Madeline loves to play with her toys just as much as she likes to be outside. Her favorite toys are her Little people, Little Einsteins, kitchen toys, and the Sylvania family animal people with the house and all the fun accessories. She is constantly asking Emma and Abby if they can get the Sylvania family out for her to play with. Since Abby still loves to play with those she is often seen playing with Madeline. Madeline also loves to play dress up and will usually ask us to help her put on one of her pretty dress up dresses.
When we let her Madeline LOVES to watch cartoons on the iPad. She loves being able to wear her pink wireless headphones when she listens to her movies. It's amazing how well she can maneuver around the different apps on the iPad. Her favorite movies are Mr. Incredibles 1 &2, Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Returns, Kung Fu Panda 3, and the Croods.
Madeline's favorite books are the Berenstain Bear books. Her favorite one of those is the Spooky Tree book. She also loves the Little Blue Truck books. Her favorite one of those is Little Blue Truck Christmas. She also likes Cat in the Hat, the Mother Goose book, and Go Dog Go.
Madeline is super smart. She can count all the way to 20 by herself and recognizes 95% of the letters in the alphabet. There are only a few she gets stuck on. She knows all of her colors and she can recognize most objects on our learning cards. Madeline can also sing really well and knows the words to so many songs...both primary songs and popular songs. The other day we were in the car driving to Denver and a song came on and she just started singing it. I couldn't believe she knew the words so well.
Madeline says a lot of cute things. She loves to copy the things we say to her. When I say things like, "I love you sweetheart," she will say the same thing back. She also calls us honey when we call her honey. Without a doubt she always tells me she loves me too after I have told her that I love her. We love it when she calls the elevator the "alligator." It cracks us up every time. She usually calls Peter Pete and sometimes she has called him boy. We laugh when she does that. She also loves to say, "what the heck..." If she hears a bad word she will be quick to say, "Don't say that word." She is such a good example to her older siblings.
When she wants to tell someone that it is hers she will say, "That is mines" or "Is that mines?" It is too cute so we don't try and correct her.
Madeline loves to do things by herself. If she is really adamant about not wanting help she will say, "Let me do it." She usually likes to try and take off her clothes by herself before her bath. She has learned how to put on her own pull up diaper. She can usually put on shorts or pants by herself but she still has trouble with shirts. We still help her with her shoes but she loves to do the velcro straps by herself.
Madeline loves all kinds of foods, especially chocolate chips which she has been known to sneak into in the pantry. Occasionally we stumble upon something she just doesn't want to eat. After taking one bite she will say, "No thank you," when I try and feed it to her. She just keeps repeating that until I can convince her to eat just three more bites. At least she is polite about it!
A month before she turned 3 we converted her crib into a toddler bed. She didn't have any problems staying in bed at night but will occasionally wake up a little too early. She has been known to go in and wake up the girls which they don't love.
Madeline started a ballet/tap class right before she turned 3 years old. She has only been to 2 classes but she already seems to love it. She is really good at following directions and being friendly with the other two girls in the class.