2008 in Pictures

Amanda inspired me. Her year in pictures made me want to do the same. She was right, choosing just one per month was difficult yet looking at them was really fun.  Thank you Amanda!

Vote for your favorite if you like!

Some things I noticed as I went through them:

• I don't take enough full body photos, I apparently am fascinated with her face.
• Here hair HAS grown!
• She smiles like her Daddy, either so big her eyes squint or with her mouth wide open. I love the resemblance.
• I was going to post photos of her and I together each month instead of her but as I was searching for them, I realized that as her fat cheeks thinned out, mine got bigger along with the rest of me, so I will pass!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Madison and Santa at Prison

Madison, Rick and I had breakfast with Santa in Prison, jammy jamms and all! He was just visiting USP Atwater!  (Rick is a correctional officer)  Here is a short video. You can see at the very end she does sign "thank you" to him, not sure if it is for the gift of thanking him for letting her go back to Daddy!

Some more Santa photos:

Officially a toddler

Madison has made it to official "toddler" state. She got her first shiner!  

A day of Milestones!

Today is a day of milestones in the Dean home ~

1. Madison walked four steps from the table to Grandma's chair (In the quest of the all important CEREAL)
2. When she got there she got that 'look' and signed "potty" and my Mom said "You want to sit on the potty?" Now mind you we have been trying very hard to catch 'the look' for "number 2" and we either get her to the potty too early and she does it after we get off the potty, or we get there too late and have a full diaper when we get there.  This time was different! Grandma rushed her in there and stripped her (which isn't easier with winter layers) and she proceeded to go both #1 and #2 for the first time on the potty!  Grandma did lots of singing and was thrilled. She emailed me right away and said that Madison seemed proud of herself as well.  While this is a milestone for today and we hope it continues, we will take the joy for today even if it doesn't happen again for a while. We aren't getting our hopes up, but trying has been fun.
3. During physical therapy (yes the physical therapist is still visiting and is determined to continue seeing Madison until she walks - she admits she really enjoys her time with Madison and since "walking" was written into her plan, she justifies her fun visits.) Madison took 16 STEPS unassisted!  While I missed it, I got an excited WHO HOO email from my Mom and then when I got home Madison walked 4 steps from Rick to me. It was that adorable wobbly drunk walk and was so cute I almost cried!
4. She is signing 140 words now and the new ones include: Xylophone (there is always one in our alphabet books), Work and Money, (When she asks for Mom during the day, Grandma tells her "She is at work to make money to buy you more toys!", and Sorry, Violin and Gloves.  She is funny with "Sorry". She sometimes pinches me accidently when she is pulling herself up on me and I yell out "owie, that hurts mommy" and yesterday she signed "Sorry" unprompted.  It was adorable.  Then we were in the hall and she went to touch the night light which she knows she isn't supposed to touch. I said/signed "No touch  light please" and get this....she reached over, touched it and then IMMEDIATELY signed "Sorry"!  What a little sneak!
5. She is verbalizing more too...and saying the funniest things.  "Bird Cage" comes out "Birday", "Lasagna" comes out "ananya", "Zoe" comes out "Oowee" (long O).  It is really fun. She tried to say "Trapezoid" and LAUGHS so hard when I say it (Tupperware Shape sorter). TOO CUTE! It is so funny what makes her laugh and what she is interested in on a given day.

What a glorious day! 

1st Dental Visit!

We took Madison to her first Dentist appointment today! She has four teeth, two huge ones on top and two tiny ones on the bottom. She does have two more peeking through on the top.  It is recommended that children see the dentist for their fist visit by their first birthday and with our insurance, I needed to get her in before January to get the whole 70%/80%/90%/100% coverage ball rolling! I also felt strongly about her first visit being a positive one rather than waiting until there was a problem and her having a bad experience the first time.

She did really great! We did what the Dr. called a Knee to Knee exam. Madison was on my lap facing me and the Dr. sat in front of me with her knees up against mine.  I leaned Madison backwards and the Dr. looked in her mouth and then applied the fluoride treatment.  She cried a little but wasn't freaked out or anything.  She said this is a good way to brush her teeth too if we had trouble doing it other ways.

She got a new Crayola toothbrush and some flossers and two stickers!  We only need to floss the bottom two cause the top two are so far apart! They are huge, but the Dr. said that wasn't bad for little teeth, space is good.  (I hope) The Dr. said we were doing things great and only had one suggestion. She wants us to add toothbrushing to our nightly routine.  We do it together daily in the morning when I get ready for work, but I haven't done it at night.  Apparently the best time to brush your teeth is at night because that is when plaque forms and we don't produce saliva at night.  So we will add this to jammie/story time and should be good to go. 

(Of course I tried it tonight and when we were all done and ready for the story, she signed "milk" and I gave in and then had to brush again. Mom will figure it out eventually!)

Madison is on the Potty Train!

I contemplated whether or not to post this in fear of jinxing myself, but heck I then decided I don't believe if jinxes!

