Our Maddie

Maddie is so much fun! She has an amazing vocabulary, a photographic memory, a silly sense of humor, and a little bit of attitude all wrapped up in a string bean body!

Here are her stats:

WEIGHT - 26.4 pounds - 14%

HEIGHT - 36 inches - 32%

HEAD - 19 inches - 45%

Maddie is a total sponge and loves to learn new things. She loves floor puzzles and will work on them for hours. She builds them and then tears them apart and assembles them again. She loves the anticiapation of finishing the puzzle, so before she places the last piece in the puzzle, she looks around to make sure everyone is watching. Then she put the piece in upside down just to draw out the moment even longer. When she finally finishes the puzzle, she runs around the room shouting, "Maddie did the whole puzzle!"

Here she is with three of her favorite puzzles - she likes to dump all the pieces in a big pile and do all three puzzles at the same time.

Maddie goes to preschool story time at the library and she loves it. It's such a cute little program. They have songs with actions, story time, and a craft. Maddie loves the toddler section of the library. I'm so happy she loves the library as much as I do! We can be bookworms together.

We spend A LOT of time at the park. Yucaipa has lots of beautiful parks with big open areas of huge trees and lots of green grass to run around in. Maddie is like her mom and hates to wear shoes and socks. She is constantly taking her shoes off and running around barefoot at the park.

Maddie at Seventh Street Park. She calls this park "Turtle Park" because there is a stone turtle sculpture for the kids to climb on.

Maddie is such a sweet girl. She calls the other kids at the park "friends". I love how she looks at any new people as friends - I should be more like my Maddie.

I love this girl :) She still has the most intense eyes and the longest, thickest eyelashes I have ever seen on a little girl.

Maddie sitting on a caterpillar climbing structure at Wildwood Canyon Park. She calls this park "Ladybug Park" because she thinks the caterpillar she's sitting on looks like a ladybug.

Maddie loves music. She loves to learn new songs, especially ones that include actions. Grandpa pulls out his guitars most Sunday nights after family dinner. Maddie loves to play along with Grandpa. He is so sweet and patient with her. He lets her use his "picnics" (guitar picks) and pluck his guitar. He also prints out sheet music for children's songs and plays songs she knows. She thinks Grandpa is so amazing that he can play "Hokey Pokey" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on his guitar. She frequently makes requests for him to play songs from Toy Story or Lion King. She just assumes he knows every song.

Maddie & I were waiting at the pediatrician's office for the doctor to come in and she decided to sing some songs. Here is a medley of "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Popcorn Popping", & "Wheels on the Bus".

Maddie loves to sing to Macey. And Macey just eats it up. They are in love with each other. Here is a Maddie original called "Roxy Tonight". She loves Laura, Bryant, and their dog Roxy. She frequently sings about them, plays pretend and names her toys after them, and asks about them.

And here is a spirited rendition of "If You're Happy & You Know It". She sang this one with her cousin Adam. This is one of her favorites.

Maddie's other fun thing to do is attend tumbling class. She goes to Tumble Tots and learns all kinds of fun things. They are so great with the kids - the instructors teach them stretches, songs, and gymnastics tricks. Maddie just loves it. She asks to go to tumbling every day when she wakes up.

Here she is at circle time, stretching and listening intently to the instructor.

She has so much fun every week - this is a real Maddie smile.

One of the stretches is sung to "Humpty Dumpty" and it's Maddie's favorite one. She re-enacts it at home all the time.

Look for Maddie to be joining the USA gymnastics team in about 15 years. Here are the beginnings of a backflip.

At the end of each class, the instructors pull out the parachute and let them play with it.
 

They finish up by letting the kids ride on it while we sing "Ring Around the Rosy". Maddie looks forward to it every week and just squeals with delight as she spins in the middle with her friends.

Maddie such a wonderful big sister and such a joy in our family. We love to watch her grow and develop each day. She keeps us laughing all day long.