"I go to town"

Well, it's April 12th and we are finally done celebrating Maddy's 2nd birthday. Party #3 was yesterday at our house and the guest of honor partied and played with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Mitch. It was a great day. The weather was beautiful, Maddy was happy and we really enjoyed the family time. Grandma and Grandpa gave lots of clothes and new shoes. Gigi and Poppy sent lots of clothes and two purses for Maddy. Uncle Mitch gave Maddy one of the coolest soccer balls I've ever seen and a toy drum set (the only comments accepted on this post will be suggestions for revenge). :) Then there were the outside toys!!! All three sets of grandparents got together and bought Maddy a Cozy Coupe car! And not just any Cozy Coupe - the 30th anniversary edition! Mommy and Daddy got her a slide and a Dora outside chair. Gigi and Poppy bought a bubble making lawn mower. All big hits! After everyone left for the day, the three of us were in the back yard playing for a few more minutes and Maddy decided to get in her car. She said, "I get in my car...I go to town." So, Matt and I both said "What are you going to town for?" She said, "To get Bagels!" Cracks me up! I thought Matt was going to fall out of his chair. This child loves some bagels and apparently wants to drive and get them herself now. Today the new part was "I go to Target to get Bagels." I appear to be teaching bad habits :)

On another note, I was giving Maddy a bath tonight and instead of playing with her foam letters or the basketball goal, she took the washcloth and started washing the side of the bathtub. She said, "I clean the wall." Good or bad - this is a habit I could get use to!!!!

Two Year Well Visit

Yesterday was Maddy's two year check up at the pediatrician. Everything went really well. The Doctor spent a lot of time sitting with Maddy and looking at books and asking her lots of questions, all of which Maddy had an answer for and then some :) It felt like a test to me and I was the stage mom off to side praying she would give a "smart" answer. As with all her other appointments, Maddy manages to turn on the charm so she stated her name, how old she is and then performed a beautiful off key version of the ABCs. It's amazing to me how much those appointments have changed. They started with Matt and I being terrified, progressed into an hour long attempt to keep her from rolling off the exam table and now we sit in the room while I daughter "reads" books to the Doctor. And then the Doctor tells me we don't bring her back again until she's THREE!!!! Holy cow - we use to spend more time there than at the grocery store and now we don't have to go back for a year!

Here are the numbers:

Weight: 24.5 lbs. (25-50%)
Height: 33 inches (50-75%)
Head: 18 inches (50%)

Weight is the one that amazes me the most because I can't possibly understand how a child that eats as much as Maddy can be in the 25 percentile for weight! Hoping it's that amazing metabolism that she will pray for in her adult life.

So, Maddy is a happy, healthy "preschooler" and is on track with all her developmental milestones.

Baby Boys (and Girls)

Don't get ahead of yourself - we are not having a baby, But two of my best friends on the planet are both expecting and we're so excited! Both of them had their boy/girl appointments today and both are having little boys! They will be wonderful parents and "Aunt" Holly can't wait to buy gifts. One of Matt's friends recently had a baby boy too and another friend is pregnant and having a little girl. All of this baby news is so great and all four sets of parents will be amazing. With all the bad news in the world, my heart is full with all the positive in their lives. I had chills all day today anticipating this news and remember what an unbelievable moment it was to learn that Baby Hecht was Baby Madelyn May Hecht. We wish the same joy for our friends and are so lucky to be a part of this amazing time in their lives! In addition, Maddy can't wait for all four of them to be big enough for her to boss around :)

Do you want candy?

Another great day! If you've been reading you know that we've had a week of the terrible two's and as we imagined, everyone has great advice and some just laugh at us. Someone at work told Matt these stories about what she would do with her son to break him of the "NO, NO, NO!" syndrome. When he started with that, she would then ask him something that would generate a yes and then she would tell him NO! Then, we he looked confused she explained to him how NO isn't the answer to everything, it's not nice....you get the idea. So tonight Matt decided to test it out. Maddy was going on and on with no as an answer to everything so he says "Do you want candy?" Of course her immediate answer is yes and Matt said "NO!" Let's just say the reaction wasn't pretty. Her bottom lip curled up and she preceded to do the "I want Mommy routine." So, we've decided maybe she's a little young for that technique :) She processed it in some capacity though because 2 minutes later when he asked her a question, she just decided the way around that was to not answer at all :)