I have been putting Madison on the potty for a while now, just for fun, while waiting for a bath to fill, or while mommy went potty or just to read a short book now and then. There have been a few times when she would be playing and take off crawling to the bathroom and stop and look at me and then sign "potty". I would say "You want to sit on your potty" and she would nod "yes" and we would sit on the potty and read. Very cute.

A week ago, I got a little more serious about it which simply entailed, doing it regularly twice a day without the diaper and while reading our Baby Signs Potty Train book. (I haven't introduced the train whistle as part of our routine as she hates it). I took a potty over to Mom's so they could practice too and took the Train book so that would be familiar. It has the signs to practice: Potty, More, All Done, Wash, Good Job (her good job is so HILARIOUS).

I am so excited to say that Saturday Madison not only sat there contently "reading" her new Elmo Potty book with sound buttons and laughing but she then looked up at me, signed "potty" and I looked in and she was GOING POTTY! (#1). We celebrated and hollared for Daddy and we all did a dance. This happened twice that day. We were so excited. I have to admit that doing this in the cold months isn't going to be easy! Layers aren't the best for getting undressed in a hurry and since she isn't walking dresses are out of the question right now!

Now I am not naive enought to think that she is on her way to being potty trained, but I am just so excited that she got the signs down, sat there long enough to be successful (less than three minutes) and wasn't afraid of the toilet flushing or upset in any way and has even suggested to use the potty on her own a few times. Very cool!

Speaking of signing, we went to Sign Playgroup on Friday morning, as I had the day off and it happened to be the first Friday of the month when they meet. I was so excited to go to the park and secretly hoped Madison would perform all her 130+ signs (well not ALL of them but come on SOME would be nice so I wouldn't feel like people thought I was making this stuff up! It is hard for even me to believe sometimes!) Beth introduced Madison as her "signing superstar" and I just beamed. In true form, Madison signed ONE word...SWING...and that's it! I was bummed. We had a great time anyway and Beth reassured me that happens and she didn't doubt me for a minute! :-) She said for her to stop signing for a bit when she learned to walk, it just happens developmentally.

It made me think of when I was a little girl. My Uncle tells stories about when I was really little and I would get around people other than Mom and I would hide between her legs or sit quietly on the couch and not say ONE WORD the whole time we would visiting. Now Madison really isn't shy but that day I thought, signing is her way of 'talking' and she just didn't feel like 'saying' anything and that is okay!

One of the cute things she does is when we are shopping and people see her and say nice things to her, she signs "Thank You" and everyone always thinks she is blowing them kisses and they just think it is the cutest thing! :-) Sometimes I tell them what she is saying and sometimes I just let them enjoy the baby air kisses.

Having Fun, Happy Birthday and Happy Halloween

Just a few fun photos from Grandma's.  Madison loves the "wind" and will ask for it by signing "wind" and then she gets to go get in the fan (Tawny, I see ANTM in her future!) You can't see it very good in the photo but the fan is on high and what little hair she has is blowing.  The next one is Madison having a snack in her big girl chair Grandma bought her to sit in between Grandma and Grandpa's chairs.

Madison in her frog costume (her first baby sign was frog) and she had pink bone glow in the dark jammies under! They were her back up outfit in case the frog outfit was too hot (which it was).  Mom took her to Kindermusik in her frog and she got hot so she took it off and was still in costume. There was four month old baby there in black jammies just like them and it was too cute.  She didn't mind her frog costume and played in it when they got home.  She has a cold still and so she just stayed in it long enough for me to get a quick photo.

A couple birthday photos to prove she did get some cake at least, even if we didn't have a big party! She really didn't want to get her hands in it much and finally ate some cake with a spoon.  She enjoyed herself and we did too. 

Madison's 1 year Dr. Visit

Well Madison had her 1 year Dr. visit today. 

She weighed in at 19.1 pounds and measured 29 inches.

The girl who called our name from the waiting room asked us "Does she like to stand on the scale or use the baby scale?" In my mind, I was like "What? She is a BABY, of course she isn't ready for the BIG GIRL SCALE!" but instead I just walked over to the baby scale and sat her down! HAHA There will be plenty of times for her to STAND on a scale! I don't need her to be afraid of needles AND scales just yet! Another realization that she isn't a baby.  

While I enjoy looking back on her infant time, I am so amazed at the little girl she is growing into and how much fun it is to see the new things she experiences every day.  I strive at least once a day to see things from her perspective, to laugh just for the sake of laughing, from the inside out!

She still has her cold she got for her birthday from Grandma, but just a runny nose and sneezing really, nothing a humidifier, saline and an elevated mattress can't handle so far.

She got her Flu shot booster in one leg and Prevnar in the other. She also got a TB test in her arm. She was a trooper.  I have all of her band aids from all of her shots this last year saved for her baby book, man that was a lot of shots! 

She has to have a blood draw from a lab (not just a finger prick like I thought).  There is a new Oakland Children's Hospital Lab in Modesto that was suggested so we will probably try that out.  All should be okay.

NEWEST thing: In addition to her 125 signing vocabulary that just seems to grow daily, she has learned to play "Where did it go?" with just about anything.  She will for instance take a small toy and hide it behind her back, put it in her pretend pocket, or if sitting hide it between her legs, and then put her little hands palm up and shrug her shoulders in an effort to say "Where did it go?" and you say it and look around and then she gets it out as quickly as she can and she shows it to you very proudly with her facial expression clearly saying "HERE IT IS" and then we all clap.  It is HILARIOUS. 

