Beeeee, NO!

Madison's favorite word is "Beeeee" (Please). When she wants something she'll point and say "Beeee!" If we tell her "No", she'll whine and say "Beee, Beee, Beee!" How can we say no to an 18 month old that says please?

She's also saying "No" a lot. At first we thought it was just a word she's learning to say, but then we realized she was using it correctly. So whenever she says "no", we encourage her to say "yes" or we'll show her something positive so that she doesn't sound so negative all the time.

She also LOVES to dance. She's got rhythm. She doesn't just move from side-to-side anymore... she'll bend her knees and shake her butt, she'll also shake her shoulders. If I can get this on video, I'll post it.

18 months old!

Mid life crisis for a Toddler?
Ryan and I made the mistake of asking Madison if she remembered a specific toy that she loved playing with till she was about 6 months. She did. She went to our storage area to look for the toy. There, she also found her exersaucer and swing and wanted to go in them. So we took out the saucer and set it up for her and she had a blast playing with it. We keep telling her she's too big for it but she doesn't care. She's still trying to get us to bring the swing out....

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma's house. She loved picking up the eggs and placing them in her basket. After the hunt, she didn't want to put the basket down. She kept it with her all afternoon and evening.

We met the Kauahikauas at Windward mall. The 2 of them didn't really care about playing with each other.

Playing the piano at Grandma's house

Bravo Madison!

There was a little girl in the "Parenting" magazine posing just like this, so now she poses the same way whenever we ask her to.

Not sure what she's doing here and why she's doing it.

This is the result of Ryan feeding oatmeal to Madison. He called me at work and told me that it was all over her face and hair.... I still don't understand how this happened! Poor baby!

Finally, more pictures

I was finally able to take a picture of her showing all her teeth

She loves those bananas!

YUMMY!!

Cruising in what is now HER rocking chair.

Giving her teddy bear a Big Hug!

She hasn't made this gesture with her lips since she was
about 9-10 months so when I saw this, I had to take pictures.

One night she was sooooo tired & sooooooo restless,
she couldn't fall asleep.
So I told her if she wanted to get out of bed, she could.
She started making her way down, but ended up falling asleep
in this position!

Trying on one of daddy's cap.

Cruising in her chair again...this time with her doll.

I love watching her sleep. She's so peaceful.

Passed out with dad.

She still has this box that her toddler car seat came in.
She loves hanging out in there with many of her
dolls.

Cruising at the park with Great-Grandpa & Cousin Abigail

So Adorable!

A little update

Let' see...Madison is finally open to foods other than bread & rice. She still loves her carbs, but she also enjoys eating fruits such as grapes, watermelon, oranges, apples, honeydew melons & cantaloupes...let's not forget her favorite nah-nah (banana). Instead of the Gerber baby foods, she's beginning to eat vegetables (carrots, peas, brocolli). But, it's still a challenge during mealtime. She needsto see the rice on her plate or else she won't eat it. She's ok with vegetables on the plate, but not too much. Also, if there's any type of meat or anything else on the plate that she's not familiar with, she may/may not eat it. If she tastes anything other than rice, peas & carrots, there's a really good chance that she'll flick the food out of her mouth and refuse to eat the rest of her meal or she'll just flip her plate over to let us know that she's not having it. I've gotten good at blending/hiding chicken under the rice so she won't see it!

She knows how to drink from a cup and bottled water, but she also has fun letting the water drip down her mouth onto her throat & onto her clothes/body... or she'll just empty it onto the table. Even though she knows it's wrong, I think she does it because it's fun and she enjoys playing with the water.

For a few weeks now she's been aware of all her hair and makes an effort to push it away from her eyes. She's also better with clips/rubberbands in her hair. Initially, she'll let me put it on (probably because it helps her to see and she doesn't always have to fix her hair) but she'll eventually pull it off if she accidentally touches it or if she sees herself in the mirror and notices something on her head.

She's got a bunch of words in her vocabulary (words that we understand) but when she's playing by herself she'll babble out loud. We don't know what she's saying or what it means, she just talks to herself.

