Here, Kitty, Kitty

Both Madison and McKenna have a fascination with kitty cats right now. I'm not exactly sure why, considering Matt and I aren't really "cat people", they aren't around any cats, and we actually have a dog as a pet. But, they just think that cats are super adorable. Both kids have stuffed kitty cats, and Madison is particularly attached to hers right now. It's pretty much with her wherever we go and is definitely the "go to" stuffed animal for bedtime.

Madison has been so into kitty cats lately that she has taken to pretending she is a kitty cat while playing. She asks us to pet her and she purrs. It's actually quite cute!

With all of this kitty cat focus, it's no wonder that one of the first animal "sounds" that McKenna could recognize and repeat was "Meow". So, we often ask her what a kitty cat says and she adorably tells us in her cute little voice!

So, last night at dinner, Matt was going through an almost-daily routine with McKenna where we go around the room and point to different people and say "Who is this?". She can say all of our names with no issue and had already identified Dada when Matt pointed to Madison. When Matt asked her who Madison was, we expected her to reply her usual "Maddie". Instead, when Matt asked her tonight, she responded that Madison was "Meow"! I guess that our kitty fascination has now escalated to an all-time high!

Back Seat Driver!

I'm wondering if you can drive a car better than I can if you still play with Barbies, take naps, and use a sippy cup occasionally? I didn't think you could, but Maddie obviously feels differently. She was all up in my business today about my driving .... here are some of the best lines:
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Madison is drawing in the backseat as we drive to dance class.

Maddie: "Mom, look at this picture I drew."
Me: "Madison, I can't look right now because I am driving. I'll look at it when we get to class."
Maddie: "Mom, you can look. I'll watch the road for you!"
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We were pulling out of a busy parking lot. I had started to pull out because I saw that the oncoming car had it's turn signal on and was going to turn before the street we were on. Maddie apparently didn't feel the coast was as clear as I did. As we passed the car that was turning, she waved to the car and shouted "We're sorry, ma'am!"
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Even though we were at dance class early, Maddie somehow had it in her mind that we were running late. I tried to tell her that we would get there in plenty of time today, and we would probably wind up sitting in the parking lot waiting for her teacher to arrive (which did happen). As we were driving to class, she decided that chanting "Go, Mommy, Go" over and over again would get us to dance class quicker!
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I didn't think the back seat driving would happen quite this early! I feel like I need a drink after being in the car with her today!

Friends Know Best?

I always thought that the sage pearl of wisdom that has been passed down through the generations went a little something like this... "Mother Knows Best". This apparently is NOT the case according to my 3 and a half year old.

After picking her up from preschool yesterday, we had this conversation about her friend from class named B:

Maddie: "Mom, B says that I am not 3 and a half."

Me: "Madison, you are 3 and a half. In fact, you are almost going to be 4."

Maddie: "But, Mom, B says that I am not."

Me: "Honey, you most certainly are. It has been over 9 months since your 3rd birthday. That makes you more than 3 and a half."

Maddie: "No, Mom, I'm NNOOOOTTTT. B says I'm not.

Here's where I want to tell her 1) that B doesn't know what the h*ll she is talking about, 2) that I would certainly like to think that as the person that birthed her into this world I might remember just a little bit better than B when she came into it, 3) that I am right and B is wrong, and 4) to stop arguing with me about it! But I realize the inappropriateness (and futility)of these fleeting thoughts and keep my mouth shut.

Me: "OK, Madison, you aren't 3 and a half then, I guess."

Maddie: "Um, I KNOW that already, Mom. B told me that today." Sigh.

Do you hear that noise? That's the sound of my head banging against the steering wheel as we had this conversation. I am so glad that B is keeping track of my daughter's age for us, since I apparently am unable to do so :-)

This is very serious!

We went to Toys R Us Wednesday in search of a birthday gift for a party that Madison is going to this weekend. As we were walking in, Madison asked if we could look for toys for her birthday. I told her that Christmas and her birthday still werent for a couple of months, but we could look around to start getting ideas and make a wish list. She was very excited to make her list.

As we shopped around the store, we finally turned a corner and several aisles of dolls, Barbies, princess gear, etc. all became visible. Madison turns to me and gasps "ok, Mom, this is NOT the time for joking around!" I didn't think that I was known as being a jokester, but apparently shopping for dolls is VERY SERIOUS business.

One other funny Maddie-ism from that trip.... we were looking at the Barbies and all of a sudden Madison says very dramatically "Oh, they are so romantic!" Has someone seen a few too many princess movies?

