New Tricks

It seems like everyday Mady is learning something new. Michael and I find ourselves stunned when she does these things. We ask each other, "Did you teach her that?". Here's a break down of some of her recent accomplishments.

In the past few weeks, she has begun waving. Its great! When she sees someone she likes, or she gets attention from a stranger, she flaps her arm at them in a uncontrollable, 'I'm so happy that all of my energy is escaping through this one arm' kind of way.

Almost everyday I watch an old episode of Gilmore Girls. In the intro, there is a Carol King song, 'Where you Lead', and I sing along to Mady. Last week, when the song came on, Mady started bobbing up and down and waving her arms. She was DANCING! I was so excited! The next day I showed Michael and we played the song over and over just watching her dance the whole time. It was great. I think she gets her moves from Michael because I'm not as good of a dancer as she is.

***This is a little off topic but I have to share*** I hope she become a fan of great older music like Carol King, The Carpenters, The Beatles, David Gates and (especially) James Taylor. The first song she ever heard was 'You've got a Friend' by James Taylor. It was one of those moments that you know you'll remember for the rest of your life. It was the morning after she was born, Michael and I were just staring at her with the music in the background and the morning light shining brightly through the window. She looked like a little angel still shining with Heaven's light. Our first family memory. Perfect moment. (I know that was a little cheesy but that's how it was and now I'm crying.)

She has been crawling for a while but lately has been very interested in pulling up. It seems like her toys have totally lost her interest and all she wants to do is crawl up to me or the couch and pull up. Up and down, up and down...all day it seems. And of course it makes me terribly nervous. I don't feel like she has a real handle on getting down safely. Sometimes she lets go of the couch and just plops onto her bottom. I'm sure it doesn't hurt but it scares me...and sometimes her too. Her face scrunches up and a little 'Ahhhhh' creeps from her mouth. It gets louder and louder until its a full-on wail! She doesn't always land on her bottom either. Many times she goes stiff and will fall backwards or sideways hitting her head on the wood floors. Not fun.

Lately we have found that Mady is a good singer. She will sit in her car seat or in the living room floor and sing to herself. She writes her own songs too. I'll be driving around Norman and hear a gentle 'Ahh-ahh-ahh'. Its a Mady-original just for me. I love it!

Our little girl is becoming more grown-up and independent every day. It seems like she smiles and laughs more everyday too. Its exciting but a little bittersweet too. We are so proud of her. I don't know why God chose to give the cutest creature ever made to us, but I sure am glad He did.

Jump In and the Death-Roll

Oh my! I haven't written since March! So much has happened! Madalyn is growing so fast and learning even faster. It didn't take long, but she is absolutely the pride, joy and love of my life (I'm pretty sure Michael feels the same). Lets see...there is too much to catch up on so I'm just going to jump in.

This summer has been a busy one. Mady and I have been attending story time since she was three months old. We still go every Wednesday morning and Mady is loving it more every week. The last two weeks she has discovered how great 'Bubble Time' is. She gets so excited when the bubbles come out that she waves her arms and kicks her legs (she's sitting on her own now so I have to make sure her excitement doesn't topple her over). In May, the library began sign up for the summer reading program. Mady (through my interpretation of course) decided to be ambitious and set a goal to read 100 books this summer. I am proud to announce that last Wednesday we received our medal and they posted 'Madalyn Garner' on a gold-music-note with all the other kids who had reached their goal. Michael was able to be there when she got her recognition and noticed that there were not that many gold-notes posted. (The gold ones were saved for the brilliant few that read more than 100) Michael was beaming! The best part was that Mady picked out her own medal. Ms. Susan held up a basket that had medals on different colored ribbon. Mady first reached for a pink one, then scanned the basket again, and finally decided on a purple one.

Mady has been very good at deciding things lately. Some mornings I let her choose what she wears. The other day I had two outfits laying out for her to choose from and she very enthusiastically chose one over the other. By enthusiastically I mean she waved her arms and spit. Not very lady-like...but effective. She also likes to choose what toys she plays with. In the living room we have a basket of toys. I will lay out the bigger toys for her but she inevitably scoots or crawls (her version of crawling is actually crawling on her knees for a few inches then she stands on her feet with her hands still on the ground forming a sort of yoga pose then back down on her knees) to the basket and digs through until she decides on a toy. Today I watched her try for 3 minutes to get a toy car out of the basket. It kept getting hung on the side of the basket and falling back in. At one point I could almost hear her thinking, "Is this worth the effort?" as she looked at the toy. I wish I had a picture of that look.

Other developments aren't awesome. :) She has begun a very interesting maneuver that Michael and I call the Alligator-Death-Roll. When she doesn't like what we're doing, like changing her diaper, holding her a certain way or laying her down for ANY reason, she will arch her back and roll. You know, like when an alligator has a death grip on some poor victim and they want to really finish the job...yeah, that what she's trying to do...finish us off. Oh, and the moaning. When she's tired or hungry she moans...its indescribable. Remember that scene from Dumb and Dumber when the make the most annoying noise on earth? Its like that.

I don't want it to sound like I don't love every minute with her...because I do. She has this way of making me so full of love and joy. Like, when she wakes up from a nap and I come into the room, she smiles like, "Hey! I've missed you! I like you so much and here you are!". Or, we have conversations together. She'll squeal, "Ehhh" and I'll respond, "Ahhh". We'll go back and forth for a while. Its the best thing ever to talk to your child, even if its not words, its amazing! And, its great just to watch her discover. The other day she was holding a straw, she just stared at it for the longest time. Then she twisted her wrist to see how it looked a different angle. Then she put it in her mouth, then she banged it on the table... then she dropped it and I took it away, but for those few minutes that straw was the most fascinating experiment she had ever encountered.

I guess I'd better wrap it up. I'll just say this. Every day I thank God for such a perfect gift and for making it possible (only with HIS power is it possible) for me to stay home and hang out with such an amazing person. And she's only 8 months old! How much more awesome will she become?!