The Richards

Madeleine is 24 months old. Otherwise known as 2 years old. How did this happen?

Here is what Maddie has been up to in the last month

As always Maddie girl is talking talking talking. There is not a shy bone in her body so the whole world knows what she is thinking at all times. She can say anything she chooses but her current favorite phrases are "I play that, I'm back, I see it! I see it! Enough. Oh wow! See you later (said in the cutest sing songy voice), noke (milk), bickey (mickey), minnie, up, cheese"
At Maddie's two year doctor appointment the nurse said "wow Maddie! You have grown so tall! I bet you are the height of a 3 year old!" And she is the size of a 3 year old at 36 inches tall (95th percentile) and 29lbs (90th percentile). Her head is the 50th percentile circumference.
She can fill the ABCs correctly when prompted.
She enjoys hopping like a frog, bunny, or kangaroo and there is a difference in how she jumps for each animal.
Maddie Rie
loves my mom's cats Pres (Presley) and Alfoo (Alfie). She constantly talks about them and loves to go to her house and feed them. I think she knows she says Alfie's name funny because she gets the giggles when she repeats Alfoo a bunch.
Maddie loves nursery rhymes and would read and sing them all day long.
Madeleine is working on her patience at meal times. She is learning to stay at the table when she is done eating and allowing others to finish their meals. Some days are better than others and typically dinner is the hardest but at least she can't undo the straps on her booster seat yet.
This girl can do the drama face. She always has been able to bring the dramatics but it seems even easier to do these days. Maddie can get an answer she doesn't want and that lip immediately pops out, she slumps her shoulders, and bows her head to pout. She has the mannerisms of a Shakespearean stage actor. It's all so exaggerated and there are a lot of outrageous hand gestures. We honestly don't know where it all came from!
She is also a very empathetic kid and hates to here babies cry anywhere. She worries sooo much about them and says "That baby is crying! He needs to be happy!" We have to reassure her that the other baby's mommy will take care of him so she doesn't need to worry or we can't move on with life. She is also responds the same when the dogs next door cry.
Maddie loves to watch the Little Einsteins. She talks about the main characters and refers to them as her friends. It's amazing how much she has learned from the show too. The kid can tell the difference between a cello and a violin both by looking at them and hearing them. She can do this with multiple instruments. She is also very participatory when she watches tv. If they ask a question she answers. If they ask to clap or pat she is all over it. She does not zone out when she watches.
Maddie knows her basic colors - red, yellow, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, black, and brown. Black and brown are sometimes confused though.
She requests specific songs for going to sleep and singing in the car. It's pretty common for her to request a song that doesn't exist at bed time like "let's sing about foxes and Abby!" or "lets sing about bats flying at night." Every once in a while we luck out and and she will ask to sing about something familiar like Rock and Roll or Frogs and we know a song that fits but most of the time we just wing it. Maddie doesn't seem to care about song quality as long as the subject is what she wants.
Madeleine requests specific people or pets to be drawn when we paint or color together.
She has added specific people in her life to added to the Wheels on the Bus - Noah, Katie, Aunt Becca, Presley.
This month Maddie has been retelling events that happen in her life even more. For example, Boudreaux took a cookie out of her hand and she retold the story of how "Bubba ate baby's cookie" for weeks. She added to it as she went on too. "No no Bubba! Not yours. It's baby's cookie! Dog's eat dog food not cookies. Etc"
Maddie loves Christmas lights, wreaths, and elves but is not so sure about Santa.
When we went on our first official Christmas light trip she named everything she saw, gasped and awed the whole time. She had the best time and didn't touch the Christmas treats we packed for her until we pulled back in our driveway. She is so much fun!

McDonald's with Hannah

Fun with Avery and Cameron.

Fun with Brooklyn

First time getting Do-Nuts and maybe the first time to eat any.

Miss Independent decided she wanted to sit at her own table.

Christmas arts and crafts!

Her hair is sooo straight without the usual humidity.

Decorating her Christmas tree.

I love these cheeks!

