Miss Maude will be 21 months old tomorrow. We've had a lot going on the past few months. Lots of fun, good things! I'm also due less than three months from now. Where has the time gone?
Mike and Maude started their second year at ECFE, we've had two neighborhood block parties, I had week after week of business travel, we all went to Puerto Rico for a week, and last week was Halloween! It's been a great 2.5 months.
Some good stories/tidbits from the past few months:
- At Maude's regular doctor's appointment in mid-September, as soon as the doctor came in, she started pointing at and naming all of her body parts. The finale was her turning around, pointing at her backside and saying "hiney!"
- Mike was trying to be very stern with her because she tried running off in a parking ramp and after he picked her up and seriously told her "we don't run away from mom and dad when there are cars around!" She paused for a second and then reached out under his chin, tickling him, and said "TICKLE! TICKLE!" It was so funny, we both had the hardest time staying stern with her.
- She is very interested in babies and likes to point at my belly and talk about the baby. She says "Grow Baby Grow!"
-At one of the first ECFE classes, another little boy was having a hard time during separation time and was crying. The teacher told Mike that Maude went up to him, and gave him the dolly she was playing with and had her arm around him, trying to comfort him. I was so proud of her, being so sweet to that little boy!
- When we talk about the baby, she sometimes points at herself and says "Big Sister!" It melts my heart. I doubt she truly understands what it all really means, but I'm glad she at least sort of gets it.
- The other day Mike was unloading the dishwasher and Maude came walking up and slammed the dishwasher shut, then walked away, congratulating herself saying "Good job Maude!" Mike said he felt like he'd just been bullied.
- Maude loves to watch football with her dad and continues to shout "First Down!"
- She likes to do somersaults and calls them "sugarsalts."
- Maude is great at seeing me off in the morning. I always say "See you later!" A few weeks ago she started saying "See me later!"
- She's been really into to counting and can count to 20. She usually does it well, all in the right order, but sometimes gets them all jumbled. Our favorite is "Seben."
- She loved Puerto Rico and really mastered "Hola" by the time we left.
- There were turkeys and peacocks at our hotel which Maude loved to visit. We could see them from our room and in the mornings, Maude would go out on our patio and holler "gobble, gobble" and the turkeys usually responded!
That's about all I can remember at the moment. Enjoy the pictures below!
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| All dressed up and ready for her first day of ECFE. |
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| So happy, playing in the yard! |
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| 19 months, being silly. |
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| She can hardly control her excitement! |
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| Beach girl, at our hotel in Puerto Rico. |
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| Eating at a pork stand with Daddy in Puerto Rico. This is her new "CHEESE!" smile. |
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| The view from our room in Puerto Rico. |
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| Apple orchard/Pumpkin patch. |
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| Smoochies with Mom. |
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| She loves to be tickled! |
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| Maude and Daddy. |
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| We could go in the chicken coop at the pumpkin farm. This is Maude really excited to see the chickens up so close! |
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| Climbing a haystack. |
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| Posing with Daddy. |
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| Inspecting the pumpkins. |
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| Free Spirit. |
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| Is this a seat? |
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| Love this one. |
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| Sea of pumpkins. |
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| Block party #2. We set up the kids in our yard to watch a move projected on a big screen. There were at least 15 kids all lined up. I love this picture of Maude, all snuggled up in her cow costume, watching the movie. |
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| Wagon ride with her buddy Quentin. |
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| Moo! |
