Tough and Tender

Maddie is at a really fun age right now. She's really starting to develop a personality and it's amazing to watch her grow and become her own little girl. Much like her Daddy, Maddie seems to have a very inquisitive and exploratory side. She loves to climb in to, over, on top of, and through anything she can. She sometimes seems to go out of her way to make her path more of an obstacle course. Case in point is her current favorite toy, her stroller. She LOVES it. She's mostly fascinated by the buckles. Over the weekend, however, she realized she could pull it down backwards and crawl all over it. It's really quite amazing to watch her discover the world.

Maddie is also proving to be quite sensitive. When ever another kid cries or screams, Maddie gets very, very upset and ends up crying, usually hysterically. Usually she doesn't stop crying until long after the other kid does. I'm assuming she's more scared than empathetic, but it's still so sweet. I don't know how to help her with this. Of course we pick her up and calm her down, she's always been around other babies, and she doesn't have any real stranger anxiety. It's so sweet and sad at the same time.

So, that's some insight into little Miss Maddie's personality. I'm so excited to see how her personality develops further!

Maddie's First Hike

Ahoy, Matey!

We took Maddie sailing for the first time today. Eric and I were both a little nervous to take her out. But, we waited until after her first nap, gathered our gear, and went down to the UW sailing club. Eric manned the boat while I tended to Maddie and soon we were pushing off the dock for her first sail! Maddie was very interested in everything on the boat. She wanted to play with all the ropes and tackle. She was also quite interested in the wake behind the boat. Maddie even got her first opportunity at steering the boat!

We ended up sailing and enjoying the warm sun for a bit longer than anticipated and we stayed out past Maddie's afternoon nap time. As we tried to put her life jacket back on, Maddie started to cry and, as life jackets are important, Eric and I felt it important that she kept it on. So, I tried to rock Maddie while Eric sailed. Finally she fell asleep in my arms. We made it back to the dock without further incident. All in all, we all enjoyed our first sailing trip and can't wait to go on our next one.

The Sweetest Sound

Sorry for the sideways video, but it's totally worth it. The sweetest sound we hear these days is Maddie laughing. She generally has a good temperament and getting her to laugh is easy. It melts my heart and brightens my mood every time she breaks out a big, open-mouthed grin and let's a hearty belly laugh out.

Rebelling against neatness

We have always felt lucky that Maddie has been a clean baby. She's hardly ever had blowouts and was not apt to spit up. Most days, Maddie only wore one outfit. She hasn't needed the veritable fashion show that most babies we know seem to need. Lately, however, Maddie has rebelled against neatness. She has become a very messy kid, and how!

As Maddie crawls full speed ahead, over and around everything and anything that may get in her way, her shoes, pants, and hands attract more dirt and grime than I thought possible. While out playing at a local coffee shop yesterday, Maddie's hands turned a lovely shade of dark gray from crawling around for a mere hour! It's amazing. So, I keep lots of baby wipes and purell on hand for quick clean ups. As for any dirt that collects on her pants and shoes, well, we all just have to live with that.

The real source of Maddie's messiness is eating. Maddie has always been a good eater, for which Eric and I have felt very fortunate. Lately, however, Maddie has been rejecting our attempts at feeding her. At first we were concerned she was becoming a picky eater. After a day or two of trying different tactics to get her to eat, we came to realize that Maddie wasn't rejecting the food, she was rejecting the spoon. She was still very interested in eating, and, in fact, wanted the food, but wanted to do it herself. Since discovering Maddie's move towards eating independence, we have tried to compromise between letting her feed herself and making sure she gets an adequate amount of food in her mouth. Our tactics range from giving her Cheerios and then going for a "sneak attack" when she's trying to get a Cheerio in her mouth to letting her have her own spoon and some food on her try and then trying to get some food in any way we can. Most of her meals now end up looking something like this: