The Hartsell Family

Madelyn certainly is turning to a little girl. She can be so cute at times and other times so stubborn. Here are some of our favorite memories from 21 months through 24 months.

The cute things she says

She says 'cuze me' for "excuse me" for toots, burps, farts, sneezes, hiccups and even when her tummy growls!
She says moto-cycee for motorcycle and likes to spot them out her window.
She says "I dough no" for I don't know and constantly will ask where Leia or daddy is by saying "where is daddy" and then answer her own question by saying "I dough know."
She also says "ow-bout" for how about when she is picking out a snack or trying to make a deal.
She says "oh-tay" for okay which always makes me smile.
She'll tell Leia or her babies "no thank you" when they do something she doesn't like. I assume she's hears this all the time at school (hopefully not for stuff she doing!).
She is so cute when she talks to Leia. She'll tell Leia to "walk away" (another school expression to give kids space). She also said "No Leia wag tail" when she wanted Leia to stop wagging her tail!
She likes to do things on her own and will tell you "No Madelyn do it" but if something gets hard (after some trying) she'll say "it's tricky".
She loves seeing dogs and will ask "see more doggies" when we are on a walk or driving in the car. We always have to tell her that we'll have to keep our eyes out for more doggies.
She likes us to sing "Happy Birthday" to either Aunt Beth or Grandpa when brushing her teeth. Even if it's Leia's birthday, she'll still insist on singing to one of these two.
When you ask her what color something is, she'll almost always say "green"
She hates the sun when in the car..."SUNNY!" She calls her sunglasses "sky" and we are not sure why but she loves wearing them and sometimes puts them on upside down to be silly.
She is good at telling Leia to "be quiet" and puts her finger up to her nose instead of her mouth to make the "shh" sound.
She has started comforting her babies by patting them on the back and saying "shh."
She doesn't like LOUD things and always comments on if they are loud and if she is scared.
She was bitten on her arm and still says "no bite" and when we read Hop on Pop where it says "Jim is after him" and he's biting the tail of the animal, Madelyn will say "no bite Jim."

The cute things she does

She's big into pretend tickling anyone or the dog and she'll make the do..do..due noise as she is coming to get someone. She also loves to blow on people's stomachs to make them laugh.
When she is cold, she'll say "I'm cold," hold her hands up in fists on the side of her body and then shiver.
She loves helping daddy shave with his electric shaver and she'll say "the neck is tricky" because she knows she's not allowed to shave daddy's neck.
She likes hiding behind doors or the couch and saying "where is Madelyn?" or "daddy, where is Madelyn" and then peeking out from it and saying "peek-a-boo."
She loves to do "bombs away" and throw stuff off our railing. There have been a few items like the camera where she'll ask "bombs away" and we'll have to tell her no and so far she listens. Lately, she'll say "bombs away Madelyn?" and we'll laugh and say no.
She loves her bath baby in tub and is so good at washing her. She also likes to wrap her up in a towel when they are done.
As a way to test her knowledge of her body parts, Brian and her started doing special kisses. This is reserved only for her daddy. It's so cute to watch her think up which kiss to do next. She'll say "how about a xxx kiss." Examples of kisses: elbow kiss (they touch their elbows together), eyebrow kiss, eye kiss, neck kiss, cheek kiss, forehead kiss etc. Her favorite is the tummy kiss which she sometimes tricks Daddy into doing and then blows on his tummy instead.
Her hand eye coordination is very good so much that she enjoys dishing out her own food. One night she went to the stove 4 different times to get more pasta herself and surprisingly she ate all of it!!
She likes playing with the doctor's kit on her babies and herself especially listening to heartbeats. She also will say "temperature" and grab our thermometer and pretend to take her temperature under her arm (I assume that's how they take it at school as we use the temporal thermometer).
She is obsessed with lawn mowers but also scared of the noise they make. She likes to look at them in books and out the windows but doesn't like to be close to them.
She is terrified of the vacuum and will let us know that she is scared. She'll even run the opposite direction when confronted with a vacuum. She likes to say "daddy vacuum" over and over though.
She likes to give Leia treats but only likes her to settle for them which means have Leia lie down on her side. She likes it because Leia's head has to lay on the floor. This is not Leia's favorite position but she normally obliges. Unfortunately, when Leia does in fact settle, Madelyn throws her the treats instead of handing them to her.

She is growing up!

She loves to jump, jump, jump! Jumping or bouncing on her trampoline is fun but she also jumps off anything she can find, steps, sidewalks, step stools, the side of the pool! She likes to do it herself with no hand holding from her parents. It's awesome to see her jump into the pool by herself & go underwater--no fear!
She now loves to swing and she likes to go really high so high that she can touch the trees! This is quite a change from 21 months when she was scared to go in the swing. Now she can't swing enough.
She loves water and enjoys swimming, running through the sprinkler and going down water slides. She also loves baths but not getting her hair washed.
Her vocabulary is expanding and she is linking more and more words together. We counted her saying a 10 word sentence but can't remember what she said.
She can count up to 13 but if you ask her how many she has of something, she'll always answer 2 :)
She is good about locking Leia in her crate and letting Leia outside. She also likes to tell Leia to stay outside when she runs in the house for something.
She loves to be outside and now can easily open the back door. We've been trying to get her to ask to go outside which usually works if we remind her but so far she hasn't remembered to ask on her own.
She loves going on bike rides with us. She normally sits in her kangaroo seat but has also likes riding in the bike trailer that we got. She and daddy hit up the parks on their way home from school where she loves trying out all the different slides. She also likes getting the mail with daddy when they come home on the bike.
She just loves being outside. I feel like all our indoor toys are not getting much use.
She now likes to also take her "puppy" for a walk with her babies!
She's been asking to go for a walk every morning and night so sometimes we'll take a short morning or night walk.
She loves to do ring a round the rosie on Daddy's head. She sits on his head and they turn around and then when it's time to fall down, he drops her forward into this arms. She loves it and wants to do it again and again.
We've been doing a music class this summer after school/work at 5:30 pm so it's been a rush to get dinner in before that. I handed her a yogurt and told her we'd eat it at class only to find out that she is capable of opening up her own yogurt and had eaten about 2/3 of it before we even got to class and surprisingly she wasn't a mess! After that she has proved to us that she can eat all sorts of dinner items in the car like noddles etc but we try not to make it a habit.
She is observant and knows where things are supposed to go. For example, the book she had in her bed was out and she told me to "put it back in there" where it belonged or she'll find my headlamp for reading somewhere and run it back to my nightstand.
She loves her cousin, Connor, and calls to talk to him on her pretend phone. She can't wait until he starts school with her.
For a while she had been scared of showers, but now she loves them! She even likes taking them by herself for long periods of time!! Let's hope this is a precursor to her teenage years!

Favorite Books: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Wheels on the Bus, 5 Green and Speckled Frogs, and Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you see?

Madelyn commonly breaks into songs. She loves to sing: The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Rain Rain Go Away, I'm Bringing Home My Baby Bubblebee, Row Row Your Boat, Ring Around the Rosie, See the Pony Galloping, Tiny Turtle, skinamarinky Dinky Dink, Rock-a-Bye Baby (usually rocking something), ABCs

Teeth Total = 14 (8 fronts, 2 incisors, and 4 molars)
Weight = 26 lbs 6 oz (61%*)
Height = 2 ft 9 inches (40%*)

*WHO percentiles