Double Wave Maneuvers (Week 34, Day 6)

With each new milestone, Maddy’s excitement builds. Crawling has caused her immense joy - being about to spot something she wants, and immediately start to move towards it of her own accord - you can see the satisfaction in her face in being able to achieve these small feats on her own. Her determination and independence is beginning to shine through more every day.

Maddy hit a new milestone today when she showed Phil and I (at midnight) her ability to wave. Nonstop. With both arms. Continuously. At Midnight. Phil and I both knew we should be urging her to go to sleep, to calm down, to be quiet, zen, and sleepy. But it was too cute to control. She was squealing with delight and waving her arms with such excitement, we couldn't help but to laugh.

Maddy is now sharing this talent with all her friends and family, and while they reciprocate with a wave in return, no one can quite capture the excitement and enthusiasm of Maddy’s double wave combo.

Here comes the wave!

She's Got Personality (Week 34, Day 4)

Every day, Maddy's daycare sends home a report on the world of Maddy that day - not only when she ate, slept, and had diaper changes, but also what she did that day, and anything exciting that might have happened. Each day I enjoy reading about her activities and adventures,whether it be the books she read or toys she really enjoyed. Today's report card had me just tickled. In it, they said "Maddy has been fearless in her crawling and pulling herself up". I love that the word fearless was used to describe my little girl. I want so much for her to be fearless in so many aspects of her life - not afraid to go after her wants and dreams. I know that fearless right now is going to mean some falling, some bumps and scrapes. I hope I'll be able to help protect her from real danger, while allowing her the room to fall and get back up on her own two feet- today physically, and some day emotionally.

So far, she seems to be off to a good start, and I will try to continue to encourage her fearlessness. For now, I'll just continue to watch my fearless munchkin attempt another pull-up!

A lot to be thankful for (Week 33, Day 5)

Today was Maddy’s first thanksgiving, and we had a lot to be thankful for. Maddy was finally feeling better, and we were planning to spend the day with family. As we stayed in Chicago this year for Thanksgiving, I signed us up to do the Lincoln Park Turkey Trot - Phil and I had done it the last time we spent Thanksgiving in Chicago, and it's a great way to start the day- nice run on a brisk morning before a day of overeating. This year, however, the brisk morning was downright chilly- the temperatures in Chicago had gotten unreasonably cold lately, making a thanksgiving morning run a challenge with a 7 month old. We got up early with Maddy - no alarm needed thank you - she naturally gets up at the crack of dawn! 

We then proceeded to bundle Maddy up in as many layers as we could possibly fit on her, including the big puffy snowsuit my mom bought her before she was born. We got ourselves mobilized and out the door, and managed to strap our little snowsuit puffball into the running stroller - hat, gloves, blanket and all. I can tell you, Maddy was none too pleased to be out in the cold, and we didn't find it to be a real fun fest either. It wasn't too bad walking to the park- if we were moving we at least had the blood pumping a little. Once we got into our corral to wait, we could no longer really move, and it started to get really cold. And as we now had a little one to account for, we were in the “Walker/Stroller” Corral - AKA the very very VERY slow stall. This also meant we were the very last to start the race, and had to stand there for a very long time. It was cold enough with me jumping up and down, moving around trying to keep warm - I was growing more and more concerned with Maddy, who had no way of building up a sweat and getting her blood pumping. Phil and I decided we’d start the race, and see how Maddy did - if she was uncomfortable or fussy, we’d cut out and come home.

By the time the race FINALLY started for us, we were all a little irritated, including Maddy. I was well past thinking this had been one of my more brilliant ideas. We set up with the rest of the walkers/strollers, and found that the concept of a race was a bit different for Phil and I than most of the other people surrounding us - we had dressed in running clothes, obtained a running stroller, and were ready to, well, run. The throngs of people around us seemed to be more inclined to leisurely stroll the 3.3 mile course, and as hard as Phil and I tried, we could not seem to get around anyone or find a pocket of space to begin

to jog a little. At this point, we were all frustrated, and decided to break from the pack, and jump over to a different path to allow us to run a little. Once we did that, things began to look up, except for the fact that we ended up taking a short cut, and cutting the majority of the race course out! Our 3.3 Mile race ended up being a little over 1, if that. Which actually turned out to be a blessing, as we just wanted to get Maddy indoors at this point.  We ended up crossing the finish line, and walking straight to a coffee shop to warm up and get some reprieve from the cold.

The rest of the day was far less eventful, and our blessing increased exponentially to have warmth, food and family in abundance!

Happy Thanksgiving!