7.08.2012

Eleven





(Wrote this weeks ago and just finally got around to posting it..)

Dear Maddie,

I have no idea where my baby girl went. This month I feel like you officially became a toddler. You have said goodbye to crawling for good and you confidently walk (and run) all over the place. You squat down to pick things up and stand right back up. You can turn on a dime and you spin in circles. You love to play tag and other games with your cousins. Somehow you manage to hold your own while playing with all your older cousins. You are one tough little girl.

You are getting more confident in communicating. You still say "Momma", "Dadda", and "Hi". This month you have started to say "ByeBye" when you wave goodnight and you sometimes say "Boo!" when you were playing peek-a-boo with Daddy. You also say "Yes" and "No". You also say "Nanas" for Bananas. You are also starting to string together a couple words you know. On Father's Day morning you said "Hi Daddy!" when you woke up. I've been teaching you some baby sign language and this month you mastered "all gone", "more", "milk", "soft" and "food". It's been fun for you to be able to communicate better! You also blow kisses!

You love to pick up cell phones and put them up to your ear and say "hi!"
You love to point to things and ask "Whaz dis?" You also like to play a game where I ask you to tell me where certain things are. When I ask you "Where is Daddy's nose?" you gleefully point to or grab your daddy's nose. Or if I ask you 'Where is Grandpa?" you point to your Grandpa Birkeland. It is so fun to realize how much you really understand. We brought home a big box from Costco and you love to play in it. Grandma was visiting and I told you to show her how you play in your box. You ran over to your box and climbed in. It was too cute.

You love trying new foods and you are far from a picky eater. You love watermelon, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, (I guess we can just stop this list and say that you like all berries and all fruit for that matter). Some of the more odd things you especially love and can't seem to get enough of are salmon, bell peppers (green, yellow, red, and orange... you love them all), pickles, and lemon wedges. Yes lemon wedges. You eat them like oranges. You gnaw them down to the peel without making even the slightest sour face. I discovered this at a recent family barbecue when I gave you a taste of a lemon expecting you to make an adorable sour face. Instead you snatched it from my hand and chomped it down to the peel. You eat whatever we are eating and you are losing interest in baby food.

You have become quite the little water baby. We got a season pass for the three of us to go to Raging Waters. We go quite often. You love to run around in the wave pool. When the waves come you run right into them. You also love to lay on your tummy where it is more shallow with your hands touching the bottom. You'll lean over and blow bubbles into the water! You also love to jump in to the pool from the side (even without holding on to Mommy!). You have learned to hold your breath under water. You and Daddy love to go down the kid slides together. One time you and Daddy went down over and over and over again because you kept signing "more!" After you went down well over twelve times together we decided to call it a day. You couldn't stop gabbering in the car on the whole ride home. (We suspect you were telling us all about how much fun that slide was!)

Your top two teeth cut through and you look so grown up! You are truly growing up right before our eyes!

Love,

Mommy