Darling Diebel Den

Monday, June 15, 2009

A-May-zing May

Well, our little Madilyn turned 15 months in May and she began talking up a storm. It was right around the 15 1/2 mark that I noticed that her vocabulary had just exploded. She started talking as if she had been saying these words her whole life...just that now other people could understand her, too!
She now loves to wander around the house looking for our kitty saying, "Dusty...go?" "Dusty...go?" She holds her right arm up and turns her palm to the ceiling as if gesturing to me, where did he go? It is the cutest thing! She has started to say Thank you more consistently and often.
I have been working with her at least 20 times a day on not whining for things she needs or for help. We have been working on saying, "help and stuck" I wanted her to be able to tell me when she needed my help with something or if she could do it herself but the item was stuck. I just wanted her to be able to communicate with me what she needed from me to END THE WHINING. Some of the hand signs were just not working for us, so as a last resort...I have been constantly talking to her and asking what she needs. You will be glad to know that my diligence has paid off. I no longer have a whiny, toddler...I have a little girl who can ask for help and tell me when things are stuck. It was the most exciting day when she brought me her toy house and said, "up" It was her version of "Help!" She now brings me everything she needs help with-without whining- and if she can't bring it to me she will tell me, 'Stuck" Language is a beautiful thing!
Some of the words that are now in her vocabulary are:
apple, nana (banana), ball, kids, girl, turtle, binky, binky for blankie, baby, awhh, shoe, orsie (horsie), duck, kitty (then she will add the sound effect "meow") , puppy ( then she will add a "woof woof" and a short pant with her mouth open and tongue out!) of course the regular mama and dad, daddy, papa, pop. She can also now say Gr-ma and Gr-pa. She loves to say, Hi-ee, and Bye-ee (hi and Bye). Her favorite expressions are, "Oh wow!" ,"Uh oh" "what's dat" "shhh dad-ee seep" (with her finger in front of her mouth)
I am sure that I am missing some of the others, but as she repeats them I will add them to the list.
Her other special thing is that she loves to watch the Backyardigans. It is the ONLY show that I allow her to watch...sometimes we catch Sesame Street, but I really didn't want her watching TV until she was 2. Well, when she got RSV in April and we had to do a 20-30 minute breathing treatment on her....we found that the only thing that would calm her down to finish the treatment was this show. After 2 weeks of treatments 4 times a day...she was hooked. Now we DVR all the shows (watching only 1 episode a day) and she will dance in a circle with her hand above her head-just like the characters-when the opening/closing song is on. The cute part is that all you have to do is sing that song and she will dance anywhere we are! These are the little things that make you realize that your child is smart, funny, and growing up too fast!

Hooray for Blogger Draft!

So, after much frustration with the last technology issue, I didn't think that I would return to blogging. I am happy to say that my blog was not lost from a month ago...so here we go again! I am trying to get caught up and give this thing a second chance!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Technolgy frustrations

Ok...so I am VERRRRRRY upset. I just spent an entire hour updating my blog....only for the D#$% thing to tell me that that link isn't working right now. Well, then why did you put it there! So now for the shortened version!!!

Madilyn's 1st Birthday!

It has been a long time since I have updated. I really need to use this blog as our family journal because it isn't fair that I keep all these funny stories to myself! I am not sure how we have other items on here before we added her b-day, but who knows....I am still figuring this stuff out! It seems like I finally get it figured out and then something changes...am I just getting old? Don't answer that we will get to that next!

So, for our little Miss Madilyn's 1st birthday we had an amazing CUPCAKE party. I mean every detail I could think of was a cupcake. I am not sure where I get this obsession for things to be perfect...I asked my mom if she was ever this way and she said, "Nope!" And we all know that my dad is not like this at all, except for maybe with his guns and sometimes his checkbook. Well, I do have a pretty great idea where this could have come from...my Grandma Betty Jean loves to make things just right for everyone. When she has an idea about something, she really tries to make it come out just right.

Well, back to the party details. I started planning her party in January. I know...we had just put away the Christmas decorations and we get this magazine in the mail telling me that our daughter is turning 1 on a month! Aaahh! I totally got busy and starting planning every detail that night. Madilyn has a lot of outfits that have cupcakes on them, so it was only fitting that when I found the decorations all in cupcakes...it had to be her birthday theme! The rest is history from there. I researched every detail that I could to include cupcakes in every part of her party. We had a cupcake pull-pinata, cupcake plates, napkins, purple eating utensils, cupcake bags with cupcake ribbon to hold down the cupcake balloons, cupcake bib, cupcake dress, cupcake headband, a 3D homemade cupcake CAKE! A cupcake decorating station with cupcake boxes for the kiddos to take their very own cupcakes home in. I am sure that I am missing something, but you get the picture! It was the most perfect day, too. It was beautiful enough to have everyone outside. We were surrounded by great friends and supporting family! What more could a 1 year old ask for? Other than a nap when it was all over! She was such a trooper, taking in all the details and people. She even tolerated making it through opening the presents. She crashed not long after that! It was so nice because we had my in-laws in from Pennsylvania. They had not seen Madilyn (other than on the web-cam) since April 2008! She was a whole different baby back then! She is more like a little girl now! Everyone had a great time...and the pics don't even capture everything! Thanks to Krishelle for helping me get all the great shots. I was a little busy playing Mommy! It was a great and sad day! One whole year gone and a whole new one just beginning. "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end!"