Another fun thing she is doing these days is playing pretend. Not only is it cool to see her 'feed' her dolly and teddy, but she will 'pick up' something off of the ground, the air, the table and hand it to you and then say "thank you".  Her little fingers are clenched so tight holding the 'pretend' item it cracks you up.  One time she picked up 'something' off the floor, and crawled over to me to give it to me, the whole time keeping her fingers together so tight on the 'pretend object' they were white on the tips.

Not a day goes by that we don't laugh and learn.  Playskool has it right...PLAY LAUGH GROW.

 

Happy 10th Birthday Zoe! Those who say money can't buy happiness, never had a puppy.

Zoe asleep in the nursery

Zoe after her parents came home from DL

Zoe ASLEEP with Dad, Smiling!


Okay, I know what you might be thinking...Happy Birthday to her DOG? Where are the Madison 1 year birthday photos?

I will update about Madison's first year tomorrow hopefully after her one year Dr. check up.

Today is about Zoe, my first dog and the longest relationship I have ever had.  As if on cue as I started to write this she scratched at my leg to ask to get in my lap. So I am writing this with a 23lb schnauzer on my lap!

If there are nondog people reading this, I might come off as crazy, but I won't apologize for it because I truly believe that Zoe has saved me from insanity and dark depression more than once in the decade I have been fortunate enough to be her "mom".

Let me sum up Zoe's 10 years:

1. Zoe helped me push the 'snooze' button on my biological clock. Her name was originally going to be "Holly" because I got her at Christmas time but calling out "Holly, come" just didn't sound right and so I was watching tv one night with a nameless dog, and I heard a commercial for a new show called something like "John, Jake and Zoe" and I immediately said "Zoe", yep that's it!

2. We spent the next year in training, taking every class we could get into. We did puppy class all the way up to off leash obedience. We even tried agility ONE class and that was not happening. I think she was too young and I didn't want to push it so we took a tricks class and had a blast.  She can to this day still hold a cookie on her nose and play dead when you "shoot" her.  But, as a new dog owner who was protective of her new 'baby', I neglected to socialize her well.  So if you have ever met Zoe, you might wonder what the fuss is all about, as she can be a bit temperamental at times.  Live and Learn, she loves me so it's all good (update in year 9)

3.  I was finally strong enough to break off a long term unhealthy relationship this year.  Zoe was so sad for a time and it was heartbreaking.   While she was "my" dog, she was attached to him.  We moved to a different town and began our new life together.  She slept with me on my pillow most times and was my reason for coming home at night from work.  She helped me through the loneliness and isolation I was experiencing. 

4. We met Rick, the love of our lives.  I told him, if my dog doesn't like you, it won't work.  Makes me think of the show "It's me or the dog", while not that crazy, I was worried about what Zoe would think.  Rick had allergies and I wanted so badly for them to like each other.  Zoe "approved" of Rick even though he was in uniform when they met, which she HATES (even Boy Scouts) BUT he was smart enough to also have jerky in his pockets! It was official, she had "Daddy".

5.  While I wouldn't trade Zoe for a different dog, I did learn a valuable lesson when it comes to buying a dog. Find a reputable breeder. I got Zoe from an add in the paper and have paid extensively for it in vet bills from literally DAY ONE when I brought her home to find blood in her urine. Technically I could have returned her, but come on, like that was going to happen. She has allergies to almost everything imaginable which took several years to get under control without using steroids.  She had a bladder problem that took several years to find a solution for, which ended up being a 'vulvaplasty' surgery (butt lift) :-).  I learned she was deathly allergic to bees the hard way, scariest day of my life (pre Madison).  I am glad I didn't have many other expenses at the time, being single most of her life with no children and with a good job. I felt at times, I was working to pay the vet bills.  We got through it together, her knowing I would do anything for her and me knowing she would give me unconditional love till her last breath.

6. We enjoyed life in WY one winter and Zoe loved the snow. She loved sleeping in the middle of two warm bodies and enjoyed all the attention.  She was a good traveler and was tolerant of visitors, of which we had few so it was okay.  My Mom thought Zoe might forget her while we were living so far from home and read that dogs remember by smell so she would send us letters with crumpled paper which she had strategically rubbed on her body and the note read "Zoe, smell me, love Grandma".  It was hilarious.  She was afraid we would never get pregnant and thought this would be her only "Grand Dog".  Zoe was my company when Rick was away from home at training or working the night shift, continuing to be my sweet companion.

7.  We spent several years trying to get pregnant and I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to happen.  Depression and despair was setting in despite how wonderful my life was unfolding.  Time to get a puppy, right?  I went a different route and made contact with a reputable breeder and Roxy came into our lives.  Three days after I brought her home I found out the last procedure had been successful and I was indeed pregnant, one day later, Zoe bit Roxy.  I was a hormonal mess. What did I do, a puppy AND a baby? We decided to keep Roxy and see how it went.  

