favorite pink blankets. She has two pink crocheted blankets that she loves because she can poke her fingers in the edge and wrap her fingers in and out of the tiny holes.
Madeline talks so much now. Madeline is simply the smartest little 2-year-old ever. Her vocabulary is so extensive. She talks in simple sentences and she knows exactly how to communicate what she wants. Lately, she has been trying to talk to Alexa on our Amazon Echo Dot to tell her to play Madeline's playlist. Alexa doesn't quite understand Madeline just yet. Madeline loves to tell us stories and sometimes it is just jibber jabber but most of the time we can understand what she is saying. Sometimes her stories consist of random thoughts one after another. I think it is her way of telling us about what she is experiencing. Madeline loves to talk on FaceTime with Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz. Every time Grandma picks up, she always asks for Grandpa too. Her favorite time to talk to them is before she goes to bed. She loves to go and cook in her little kitchen and then bring the food to the iPad so that they can pretend to eat it. It's hilarious. Madeline will often copy things we say and loves to call us "sweetie" or "sweetheart." She loves to say hi to people in the store and waves goodbye to people when we leave. When we change her diaper and it's a stinky one, she will often say, "I know, I know..." Back in December she had the worst diaper rash that lasted for 4 days. It was bad enough that for quite some time she would get nervous when we would change a dirty diaper. She would calm herself by saying, "No diaper rash." Poor girl.
Madeline is still a great eater. She loves breakfast and lunch but is not the best eater at dinnertime. Her favorite breakfast is cereal and fruit. She loves LIFE, Cheerios, and my homemade
granola, which she calls, "grabola." She loves peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch. She loves the circle babybel cheese and fruit leathers most as snacks during the day. Madeline's
favorite treats are lollipops and cookies. We just introduced her to lollipops but only give them to her as special treats. Madeline still prefers to drink milk over any other drink and will willingly drink water. Overall, she is a pretty good eater and will eat all fruits, peas, carrots, corn, broccoli, yellow peppers, some pastas, chicken, pork, and salmon but doesn't usually like beef or hot dogs. Madeline is great at using her spoon and fork and still uses her hands for some things. I'm not sure where she learned it but one day I saw her eating her blueberries by sucking them up with only her mouth like an elephant would with its trunk. It was kind of hilarious. Sometimes when we are eating together Madeline will knock my cup with her cup and say, "cheers." Emma taught her how to do that. It doesn't just stop with cups though. Sometimes she does cheers with her bowl or plate as well. At dinnertime, which isn't really her favorite meal, she always tries to be done way before her food is actually gone. She loves to tell me..."All done. I want to take a bath, brush teeth, get jammies on, and go to bed." She is such a smart girl.
Madeline has really taken an interest in coloring. She loves to color with crayons, pencils, markers and colorful pens. She is often found stealing the girl's erasable pens from their desk drawer. Sometimes she will draw in a coloring book but her favorite thing to do is to draw on a blank piece of paper. She mostly draws scribbles and repeating circles. Madeline loves all kind of toys. She loves stuffed animals and usually has quite a few in bed with her when she sleeps. She also loves playing with the Little People and the Lego Duplos. Her favorite Little People characters are the princess ones. She carries them around everywhere she goes. Her latest favorite toys are the mini princess clip dolls. She usually asks to sleep with one when she goes to bed. Of course, she still loves her Little Einstein dolls and was so excited when we found Quincy who had been lost for over a month.
Madeline loves to play. She begs us to either pull her across the floor on the blanket or play duck duck goose with her. She also loves it when we chase her around the house. She will say, "chase me." It is surprising how fast she is. Madeline loves to play in the nursery at church but went through a month where she hated it and cried when we took her. Once I started being more consistent with church nursery and the club daycare she quickly became ok playing with the other kids until I returned.
Of all the things Madeline knows how to do, she amazes me with how well she can sing the songs I have sung to her since she was a baby. She doesn't just know some of the words...she knows all the words. She can sing so many songs all the way through. Now when we are getting ready for bed sometimes I will start to sing to her and she will put her finger up to my mouth and say, "Shhh..." because she wants to sing to me. It is cute and kind of funny.
Madeline still loves books. Her favorite books are: Bear Hunt, Little Blue Truck books, Mr. Gumpy, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, If You Give a Pig a Party, Eric Carle's Head to Toe book, Pinkalicious, Goldalicious, Curious George and the Chocolate Factory, Curious George Feeds the Animals, Curious George and the Dinosaur Museum, and the Mother Goose book.
Living in a house full of technology, Madeline falls right in line with the other kids and not only knows how to work the iPad but she loves it all too much. She loves to watch movies on her iPad and on the big TV in the basement. Her favorite movies are: The Heffalump Movie, Mary Poppins, Boss Baby, and Incredibles 2. When she is in the basement she will take all the pillows off the couch and make a big pile on the floor and jump from the couch to the floor. She reminds me of how fun life can be from the eyes of a 2 year old.