Madden is such a little lover. This month he started giving kisses with real smacks at the end. Every time he goes out on the patio, he turns around and plants his lips on the door and waits until I come kiss his through the glass. He even blows us kisses when we put him in his crib for naps. As soon as I put him down, he pops right up, leans on the rail and blows me kisses good bye. He is a little snuggler too. Also when I put him in his crib, I have to show him his stuffed animal fox and dogs that are in there with him. He hugs and kisses each one and looks so happy to have them in there with him. Throughout the day, he'll go into his room, and drag out his giant bear that's twice as big as him. He'll heave it out into the family room, then drop it on the ground and fall onto it and curl right up and snuggle. He also does this with his blankets- he'll throw them on the ground then fall onto them and say, "ahhhhh".
Night time is pretty hilarious with this boy. We usually put him down to bed around 7:30 these days, and it's so hard some nights because he gets really goofy and silly at night and is almost too fun to put to bed. He spins around and runs into things on purpose and falls down laughing. He tackles dad and and plays hide and seek. And when dad says it's time for bed, he runs over to his bedroom door and shuts it, because in his little mind a shut door means that it's impossible to go to bed now. We read his favorite books every night while he's drinking his milk before bed. Right now the favorites are "The big hungry bear and the red ripe strawberry". And after that he always wants, "Where the wild things are". And then he usually wants, "If you give a mouse a cookie." We read these books at least three or four times every day. I've tried introducing new books to him, but he pushes them away and says, "No no." Sometimes he'll let me start new books and half way through, he'll push them shut and say, "Ah done." This boy knows what he wants! He also has become obsessed with a quiet book about the Bible that my parents gave him. He knows where all the pieces go and matches them the the right shape perfectly, and he has finally learned to put the finger puppets on all by himself. He plays with this book all day long and brings it to me to read to him, although it's not the kind of book that can be read.
Our night time bed routine is my favorite thing still. We go in a sit on his chair and snuggle for a few minutes and sings songs. He has no interest in smooth lullabys least days. He wants the crazy versions of "patty cake", and "Popcorn popping." He grabs my cheeks and stretches them while I'm singing to him and he busts up laughing. He is so ticklish on his sides and loves it when I tickle him. We give lots of kisses and most of the time he starts by biting my nose but ends up mauling my whole face with kisses. He grabs onto my hair and makes it so messy, but he really doesn't like when I have hair in my face. He'll be in total crazy mode going to town on my hair, then he'll stop dead and be really gentle and push the hair away from my eyes and say, "No, no". After a lot of bedtime playtime, we say our prayers. He's starting to fold his arms when I say it's time to say our prayers, and for amen, he says, "all done." He'll get it eventually! And every morning he somehow wakes up with only one sock on :)
Madden has a major growth spurt this month. He is one big boy! A few weeks ago he weighed 24 lbs, and the past week or so I noticed that it's been a bit harder holding him. I thought that I had either gotten weaker, or he was putting on the pounds. I weighed him and found out he is now a whopping 27 lbs! I'm not sure how tall he is, but I know he's grown in height too. I have started putting him in size 5 diapers at night, and he's starting to move into his size 6 shoes. And I'm kind of bummed about him growing out of his cute salt water sandals!
His vocabulary has growth a ton too this past month. He points at everything and says, "that." So I tell his the name of whatever he's pointing to, and I think it's helping him recognize new words. And even though he doesn't say the words yet, he knows what they are. I'll tell him to go get something or do something and he goes and does it perfectly. His favorite words to say these days are "up, down, I know, hello, superman, batman, wa wa, cheese, and cheese (for please), and thank you." He still says "thank you" for everything and it is as cute as ever. He know quite a few animal sounds too. He makes the sounds of a dog, cat, pig, cow, sheep, lion, bear, and monkey. Dogs are his favorite, he's always on the lookout for them. Anywhere we go, we know he's seen a dog because he starts barking in the back seat or in the stroller or cart.
