And truly the BEST big sister!!!
Madeleine is very thoughtful: she gives Serafina toys she think she will like (and is right more often than I am!)! Madeleine will even line up the next toy, 'for when she starts to fuss'. Too cute! And Madeleine will always turn on the sound/vibration on the jumeroo or bouncy seat and entertain Serafina when I put her down to get something done.
Still LOVES playing with Big Sister Bobby... (and Bobby continues to be a great Big Sister role model ~ very gentle and easygoing. Bobby runs & hides when things get too much, but that's rare as Madeleine is really gentle with her. ;>
************GRANDPARENTS ONLY*****************
I'm going to make a Year 2 book (hopefully!) for Madeleine, so I figured this would be a good place to write down a lot of 'What You Were Doing' type stuff. So, here goes:
We're not supposed to take pictures while there, so no photo coverage, but one of Madeleine's favorite things is going to story/singing time at the library. We sing all sorts of songs: some in English & some in Spanish. (Serafina is really good during that hour; hanging out with us, watching all the kids). What I love is during nap time, Madeleine will randomly sing the songs which shocked me at first because she never sings at the library, so I didn't think she knew the words. (I now voyeuristically watch on the video monitor ~ good times! Right now she's mixing it up between Buenos Dias, I'm Being Eaten By a Boa Constrictor, and the Serafina song.)
Madeleine is also a big fan of going to the zoo. Her favorite animals are the gorillas (there's a baby who was tumbling all over the place once which really tickled Madeleine), flamingos (they're pink), giraffes (she has several at home, so perhaps the connection is interesting?), penguins. Of course, Madeleine also loves the gift shop which is conveniently located by the entrance/exit. Fabulous.
Madeleine's memory is as sharp as ever, much better than mine or Sharkey's. Scary. Case in point: she was playing with a random toy dug up from the bottom of her toy chest & I couldn't for the life of me remember where we got it (not sure why that was bugging me, but it was). I asked Sharkey, no clue. I asked Madeleine, she paused for a moment, got that Thinking Face on, and said 'Walgreens'. Sure enough, I remembered she was right (from one of those big sale bins ~ she talked me into buying it). We're going to be in BIG trouble when she hits the teen years, I'm afraid.
Madeleine loves books. She reads in the car, at home, and always we read before nap & bed times. Her current favorites are Counting Kisses, Let's Go To The Zoo, Baby Beluga, her Nursery Rhymes book (esp 'Old MacDocald' how she says it), and of course anything by Sandra Boyton (far too many to list). She's just starting to get into the Madeline books, but they're still a bit long for her. Of course, books that 'do' things (flaps, dials, etc) are always big hits.
and i suppose i should get on the ball with potty training: while outside playing in her pool & with water, madeleine will take her clothes & diaper off and frequently goes pee in her little potty (with no prompting). such a big girl! (i'm just dreading the potty training ~ always having to be on the lookout for a [clean!] toilet that i've been lazy about officially potty training her. :P poor thing.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURES ;P
Shots of Madeleine's very first 'dookie' in her potty ~just a few days before Serafina was born.
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