8. Zoe stood by my side during the 6 months of morning sickness (or what I like to call it, "if you eat ANYTHING you will be sick, sickness). She was there when I brought the trainer home to help me learn how to prepare the dogs for the baby, the first thing being kicking her out of our bed!  She tolerated Roxy and eventually warmed up to her.  She began to come around again and seemed to not be so temperamental.  In the end Roxy was a blessing in disguise, she is Madison's buddy and helped Zoe get tolerant of an irritating little sister. I was worried about her and the baby, seriously, what if something happened?  I had a back up plan for her if I got uncomfortable and she wasn't able to adjust to the baby but I tried to put it out of my mind.  How could I turn my back on my dog after all we had been through together.  People kept telling me, you will have that baby and not give that animal a second thought, she'll be outside before you know it.  Who are these people?  I couldn't imagine.  What I didn't yet realize was the intense love and attachment I would have for Madison. I had heard of it, but experiencing it was totally different.  The trainer also recommended that we have a dog bed in the nursery as to not make it an off limits place so there would be no jealousy. Dogs are pack animals and they don't appreciate being separated from their pack. She adjusted to sleeping in her crate much better than I did, but I understood that the bed is the pack's power position and Zoe needed to learn she wasn't the leader. Better to kick her out now than after Madison came home.

9.  I had Rick bring home a hospital blanket with Madison's smell on it before we came home.  When we got home, I said my hellos and then she sniffed the baby.  She did okay until the baby cried. She got so concerned and started whining and crying herself and pacing around.  She eventually quit doing that and started sleeping in the bed in Madison's room at night as if to protect her.  It was adorable.  She didn't want much to do with her otherwise and stayed clear of us most of the time.  As Madison got more mobile things got trickier.  I am teaching Madison to stay clear of Zoe's crate and it is hard.  Zoe growls and then gets in trouble.  We are working on it, but I am nervous again.  I feel a bit guilty, being so preoccupied with working full time, being a wife full time and now a mother full time.  The dog days are gone.  We have our fun, don't get me wrong, it is just different.  I pray that as Zoe gets older, I am able to still be the loving Mom I always have been to her, taking her health and well being just as seriously as I did before.

10. I am not in denial, dogs don't live forever. When the vet told me Zoe needed to have her 'geriatric' exam two years ago I knew.  We have fun and celebrate joy in our lives. She has taught me so many invaluable lessons that have helped me be a better Mom. I am forever indebted to her for that.

Ever read the book "Everything I learned about parenting I learned from my puppy"? It was one of the first books on Madison's shelf. :-) And no, this does not include crate training Madison or making her hold a cookie on her nose, but come to think of it...no, I guess not.

My Wyoming Cowgirl

On the way out of the studio last time I had Madison's pictures taken, I went to Gymboree and found the cutest cowgirl outfit, with hat and everything.  The shirt is like those my Dad used to wear with the mother of pearl snaps! I had to have it, but I had just taken her pictures!  So I saved it.

Two months went by and I hadn't taken pictures yet and I was at Babies R Us and saw this barn windmill background on the wall with a little boy with a saddle and I just HAD to go there.  They were using it for their Halloween background but it was too cute I thought and I had to get some taken before she outgrew the outfit.

I thought our trip to Wyoming would be a good reason to get pictures taken, so here they are. We took them the day before we left and had some fun pictures to share with Rick's family.

(I sure wish Alysun was closer, I would love to have a session with her! I have a self employed photographer's card I was thinking of going to for her 1st birthday pictures, but I don't know) I know her birthday is Monday but these were just for fun and not the "real" ones! :-)  I wanted something to put in her baby book on the "First Vacation Page" and I thought this was perfect!

I tried to get her little horse on her jeans showing, but we took the smile instead.

Her little pearl bracelet I bought when she was born finally fit, although she tried must have thought it was a candy bracelet, she kept trying to eat it! (Alysun - I threw a fit that they cut off her fingers!)

My niece bought her a pink pair of ostrich ropers for my baby shower.  They are so cute!  I tried and tried to stuff her feet in them and she kept wrinkling her toes and then got mad, so I gave up. I put them next to her to at least get them in the shot. At least there were horses on her socks too! (She doesn't wear shoes yet, so boots did not go over well!)

I hope you enjoy!

We all survived Wyoming

They added the 1908 to the sign as they celebrated their 100 years.

Madison "enjoying" her first grasshopper

It was 80 degrees the day we arrived but we also brought with us the first frost of the Fall and this is Uncle John's garden after one night freeze. He lost everything, but not before we got to enjoy some "turban squash" which we had never had before.  They had TONS of gourds that decorated many a front step in town.

Madison at the hotel the first night getting comfortable with her signing cards.

This was actually taken when we were still at home, Daddy taking her for a ride in her wagon. It is one of my favorite.

I had every intention of blogging every day of my “vacation” to Wyoming and at the end of each day I was so out of steam that I didn’t get online but only once.  I kept thinking, “make a mental note and blog that funny thing”. I will do my best to recap briefly.

·       Get a babysitter for the ‘getting ready day’!

