All About Madison

Our big girl will be 3 in just two months, and I recently realized that while I try to do monthly posts about McKinley (she turned 7 months the day after Christmas so I get a free pass for that one), I haven't really done a post just about Madison in a while. And as delightful and entertaining as that girl is, she definitely deserves it! Unfortunately, I discovered as I was writing this post, that it's almost impossible to include enough detail to really understand how awesome she is! Everything about her is so perfect in a way that is uniquely hers. But I want to at least try so here goes!

Favorites: Pink, cereal, puzzles, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (a PBS show), being a princess, Daddy, the iPad, gymnastics, marshmallows, jumping on the bed, doing everything herself!
- Madison is now completely potty-trained. She hasn't been in a diaper for a month. We did this right before Christmas, and she did great! She caught on fast and was very excited to fill up her sticker chart and get her Cinderella doll. And she's never had a night accident. We're still getting used to all the implications of this, mostly me figuring out how to juggle McKinley and her when we're running errands and she has to go, but she's really good about telling us. Sometimes she takes advantage of it as she likes to visit the potty every place we go just to check it out. There have been times when I've had to run her to the bathroom multiple times in the same place so we've been talking more about only saying you have to go potty when you really have to go. I can't wait until we have boys so Jordan can run them to the bathroom 17 times during dinner :)
- She still hates to eat, but we're not worrying about it at this point. She takes a vitamin every day and is VERY healthy so I don't think she's suffering any negative effects. She loves to eat cereal in the morning but really hates eating lunch. She mostly survives on chocolate milk during the day until dinner, when Daddy forces her to take a certain number of bites each night. She used to be really awful about this, but now she does pretty well.
- She loves to pretend. I really love this stage! It's so fun to see what she comes up with. She especially likes to pretend to cook things in her kitchen or make me presents. She also loves to pretend with her baby dolls. Right now, it seems like her favorite thing to pretend involves being a superhero. She races around the house at top speed and calls herself Super Madison and us Super Mommy and Super Daddy. And she's always trying to save us from the monsters. She also likes to pretend to be a doctor and fix us all.
- She always has A LOT to say. And she demands that you listen to her. You can't get away with just saying "Oh" or "I see" - you have to actually respond to what she's saying and have a conversation with her. Otherwise she'll just keep repeating herself. I have to remind Jordan of this a lot when he comes home from school each day - he always wants to talk to me and tell me about his day but she's thinking the same thing about him so she stands by him and just repeats herself over and over trying to get his attention until I have to say "Jordan, please acknowledge your daughter!" She comes up with the funniest things, too. Just this morning I said, "Wow, Madison, you have cold hands," and she replied, "Yes Mommy, I am magical." I've promised myself I'm going to start writing them all down and do a whole post of "Maddieisms"
- She loves anything princess. She almost always has a tutu and her "princess headbands" on at some point in the day. She loves to dance like a princess and thinks anyone wearing a dress is a princess. My Church shoes are princess shoes. Our wedding pictures are Princess Mom and Prince Dad.
- She's seriously the best big sister I could've hoped for. She loves to mother her little sister. When McKinley wakes up from naps, Madison always tells me that she's going to get her and that I need to stay in the living room. Then she goes in and climbs up the side of the crib and talks to her. If McKinley cries, Madison runs over and says "It's okay, McKinley, it's okay" while hugging her. And she always tries to hold McKinley's hand in the car, which McKinley is not such a huge fan of. Lately, she's been trying to teach McKinley to fold her arms during prayers. Madison is McKinley's favorite person in the world and especially loves when Madison tickles her.
- She loves to go grocery shopping and likes being in charge of the list, which basically means she colors all over it :) In fact, she loves to go anywhere and always asks if we're going on an adventure today.
- She's gotten very interested in cooking and always drags her stool into the kitchen to help me make dinner. Sometimes if I start making dinner while she's still taking her nap, I'll suddenly hear her yell from her room, "Mom, are you making dinner?" and pretty soon she's at my side.
- She still completely adores her Daddy and squeals and runs to the door when he comes home each day. She's his little shadow and even follows him to take out the trash.
- She loves to sing. She knows a lot of the Primary songs but she also loves to make up her own songs. She just starts singing about something and then anything she happens to hear or look at while she's singing gets thrown in. This obviously makes for some very entertaining lyrics!
- She is already teaching us so much and is such a great example of faith. She loves to pray and often talks about how Jesus makes us feel better. She asks about Family Home Evening all the time. We mostly use the Nursery Manual for FHE but last week I decided to switch it up and we just sang Primary songs at the piano for FHE. When we got done about 30 minutes later, she ran to the bookshelf and got the manual and said it was time for the lesson. I guess we'll keep using the manual :) Yesterday, we had a hectic morning getting ready for Church and Jordan and I were not in the best of moods by the time we got in the car and started driving. After a few minutes of silence, she very suddenly started singing "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" which of course changed the whole mood. I'm very grateful for her.

Madison definitely has a mind of her own, which can sometimes be very frustrating, but not a day goes by that I don't think how lucky I am to be her Mom. She brings so much joy into our lives and is a constant source of wonder to me. I seriously love this little girl!

Madison Marie

Busting a move with Just Dance on the Wii. Not sure why she had to be on the stool, but she drags that thing everywhere so it doesn't surprise me!

In her princess headband and tutu. She also loves to play in the bathroom sink while telling me she's "brushing her teeth." One day, my friend Kelsie was over and we were talking in the living room and when I looked over at Madison in the bathroom, there was water EVERYWHERE! I couldn't help laughing and Kelsie told me to go get the camera! She was very proud of the mess she made :)

She still loves to read. We go to the library every week to get new books. This is her getting cozy on my bed.

A rare picture of her eating something! Even if it was sugar cones covered in frosting :)

 Sweet girl