Madeleine, changing seasons, and baby

Spring is coming.  I can feel it.  I started anticipating it December 23rd, when the days started getting longer again instead of shorter.  I announced to Matt when the sun set at 6:00 again for the first time about a month ago.  On President's day it felt like it wanted to be spring.  We dug in our garden soil and added more peat moss and compost and planted our peas (they still haven't come up yet though so maybe it's still been a bit too cold for them).  But still--the sun was shining and we didn't need three layers of clothes; in Utah that is close enough to be the start of spring for me.  We are looking forward to daylight savings and having an extra hour of daylight for Maddie and Matt and I to play together outside after work.  And I know sometime soon we will get that first really sunny day when you can go outside and actually feel warmed by the sun.

In the mean time, Maddie and I got a year pass to Thanksgiving Point.  We have gone to the dinosaur museum several times the past month and she loves it.  It was interesting the first time we went.  She just ran and ran and ran.  

So she was kind of slow to walk (15 months) and once she did walk she was still pretty slow for several months (easy to catch).  Then with the winter time we haven't gone many places where she wants to explore as much as she wanted to explore at the museum.  It kind of scared and frustrated me the first time at the dino museum because it's so big, there were people around (easy to get lost among), and she is really fast now.  So we are starting to work on staying together when we go out to fun new places.  :)    

Some of her favorite things at the museum are the following: The air tube (it's just a fan at the bottom of a large clear tube) and she puts things inside it and watches them float up and out of the tube.  The shadow box--it's a enclosed space the end of the first room, has curtains (big plus for her; she loves running through curtains), has a big red button you push and then after 10 seconds it flashes a light and freezes your shadow on the opposite wall.  I think we stayed in there for 20 minutes last time.  All the walkways to run along are also a hit.  And then there's the water and sand room which is supposed to teach about how erosion works to bury and also uncover fossils.  There are tons of toy dinosaurs in the water and sand and kids wear little blue aprons and play in it.  There is another room that looks like red rock walls with lots of sand in it; there are shovels and brushes for kids to uncover the hidden (or not so hidden) dinosaur bones.

Spring showers have started here.  Yesterday it was pretty dark and rainy at our house and I was trying to get the kitchen cleaned before starting dinner.  Maddie really wanted me to hold her "Hold you! Hold you!" is what she says.  :)  So I pulled up a kitchen chair next to the sink and let her "help" me wash dishes.  She mostly just played with her cleaned bottles and bottle tops in the water while I cleaned but it kept her happy just to be next to me and play.  It helps that she loves water and wishes I would let her sit in the bathroom sink for playtime.  

My camera battery was dead so I took a few pictures on my phone, hence the lower quality.  When she figured out I was taking pictures she kept yelling "cheese! cheese!" 

There was something about the rainy day, cleaned stove and counters, and Madeleine that reminded me so much of my own childhood.  I remember helping mom with the dishes when I was little and I had to stand on a kitchen chair too.  I also remember how wonderful a clean space was--I remember how bright the kitchen looked after she would do the dishes and mop the floor.  And I also loved rainy days when Mom and Kimmy and I would sit at the window and watch the rain come down.

We have also started going to parks again (when it isn't raining) because it is no longer completely frigid.  We've also had several fun play dates the past month at ours or other friends' houses.  Maddie is so social.  When she hears kids outside she runs to the window and yells "kids! play!"  I think she will love having a sibling to play and interact with.  It is also really cute but sad when she sees a family of kids at the museum or park and she tries to join them.  Once she ran up to an older girl who was helping her toddler brother walk and Maddie reached for the older girl's other hand to hold.  It surprised the older girl though and she politely pointed to Matt and I and said, there's your parents! :)

And here is the baby sister Madeleine is longing for.  At night when we are doing bedtime sometimes Maddie asks to see my stomach.  She pats it very gently and then in a high-pitched voice says "hi baby!" Often times she will then look me in the eye and tell me she wants to hold her.  Soon enough, Maddie Jo.

At church she loves seeing the babies.  She also loves her baby cousins.  We had a progressive dinner start at our house for a young women's activity a few weeks ago and the moms were invited to accompany their daughters.  One mom also brought her 3-month-old little girl named Samantha.  Madeleine was so interested.  She kept going up to the mom and putting her hands together requesting to "Hooold her."  And hold her she did.  Earlier this week we also got to go play with cousins one morning.  Baby Philip was asleep when we got there but when he woke up Madeleine layed down on her stomach right in front of him and greeted him "hi!" She got to hold him and tried to cuddle him--her cheek to his soft little head.  He is such a cute cuddly baby--I wanted (and got to :) cuddle with him for a couple minutes too. 

As a side note: She's also started saying please before asking for things.  It can be so hard to say no when she says asks for something so nicely in her quiet innocent voice + with a please at the beginning.  I feel so grateful for all the good things God has given me.  Life is so good right now.  Challenges come and go but overall I am so happy and content.  Our sleepless nights will come again soon enough but hopefully the restful nights come back again as quickly as they did after Maddie came to us.