Madison

Like Kelsey, I don't know where to start, so I'll just pick up in the middle of my thoughts. Madison is awesome. She is hilarious and totally knows it. Talk about attitude. I don't know if its because she is almost 2 but everything she does I just want to kiss her checks and keep her in my pocket because the cuteness is out of control.
If I had to write this post in only one sentence it would be this: if Kelsey does it, Madison is not far behind. Madison LOVES Kelsey and literally does and "says" everything Kelsey does. She loves her big sister and loves the attention she gets from her big sister.
Madison seriously is a prankster. She loves to get into trouble and loves to get a rise from people. She follows rules because she is a good girl and knows that she should, but first she tries to push as many buttons as she can before she does what she is being asked all the while laughing at her silliness.

I know Madison is not a baby anymore, but its been hard for me to accept because she is still my baby. But she definitely acts like a toddler now. Madison loves to play. Run, jump, hop, roll, play. She just wants to move. She's really into babies right now and maybe my most favorite thing that she does is pick them up and goes "sh sh sh sh" while she pats their backs. Its adorable. She also loves to push the babies in the strollers and feed them food. That being said, she LOVES when Kelsey treats her like a baby but only Kelsey. She loves it when Kelsey picks her up, puts her in her booster, helps her with her shoes etc. As long as Kelsey is the one helping, Madison will do anything she is asked. One of Madison's favorite things to do right now is take things that you are using and she knows you are using and run away. Its funny like maybe the first time she does it, but that's about it.

Madison is a strong willed little girl. I used to get worried about it, but now I can see how wonderful and good it will be in the future. I definitely see us butting heads, but I also see Madison standing up for what she believes with such a vengeance. She just won't get pushed around. She will believe and do what she believes for better or worse. I hope to be able to help her know how to use that super power for good, but Madison is already such a good girl that I feel like I'm on the winning side. Sometimes it goes against me though. Like, there have been many nights and afternoons where Madison sleeps in a heap by the door because she decided that she didn't want to go to bed.

She also started believing that she needed to be awake at 5/5:30 for about 6 weeks. Yeah... that was the worst.

As much as Madison likes to cause mischief, I know she is a good girl because every time she is doing something "wrong" she will close her eyes as if to say "If I can't see you, then I can't hear you and then I know I won't get into trouble." Its actually super hilarious because she totally knows what she is doing.

Right now, Madison and I are working on being okay with getting messy. She HATES being messy. Its not just being messy, she hates being out of line. If her hair is messed up she asks me to fix it, if she spills she can not focus past the spill, if she has something on her clothes she wants to change etc. I'm trying to help her know that its really going to be okay no matter what spilled or who dropped the spoon. What I have I done to my poor children! They are so afraid to make messes around me. I'm so sorry.

Madison is still working on the whole talking thing but its coming. She can say a pretty good list of words including:

mamma, dada, bubble, baby, "up above," help, up, yay, puppy, santa, Jesus, grampa, boots, hat, and a few others. 

The words are limited but the communication is not. She will grab our hands, gestures more all the time, or points to stuff until we understand. She often will bring us stuff to know what it is or if we aren't looking she will grab our face and direct it to where she needs help. Its so cute to see her try so hard to communicate. Ever since she learned how, the screaming has gone down 10 fold. Its so nice.  

Madison is so fun to have around. She loves to dance, is always reading books, plays hide and seek, and seriously does anything that Kelsey is doing. Right now she loves to pretty much only eat milk so that gets super old, but she loves Ethan and her blankie. She sleeps like a champion and naps like an all star. She knows that mom's phone is not a toy so any time she sees it, she runs to grab it and bring it to me. Any time she can sneak on to the computer she does, and loves to play tag. Coloring is her favorite pass time and she loves screen time. Being outside is cool if she can stay clean and she climbs things years above her age. Madison has always wanted to keep up with Kelsey and all things considered, she does a pretty good job. Gotta say though, Madison you don't have to keep up with Kelsey because on your own you are awesome. You make us laugh, are tougher than nails, and so sweet. I love your free hugs and kisses that you give to us every time you see us and I love that when you haven't seen someone in a long time you run up to them to hug them. My favorite thing right now is how every morning when you wake up you give Kelsey a hug before she even has time to acknowledge anyone else. You love your sister and she loves you. Stay sweet and stay sassy. It makes you so unique. The world needs that mix


There are a few things I wanted to add that I forgot.
Madison loves to play peek a boo behind your back. She pops out at your shoulder and says "booboo!"
Madison is always saying "donow?" when she can't find things (I Don't know) and she says "Ididit!" when she is really proud of herself
She enters a room by saying hi and leaves by saying bye, even if she has already said these things to you she will say it over and over and over as she come and goes.
Madison is not really known to walk places. If she is in motion, she is typically running
She is CRAZY ocd and if anything gets on her foot, she stops to wipe it off. Considering I vacuum maybe once every 10 days, this gets really annoying for Madison.
She loves slides and loves to swing
She is TERRIFIED of animals but loves to make the noises and point them out. She will run towards a dog because she is excited to see it, but as soon as he gets close she SCREAMS and runs away. Its a weird relationship.
whenever you tell something to Madison she responds by saying "oh" "madison, look at the lights." "Oh." "Madison, stop jumping off the ladder." "Oh."
Madison is great at asking for more, calms her self down really well, stops crying pretty easily, says yes and no, says thank you when you give her something, and uses please pretty often considering her age.
Every night as I'm tucking her in, she blows me kisses as I'm walking out. She also asks for kissed by sticking out her lips and walking towards you. She is very quick to give hugs. When she hasn't seen you in a while, she runs towards you yelling "YAAAYYYY!!!" and gives you a big hug. It makes you feel great.
She has a sound effect for everything she does. I think she does this becasue she can't talk all the way yet but its awesome. If she is trying really hard, she will puroselly grunt. If she is trying to jump she will make that "uh" noise with every jump. When she sits down she will go "boom!" I love that she does this.
Madison LOOOOOVES to sing and since she can't talk the words, she makes up the noises that she hears in the syllables. It rocks. For example, when she sings "Try Everything" She will go "ohohoh nanana ohohoh" It helps if you know the song but its so cute. She sings the 12 days of Christmas and obviously can't get the words, but gets the medley pretty darn well.  We always hear her singing along in the back seat. She will oh,ah, and hum at all the right parts. I love it
Madison also loves to dance, but it basically is just her spinning in circles. She copies everything that we do so she will copy our moves, but if it is totally from her own brain she is spinning.
She recognizes us in pictures and will point us out by name "mama, dada, essy, and memo"

Madison and Kelsey love to play the screaming game. I hate it for obvious reason but they literally just sit and stare  at each other and scream. Its not a high pitched girly scream but more of a "AHHHHHHH" scream. Its still super annoying but they laugh and laugh and laugh.

When she wants us to come with her she motions us forward with her whole hand. Its really cute.
She calls all food apples
She will tell us when she is wet or dirty. She will come up to us and say "tink!tink!" (stink, stink)
She LOVES watching shows. "Madison? Do you want to watch a show?" "A stow! A stow!!"as  she is running through the house. If Kelsey doesn't know she will run and find her so she can watch too and then motions Kelsey to sit by her. 
shes really mastered the tantrum. She slowly will lunge forward onto her belly so she gets the dramatic effect but still not to hurt herself. Once there she starts rolling and crying and kicking. Its quite impressive.