Madden is so playful, and a tad bit sneaky. He always wants to play on dad's computer. He sees Jeff on it all the time, so he must think it's pretty cool. When ever Jeff gets up from the table, Madden bolts over to the chair and climbs up to where the computer is. Sometime when the computer is in the bedroom, he'll sneak in there and shut the door so he can play with it without getting caught. Usually we swing the door open and he jumps up and pretends he wasn't doing anything naughty. Madden takes every opportunity to jump on our bed, and he flies around like a Wildman with no consideration to where the edge is. He also has sucked the ink out of probably 8 or 9 of Jeff's highlighters this month. It must be the bright colors that attract him to them, and I've learned that highlighter is really tricky to get out of white shirts and off of tongues and teeth. And Jeff is learning that he needs to keep all of his pens and markers in a box on top of the fridge.
One of the funniest things Madden does these days is scrubbing our carpet when something spills. Whenever he drops his milk or snack on the ground, or the rare occasion he goes potty on the carpet, he runs straight to the cupboard, pulls out a rag, and goes and scrubs up his mess. He is so helpful! I'm sure he sees me scrubbing the carpet multiple times a day and thinks it looks like fun!
Madden is all boy. He's starting to play more with his trucks and planes, and he wrestles and tackles, and bangs his head on every surface he can find. Jeff and Madden love to rough house, but Jeff is starting to realize that Madden is mostly rough with me, instead of him, so now he's trying to teach him that he has to be soft with mama. He's still a bit of a biter, and he never ever ever bites Jeff. Only me! He bites when he's really happy and excited, or really frustrated. The worst is when he is trying to get my attention and follows me around dragging on my leg and he decides to bite my inner thigh. Jeff's got some work to do I think!
Madden loves going outside. Right now in Florida, we are in the equivalent to everyone else's dead of winter, which means it's way too scalding hot and humid to go outside. Any outdoor activity that doesn't involve water has to happen before ten o'clock in the morning because we hunker down and stay indoors all afternoon. But we try to take advantage of the morning dew and cloud cover, so we go to the splash pad a lot, which madden adores. He trots around and acts so surprised when he runs under a water fall and gets soaked. We also have been trying to hit the beach as much as possible before Jeff takes off this fall. Madden loves the ocean, and he's even becoming even more of a dare devil than usual. In the past, he's just ventured into the water alone up to his ankles, and then he comes running back. But this last week when he went, he charged into the water and waded out until the water was up to his neck. And he especially did not want any help from us. The water here is really calm and there's hardly any waves, so he doesn't he pummeled very often. On days when he stay inside most of the day, he goes and brings me shoes and stands at the front door and jiggles the handle and whines. So I let him out on the back patio, and he only lasts a few minutes before he's ready to come in again. He loves going out on the patio when we get our crazy afternoon rain storms. The rain hits the patio screen and creates a big mister funnel for madden. He runs around in it and laughs and doesn't want to come inside. Whenever Madden sees me or Jeff putting shoes on, he gets so worried and wont leave our side. He's so afraid he's going to get left behind. He runs to the door and waits there, hanging on the door handle.
Madden is a big boy now because he sits at the dinner table with us on a booster seat! He got rid of his high chair, mainly because I was so tired of cleaning food out of all the little crevices, and Madden could never sit still in that thing. Even when the tray was pushed in as far as it would go, Mad would suck in his little tummy and squeeze out. I'd turn around and he'd be about ready to jump out of the thing. he also was having way too much fun dropping food over the side. So the highchair is finally a goner, and he it loving his new booster seat. I think he's eating better now that he's at the table too, so it's a double win for me. He loves fruit of all kinds, and bread or toast in the morning. He eats oatmeal any chance he gets. He'll finish his bowl and then start on mine too. He is kind of a bottomless pit these days, and he goes to the fridge and points to what he wants.
I can't believe we almost have a 18 month old! We're a month away from nursery, and no one is more excited than Madden. He knows exactly where the nursery door is and finds it every Sunday and pulls on the handle and whines. Hopefully in one month he'll still be as excited to go! And hopefully I won't be that embarrassing mom that cries when her baby walks into nursery, but I probably will.
We love our baby boy so so much! He is perfect in every way and he's especially a perfect fit into our little family!