On another note, Matt says that our blog seems to be one sided and that he is always the butt of every story. My personal response to that is he should start writing some posts so he can share his perspective. But in an effort to be fair, I will share one of my less than positive moments today - We were outside tonight playing with one of those big exersise balls. Maddy likes to push it across the grass and then we would kick it to her. Needless to say this drives the dogs crazy in the backyard so I turned around and said "Doby, HUSH!" And Matt's response was to remind me that's probably where Maddy learned it and why she said that to him last night. Read previous post for details. So anyway, I need to watch my mouth and I will try to do a better job of sharing both sides!

HUSH!!!

So, let's first start with we had a much better day today. This morning was still crazy two year old but her birthday party at school was a hit. She was nice enough to her friends that they wanted to come to her party or maybe they just wanted those fantastic gift bags - either way they were there and it was a success. We came home today and it's beautiful outside so we went for a great walk and picked a handful of flowers from our neighbor's yards (mostly their weeds that Maddy believes are beautiful!).

Then tonight we get home and Matt and I are having a conversation. He's had a rough week at work and I was trying to get the debrief. Maddy started with "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." He ignored and continued to talk until she said, "Daddy, HUSH!" All I can say is Thank God I was facing the other direction because I was laughing hysterically and there is no way I could've pulled the discipline card! Matt quickly put her in her place and we preceeded with our nice evening. Thank goodness for a new day! I laugh because I overheard Matt telling her earlier that he didn't realize how good she was until she became a monster. The funny thing about that is "Monster" has been Matt's nickname for Maddy since she was itty bitty. Isn't there some saying about how we grow into our names? I'm now typing this and listening to her in bed with the "my blanket, my water, my baby susie!" Anything she can cry for she is mentioning. Good day or bad day - the bedtime routine has not changed. :) Here's to hoping for another "good" day tomorrow!

From Toddler to Preschooler?????

Ok, so I had to post this while it was fresh on my mind. After posting the last entry, I logged out and went into my personal email account that I check maybe twice a week. And in the inbox was an email that said "Your Preschooler this week." WHAT?!?!? I signed up for a weekly email from a baby website while I was pregnant. The emails started with your pregnancy this week and after Maddy was born the emails became your baby this week. Then it became your toddler this week. I was ok with that. Toddler is good. But today's emails says Your PRESCHOOLER this week!!!! Holy cow! My little peanut is a preschooler?? I've been talking about Maddy turning two for a while now and I was suprised that it wasn't really bothering me. Maybe because she seems a little older I had a mental idea that she was already two. But labeling her as a preschooler just hit me like a ton of bricks! Will next week's email say Your Senior in High School this week? Man, I hope not. As much as we talk about the terrible two's and all the heartburn generated, I want to go back to toddler and stay there.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Monday, April 5th 2010 - my sweet angel baby turned two years old and sang Happy Birthday to herself while we waited on a delayed flight at DFW for 2 hours. And then she became not so much of an angel baby! WOW! Terrible two's are upon us in full force. We have a VERY independent, stubborn, smart little girl on our hands. In the last 24 hours Matt and I have gone from laughing at her witty comments to having to leave the room because she is about to make our hair fall out. She's tired and it's been a long week so I know that has something to do with it. Anyway, she's testing her boundaries - isn't that what the therapists call it? She's learning and I'm grateful for that and I'm sure this will be the first of many terrible two blog topics!

Tommorow is her birthday party at school and I'm hoping she can stay out of time out long enough to give the kids their bags of dollar store toys that all of their parents can't wait to throw away as soon as they get them home! :)

And now I feel bad because I just had to pause writing this post because I heard "Mommy, Mommy! I made a mess in my bed." I went into her room to find vomit on her sheet that appeared to be a mix of lady bug cupcake and ravioli. Apparently the birthday excitement finally caught up with us. Should be an interesting night.

My birthday wish for my baby is that every year is a week long birthday celebration with family, friends and happiness. Hopefully they don't all conclude with an upset stomach!