·       Pack light and use the “I can buy it when I get there” motto (unless you are going to Wyoming I later learned)

OkOkay, here is my version of PACKING LIGHT....Pack Mule...I have one suitcase, two carry ons, stroller, and back pack, not to mention Madison carried in the front. Here she was looking at the sky lights in the Denver Airport.  Rick not only had the camera, but he had two additional suitcases. Mind you, we were only gone 6 DAYS! I definitely learned my lesson, although I still didn't have everything I wanted.

·       Board the plane, buckle up and poop. You read it right, I learned they have baby changing stations in the airplane bathrooms, a shelf that comes down over the toilet. Oh Joy.

·       Learned the hard way that a 12 hour travel day was 1 hour too long for Madison.

·       Rental car yes, Rental car seat definitely NO

·       I need to teach Madison to do the Fist Bump like Howie Mandell, ‘give me kisses’ is not the same with snot nosed cousins.

·       I learned I was a high maintenance California Mom

·       Buy it when you get there might work if you were going somewhere other than where we went! Things we missed the most were: YoBaby Yogurt, Earth’s Best Baby Food, Pampers, No Salt Added Veggies, disposable bibs, sippy cups with straws (I brought one but forgot the darned straw!)

·       Never say Never: Pacifier on demand, eat in front of the tv, sleep in bed with Mom and Dad, Juice from a bottle, shopping cart without the cover, stay up as late as I want

·       If you have food restrictions for allergy reasons, expect someone to challenge your efforts. (Specifically, chocolate, strawberries, eggs, citrus and all nuts).  I am also trying to limit her exposure to sugar because both of her parents are recovering sugar addicts so why start something? Needless to say she ended up having strawberry yogurt, strawberry ice cream, chocolate cake, Chinese food fried rice with egg, and she found several peanuts on the floor which she handed over instead of eating. I was asked “Can she have candy?” I said “nope” and then had to argue why she couldn’t have hard candy? Are you kidding me, has no one heard of a choking hazzard? She lived and so did I, barely.

·       Return home was easier, sucking juice from a bottle while not Mom’s favorite idea, was worth it in the long run. They say sucking on the airplane helps babies not experience pain in their ears when taking off and landing.  She had no trouble and only cried one time when she heard another baby crying. It was so cute actually, he was screaming and she stopped sucking and looked all concerned and then sat up, cried a little and signed “baby”. I said/signed, Baby is sad but with his Mommy and okay.  She stood up in my lap and looked around the cabin looking for the baby. It was so adorable seeing her express empathy.

·       Madison slipped right back into her routine when we got home which was one of my main concerns, but all is well.

 

All in all it was a learning experience and Madison had a great time and her relatives fell in love with her and were amazed at her ability to communicate with them with her signs.  I was very proud.

Teeth Grinding, Vegetable Mum Mums and The Doctors

Madison has a third tooth (two on the bottom for three months) now one HUGE one on top! My Dad is already calling her Bucky (oh how the memories flood back) She has taken up the habit of GRINDING it against the bottom ones. It is HORRIBLE! It sounds awful. I am not sure how to get her to stop. I sure hope it is just a novelty and she will get over it.

One of our favorite things are Mum Mums(Rice Rusks) (thanks Amanda - I read about the "surfboards" in one of your posts) and I found them ONE time at Safe Way.  My Mom loves them for walks because they melt so easy and Madison really likes them and she doesn't have to worry too much about her choking (She isn't one for eating one cheerio at a time).  I only found them one time at our SafeWay in Modesto so I decided to try Amazon. I found them AND vegetable ones too which I haven't seen in the stores! They arrived today and are awesome. We are good to go for a while now. (Rick subsequently found them in Turlock, so we have plenty!).

Have you seen the show "The Doctors"? I haven't seen it yet and probably won't much as it is a spin off from Dr. Phil and how good could that possibly be? BUT... tomorrow they are having the founders of the Baby Signing program on that we used. It is specifically about their Potty Training Kit and their theory about signing helping to get children potty trained before 2.  I am going to DVR it just in case it is cool, might be interesting. Channel 13 2pm in Motown I believe.

75 words!

If you're happy and you know it, you know what to do!

Momma's girls

Waiting for Mom to get the bath ready.

Wow, I can't believe that it has been so long since I have posted something. I am on here everyday checking for updates of my friends and I get so excited when there are new stories and I haven't been doing MY part!

Things have been fun around home, just soaking in the daily life of Miss Madison. She is signing like crazy and is officially one month away from being ONE! Alysun and Amanda both survived with flying colors so I am sure I will do fine when our time comes too!

Like I said these last three weeks Madison has just been signing up a storm and it seems like ever day she is signing something new that she has understood but not signed back yet.  I wish I had kept track of when things happened.  The best that the researcher in me can do now is to list out where we are at 11 months, after 5 months of consistently signing every day every thing we can possibly think of.  

Here are the stats as of Sept 2008:

There are 201 words on my list of words we are working on. (That I could remember, I am sure there are words I am missing and will think of at 3am!)