Randomness

Random conversations with Madison in the last few weeks:

Me: "Madison, you are being cranky. I need you to find your happy attitude."

Madison (picking up her toy cell phone): "I'm going to call Mimi (my mother). I bet she knows where my happy attitude is!"

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Matt and our friend Chris took Madison and Finn (also 3) hiking while we were in Maine. At one point, both kids were riding on the dads' shoulders.

Madison: "Finn, you sure are lucky."

Pause....no response from Finn or the Dads. Everyone waiting to hear why Maddie thinks Finn is so lucky, expecting her to say something like he got to go on a cool vacation, whatever.

Madison: "You're lucky that I like you."

Um, gee, thanks, O Great One Madison.

Word Association with a Preschooler

This just made me laugh and I thought it might make some of you other mommies laugh too!

We purchased a swingset a few weeks ago. Tonight, when I was pushing Madison on the swings, I noticed that she was getting better pumping her legs with each push of the swing. So, I said "Maddie, good job pumping those legs." Without missing a beat, she said "Yeah, just like you used to do pumping your boobies for milk for McKenna." Um...... no, not exactly the same thing.... this word association did definitely make me laugh though! I tried unsuccessfully to explain to her that words can have multiple meanings. But, it was 7:45pm and I just didn't have it in me .... that will be a lesson for another day :-)

"When I was a little baby.."

During our trip to Charleston this weekend, Madison really came out with some hilarious one-liners. She really kept me and my whole family entertained. But, there was one comment that has become the most quoted line of the trip.

We were at my cousin's reception and the evening was winding down. The music was still playing and all of a sudden Madison felt the need to get her groove on. She just got out in the middle of the floor and started dancing her little heart out, no one else was dancing. She asked my sister, my cousin Patrick (her new boyfriend... you should have seen her flirting!), and myself to sit at the tables and watch her "concert" (her dancing). We were telling her how great she was dancing and in her best southern accent (not on purpose, I don't think), she says "When I was a little baby, my MOMMA taught me these dance moves!" It was so HIL-A-RI-OUS! I mean, first, her "Momma"???? She has called me Momma maybe twice in her whole life, and that was only because she heard another child refer to their mother that way. Second, seeing the dance, you would think that Momma must have been drunk or high, or some combo of the two to have shown her those dance moves! Third, how cute is it that she gave "Momma" the credit for her excellent dancing? Too funny.

Mom, Stop Snoring!

So, last night Maddie went to bed really well, and after about a half hour of no calls from her, I thought we were home free. Not so much!

Around 8:45pm, she called out for us. I was upstairs in my bedroom putting laundry away, so I headed to her room to see what she wanted. She looks at me straight in the face and this is how the conversation goes:

Madison: "Your snoring is waking me up, Mom!"

Me: "Madison, I wasn't snoring."

Madison: "Yes, you were."

Me: "Madison, I promise you I wasn't snoring. I am still awake. Now, this isn't funny. You now will not be able to play on your swingset tomorrow, and if you call out again, something else will get taken away. I love you. Goodnight."

Madison: "Mom?"

Me: "Yes, Maddie?"

Madison: "Do you ever snore?"

Me: "Yes, Madison, once in a while I do snore. Now goodnight!"

Madison: "Well, could you stop snoring? It is waking me up!"

It was all I could do to not start bursting out in laughter while I was still in her doorway. I went downstairs to share the story with Matt and we both had a good laugh! She is getting VERY creative.

She's pulling out ALL the stops now!

I am knocking on wood right now as I type this .... both of my kids are good sleepers. Madison, in particular, is a fantastic sleeper. With the exception of the first four months of her life, Madison has pretty much gone to bed every night thereafter with no fuss, no argument, no nothing. We follow our bedtime routine, we kiss goodnight, we leave, and she sleeps.

A few weeks ago, however, Madison started calling out for us to come up to her room. She will do this 1 - 3 times during the first hour she is in bed. Her needs when she calls out range from having to go potty, needing a drink, wanting a snuggle, needing socks put on her feet, or wanting to say "I Love You" one last time. Given that all of those things are part of our bedtime routine, there is absolutely no reason for her to call out for these things once its lights-out. Basically, she is searching for things to need so that she gets our attention. I am not sure what started this whole thing, but it is getting tiresome and I want to nip it in the bud. I get particularly salty about this issue when she says she has to go potty (a request she knows we wont refuse), then sits on the toilet and says "You know what, maybe I didn't have to go potty" (which I could have predicted given that she had just gone 5 minutes earlier before we put her to bed!).

