As if learning to walk was not enough, Madelyn has decided this week to start tumbling or so it seems. She dives in and out of her garden play set about 10 times a day. Normally my pictures are just of a leg or two flopping over the side but I was lucky to catch the entire sequence yesterday. 
Her cousin Jr. was in town last week, much to her delight. She played a few good games of "knock the blocks off" with him. New foods this week were Blueberries (big-hit), Strawberries, pieces of bread and Veggie Booty.
* New 11month slide-show and videos this week
Madelyn is slowing learning how to walk, she can't stand upright on her own for very long or stop after she starts walking, so most of the time she ends up falling on her butt or crashing into whatever she is headed for after 4-5 steps. Each days sees improvement so it won't be long before she's motoring around everywhere, this will surely freak the cats out.
Eating is still a challenge at times, she won't let us feed her anymore and giving her a spoon is just an invitation to watch her fling food all over the place, so it's on to the finger foods. Some of her favorites are black&kidney beans(this sounds strange but our child loves these to no end and will eat about a 1/4 cup of them at a time, cheese(string and cubed), pears, blueberries, raisins, grapes, bananas, avocados, raviolis, and of course what kid would not like Cheerios. All of these foods are subject to her mood at any given time, one week she'll be really into something and the next week she won't even touch it. We went though a stage where she really only wanted to eat crackers for every meal, now she spits them out and does not want anything to do with them. She still will offer you a taste of what she's eating if you show interest in what's on her tray and will gladly stuff as many beans or raisins into your mouth as you can stand.
Here are some more pictures from the photo shoot last week:
"I hate the Grass!! (well this week anyway)"
Never ending box of Tissues
First Haircut
We went to the pool for the first time this weekend. Pools have changed radically since our childhood. This one had a huge kids area with only 1ft of water in it and rubber mats on the floor, I'm jealous that the pools of my childhood were not like this. After she warmed up to the place we splashed around for the better part of an hour.
Our first bike ride to the park this weekend went as well as expected. We'll still need to do some more work with the helmet but she seemed to do OK in her trailer.
Mom got her first day apart from Madelyn last Saturday as part of her first Mother's Day present, however it came with a bribe in the form of a massage at a spa.
Watching teeth come in lately is like watching a pot of water boil, it just takes forever when you stand there and watch it. We get to peak now and again inside her mouth to see what's going on, but more often than not she would rather keep what's going on in her mouth to herself.
We have a drawer in the kitchen now for her, full of Tupperware that she happily plays in from time to time. She also loves to ride around on her little push cart. A trip around the room in an empty cardboard box will put big grins on her face.
Our kitchen chairs are receiving large amount of abuse lately. Madelyn hoists herself up onthe side of the chair and pushes until she hits a wall or a table and laughs. What impressed me the other day was watching her rotate 90 degrees to another side of the chair to continue pushing once she hit the wall. She'll continue to swap sides until she ends up in corner, the concept of reverse has not sunk in yet so that's where the fun stops until Mom or Dad drags the chair back out for her to continue her journey.
Always eager to help out.
I thought that I would write up what a typical day is for Madelyn.
6:00am-6:30am Wake-up, play around in the crib, toss toys on to floor, "what do I have to do to get these guy's attention??"
6:30am-7:00am Head downstairs to nurse and chase the cats.
7:00am-7:05am Upset that Dads leaving for the day.
7:05am-8:30am Try to play with all of my toys at once, push the kitchen chair around, wheee the baby gate is open, escape and play with the shoes in the entry way, eat some breakfast.
8:30am-8:45am "Nap, are you crazy? I don't need a stinking nap."
8:45am -9:00am "Well maybe I am tired, ok if you insist I'll take a nap"
9:00am-11:00am Naptime
11:00am-11:15am "Hello people can't you tell that I'm awake now!"
11:15am-11:45am Get dressed for the day, pitch a fit when being changed.
11:45am-12:15pm Nurse again and have lunch.
12:15pm-2:30pm Run errands with Mom/Music class/Go food shopping.
2:30pm-2:45pm "Naptime again!! I told you that I'm not tired!"
2:45pm-4:00pm "Ok I guess I really was tired" - Naptime.
4:00pm-5:00pm Play with toys, head outside to get licked by neighbors dogs, "What's counting down the minutes Mommy?"
5:00pm-5:30pm Playtime in the Bouncy.
5:30pm-5:45pm "Daddy's home! I have not seen Mommy this happy since yesterday at this time."
5:45pm-6:00pm Dinner, peas & multi-grain cereal, grapes and some cheese.
6:00pm-6:15pm Playtime with Dad, climb the steps upstairs.
6:15pm-6:30pm Bath time
6:30pm-6:45pm Get ready for bed, have a bottle.
6:45pm-7:00pm Off to sleep.....
Yogurt tends to make a mess, but she seems to like it :)
Madelyn has been very quick to giggle this week. Peek-a-boo, watching the cats or an unexpected sound from Mom and Dad put her into all sorts of giggles. She will crawl over to you and hoist herself up on your pants leg when she wants to be held. Sometimes you can get her to walk for a few steps when she does this as well. She's also discovered how to splash herself silly in the bath tub, its amazing how much water a 9 month old can toss around when she really wants to.
Well, the house has now been baby proofed, gates downstairs, and locks on all the drawers in the kitchen and the bathrooms. No sooner had the gates gone up than Madelyn was trying to figure out a way to break out of them. The cats can wiggle though the sides of the gates so they get some time away from baby when needed now.
Maddy is still showing interest in eating much to her parents delight. She has taken the occasional step sideways and a few steps forward but seems content at the moment to pull herself up on anything that she can find be it a pants leg, the wall or a one of her toys. She's figured out the concept of inside this week. One of her toys has a compartment where we keep several small plastic toy blocks. Karin had thought I was the culprit in tossing the blocks all around the family room lately, that is until she watched her daughter reaching her hand inside the toy and tossed the blocks all over the place today. We are also hearing lots of new sounds this week, she often turns to us from time to time and speaks her gibberish baby talk, it must make perfect sense to her but it just sounds like, "Bahhh Bahhh MMMmmm AAAAHHHH AHH!" to us.
It's been fun to watch Madelyn romp around the family room lately. She wakes up most mornings and is absolutely on fire, dashing to all her toys, tossing them aside and sticking others in her mouth to make sure they still taste the same. She's figured out how to squat down and pick up toys while standing and take a few side steps while holding on to the couch or the hearth. Baby gates have gone up as her crawling speed has picked up another notch. Perhaps the best trick she learned this week is how to put herself back to sleep. A few times this week she's started crying in the middle of the night and then after a few minutes it tapered off and she fell back asleep. I think we both did a back flip when this first happened, the "cry-it-out" method never worked with Madelyn. We also have been able to give her a bottle a few times before bed, something that we have been unable to do for the last 8 months, life is good.
As if learning to walk was not enough, Madelyn has decided this week to start tumbling or so it seems. She dives in and out of her garden play set about 10 times a day. Normally my pictures are just of a leg or two flopping over the side but I was lucky to catch the entire sequence yesterday. 
Her cousin Jr. was in town last week, much to her delight. She played a few good games of "knock the blocks off" with him. New foods this week were Blueberries (big-hit), Strawberries, pieces of bread and Veggie Booty.