If anyone wondered if I was one of those mom's that would force their child to see Santa here is your answer. Santa and his elves were awesome. They had a plan for screaming toddlers and even had a piece of tape on the floor to show how far out of the scene parents needed to run for the camera. I love it!

Christmas Eve presents from mommy and daddy.

We gave her the second Gruffalo book and stuffed mouse. She recognized the characters and was so excited!

"I love this ball toy!"

Santa came!

Here Christmas morning pictures aren't great but we were able to get a wonderful video of her reaction. She is so much fun!

Working on her Christmas apron that matches her cousins. She loves to paint but only with a brush. Finger painting grosses her out.

Cotton Bowl party with the Manleys. This was a fun season to be an Aggie.

Maddie climbed to the top of the Chic Fil A playground for the first time this month.

Making birthday cookies!

Daddy brought home balloons!

Putting together birthday presents!

Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you sooooo much and can't imagine these last two years without you.

(blogger is unhappy with how many pictures I have so I will add family Christmas pictures to another post)

Madeleine is 23 months old!

Two year old attitude coming early!

Here is what she is up to:

As usual this kid talks talks talk all the time. Lately she's been saying "I run, I walk, I wash, so hot so hot, yucky, hop hop BIG hop!, dig, achoo!, shoes, socks, hat, milk." Really just talks non stop. I can't keep up with what all she says.
Maddie is getting very concerned with her "stuff" and when she wants something someone else has she yells "SHARE!!!!" Except, it sounds like a different word that starts with SH and ends with a T. That's kinda embarrassing at the library or church so we are her constant translators in an attempt to not allow people to think she has a dirty mouth.
She gets her pronouns correct 99% of the time. It's pretty weird.
Madeleine speaks mostly in full sentences.
She is very polite and says thanks with out prompting. When she tells daddy thanks she always says "thanks my daddy." She never adds the "my" to anyone else. It cracks us up.
Maddie counts 6, 9, 8
She sings the ABC's but it's mostly "BCBCs"
Maddie still categorizes everyone she can into mommy, daddy, or baby.
She loves to sing the wheels on the bus and has recently decided that kitty cats ride the bus so they've been added in.
We've been working on being gentle and not hitting and kicking and she is constantly telling us "We don't hit/kick mommy, daddy, CiCi, GiGi or bubba (the dog)." The girl definitely processes her life outloud.
Maddie had her first bloody nose and her first UTI this month. Poor kiddo. The UTI made her MISERABLE.
Madeleine has been showing her will with nap and bedtime but we are working through it and crossing our fingers it's just a phase.
She gives smoochy sounding kisses
Maddie so concerned about bubba (our dog Boudreaux that she's renamed) and the poor guy never gets a break from her unless we put him in his crate.
Maddie is a constant little jumping moving monkey. She only stops if she is asleep.
She refers to herself as baby.
Hide the keys! This girl wants to drive. If she is given the chance she is jumping into the driver's seat of the car and trying to drive. It's a good thing we don't have fancy keyless cars.
For Thanksgiving we spent a few days in Galveston at a beach house with my family. It was a great vacation and Maddie had a blast. She was hesitant at first and never really loved the waves but warmed up quickly to playing in the sand, going on wagon rides, and feeding the birds.
Thanksgiving II was spent with Mark's family. As always it was fun and loud with lots of little cousins to play with.

Mexican restaurants with ice cream are the best!

McDonald's has the best little toddler play area near our house and it's almost always empty. We love going there to get breakfast and play on a rainy morning.

Playing with my best buddy Hannah in her awesome play area under the stairs. Thanks for smiling Hannah!

Fun at Nicolaas and Sydney's birthday party.

Stickers with Hannah.

First time seeing the beach. She's not so sure about this. My face is trying to be encouraging but is probably just scary.

Morning drive.

Hanging out on The Strand.

She LOVED digging for tiny clams and watching them bury themselves further in the sand.

Maddie took everything in her vicinity and put it on Uncle Kyle. Right after this picture she also tried to pour a glass of water on him too. She LOVES him and he is so good to her.