Madden loves to babble! In the past he's always been so quiet when we facetime our family, but now he holds the phone and has long conversations with my mom. He still does his very high, girlie shrieks when he's excited, and when he's playing with his toys we often hear him saying, "dum be dum be dum" over and over again. The only time he says "mama" is when he's blowing spit bubbles, but he says dada all the time. He knows his dad and loves him a lot.
Every time Madden hears Jeff unlocking the door at night, he jumps and charges toward the door. When Jeff comes in, Madden has his arms held up to Jeff until he picks him up. I don't think Jeff could ask for a better welcome home. Last week there were a couple really late days for Jeff and he didn't get to spend much time with Mad before bedtime. Jeff was bummed when Madden didn't show much interest in him and wanted me instead. He thought that Madden had forgotten him a little bit, so I grabbed a picture of our family and brought it to Madden, and said, "Madden, where's Daddy?" He pointed his little finger right at Jeff and looked up and smiled! Then I told him to give Daddy kisses and he picked the frame up and kissed Jeff's face. How could he forget his Daddy? He's the best.
Madden has a big boy car seat now! He loves it so much and car trips are so much more guilt free for me now that I know he's having a great time in the back seat. He loves going to the park and spends most of the time following around the big kids and climbing up the slide. He doesn't keep any of his shoes on so he walks around the park with bare, dirty feet. Other moms must think I'm the worst. But bare, sticky feet are essential for climbing the slides, and he's a pro. My Mr. Independent does not like to be helped lately either. He pushes my hands away when I'm spotting him on the slide or anywhere else actually. He likes to do things all by himself! He also loves the pool too, we go several times a week and he splashes like crazy and digs around in stranger's pool bags. It should also be noted that he has the cutest little diaper tan lines on his buns! At the pool and in the bath tub he loves to dip his face in the water. He does it over and over again and looks up at me every time and just laughs. Last week he even started standing up on the edge of the pool and jumping to in to me. Except his version of jumping is more like leaning in quickly with a little bounce.
Madden loves eating with a fork these days. He pretty much likes doing most things by himself, and he even pushes my hands away when I try to feed him. He still shoves his mouth full of food until it's almost bursting and it's hilarious when he tries to talk like this. A lot of the time he'll chew some of his food, then spits it out and looks at it, then eats it again. Lovely, I know. He also likes eating while sitting on the counter. And all of a sudden he's started bringing me bags of snacks from the diaper bag or pantry and putting them on my lap wanting me to open them for him. I thought only big boys do that! I'm so happy that he's always been a good eater, I can imagine how frustrating some moms feel when they can't get their babies to eat. Madden has more than tripled his weight in a year! At his 1 year appointment he was 23 lbs 5 oz. As dense and heavy as he is, he's a skinny little thing. Long and lean. The doctor says he's growing into the perfect point guard.
Madden is doing new things daily, and he is so playful and spunky! He still loves unloading all of the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom, but now instead of dumping things out onto the ground, he has to hand me each spatula or Tupperware one by one. Every time I take something from him, I say "Thank youuuuuuuuuuuu" and he thinks it's so funny. The dishwasher is still his favorite and this drives me crazy actually! I have to open the dishwasher very secretly and quietly, during his naps, or when Jeff has him fully distracted in another room. If he sees or hears the dishwasher door open, he charges to the kitchen to try and climb inside and dip his chubby fingers in the leftover dish soap and lick them. He takes handfuls of dishes and throws them over board and cries and cries when I finally shut the door. Madden is also going through a major head bonking stage. He is such a boy! He bonks his head on everything! The windows, the doors, me, the floor, the bath tub faucet, his books, me, his toys, and me! It amazing that he doesn't have a black and blue forehead because I have bruises all over me! He of course thinks it's so funny. Another funny thing he does is he'll be walking or crawling along, and he'll fall flat onto his tummy to take a little break. He kicks his right leg up and kicks his bum and just looks around at everything for a few moments. Then he's on his way again! I don't know why, but it's always the little things he does that make him so irresistible!
I'm finding out that I love teaching him things, it's really my favorite thing to do with him. I love how he's starting to bring me books and he crawls into my lap ready for story time. He is a page turner, which was kind of annoying at first, but I love that he's leading the way and showing me what he's interested in. He loves Polar Bear, Polar Bear because I do all the animal sounds which makes him laugh. And he still loves to thumb through his paper books, but lately he's been a lot rougher than in the past. We have several ripped pages. This month I've been reading "The BFG" to him, or trying to read to him. He must not like this book very much because every time I bring it out to read, he grabs it from me and throws it. Last time he even picked it up and walked with it all the way into his room where I found it in one of his dresser drawers! Mad is a pro at knowing where his eyes, nose, teeth, tongue, and mouth are. Sometimes he even does fishy kisses when I ask where his lips are. He is so cute when he does this, I can't even stand it sometimes!
He is so smart, and I'm amazed at how much he understands already. Sometimes I'll point at something across the room and ask him to bring it to me, and he'll do it! Even when he's doing things he knows he shouldn't be doing, like pushing over the lamp, he is starting to obey when we tell him no. The best thing he does with his newfound baby genius, is he gives us kisses whenever we ask for them. Sometimes his kisses are more like mauling my entire face, but I'll take them!
He is so loveable and is really the sweetest little boy. He's never been attached to anything. He's never used a pacifier, and he doesn't have a favorite blanket or stuffed animal. I honestly think I've always been his comforter, which is one of the trillion reasons I'm so glad I nursed him. We stopped nursing at the end of February and these past couple weeks as I've been weaning him, Jeff and I have noticed that he's become more interested in his blankets and stuffed animals. As heartbreaking as this whole weaning process has been for us, it is so sweet watching him lay his head down on anything soft. He will be playing and suddenly take a quick cuddle break and lay his head down on his blanket. But our new favorite thing he does is hug/squeeze to death his stuffed animal dog. The funniest thing is the noise he makes during the squeeze- it's like a desperate grunt, like he just can't hug it any harder. Then when he's done he chucks the dog across the room. It is sooooo funny, we are constantly putting the dog next to him just so he hugs it more often. Jeff and I are convinced he's copying what we do to him. We probably should stop loving him so hard!
The other night I was at the kitchen sink while Jeff was snuggling with Madden on the couch and reading stories. I looked over and had one of those moments that come so often these days, and I realized that I have everything I've always wanted. I know how lucky I am to be able to stay at home and raise our kids. With as demanding and significant as Jeff's career is, he is always the first to point out that my job, motherhood, is the most important. Becoming a mom has really shown me what unconditional love is, and I have never loved my husband more as I've watched him be a dad to our baby. And of course Madden, I think I might explode sometimes when I think of how much I love him. Jeff is so sweet when he hugs and kisses Madden. Every night he says, "I love you so so so much, but who do I love most? Mommy." Every once in awhile he'll ask me who I love the most, him or Madden. It's not even a fair question! I think I'm allowed to have two loves of my life.
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