Madison actively signs 75 of them!  It is absolutely amazing to me.  I recently demonstrated her signing with flash cards to some friends this weekend and while I am glad she 'performed' on cue, it doesn't even compare to her actively engaging in a conversation with you, albeit one/two/three word "conversations" (For instance, crawling to her room and signing "Music" and "Blanket" and "Book".  Then we put on the music and get her blanket and read.)

There are 59 words that she knows and understands and reacts to but hasn't yet signed back. We move words daily from this list to the first list (Kitty/Baby/Yogurt/Kite were yesterday's words) Keep in mind that some words are definitely clear to understand and some take some flexibility to understand. For instance Bear, Please, Bath all look very similar so you have to take it into context when figuring out what it is she is trying to tell you. Then on the other hand, there are many that are very distinguishing, like when she is eating, it is easy to tell when she is specifically asking for "more" "peas" "please" versus the ugly face she makes when you get a second spoonful of something she doesn't care for. It is also so cute when she really likes something (Dad's meat loaf and mashed potatoes tonight for the first time) when she signs "more" before it hits her tongue!

The remaining 67 words we are still working on and either I don't know them well enough to do them regularly or there are limited opportunities to do them therefore they don't get the exposure like some others. (Example "Rain" - It hasn't rained yet and "Afraid", with the feelings you have to wait for the experience to get it to sink in etc.)

Our weekly signing classes are over and we are on our own but I think we have a handle on it!  The window of signing will be small as when they begin to talk they usually drop the signs unless they are being shy and want to just "talk" to you in a crowd or perhaps when they are upset and can't get the words out.

Our next adventure is Kindermusik.  I heard about it from another Mom in signing class and my Mom said she would take Madison (it is during the day while I am work). They have gone to one class and had a great time. Mom said Madison was the only one fully engaged and laughing and having a great time, she loves her music and dancing with G'ma.  I thought it would be something fun for them to do together and give Madison some additional exposure to other kids, since she has no siblings and no daycare type friends. More on that later.

Developmental Milestones: Madison is fully mobile now, crawling like mad and lifting to stand and just recently, standing on her own in the middle of the room.  She still only has two teeth but the doesn't keep her from chewing all kinds of food. My Mom has taught her to "chew'em and chew'em" and she gum the heck out of whatever is in there! 

I really should wait so long to write, I have so much more to share, but given the hour, I will wait for another day.  In the spirit of Tawny's 30 before 30 list, I have been trying to compile a "Things I NEVER thought I would EVER do as a Mom before I WAS a Mom" list.  I have about 5 so far, so that will be the next post hopefully.

Until then....

Baby Signing Aug 31

Seems like I haven't written forever.  This week Madison and Grandma and I worked really hard on our "farm" signs so we would be ready for our class on Tuesday, and don't you know it, she didn't sign ANYTHING in class!  She was doing Chicken, Mouse, Pig (1 time), and Horse all week!  It was funny.  Next week are the safety signs (Hot, Stop, Hurt, Help, Dirty and Gentle). They are much more difficulty to practice, kind of like the signs for feelings.  They aren't "things" you can point to in a book and show the sign for (other than Stop but that still doesn't convey the meaning) but we are working on them anyway!

At the end of class we get a little bag of cheerios while we read our story. It is our time to practice our manners and "ask", say "please" and "thank you".  At first Madison was like "heck, I don't even know what cereal is!" (She started young) and now when she saw the bags she started signing "cereal" and it was so cute.  The other two babies both signed "Please", something Madison hasn't done yet (only because we haven't practiced I told myself).

I made it this week's goal to learn "Please" (Open hand in a circle on chest).  After a couple of tries I randomly said "Say Please" when she was asking for a toy and she DID IT! I was so excited.  Little things excite me these days!

When we were reading the other night I thought about seeing how she would do if I didn't 'say' the word with the sign.  She is very responsive to the spoken word so I instead asked "What is that?" and she signed pretty much all of the ones I pointed to that I knew she knew without me saying "Where's the hat?" Etc.

I really should have started writing down all the words she knows as she learned them. We were going through the little flashcards and I was just amazed at all the words she knows.  She does them at the funniest times too.  She was recently doing two signs that had meaning to her that I had NO IDEA what they were for.  With a little imagination, we were able to determine that one was a modified sign for shoes and the other one was her made up sign for "Grandma".  She made up a sign with Papa a long time ago. When he would see her he would pat his big tummy and say "Papa" and now she does it when she sees him, hears him or his name or sees a picture of him, it is very cute. The signs for Grandma and Grandpa aren't easy and I was just asking my Mom if she wanted to make one up for her.  We just kept doing the real one and hope for the best.  Then Madison was doing this sign up by her face and we didn't know why.  My Mom observed that she did it when she was looking at her through the window and stopped when she walked away and started again when she saw her.  We tested it out and sure enough she was 'saying' Grandma!  Kinda looks like "hat" but lower.  Very cute.

I hope to get video of her when she is rested and at her best and interested in "performing".  It is funny when people see her and she does something and they say "What is she saying now?"

I have learned that the key to this whole signing thing is consistency and making it your own habit that you do no matter what you are saying. I don't have to say full sentences to get the point across but if I can say "thank you" EVERY TIME it is appropriate to do so, I just KNOW that EVENTUALLY she will do it back!

