The Hartsell Family: October 2012

We had a great weekend celebrating FALL. Saturday, October 6th we joined Eliza's and Annabel's family for the girls first hiking trip at Starved Rock! What a riot that was. The three one year olds actually did remarkably well. It must have been the outdoor air. We hiked for about an hour which included many stairs! Then we hiked to the top of Starved Rock and took in the sites. Next it was time for a picnic lunch. The weather was a little cold in the 50's but it didn't bother us except when eating. I think this might have to be an annual event--It was so much fun! After lunch, Eliza and Annabel's family left but since Madelyn was in a good mood, we kept hiking. She fell asleep shortly after that in the backpack. When she woke up, she did surprisingly well in the pack and enjoyed eating her Cheerios and feeding daddy. The colors were pretty but we probably went a week too early for seeing the colors of the trees. We did learn that the girls were happy as long as they could walk with their snack cups :)

The Start: Eliza (L) & Madelyn (R)

Madelyn had hat malfunctions

See couldn't even see but she was happy since she had her snack cup.

The little hikers--Madelyn, Eliza & Annabel

Madelyn, Eliza & Annabel

Madelyn, Eliza and Annabel

They loved looking through the fence but we were afraid they'd throw their snack cups down

Madelyn and Daddy on Starved Rock

Views--The colors were beginning to change

Picnic Lunch

Asleep after lunch

Not sure how she slept like this!

Feeding Daddy Cherrios

Madelyn and Daddy!

The Hiking Hartsells

Then that Sunday we spent the whole afternoon in the yard raking leaves. Madelyn wanted to help with everything from raking to putting the leaves in bags. She also enjoyed some time playing the leaves but she liked it best when we would pick her up and swing her into the leaves. She thought it was so funny!

It's been awhile since I did a monthly post so I thought I'd summarize what she's learned in 3 months and it's a lot!

Madelyn loves to be helpful. Here are some of our and her favorite things she helps with.

Throwing away her own diaper by opening the pail on her own (I hope this won't come back to haunt me. I don't want to find garbage all over her room one day!)
Cleaning up a spill with papertowels.
Turning on and off her music/MP3 player
Picking up Leia's dog bowl and Preta's food plate when they are done
Giving Leia her kong in her crate when we leave, helping to shut the crate door and giving her a kiss good-bye (so sweet!)
Saying Uh-oh when she sees the basement door open and closes it. Unfortunately, we learned that she can OPEN the basement door when it's shut. She saw me go downstairs and wanted to follow me so she stood on her tiptoes and opened the closed door on her own--luckily Brian was right there.
Carrying her lunch box in and out of school. It's too cute. It looks like a mini-suitcase. She won't leave school if she isn't carrying it.
Helping pick up leaves when we were raking. Her handful was a lot smaller than ours but she didn't care. She just wanted to help and insisted on putting it in the bag like we were doing.
Helping push her wagon into the storage spot in the garage and it has to be all the way in--she doesn't want to leave it out of it's normal place.
Helping put the dirty clothes in her laundry basket
Turning off the light when it's time for bed.
Picking up her plate and handing it to us when she is done with her meal. Then lots of times she will also take off her bib, hand that to us and signs all done.
Noticing when things are out of place such as a bowl on the floor or a cup on the ground or a door that is open. She also doesn't like things on the stairs and will try to climb up with them so as not to leave them on the steps. (Brian says she is taking after me with this trait!)
Putting my shoes away if they are not in their cubbie but on the ground.
Saying thank-you at the right times without being prompted :)
Taking off her car seat straps when it's time to get out
Helping put on her clothes by finding the arm holes on her own.
Giving Leia treats (although I think Leia and Madelyn have some sort of arrangement worked out as Leia is getting A LOT of food!)
Opening the mail box and getting our mail out of our mail box (although sometimes our mail ends up on the ground--at least she tries.)
Sweeping the kitchen floor.

