Madelyn 18 months

Maddie's half birthday was yesterday. Very exciting because now she can go to nursery at church. Great for her, and even more great for us. Maddie has really transformed over the last month and has turned into the sweetest, most adorable toddler ever. Just check her out! Everything she does is so cute I want to die. 

Two days ago she helped me mow almost the entire back yard and was thrilled. Her favorite part was when we would "cash" into each other. 

Sometimes it's easier to carry Bear in your mouth when you need both hands to slide down the stairs faster.

We celebrated this milestone with a little half red velvet cake from Smiths yesterday. Maddie was like:

"What? What is this?"

"Wait a minute..."

"... Is that cake??"

"It is! It is cake!"

"I'm so happy right now Mom!"

 "YASSSSSSS"

"EAT. ALL. THE. CAKE."

"RAWR"

OM NOM NOM

Like I mentioned earlier, Maddie has made huge progress in the past few weeks. At the beginning of September, she knew less than 5 words and we were kind of worried. Recently, she has started repeating almost any word we teach her and saying some of them on her own! Whew. She understands most of what we tell and loves to follow simple commands like throwing things away, putting clothes in the laundry basket, giving something to someone else, and laying down for a diaper change. She knows some of her body parts. She plays nicely in her playpen for a good amount of time every day. She is extremely active and busy and thinks she can do anything that her sisters can. She loves them so much and gets so excited to see them. She is really happy almost all the time but will storm away and throw a little fit if she doesn't get what she want. She is obsessed with books lately and will sit in her room and look at them for quite a while. Her favorites are nursery rhymes, Pat the Bunny, and Goodnight Moon. She LOVES Daddy and waves bye-bye (BYYY) to him every morning and is thrilled when he comes home! She is very independent and wants to try everything herself, including feeding. She has a great appetite and will eat almost anything we give her. She is still huge- 34 inches (97th %- only 6 inches shorter than Daryn...) and 26 lbs even (92nd %). She fits in mostly 24 month clothes, size 5 diapers, and size 4 shoes. She rocked her doctors appointment this morning and didn;t even cry when she got two shots. She takes one nap (1.5-3 hours) every afternoon and sleeps around 12 hours at night, although she will often cry a few times during the night. She can't sleep unless she is snuggling her pink Bear. She is obsessed with other toddlers and babies, especially at the store, and waves and yells. She enjoys watching Daniel Tiger in the morning with Daryn while Reagan is at school. She is so so sweet and silly and we all completely adore her!