Funny 2 part story:  Illustrating how ingrained this signing has become for me.

Part 1: I went out on a girl's night 'in' recently.  I went to a friend's house for dinner with 5 friends. We laughed until we cried and told stories and talked about boys. It was so much fun and the food was fabulous as well which is ALWAYS a plus!  Okay I know, on to the funny part. I was telling a story and at one point I used the word "happy" and I signed it! I slowly lowered my hand when I realized what I did and looked around to see if anyone noticed. It was hilarious.  I finally said to one girl, "Did you see what I did?" and she said "Yep, you're a dork". I have to admit, it made me 'happy' to know it was becoming such a habit, that means it is working.

Part 2: I was walking out of Costco and the lady gave me my receipt back after checking to make sure I hadn't stolen anything (I still don't get how that works!) anyway, I smiled and signed "Thank You" to her.  It was funny, but Madison was with us and I justified me being a dork because it is good for her to see me "talking" to others in a way she understands.  My Mom and I do this all the time. I hope we can keep it up.

I should really blog more often so they aren't so long...I only have three maybe four readers that I know of, so I don't think any of them mind.

Madison crawled!

Madison crawled for the first time today! She did it twice, once for Papa to get a teddy bear and once for Grandma to get to her music train.  I missed it but loved hearing about it and the love and joy in my parents voices.  It was the end of the day when I got to her and she was tired and didn't want to do it again, so I am not posting the video of her sitting in protest to my pleas to come to me.  That is okay, she will be fresh tomorrow and DADDY COMES HOME TOMORROW! So we will get to see it together.

Other fun things we learned this week:

She gets off of her stool all by herself too and it is so cute to watch.  She leans forward from a sit and puts her hands out and goes gently to the floor.  She stands from a sit to the table from her stool and sits back down again. She can also get to a sit from her tummy and from her back.  She is getting so strong and it was just a matter of us being shown how to encourage her transitions appropriately and she is going to be off in no time!  I hope to get some more videos really soon.

She signed Mouse for the first time today too and that was fun! My Mom said she also signed "horse" to her and was looking at her bouncing horse and then my Mom put her in it to play.  One smart cookie!  Next week's class is "The Farm" so I am working on the main words: Mouse, Cow, Pig, Sheep, Chicken, and Horse so when we do the class she can show off her stuff! She can do Mouse, Horse, Chicken and she did Pig one time so far.  Sheep is kinda hard, you take your fingers like scissors across your forearm.  She sure watches your hands intently and then looks at her hands so intently.  Very exciting! 

I can't wait to share all she has learned with Rick tomorrow when he comes home from training in LA.

Signing and other fun stuff

Well Madison is getting better and better with her signing.  She did Tree, Duck and Hat, without prompting. We went outside with the dogs and I looked at her hand and she was looking up at our maple tree and signing "tree". It was adorable.  Then when we were reading our bedtime books, I showed her a picture of a duck (a mallard) and she did the sign for Duck!  I then showed her a picture of a hat and said "What's that?" and she signed Hat right on cue.  When we turned the page she saw a rubber ducky and signed "Duck" again.  It was so cute. It shows that the repetition is paying off and she is taking it all in.

She does lots of other fun stuff too. She asks for "more" food regularly, signs for "cereal" aka Cheerios.  She can point to: nose, ear, eye, eyebrow, eyelashes and does so at the funniest times without prompting.  She does the cutest thing with her finger pointed out. My Mom says "Phone Home ET" and she points her finger and touches your pointed finger. She also has known "Bellybutton" for some time now.  This is fun, unless of course you are wearing a dress and she wants to see yours!

She tried lots of signs and sometimes they look the same but in the context and if you are paying close attention you can distinguish them.  I said something so funny sounding to her today at lunch. I was eating a cracker and she made a grunting noise and pointed to my cracker. I said "You want more?" and she didn't sign it and pointed again. I said "Use your words"! How funny is that?  She finally did and got her cracker.

Fun Madison Shots

I just wanted to post some smiles today.  Madison looks so irritated with Roxy doesn't she?

No update really, just anticipating Madison turning 10 months next week! I can hardly believe it!

Non Baby people

My dog groomer said the cutest thing to us yesterday. Keep in mind that none of the women in the place have children and have no plans to have children.  I brought Madison in to pick up my girls and they all were saying how cute she was and all.  

My groomer said "If I could be guaranteed my kid would be that cute, I might consider having one."

It was a very nice compliment and one I had never heard put quite like that. Made me feel like such a proud momma. 

She followed it up by saying I was not allowed to own scissors anymore.  I hacked Roxy's beard off because it was matted and I got frustrated and then I took her in for the groomer to fix it!  I think she still looks cute.

Signing - Update

We started the new signing series last night - A new 6 week class. It was fun and I am looking forward to learning the "higher order signs" (not related to eating, potty, dress etc) Last night it was about colors and feelings. So now when we see a flower I can say Purple Flower or White Flower etc.  The above photo is Madison's version of flower. The correct sign is to sniff while holding your hand to your nose as if sniffing a flower.  At our last class a few weeks ago we learned flower and the teacher used very fragrant roses to demonstrate the experience to them. It stuck and she has done it ever since. She will sign this when she sees pictures of flowers, flowers in the yard, in a book etc.  She added the lip thing herself.  The really funny part is that Rick farted the other day (what day doesn't he? I digress) and he started sniffing trying to get her to sniff!  I told him "NO!" the last thing I need is for my 9 month old to be sniffing when someone farts!  I just love this shot and had to share it.

