Just one month to go until I have a 1-year-old! These past
eleven months have been a speedy blur of pure happiness for us. For some reason
it really bothers me that so many random people tell me how fast Madden will
grow up. Usually its old people, and they always warn me how I should make sure
to enjoy this time when he’s young. The next person to say that to me might get
a little slap! I know how fast time goes, and it makes me have a lump in my
throat thinking about it. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job soaking up
every moment with our Madden.
Every month he’s is a little different; part of me misses
things about him from his first months when he would just snuggle and lay on my
chest all day, and the other part is so excited watching him learn new things
and interact with me more and more. So far, every stage has been my favorite,
and eleven months is my favorite because I’m starting to see a wild little
personality emerge from him.
Madden is full of energy and can’t sit still for two seconds,
and for the first time since his first two weeks of life, I am going to bed feeling
worn out. Every day, Madden manages to explore every nook and cranny of our
apartment. It’s almost seems as if he’s searching for something. He yanks open
cupboards and drawers, and instead of just looking to see what’s inside, he has
to touch every single item and throw it out onto the floor. My once impeccably
organized drawers are now in shambles since I’m tired of making them neat at
the end of each day. He loves to play inside the curtains, help me fluff
pillows, bang on the doors, eat everything that’s fallen onto the ground, play
chase, wrestle, read books, laugh a lot, and so much more. It’s very apparent
that we have a curious boy who’s anxious to learn and explore, and we couldn’t
be more in love!
Madden boy, this month you grew up just a little more…Here’s
what’s new:
Just as most babies do, Madden puts EVERYTHING into his
mouth. It’s so funny watching him find a crumb, pick it up, pass it back and
forth between each hand while he’s examining it, he then looks up at me to see
if I’m going to say something, then he very slowly puts it into his mouth. Most
of the time I see him do this, but there have been several times that I’ll hear
him chewing on something, and since it’s been a while since lunch, I’ll check
to see what in his mouth and it’s definitely not food. The thing though about
Madden is that he never attempts to swallow anything that isn’t food. He just
swishes it around in his mouth until I eventually discover it. The first few
object discoveries were a little frightening, but now, sadly, I’m kind of used
to it. Examples: at our ward Christmas party last month Madden got swiped by a
young woman or someone pretty early on, and it was a while before he made his
way back to me. After a while, I noticed that he was being so quiet and then I
realized his mouth was closed tight. I was curious so I thought to swipe his
mouth, and I pulled out a huge piece of broken PVC piping! This thing was about
two inches long! And Mad was totally content with this big old thing just
sitting in his mouth. Next example: I made these cute elephant mobiles for
Madden’s room and at the end of the strings there are/were little felt pom
poms. Madden figured out that if he stood on his book basket on his tippees, he
could pull down on the string to grab the poms. He’s then come crawling out of
his room sloshing this soggy felt ball in his mouth and he was especially not
very happy when I took it out. Every time he managed to get one off the mobile,
I’d raise the mobiles even higher, but somehow he’s just been growing too fast
or something because there used to be six poms on the string and I’ve had to
swipe his mouth six different times to get them back! Next example: On New
Years day, we went to the beach for a few hours and had a great time. Madden
loves playing in the sand, and it hasn’t been as hard as it used to be to keep
him from shoving fistfuls of sand in his mouth. However, when we got home after
the 30 minute drive from Sanibel and a quick stop to Costco, I was getting Mad
changed and ready for a nap, and realized that he had something in his mouth…AGAIN.
What was it this time?? A SHELL!!! I must be a terrible mom-that’s just
ridiculous! Last example: One morning I had Madden up on my bathroom counter
while I was getting ready, and he knocked over my case where I keep my
earrings. Later on when I went back to clean it up I noticed one of my earrings
was missing, and I was so bummed because I really like these ones! I looked all
over for it, and finally resulted in thinking that I had left it in Colorado.
But then, I went over to Madden, who was now playing with his toys and heard a
clicking in his mouth. Surprise, surprise! Mad had my earring in his mouth!! I’ve
learned to keep a really close eye on this boy, he’s trouble!
I’m sure in about 10 years, Madden will think it’s pretty
great that his first real words were “hot butts.” Not even joking, he will say
it on command. He just needs us to start saying “haaaa”, and he takes it the
rest of the way. Most of the time he whispers it and he especially puts
emphasis on the “T” in each word. We think he’s pretty hilarious.
This month we discovered that Madden loves it when Jeff and
I kiss. Usually I’m holding Madden when Jeff comes to kiss us goodbye before he
leaves, and every time we kiss Madden stares at us and smiles and sometimes
even laughs. He’s lucky that his parents love each other so much!
I’m working on teaching him where his body parts are. So far
he knows where his tongue, teeth, and nose are. Then he gets distracted before
we can get to anything else. He sticks out his tongue or licks his lips, he
chomps his teeth, and he sniffs really loud and fast when I ask him where his
nose is.
At nine months Madden was 31 inches tall, and since then he
must have had huge growth spurt because his jammies are capris on his now, and
he can now reach up to the top shelf in the pantry where I keep all the glass
bottles! He hardly has any rolls anymore because he’s gotten so long and
skinny.
