Mady has been doing great lately. She is growing up SO fast. She now has three teeth. I just discovered one more this morning. It makes sense, she has been a little grumpy lately and hasn't been sleeping very well. That reminds me of something new I've discovered about myself...
When Mady was a newborn I could wake up as many times as she needed and it didn't bother me. I had an endless supply of compassion for her in the middle of the night. Somewhere along the way I have lost that midnight-compassion and it has been replaced with 'Just go back to sleep already! I'm tired!' I'm not really proud of myself but I feel like honesty is important so I'm sharing it with you. Maybe there's a young mother that will discover my blog and find comfort in knowing she's not the only mother who loves her little one but is passionate about getting more sleep. So, instead of sitting up with Mady and rocking her until she drifts peacefully back to sleep, I bring her to bed with me and Michael. NOT a good idea. Now, instead of her being awake in her room, she's laying next to poor Michael who has to get up in two hours. Mady loves her dad so much that she has a hard time leaving him alone. Usually, she punches Michael in the eye as a 'Hey dad! I'm here to play!' announcement. If she's not wanting to play, she will just flop around trying to get comfortable. Finally, usually after about an hour of trying to get her to be still, I get up, even more frustrated, and take her back to her room where she falls asleep quickly but only for a short while.
The other night, after fighting with Mady for an hour, I got up in a huff and told Michael how tired I was. He said to me, 'You know why you can't sleep? Because you keep bringing Mady to bed with you!' I wish I could report that this statement was in a loving tone, but it wasn't. I guess I say all of this to get to the conclusion: I'm ready for Mady to not be teething anymore so she (and as a result, the rest of the family) can get some good sleep.
Other new developments include Mady learning where her head is. She's been watching a Baby Einstein video that sings the 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' song. Now, when she hears head, she puts both of her hands on her head. Its pretty cute. She has also developed hand signals for the song she wants you to sing. She claps her hands if she wants Patty Cake and she wiggles her fingers if she wants Itsy Bitsy Spider. I love that! She isn't walking yet...that we've seen. Heather, a frequent nursery worker at church, says that Mady has been taking one step at a time. It makes me so mad that Heather gets to see her walk! Mady has always done stuff in nursery before she does it at home. So, I quit working so I could witness all of Mady's milestones and she accomplishes them during the two hours a week that I'm not around. Great. Oh, Mady also knows 'Hi' and 'Bye'. She can't say the words but when she hears them she knows
to wave. Her wave is pretty funny, she lets her hand dangle lifelessly and just shakes her arm.
Oh! Mady's first Halloween! We had a great time. Actually, Noble and Norman did their trick or treating the day before Halloween so I forgot to put her in her costume on the actual holiday. Ooops. No big deal though, she was Pebbles for storytime and the church party on Wednesday and on Friday for a Halloween party and to pass out candy.
At the church party, we forgot the bone that I made for her hair. I ran to the resource room to try to make a stand-in. I was kind of freaking out and Michael said to me, 'Jen, she'll have a good time without the bone in her hair. Lets just go let her play.' It was then that I realized how important to ME it was that she have the bone. I put so much time working on her costume that I wanted it to be perfect. For that few moments I let myself be the baby! I figure I only have a small amount of time to get things my way before she starts giving me her opinion. I'm clinging to this time when I can pick out her outfits and do her hair how I want. Its fun and she's so beautiful...I guess I will gradually start giving that up though.