I do have a fun signing story to share that just happened tonight. When it happened I was alone and didn't have anyone to tell. Soooo....I said, I am going to blog it, although I know there are only about three to four people that I know read this, they are important people and I thought would share in my joy!

I was making some mac and cheese tonight and Madison was on the floor in the kitchen with me eating crackers.  We got all done and moved into the room to get ready for bed.  We were on book number 3 when all of the sudden she started to sign "more" and look at me.  I was like "more book?" and she just kept signing more and looking at the page we were on.  Then it happened....SHE SIGNED MORE AND POINTED TO THE PICTURE OF THE CRACKER! WAS SHE ASKING FOR MORE CRACKER? It wasn't possible!  I was so excited at the possibility.  Was she TALKING TO ME?  It was just a cool experience and while I told her that "eating" was "all done" that I was "proud" of her for signing it to me.  I probably should have gotten up and given her a cracker to reinforce that I understood but I didn't....We continued to read the book (It was a picture book of all kinds of things and the page we were on was on food and had about 20 different food items, so to pick out the cracker after signing more, really impressed me.  I was so proud and it encouraged me to keep up the signing even that much more. The possibilities are endless I think!

(I wish this was her sign for "Kisses" but it isn't, that is usually either a turn of the head away, or an open mouth with tongue!) I will take it none the less! I will try to get a video of it now that I know I can successfully do it with my new camera. Her little 'sniff' is so cute and her tummy goes in and out so hard while she does it. Everything just seems so exaggerated.

Man, I was so upset tonight coming home from an awful days work and just writing about this wonderful experience of being a new Mom is so cathartic I can't even explain it.

I have never been in love like this....everyone said it would be like this...but I had no idea.

I just had to post this photo because it reminds me of those "self portraits" that people take of themselves with her little arm outstretched...It almost looks like she has her head stretched out in order to not show her double chin (although she doesn't have one)  You all know exactly what I mean!

A swinger!

I took Madison to the park on Friday and we tried one of those baby swings and she had so much fun.  I told Rick and he went ahead and put up her swing that we bought a while back. She had a ball.

Just in case the video doesn't work, I have a still photo too.

A day at the Spa

Madison loves going "swimming" in Daddy's Spa.  She finally let me put her in her floaty boat, she was afraid of it other times, but today she was happy and did great!  We played for a long time and then Daddy got her out and I couldn't resist the Elmo moment. She isn't into him as much as before, but this was just too cute.

I got a new camera with a faster shutter lag, hence all then new photos, trying it out to decide if I want to keep it!

I hope you enjoy.

Tasty Baby - Frozen Organic Baby Food

I was finally able to find some organic frozen baby food that you can have delivered to your house. Since I don't live in the Big City or near the stores that carry it, I found one that did deliver (for free through Amazon). http://www.tastybaby.com/ 

I bought one of each of all they offer to try and here is the verdict so far.  Madison hates peas but eats theirs better than any other, I think it has to do with the fact that the "Peas on Earth" are mixed with a hint of mint.  Interesting combination but she doesn't seem to mind them as much. 

Most of the foods we have tried are very interesting combinations (Bananas and Mangos - AKA Bangos - very tasty) and we are very pleased with the quality.

Madison might disagree.  We are trying to add some texture and more complicated flavors to Madison's diet and so we tried the Stage three foods with Tasty Baby....Here is her reaction to "Mama Mia" A pasta/zucchini mixture that was very fragrant with spice....

I got a really nice letter of thanks after I ordered from Amazon (free shipping) from the owners with a free shopping bag - and they suggested that I should send a photo of Madison experiencing the product and let them know what we thought! What do you think, should I share this with them? HAHAHAHAHA

Funny thing was, she did this EVERY TIME I gave her a bite of this food.  I couldn't get the picture so I kept giving it to her until we got it just right! She kept watching the spoon to see what was coming next. She is getting smarter everyday!

All in all, we love the food, just more than she could handle at the moment, texture, aroma and flavors.  All of the first and second foods have been well received so far!

Bye Bye Bee Bo

Here is the photo of Madison saying Bye Bye to Bee Bo the signing Bear at our last class.  We signed up for the next round or "More Sign Say and Play" starting in Aug so she will see him again.  Did I already say she gave him a kiss and I missed it with my stupid slow shutter camera? :-)

Biter Biscuits

Madison had her first Gerber Biter Biscuit tonight!  While sticky and gross and got over everything, she thought it was tasty and was willing to share! It took her some time to eat it so at least I had some time to eat dinner myself.

I took some shots and since most of my posts are long winded I will let these speak for themselves.
Happy Viewing!

YUMMY!

WANNA BITE?

Meet my new dogs "DYSON" and "SWIFFER"