We take him to Lake’s Park several times a week for walks.
He still loves going on walks, and I don’t remember a single time that he’s
cried in his stroller. We usually get out and push him on the swings which he
loves. He also just let him down on the playground and watch where he goes. He
crawls after all the big kids, but never gets too close. He just stops and sits
like a puppy and smiles at all the kids. I can’t wait until he can run around
at the park, I feel like he wishes he could play with them. We hardly ever see
kids since we’re pretty homebound most days, so at the park and at church
Madden loves to interact with all the big kids.
Madden is the best little eater. He’s actually kind of a
garbage disposal. Lately he loves to eat grilled cheese, quesadillas, whole
apples, blueberries, string cheese, mac and cheese, cantaloupe, toast, bagels,
greek yogurt, oatmeal, quinoa, clementines, cheerios, and Life cereal. And yep,
we’re still working on having him hold his own sippy. He can’t quite get the
picture that he needs to tilt it back to get the water. He loves to drink from
my water bottle still. The other night we went grocery shopping, and usually
when I put the food away, he plays with all the grocery bags on the floor. This
time, I looked down at him and saw that he had found tomato in the bags and was
chomping away at it. This was the first time he’s ever had raw tomato before
and I think he liked it! He ate almost half of the whole tomato! He also has
started trying to escape from his high chair. Some days he fine eating in the
chair, but other days, he would rather throw all of his food onto the floor
then eat it later off the ground. The other day, I was doing dishes with my
back to Mad in his high chair, and turned around to find him standing up with
one little foot stepping out of the chair!
Madden loves books and loves when I read to him. I love
looking over at him and seeing him sitting on his knees flipping the pages of
his books. He likes the paper books because he thumbs through the pages over
and over again. He surprisingly is really gentle with them and doesn’t try to
destroy the book, I think he just likes the sound of the flipping pages. He
does this at church with the hymn books too. This month I’ve been reading the
book “Matilda” to him while he plays. It’s some good entertainment for me and I
think it’s good for him to listen to the words.
This past month, Madden has had lots of bumps and bruises on
his fore head. As soon as one starts to heal, he’ll wack his face on the other
side and the cycle starts all of again. I guess that’s the life of little boys!
Whenever Mad really wants something, he flaps his arms
really fast like a chicken. Usually when he wants something I have or when he
wants out of his high chair.
It’s no secret that Madden loves to be naked, but now it’s
gotten to a point where he tries to escape diaper changes. He thinks it’s so
funny, and it would be nice if I had someone to hold him down for me while I
strap a diaper to his buns. Just one more reason I need a third arm!
When we are shopping, Madden doesn’t like to sit in the seat
part of the cart anymore. Instead he likes to ride like Superman, standing up
in the big portion of the cart! It’s pretty cute.
Up until a couple weeks ago, Madden never cared if something
was taken away from him, but all of a sudden when it happens, he gets ticked.
We also had a bit of a rough time this past week while he’s been sick for the
first time. The poor guy was not a happy camper at all and started throwing
himself backwards onto the ground when something was taken away from him. Now
that he’s feeling better, we’re thankful these little tantrums don’t happen
anymore.
The daddy-son tricks have begun! Madden loves playing with
his dad. Jeff flips Mad around in the air and throws him way higher than I
would like him to, but Mad loves its. He giggles and smiles so big that who
could ever stop this fun from happening?
One of my new favorite things Madden does is snort when he
cries. It happens so suddenly and abruptly that it scares Madden a little bit
and it takes a few moments for him to realize that the sound came from him.
Then, the crying resumes.
Christmas in Colorado! We spend Madden’s first Christmas at
home with my family. I was expected sub degree weather, but surprisingly it was
unnaturally warm in Denver at Christmas. My parents were so worried that Madden
would freeze his little beach bum off so they went out and got him a winter
wardrobe with the cutest little snuggly warm outfits, complete with fuzzy bear
slippers. We had a great time with family, and Madden loved following around
his cousin Bridger. Madden had fudge for the first time and loved it, we did
some Christmas shopping, cookie house decorating, baking, and lots of Christmas
movie watching. Madden even liked the cold weather. It was the first time I’ve
ever seen his little nose and cheeks turn pink, but there was always a smile on
his face when we were outside. Madden got a rocking dog from Honey and Big
Fella, and Jeff and I got him a big Jellycat stuffed Fox for his big present
and a stocking with an elephant hand puppet and tamporine. He wasn’t really
interested. He was interested in Bridger new red bike though! Maybe next year,
buddy! Christmas is so much fun as parents, I had a fun time wrapping my first
ever Christmas present to Madden, and watching Madden tear apart and eat as
much wrapping paper and tissue he could get his hands on. We loved it!
For New Year’s Eve, Madden went to sleep nice and early. But
Jeff an d I stayed up til midnight and went into Madden’s room to give him his
first of thousands of kisses he’s get in 2014. This past year was without a
doubt the best of our lives so far, and we are excited for another year with
our Madden boy!
Love you Baby Boy!
