recently.

She has also started singing Happy Birthday all the time! She told our bed, "Haaappy Burday" and even told a wipey that she was playing with the same thing. When I try to tell her her birthday is coming up, she says, "No! Ra-ra's (Yara's) bur-day!"

She has started saying, "No sir" when she doesn't want something, and she usually doesn't care if she is talking to me or Dylan at the time. :) She has recently started saying, "No ma'am" too, but gets them confused.

I know there are several other things that she surprises us with, that I can't think of right now. She is really keeping us laughing these days...

Thank you, God, for everything.

Yesterday, I caught Madison sitting with and talking to three baby dolls on the kitchen floor.  I looked down and realized that she had one of the baby's hands pressed together as if in prayer.  I then realized that what she was saying (to the best of her ability) was the prayer they say at her school everyday before lunch:

"Thank you for the world so sweet. Thank for for the food we eat. Thank you for the birds that sing.  Thank you, God, for everything."  

How sweet is it that not only was she reciting it on her own, but was teaching it to her babies!

MY BLOG!

I felt the urge to openly announce that this blog is "mine" since proclaiming ownership of things has been a common theme in our house these days. ;)  We're there - the "mine" stage. Everything is Madison's - even things that aren't hers like my pillow on my side of my and Dylan's bed! :)  Since you can't read my tone of voice and could very easily think I am bitter about this last issue, I have to say that I am smiling as I type this because it cracks me up!!  

The other day in the car on our way home from running some errands, I reached over and put my hand on Dylan's back and Madison quietly said from the back seat, "My daddy".  I turned around and said, "yes, it is your daddy", but kept my hand there. Seconds later she YELLED, "MY DADDY"!  Dylan and I both had to laugh - it was just too cute!  She has since expressed the same thing on a couple of other occasions and she did the same with me the other day when Yara was over playing.  For no apparent reason at all, she told Yara, "my mommy".  Of course we don't want her to be sassy to her friends, but I know I can speak for both Dylan and myself that that just melts our hearts!

FIVE NEW POSTS!

Wooo hooo!

Dance Party!

A couple of weeks ago, Dylan went to an Astros game with a few guys, so Madison and I stayed home and had a girls' night.  After coloring, reading books and playing baby dolls, we had a dance party in the living room.  I took off her clothes because I was starting to get hot and figured she had to be too, so then she turned to me and said, "Mommy jammies OFF"!  I didn't have jammies on; I had a dress on, so that was pretty cute.  I had to obey though, so there we were, having a dance party in the living room...in our undies.  Oh, and at the end, I think she pulled a muscle or something with that crazy hip action!  

Don't worry, the blinds were closed, and I am NOT in this video. :)