cousins

The Mallets along with Grandpa and Grandma Jacobson visited last Sunday. It was so fun for Madi to play with her cousins and for us to catch up as well! Thanks, Grandma, for bringing the homemade chicken soup!

The CUZ's: Madi, Jake, Joe and Julia

Madi being her usual invasive self...

Madi has obviously grown out of the "Sure, I'll smile for you" stage while Julia still hams it up!

Seeing eye-to-eye with Joey

Baby Stuff

I have to admit I was a little sad, or maybe bittersweet is the right word, when I realized I need to get rid of these items that were once staples in our lives. Baby bottles, breastpump bottles, and the tub of rice cereal. These three things were necessitites for a year. Now they've become dust collectors in my kitchen. Sigh...bye bye baby feeding things...hello tiny forks, spoons, and sippy cups.

Puppets

Madi loves to play with her puppets from Auntie Jenny, Uncle Jim, Jake, Joe and Julia. That's a mouthful! She thinks it's pretty hilarious when Mama puts the puppets on her hands, too.

Once she's bored she moves on to REALLY exciting things, like washcloths!

Really...can life get any better?

Holy Hair, Batman!!

Madi has a pretty decent amount of hair for a 1 year old. The kids at daycare had a little bit of fun with a bottle of hair gel yesterday. That mixed with the various types of food that she so often smears in her hair made for a nice looking mohawk...or something like that.

Owie!

One of the hazards of learning to walk is the tumbles you take. The nice-looking goose egg on Madi's right eyebrow is the product of reaching for the coffee table, missing the coffee table and instead falling face first into it. Nothing that a lot of Mama hugs and a cup of juice can't fix!

Just Like Mama

Madi has been carrying around my lunchbox all evening. Twice she has taken it out of the pantry and figured out how to loop it around her shoulder so that she can crawl (or walk:))around with it. Every day she sees me with this lunchbox on my way to work. Now she can be just like Mama!

Milestone Reached!

I can't believe it - Madeline took her first steps tonigh! Well, at least the first steps that I've seen. Who knows if she has walked at daycare and Amy (provider) is nice enough to keep it a secret. I like to believe I witnessed these first steps...these steps toward me, her Mama. I just happened to be video taping her "reading" a book and thought "hey, I should see if she'll walk for me when I have the camcorder on." It took a few tries but she actually took 2 tiny steps towards me. I don't think she has really processed what she did. She didn't get up and try it again like I thought she would. She just kind of crawled over to her toys and kept playing. I've heard that once they start walking, your whole world gets turned upside down. They don't want to be carried anymore, they want to (very slowly) walk EVERYWHERE...including places that you just want to get out of as soon as possible (grocery store, bank, etc). Oh, well. Here's to two tiny steps toward toddler-dom. Way to go, sweet girl!