Getting into trouble, every chance she gets

Now that she's 19 months old, Madeline is figuring out new ways to challenge us every day. She demands to be "up!" all the time, which means that she wants to be seated on the counter/table/other precarious place.

Everything sitting on the counter is fair game for playing then, so cell phones get thrown on the floor, kleenex get pulled out of boxes, and fingers inch ever-so-close to electrical outlets.

She's still just as charming as ever, though. After a bout with a nasty cold and double ear infection, she had lost a little weight - I'd estimate a pound or two. But her appetite is back now, and her little tummy is rounding out again quite nicely. Thank goodness, because Madeline's mommy is a born worrier!

The Latest Adventures of SmartyPants

Madeline just turned 18 months old this past weekend, and if my maintenance of this blog is any indication, she has been keeping us extremely busy. I have to admit that the age she is now has always been one of my favorite ages for kids, just because they are so much fun. She is discovering new adventures every day, and it's a great deal of fun to watch.

Recent developments:

She now gives high-fives. The other day she was putting puzzle pieces into one of her wooden puzzles, and when she finished I told her "Good job!" and asked her to give me a high-five, which she did. It was just one of those moments where I felt so happy that she and I were able to carry on this whole dialogue and she fully participated.

She loves the fridge. Because it is cold, and because it contains so many good things to eat and drink, the refrigerator is a source of fascination for Madeline. If Dave or I get something out of there, we have to be stealthy and/or quick, because before we can blink, Madeline is there between the door and the fridge, looking for something interesting. She likes to pick up the bottles or a pitcher of orange juice and then entreat us to "help," because then we are supposed to open the ranch dressing or worchestershire sauce for her, or pour her a glass of OJ.

Messiness is now part of the deal. I have discovered that Madeline enjoys making bigger messes as she gets older. She has found new ways to make messes, which is sort of confounding for her neatnik parents. She likes to pour things out of containers (crayons out of their boxes, juice out of a cup, cotton pads out of their sleeve); mash multiple gobs of Play-Doh into one big multicolored ball; or smear spaghetti or yogurt on her face and in her hair. I am learning cleaning secrets I never knew that I would need, but we'll survive, I'm sure.

She'll give you a pat on the back. One of her more charming traits is that she'll put her arm around me or hug me and pat my back while she does it. I don't know who taught her this, but it makes my heart melt.

She loves to dance. Madeline has discovered that music has a rhythm to it, and she loves to bend her knees to bop her head to the beat. It's so funny to watch her when there's a song that catches her attention playing on TV or the radio. A couple of weeks ago, we took her to a Baby Loves Disco event, which was a bit much for her because there were so many people there. Even so, she and Dave managed to win a prize for being such great dancers!

The Psketti Chronicles

Ah, the joys of introducing solid food. Madeline had her first taste of spaghetti the other night, and she looooved it. She is going to be an Italian food freak like her mommy, I can tell. The bruschetta and calamari are just around the corner, no doubt. :o)

It just amazes me that she is starting to catch on to all of these things that seem so grown-up, like eating the same things that Dave and I do. She’s also finding more words every day... she’s got "mama," "dada," "ba" (for ball), and "pee" (for peek, not for actually peeing -- although wouldn’t that be handy???).

What also amazes me is how much these little steps are what I take joy in now. Before I had a kid, this kind of stuff would have probably given me about 2 second’s pause and an "oh, that’s nice" if a friend or relative’s child did them. Now that I’ve watched Madeline from the very beginning of her life, and seen each incremental step she has taken, I feel so much wonder at each additional step she accomplishes. It’s simple entertainment, but you can’t beat it.

Summer Days

This year, the late days of August have really been making me nostalgic for the summers when I was a kid. I'm sure that having Madeline gives me the chance to relive some of that same happiness with her -- watching her enjoy some of the wonderful experiences of summer.

Some of the most vivid memories I have are of spending time at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson’s house. They were so good to us -- it seems like I had everything I could’ve wanted in those days. Mom would drive us into town, often with our bikes loaded in the car, too, so we could experience the fun of biking on pavement, a rarity on the farm. Kristie and I could cruise up and down the block, around the sidewalks and over to the church parking lot. We never ventured much further than that, though -- the cross streets were too busy with traffic for us to brave them.

If we were in the mood for a walk, we could go to Dumont Park or Poynter’s store for penny candy. With all the sidewalks, we could play gigantic games of hopscotch. The backyard at Grandpa and Grandma’s had a little patio slab with a swing to sit on. When renting movies was the newest rage, we would get movies and watch them in the cool air-conditioned house while lying on the soft caramel-colored carpeting.

Dinner always seemed to be tender, roasted-all-afternoon roast beef with potatoes and carrots. It was so good, but I’d make sure I saved plenty of room for the homemade ice cream Grandma had made for dessert.

On Saturday nights, Grandpa would go work at the races and bring home bags of Jasper’s caramel corn. Then he’d drag the extra mattress up the stairs from the basement and Grandma would make the bed for us with soft sheets that had a huge rainbow on them. We’d usually be too excited to fall asleep for a long time, so before drowsiness set in, it was fun to study the light slanting in from the streetlights outside -- so different from the complete and utter darkness at home on the farm.

Now that I’m grown up, I realize how much they did to make us happy and give us these wonderful memories. They surely had the same stressful grown-up worries everyone does, but I had no awareness of anything but the comfort and fun of a summer at Grandpa and Grandma’s.

The Mommy Blog

Just a test run to try out this whole blog thing... I have been meaning to get my act together and start blogging.

Today I finally have an excuse to try it out since Mike & Sarah have one of these things for the soon-to-arrive little one.

I'm hoping to post stuff on here from time to time to keep everyone up-to-date on what's happening.

The ongoing development at our house these days is that Madeline is getting justthisclose to walking. It's coming any time now, I can feel it. She is working out her sense of balance, and it's fun to watch her take little toddling steps every so often. Nothing I'd call "walking" yet, though.

One thing she did yesterday that made my jaw drop: Dave and I were doing our regular trade-off of entertaining/feeding/changing/preventing bodily harm to herself with Madeline. Dave had just made dinner and was cleaning up; I had just changed Madeline's diaper. Dave says, "Tell Mommy 'thank you,' Madeline!" And she said something that sounded like, "Tangoo!" I'm still in shock.