On Sharing...through the eyes of a child

Ok, so you know how they say that 2-year olds don't truly understand the concept of "sharing?" Well, apparently they haven't met Madison. Because she's got it goin' on! She knows what's up! We were doing puzzles together yesterday and she was working on her Melissa and Doug animal puzzle that has different animals on it with different skin and coat colors and patterns. So, half of each animal is part of the background of the puzzle and the other half is the piece you are supposed to "match" up to it's animal with that skin or coat color and pattern. (I clearly can't describe this very well so here's a visual of the puzzle).

Well, Madison has done this puzzle (successully) a bizillion times so she knows how to match up the pieces and all that...but yesterday she started putting the "wrong" pieces in the "wrong" places. Wrong to my eyes and brain...but as she was putting them in she was saying "Mommy, these animals need to share with each other" And she systematically put each piece in the "wrong" place so that none of the pieces matched each other...all on the first try. Whoa. (Unf0rtunately, I did not manage to get a picture of that one since the profound nature of the moment hadn't really hit me yet). Then, she systematically took them all out and put them in the "right" places telling me they needed to be home again (the picture above).

Next, she moved on to the a puzzle which was a bit more advanced for this type of logic, or "sharing". It was another Melissa and Doug puzzle...this time it was a farmhouse puzzle that had little hinged doors that opened and you put the magnetic puzzle piece into the correct place in the farmhouse. This one is trickier because many of the pieces are similar in size and could potentially fit into the "wrong" spot but, again, she has done this one many times before and knows where they all go. Well, she systematically put all of the pieces into the "wrong" spots again telling me that they were all "sharing". She had to try a couple of different homes for some of them to make sure that they fit into their new home. The only one that didn't fit was the cow...but she still managed to find a place for her. I watched her do all of this with a look of awe on my face. What an amazing concept she was demonstrating...a way of looking at things I never would have thought of. But it made so much sense to her and it was perfect. And so simple. Sharing, through the eyes of a child.

(The first picture is where all the pieces are in the "correct" place and the second picture is her version of them "sharing")

Pretty in Pink

Madison and I had a really cool girl bonding experience tonight. I painted her toenails and her fingernails. And she actually sat still for the whole thing! I told her we had to cut her toenails and fingernails first (I'm good, huh?) and then I would paint them pink for her. I started with her toenails and right before I painted her first big toe she said to me "Mommy, will it hurt?" I said "no sweetie, it won't hurt at all." Sometimes I forget that everyday, every hour, there are "firsts" for her. I just took it for granted that she would know that painting her nails wouldn't hurt. But she didn't. And she trusted me to do it. What a moment. It was really cool. After each toenail was painted she let out a gleeful "eeeeee" and looked at her foot. Then she would wiggle her toes with delight! After her fingernails were done I told her that she couldn't touch anything for a little bit until they dried. I was convinced that she would leave the bathroom and promptly grab a toy and get polish all over the place! But, no...she took me literally. So, she walked around for the next 10 minutes or so with her fingers all spread out and would not touch anything! I had to hold her sippy cup of water for her so she could take a drink. How funny! I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow morning when I have to take off the fingernail polish so she doesn't try to eat it off her nails...that will be an interesting post I'm sure. Wish me luck!

Sissy's birthday party

Yes, it did happen. Cassie turned 18 on January 13th. Unbelievable. So, we had a birthday party for her at Dad and Cindy's house last night. Todd, Madison and I went out earlier in the day to a party store to get some balloons for her. Well, Madison insisted on picking out the balloons for sissy so she got...yes, you guessed it...a Dora balloon for her! She also picked out a really cute, huge happy birthday balloon in the shape of a cupcake so all was not lost. Well, I was chatting with the cashier about how Cassie had turned 18 and the woman standing in line behind me looked at me and said "she's 18 and your getting her Dora?" I just laughed and told her that her 2-year-old sister had picked it out for her. She thought that was very sweet and then said "well, just wait until she turns 18 and her big sister can get her a Dora balloon too!"

