Madison is crawling everywhere now, and aggravating her big sister to no end. I didn't think I would be breaking up fights this early in their lives. Madison is always getting into whatever Brooklynn is doing, and of course it drives Brooklynn bananas. They do have their good moments when they can play together nicely. I've been trying to teach Brooklynn that if she doesn't want Madison to bother her, she needs to give her a toy she can play with. She's also trying to call me for help whenever Madison is bothering her. Lets hope things get better.
Madison is pulling herself up from seated to standing all the time now, and there are many times when she follows me wherever I go and uses my legs to pull up on and stands right behind me, holding onto my legs. She does this a lot when I'm getting ready or when I'm making dinner. She loves being in the walker too. She runs over all of our heels constantly, and it hurts so much! Sometimes I just watch her and laugh because she'll run super fast and then sit down and just slide in the walker. She's such a happy baby for the most part and pretty easy going. She can also be very stubborn. I have tried letting her cry sometimes to get her to go to sleep if she wakes up after I have rocked her and put her down. She'll just stand up and scream her lungs out until I come get her, and I have to rock her back to sleep. If she wants something, she will be sure to let you know.
She's started crawling in the tub now and she splashes everyone that's near her. Sometimes that causes fighting too, when Brooklynn doesn't want to be splashed. She'll usually just joins right in though. I am usually pretty wet after bath time. Something else that Madison absolutely loves is when Joe or I squeegee the shower after we are done. She sits on the floor and just watches and has THE BIGGEST smile on her face! She's started standing up now and hitting the shower door while I squeegee. It's so funny to see the things that bring your kids so much joy.
She's started showing an interest in looking at books now. She still loves watching Baby Einstein Old McDonald, and still LOVES being outside. We have been going on long walks several times a week and we'll usually stop at a park to let the kids swing and play on the playground. Madison usually falls asleep on the way home. She perches one little leg up and hangs it out of the stroller and just kicks back and zonks. She still just takes short naps twice a day for the most part, and is still waking up around 4:30 for a bottle. She still just drinks it and goes right back to sleep. Thank Heavens! She still has two teeth, and her hair has some curl to it now. She's such a little light in our family, and we are so grateful she joined our family. Love my girl!
I feel like Brooklynn is becoming so grown up these days! She learned how to sing her ABC's almost overnight. She went from singing "ABCD" over and over, to the entire alphabet within two days. It just "Clicked" all of the sudden. She is constantly singing now and it is so adorable to just listen to her. Sometimes I swear she's never not singing. She sings "ABC's, Twinkle Little Star, Old McDonald, and today I heard her singing "Let it Go" from the movie FROZEN, and she sings Mary Had A Little Lamb. She also LOVES the song "Shake It Off" from Taylor Swift. Both she and Madison get so happy and excited whenever I turn it on. So funny!
Brooklynn has developed a love for putting puzzles together. I remember watching Maggie when she was about 2 putting puzzles together, and I thought it was so incredible! I found a wooden puzzle set that came with 7 different FROZEN puzzles, and Brooklynn has mastered them and can put them together by herself now. It's so awesome! She's also great at memorizing things. There's a little book at my mom and dad's about Little Miss Muffet, and she can pretty much recite it word for word. She LOVES reading, loves Mickey Mouse, peanut butter M&Ms, cheetos, pickles, playing at the park, wrestling with her sister and her dad, helping in the kitchen, and she loves Yogurt. She will choose greek yogurt for breakfast almost every day.
She sits on the potty before bath time and will usually go pee in the big potty. I bought her a couple stools to use so she can get on the toilet by herself, and wash her hands when she's done, and she has done such a great job! She will tell me when she goes poop, and I'm pretty sure she's ready to be potty trained. It's something I have dreaded since the day she was born, so I am kind of dragging my feet. I decided to wait until we get back from Utah in October to even start potty training. Hopefully she picks it right up, and it doesn't end up being the nightmare that I'm envisioning.
She wants to do everything by herself! She wants to get herself dressed every morning, sometimes she even takes her own diaper off and wipes herself with a wipe and gets out a clean diaper and tries to put it on herself. She wants to open her own yogurt and stir it, put her own shoes on, buckle herself up in her carseat, wash her hair and body in the tub, brush her teeth, put on lipstick when I'm doing my makeup (she'll say "lips", and I know exactly what she wants) help with preparing meals, and SO much more! Sometimes I have to stop and take a deep breath and remind myself that she just wants to be independent, and wants to be involved and helping as much as possible. She loves to help me unload the dishwasher, clean the bathrooms, restock the toilet paper, vacuum, sweep, prepare meals, switch the laundry, help put the groceries in the cart at the store, and unload them at the register, she wants to push Madison in the stroller without help, and I'm sure there's a lot more I'm not thinking of. I try and give her little tasks to do right beside me while I'm doing things around the house, and she usually does a pretty good job! I've learned it saves a lot of frustration and meltdowns if I can just be sure to involve her in what I'm doing. Sometimes tasks take so much longer, but it's teaching me patience..... and hopefully preparing her to one day be able to accomplish the task all on her own.
She still loves going to nursery, and has been so upset she's started crying on weeks when she's been sick or we've been out of town and she hasn't been able to go to nursery. I really hope she always has a love for being at church. She loves when we have Family Home Evening every week too. We always have to end with Joe and I swinging her in the air and singing "wash the dishes" and then we do London Bridges after. It's such a highlight for her. I hope she loves FHE throughout her childhood.
