Month 10

Today Madelynne turned 11 months old. It’s hard to believe that in 4 weeks, she will be celebrating her first birthday. I can honestly say, despite the circumstances of the past year, it sure has been a blessing to stay at home and capture the moments of her infancy and as she continues to grow into the little toddler she soon will become. I think I say this in almost every one of my blogs, and as much as I miss being in the classroom with my students, I wouldn’t trade this time with Madelynne for the world. Her personality is quite defined and to use some fun adjectives that describe her, I’d say: animated, joyful, curious, talkative, stubborn, passionate, and funny. Boy, this girl can make me laugh! Here are some highlights from the past month. Next month will mark her 1^st birthday. Brad and I have decided, every year, to each write her a letter as a reflection of that year, and then save them until she turns 18. I am also doing a little slide-show compilation of some of my favorite Madelynne pics throughout the course of the year. It's already fun to see her change over the course of the year. Anyway, enjoy the highlights of month 10!

First haircut

Brad was adamant about NOT cutting Madelynne’s hair any time before the age of one, but decided that we it was due time. I am not a hairstylist and did not want to do a bad job with cutting uneven or anything, so she came with me to my hair appointment, and got her bangs trimmed, right before our trip to Wyoming in June. She did a great job and sat pretty still for the most part. I think it is due time for another haircut, too.

Family and Friends

Little Cowgirl

Damion pushing Maddy

All the little cousins playing

Nate and Maddy

Swimming in the creek

Chillin' in the hammock

New "friend" at a rest stop

Grandma and Maddy

Great Grandma, Maddy, Brad and I

Walking along

Lucky for us, we ventured to Wyoming for a family reunion back in June, so Madelynne got to meet new cousins and new friends. She sure loves her cousin, Damion, though. She had a great time meeting Great Grandma King and all sorts of new people. She also loved spending time with her Grandma and Grandpa. The road trip out and back was definitely LONG, but our stops gave her plenty of time to relax.

Summer Groups

Madelynne and I have been involved with a few summer mom groups. One was an adventure group, that we have only been to once so far, due to time conflicts. The first meeting was at Railroad Park Bridge, where the kids were able to where their rain galoshes and splash in the small creek and play in the mud nearby. Madelynne had a little too much fun getting down and dirty. I also started a hiking group for mom’s (MOHAWKS) and we have done 4 hikes so far with fairly great turnouts. It beats staying inside, even on overcast days.

Railroad Bridge Park

On the Dungeness Spit

First 4^th

Madelynne experienced her first 4^th of July this summer, too. She enjoyed some quality time with daddy, a BBQ with friends, and then enjoyed watching the fireworks, although falling asleep half way through. She wasn’t even scared of the loud noises and watched the colors exploding the night sky with wonderment.

Staying warm

Watching the fireworks

Learning Curve

Other than that, she is still learning like crazy, that it constantly amazes me what we, as adults, take for granted sometimes. She is holding onto things and walking along the furniture. She has limited confidence in her balancing skills and won’t let go too long. She can stand for extended period of time and can also squat like it is going out of style. It hurts my knees to watch her! She has taken a few unassisted steps, but is still a little leery of the whole walking thing, so she opts to get around by crawling. She loves to read by herself and with us and to us, in her distinct baby babble. She has officially said “hi” and some form of “I love you”, and is still learning every day. Her biggest thing this month has been learning to blow kisses, which she does all of the time now. She loves to copy us and has been doing lots of mimicking like clicking her tongue, laughing when we do, and singing when we sing. It is pretty comical. I have also slowly introduced to Sesame Street, with maybe a five minute sneak peek in the morning, which she now has a love to Elmo and gets to the TV just to slap at it with excitement when she “sees” her new “friends”. Enjoy some of our favorite pics over the last month...until next time!