In keeping with tradition, since it was Cassie's boyfriend Michael's first time meeting some of us, yes, you guessed it...out came THE HATS! I'm so glad I escaped that picture! Cindy made teriyaki chicken, steamed rice, and some cheesy potatoes. Yummy! Then we had a wonderful rendition of "the birthday round" and we all pigged out on New Yolk style cheesecake with raspberry sauce. Even Madison. She got her own little slice of cheesecake and manged to get it all over the place! I'm not sure how much of it actually got in her mouth! After Madison went to bed, we watched a hilarious movie called Just Friends. It was Grammie-safe (you know what I mean, Heidi!) and very funny! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

Funderland

It was actually a nice day yesterday...about 54 degrees which isn't bad for mid-January so we took Madison to Funderland in William Land Park. It is a small amusement park for 2-10 year olds. I have to say...I was kind of expecting something different. It was kind of a dilapidated, mobile amusement park looking place. You know, like the ones you see on the side of the freeway that you would NEVER take your kids to! The rides were old, the paint was peeling, and most of the rides were closed. Hmmm...I wonder why that was? I was riding behind Madison on the plane ride and we were making the plane go way up high and I had a moment when I thought...I wonder how safe this ride is. Huh. But, aside from all of that, we had a wonderful time!! Madison loved it :) She was so excited she could barely contain herself! We rode on the afore mentioned plane ride which she was scared of as soon as I made it go up and down, then the old-fashioned cars that go around on a guided track, then the fishies. Oh, the fishies...did she LOVE the fishies. They were just her size and she got to ride on them all by herself. What a big girl she was! She rode on then 4 times...once for each color. Yup, that's my girl!

So, to give the place some credit, I suspect that it looked kind of grim because it WAS only 54 degrees outside, the trees were totally bare because it's winter, and it only opened up for the new season the day before. Would I go back again? In a heartbeat. My little girl was in heaven :) What more could you ask for?

Bye-bye potty training

I was really excited to start potty training Madison a week ago Monday (1/7/08). Erin, her daycare provider, suggested a couple of weeks ago that she start potty training Madison on Monday when she started with her 3-year-old son, Austin. She said they tend to work well in teams. So, if I was ready then she would start Madison too. Great! Sign me up! I had been avoiding the whole "potty training" thing. So, I guess I needed a little push. Ready, set, go! Well, since we had a start date, you know me, we had to get prepared for the big event. So, the weekend before, I drug Todd out to try to find some pull-ups. So, there I was at Walmart (shhh...don't tell anyone I was there) staring at the Pampers section...for like 10 minutes. No training pants to be found! You've got to be be kidding me. What kind of place was this anyway? I finally found them at the end of the aisle...apparently they have a special section for training pants. Rookie. Now what do I do? Do I get the Easy-Ups or the Feel-n-Learn? Seriously...what is the difference? One says that it's for potty training so clearly I should choose those, right? Well, then why make the other ones? Ugh. Long story short, I ended up with a package of each. Done.

That weekend Todd and I made a big deal about potty training and did the whole sticker reward thing and Madison loved it and thought it was wonderful and all that stuff. And she was doing really well. And then, somehow, the fun wore off. It was subtle and first. An occasional "no" when we asked her if she wanted to go on the potty. We never forced her to go on the potty. But, that escalated to "no! I don't want to go on the potty". Then it was the acting out and stuff. That went on through the weekend and yesterday and she was really acting out. I had noticed that she was pretending to be a baby and saying "googoogaga...I'm a baby Mommy" and stuff like that and grunting but I didn't really make the connection until this weekend that she started all of this when we started potty training her.

So, today I made a decision...no more potty training. I want my little girl back. I feel a little like I'm throwing in the towel, giving up, etc but I am taking my cues from my kid and she is not ready for potty training yet. And clearly...neither am I. Since we started trying to potty train her (um...1 1/2 weeks ago, which is like an eternity when you're living in toddler time) she has turned into a neanderthal. No, really. She grunts and makes weird noises instead of talking now. She has regressed to hitting me again. She is throwing food on the floor. Pretty much sums it up. Neanderthal. So, bye-bye potty training. To be continued...

Here we go!

This is my first post to the new blog...raising Madison. I was reading through Janice's blog for my nephews, Ryan and Evan, and I was just howling outload. And then I thought...I need to do this. What a wonderful way to keep track of what's going on in the daily lives of our kiddos and share it with our family and friends. So much happens everyday while you are raising kids and there's already so much I have forgotten. So, here we go!

Right now Madison is 2 years, almost 8 months old and full of energy and full of life and full of it!! We are in the "I want to do it all by myself, Mommy" phase followed by the "No! I don't want to put my shoes on" phase. Closely followed by the "No! I don't want to take a bath!" well, you get the picture...just fill in the blank. But we are also in the "Mommy, I love you sooooo much" and "you are the best Mommy in the whole world" phase. It's a bit like living with Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde, actually. One minute she is this super sweet, loving , adorable little angel and the next minute Todd and I expect that her head might start spinning and she might start spewing green stuff. Hmm...qiute perplexing actually. Is this normal? I think so.