Anyway, last night, she called out for us after about 10 minutes after she had gone to bed. I went up to see what she needed and she said, "Mommy, I just wanted to tell you I love you again". Now, it's hard to get upset about her wanting to share her love, but this whole business needs to be stopped, so I tried to stay firm. I tell her that I love her so much too, but that she told me when she went to sleep, and she isn't supposed to call out anymore, yadda, yadda, yadda.... If she calls out again, something will be taken away from her. Goodnight.

Another 10 minutes goes by and she calls out again. This time Matt goes up. She wants a snuggle. Matt tells her that she got a snuggle before she went to sleep, that it is time for sleep, that we expect her to STOP calling out and GO TO BED! She can have a snuggle in the morning. Then the tears start rolling and she cries " I JUST WANT SOMEONE TO LOVE ME!" OMG, this is the guilt trip of all guilt trips and it is being perfectly executed by a 3 and a half year old. I swear that Drama should have been her middle name! Although it is somewhat infuriating that she thinks she can just play us like violins, it is also very interesting about how advanced her manipulation skills are :-) I was proud that hubby stood firm and told her we loved her but she couldn't have a snuggle right now and she needed to go to sleep. But, part of me just wanted to run up there and snuggle the heck out of that little cutie, even though it wasn't the right thing to do :-)

Anyone have any thoughts on how to break the calling out cycle?

Hippie Dance

Tonight was a REALLY fun night for me. McKenna was in bed early and Matt is out tonight, so it was just Maddie and I hanging out. She was playing, so I decided to do a little updating of my playlist songs. Usually, Maddie has no interest in "my" music. If it isn't something from the Disney Princesses, our local Makin' Music CD's, or a soundtrack to a movie, she generally isn't interested.

So, as I sit here updating the songs on my laptop with the speakers turned on, I see her little feet moving to the beats. So cute. But the best was when she jumped up when Depeche Mode's "Just Cant Get Enough" came on and started totally rocking out. Now, yes, I will admit that the song is MADE for dancing to, but the fact that one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands of ALL TIME (I was a Depeche devotee in high school!) got her to get up and jam was awesome! So, I decided to get up with her and we were dancing like mad together and it was so much fun.

As we were dancing around, she was giving me pointers :-) "Mom, you have good moves. Now, do more hippie shakes." So, I started shaking my hips a little more and she said "Mom, good job. You are a good Hippie Dancer." If you only knew, Madison :-)

I see many more dance sessions coming our way :-)

"It's fun having a baby in the house?!"

Ever since we first told Madison that a baby was on the way, she has been really excited about being a Big Sister. I think in the beginning, all of the focus was on the "Big" part and how being a Big Sister = being a Big Girl. If there is anything Maddie likes, it's being the Big Girl in the house. She routinely reminds McKenna that she can wear flip flops, she can take a shower with Mommy, and she can have the occasional lollipop all because she is a big girl. She then reassures McKenna that she too will be a big girl someday and that she will teach her how to do all of the big girl things she can do! It's so cute.

Lately, though, besides even being the Big Girl in the house, Madison has really gotten into being the Big Sister. As McKenna gets more and more interactive, I am watching Madison respond to her more and more and it is so much fun to watch. Maddie loves to dance and jump around in front of McKenna and make her belly laugh. Then they both start belly laughing and its contagious. I think that might be the best sound in the whole world.... to hear your family in a chorus of laughter! Madison looks out for her sister.... gets her binky or a dropped toy, picks out new toys for her and even wants to feed her sometimes.

In earlier months, Maddie would say to us "it's fun having a baby in the house, isn't it?" Sometimes I wasn't sure if she was making a statement or questioning it and asking for validation from me? I always assured her that I thought it was lots of fun having a baby in the house. Recently though, Madison has been making proclamations all around the house, often saying "It's so much fun having a baby in the house!" What a joy it is for me to hear that. There was never a doubt in our minds that we would have a second child, so that was always a given. What wasn't a given was how our sweet, easy going little girl would react to having a sibling in the house. I am happy to say that Madison couldn't have adjusted any easier or better. I should have never doubted that little girl, she always manages to blow me away!

You know what, Madison? It is really fun having a baby in the house. But, the best part is sharing the experience with you and seeing it through your eyes. I love you and your sister so much!