Here are some of the things Madelyn has loved doing the last few months:

She still loves shoes especially her crocs that look just like her teachers shoes.
She can climb HERSELF up our playset (we are always right there but she can actually do it without our help) and go down the slide!
She likes her indoor slide too. She can climb up those stairs and flip her legs forward and go down by herself. She is getting so big!
She no longer likes to go in the stroller but prefers to walk which makes for very SLOW walks!
She likes to make a uh-uh-uh noise when riding in her wagon or on the bike when going over grass. It's actually quite cute. I am not sure how she discovered it but she is consistent about making the noise only when we are on grass or a rough surface.
She loves to throw balls or toys for Leia to fetch although they don't go as far as Leia would like.
She loves to be pushed round in her car. She says BEEP, BEEP all the time. Sometimes she drives using the steering wheel. Other times, she just sits and claps her hands or sucks her thumb. She also likes to say Go when we say "Ready, Set, ____"
She loved to race the little wind up cars when she was 12-13 months
She enjoys taking her toy "puppy" for a walk but it's hard walking backwards so she doesn't get far
She also likes swinging but insists that we swing next to her. I usually make up songs while we swing side by side. :)
She enjoys looking out her bedroom window at the tree and the cars going by
She likes spinning on her bottom so I got her a sit and spin but she is still a little young for it.
She loves music and is constantly clapping her hands or thighs in the car and loves carrying around a little radio that her great-aunt Nancy got her. She is so cute when she bobs her head to the music.
She is really into books. She loves to turn the pages and enjoys searching through her bookcase (throwing all the books on the floor) until she finds the book she is looking for.
Favorite books: Lullaby and Goodnight (still), Any disappearing count backwards books like 10 Little Ladybugs or 5 silly monkey, & That's NOT my Teddy! (thanks Becca!)
She likes to smack her lips together and laughs when we mimic her.
She loves food still. Her favorites are crackers and cottage cheese. She could eat a whole tub of cottage cheese if we let her! She is still a pretty good sharer but sometimes she plays "tricked ya" on us and will hold out the food to share and then take it away and laugh!
She likes to point to our body parts and say "This? This?" asking for us to name it. Her favorites are our hair as she pulls on our hair or our nose which she grabs very tightly! She also likes to point to our eyes and my earring.
She loves fish and actually works hard to do a fishy face. If she hears the word fish or sees a picture of it, she'll turn to me and look at my face to see if I am doing the fishy face.
She is trying to run and fly like Connor!
She says "hi" when on her phone but it is very softly:)
She loves to take pen caps off and put them back on which can be quite tricky getting them correctly lined up but she does it on her own! She also entertained herself for a good 15-20 minutes by taking out and putting in the straw to her water at buffalo wild wings.
She blows on her food to mimic us and says "ott" for hot.
She thinks it's so funny when we spray water on her with a spray bottle and signs more for us to keep doing it.
She can walk up the stairs sidways using the railing posts and she loves to give and get kisses from daddy through the railings.
She does up and down in her highchair by lifting her butt of the seat and then sitting back down.
She shakes her head yes and no but more and more it is no these days :)
She loves water. We try to take her swimming every weekend but she also enjoys just playing in the bathroom sink after dinner. She will turn on the water by herself and wash her hands and feet. She would stay there for hours if I let her.
She loves biking with daddy and her teachers say that as it gets close to 4 pm, she keeps looking out the window and saying dada. When she sees him come around the corner to pick her up, she gets really excited!
She likes looking at her photo book and pointing to everyone and hearing us say their names. She especially likes to point to Dada, Connor and Juliana (no, not mama)
She loves to point to the sky at airplanes and birds.
It's hard to believe she has only been walking for two months! She is such a pro at it!

Sign language: Please, more, milk, thank you, eat,water, all done and no.

Total Teeth = 8 (4 top, 4 bottom fronts)

Words: Preta (ta or ba depending on the day), ba (dog), dada, mama (sometimes she calls me da-da) Oh-Uh, of (off), on, up, dow (down), mama, EYE (while pushing really hard on your eye!), tee (teeth), ear, Ooooo (for cheerios), hi, dank-u (thank you), ott (hot), de (see), bel bubba (belly button), due (shoe), bebe (baby), yea (yes), dih (this), go!, baa (ball), sometimes she says LaYA (Leia)

Animal noises: moo for cow, baa for sheep and goat, fish face for fish, and much louder than the rest coc-ra-do for a rooster

And now for some photos, which I am sure you all like better than my rambling :)