Madeleine & Charlotte

Today I took Madeleine & Charlotte for their checkups -- Madeleine's 7 year & Charlotte's 18 month, so I thought I'd post an update on them. I've been putting off Charlotte's 18 month update until we'd done our dr. visit, so here goes!

First, my sweet boy checking out the Nemo fish at the Dr. office. It keeps him quite occupied!

Madeleine:

*She's slowed down in her growing a lot lately I think. She was still in the 50% for height & 75% for weight which is where she's been since she was a toddler. The dr. said this is just perfect.

*Her foot has only grown 1/2 of a size in an entire year! She can actually still wear some of the shoes we bought last year. Crazy!

*She's reading and writing up a storm these days! She's almost finished off the Magic TreeHouse series and Junie B. Jones. Now she's starting on The Boxcar Children. I'm so excited for her to discover these books since they were some of my favorites as a child!

*I think we've finally, after several years, discovered the secret to getting Madeleine to go to sleep easily. We start our bedtime early in the evening. She usually get in the bed, ready to sleep, around 7:15. Then, she can read for 30-40 minutes before she has to turn her light out and go to sleep. This works great! I think she just has a hard time turning her mind off from the events of the day & reading calms her down. When it's time to sleep, most nights she just rolls over and is out!

Charlotte:

Well, even though I haven't been posting them, I have taken her monthly pictures to mark her growth.

*Charlotte was 25 lbs (50%) and 31 inches (25%). Her weight is dropping off and she'd only gained a little from her last checkup. Her height has always been at the 25% and Dr. D said she's just going to be short and probably would end up being little. She's in great health & we actually haven't been to the doctor since her last well visit!

*She's busy busy busy these days! Her appetite is slowing down mostly because she's too busy to eat! I'll put her in her highchair and she'll eat for the first couple of minutes before wanting down. Then as soon as I go over to her to get her down, she'll stuff as much food in her mouth as she can and fill her hands with food. She wants to eat and play. She just can't be bothered to stop and eat! :)

*She's still not a milk drinker, so she eats a lot of yogurt and cheeses. She like fruit especially bananas, grapes, mandarin oranges, and apples. She's getting picky. But, she'll eat a lot of veggies: carrots, peas, corn, broccoli and potatos. She loves ham and turkey too. At dinner she's usually pretty happy to eat whatever we're eating as long as it's not hot or even warm. She prefers almost all of her food to be cold, but she doesn't like ice cream. Ha!

*At mealtimes, if I do give her something different from Madeleine & Harrison, she'll pitch a fit! She'll daintily pick up each piece of food off of her tray, one at a time, and drop it on the floor. This can be good or bad depending on what they're eating (yogurt = bad). She's had her share of poptarts because of it, although when I mentioned that to Dr. D she told me her daughter had a poptart for b'fast that morning so I'm not feeling too bad! It's also worked to get her to try a lot of new foods too!

*She's still the most amazing sleeper, which I know I so do not deserve! She naps from 2-3 hours each day and sleeps from 8-6:30ish each night. When it's time for bed we read some books and rock for a minute and then I lay her down, tuck her in and leave. She just goes on to sleep by herself. :) She still takes her paci at naptime/bedtime, but rarely asks for it during the day. She also has to sleep with one or two of her blankies. She takes the blanket and rubbs it up under her nose/top of her paci to get herself to sleep. It's so funny to watch!

*She loves books. Her current favorites are: Corderoy's Busy Street & Corderoy's Birthday Party, the Baby Words Book, God Made Me, and Baby Jesus Book. We read all of these several times each day.

*She is a bit obsessed with her shoe collection. She wears shoes almost all the time, even at home. She'll bring me her shoes and want me to put them on as soon as she's dressed. She even has a favorite pair -- her Keds Sandals. She's also big into wearing her bows! After we get dressed I'll tell her all pretty and then she points to the closet and says "bow!". After we put it in her hair, we have to look in the mirror and say "pretty." I love this morning ritual.

*Although she still babbles a lot, she's adding words daily, it seems. The other night I told Matt it was almost bedtime. Charlotte looked up and said, "bedtime" and went and got her paci/blanket. She'll often ask to go "night night." She can say: bubba, sissy, madeleine ("mada"), snack ("nack"), juice ("ju") and more than I can list.

*She knows a lot of animal sounds! She knows: cow, horse, pig, duck, kitten, puppy, lion, monkey, frog, bird, sheep. She knows most of her body parts and is kinda obsessed with her bellybutton.

*She loves to sing. Her favorites are "God Made the Big Round Sun, Jesus Loves the Little Ones, and Be Careful Little Hands/Feet/Mouth, etc.

*In the mornings when Matt & Madeleine leave she loves to wave to them and yell "bye-bye." Then we'll blow kisses. She makes a really LOUD mwaaaah sound when she blows kisses. During the day when I ask her "where's dada?" she'll tell me "work." So cute! I keep wanting Matt to hear it, but, of course, she's too smart to say it when he's home. :)

*She had a full round of shots today. When I picked her up from her nap, I said how are you feeling? She said "booboo." Her poor little legs are so red from the shots!

*She's is quite stubborn! She loves to crawl up on the furniture and I've caught her jumping on the couch several times. Her favorite thing to do is stand on the ottoman and jump. This scares me to death! I'll tell her to get down in my sternest voice, and she'll look at me and say "no." So, we've taken to spanking her every time she stands up. I hate this, but I'm hoping she'll learn soon. If I tell her she's going to get a spanking, she'll either pat her hand or her leg which is where we spank her. It's so hard not to laugh sometimes! She's also determined to try things for herself, especially those things she's seen her brother or sister do. She loves to swing and slide. I think she's an adrenaline junkie! :) She's pretty much fearless and not afraid of dark, fast movement, heights, falling. The only thing that's scary to her is thunder. She'll come running for me yelling "boom boom!" Thankfully, she'll sleep through storms still!

*Miss Charlotte keeps me on my toes. She drags dirty laundry all over the house. She likes to go into mine/matt's closets and get our shoes and try and put them on. Then she drops them wherever she happens to be. Sometimes I feel like my life is a continuous scavenger hunt!

*She LOVES babies. She usually has a baby with her. She feeds her baby and puts it in her stroller and goes all over the house. One day I found her with her baby covered by her blanket and she told me "shhhh." I think her play is more advanced than the other 2 at this age, but I also think she sees them playing and copies a lot of that.

*Every day is different and fun! This is the BEST age where she's learning something new almost daily and it's so fun to watch her personality come to life. :)