Pictures will be posted soon.

Judy

16 months - very, very active!

Madison is at the stage where she can pretty much communicate with us. If there's something she wants, she knows to point to it, or she'll grab our hand and take us to whatever it is she wants. If she wants to watch TV, she'll give us the remote. Last night she wanted to eat, so she gave me one of her Gerber meals and said "beee" (please). (She's very picky with her food and refuses to eat anything other than rice, so in order to feed her vegetables, I'll mix rice with the Gerber stage 2 foods. I know she's too old for it, but I figure it's better than no vegetables at all.) If there's something she doesn't want, she'll let us know by screaming her head off!

We took her to the aquarium about a month ago.

She enjoyed running around in the grass.

Pretending to play football with daddy.... TOUCHDOWN!

Stretching really hard to touch the tall tree.

Playing kick-ball with daddy.

Then she passed out in the car.

She loves her baby doll
These blocks are soft and flimsy, so she has a hard time stacking them without knocking it over. But she finally did it and she was sooooo happy!

Taking a picture with her best friend.

Riding her new Dora-Car that Aunty Dawn gave.

Putting her baby doll to sleep

Bau, Beee, Mawm, Dahd, Wwow!, Uh-Oh!

Hello! Madison's not saying beee so much anymore, but sometimes when she wants something, she'll say "bee?" (please?). When she's done drinking her bottle or when the credits on a show comes on, she'll say "bau" (pau). She also knows when Dora's show is ending because Dora always does a dance towards the end of the show... so yesterday as soon as Dora did her dance, she looked at us and said "baaauu." She'll point at the TV and say "uh-oh" when we put it on pause and she won't stop until it starts playing again.

Major Accomplishment: It took me about a day to wean her from breastfeeding. I decided to do it during the weekend of MLK holiday so that I'd have Fri afternoon, Sat, Sun & Mon to do it. Normally when I come home all she wants to do is jump on me and start nursing, so that Friday, before she saw me, I coated my boobies with lemon juice. When she started to nurse, she started sucking on it like normal. Disappointed, I grabbed the the lemon and squeezed juice on it while she watched. Once she tasted the lemon, she made that sour face and pushed me away. And that was it. For the rest of the afternoon I carried the bag of lemon with me and I reminded her that mommy's milk is sour and she didn't want anything to do with my boobs. She was grouchy, she did some crying, but it turned out better than we expected. I copied Christine and gave her about a week's notice - I warned her that one day she won't be able to drink mommy's milk anymore and when that day came, she understood. About a week later, we wanted to see if she wanted to nurse so I sat her on my lap and offered it to her. She laughed and pushed me away.

Judy

Beeee.....

Other than the few words that Madison knows how to pronounce, she uses the word Beeeee to communicate. I'm not sure why she chose it or what word it derived from but besides "mom" and "dad" her next favorite word is Beeee.

At first I thought it meant "build" because when she stacks her blocks I explain it to her as "build." Then the other day, she was pointing at her snacks saying "beeee." Another time, we saw one of those yellow Caterpillar construction machines and she pointed at it and said "beeeee". There have been other instances where she uses the word "beeeee" to tell us something. I think it's very cute and I just wanted to share that with you all. It's just a matter of time before she starts talking!!!

Last pictures of 2007

DECEMBER 25, 2007

Yay! It's Christmas Day!! Lot s of gifts to open,
lots of things to do!!She opened a few gifts but didn't really care about it.

Then she became excited when she saw Dora peeking at her

She had lots of fun on Christmas Day....
She played in her new Dora Play TentShe played with Grandpa's Dogs

She played the piano with Cousin Hailey

We visited Great Grandparents Ugalino


December 30, 2007... Daddy's Birthday!

She was NOT afraid of the morning glory. In fact she held 1 on each hand! She got mad when it went out and we were still trying to light the next one.

Happy 31st Birthday Daddy!
**note the Dora party hat**

It's a Japanese tradition to make mochi before the New Year so I tried to get her to play with it but she was afraid to touch it.

She loves petting these dogs . She almost tried to ride one of them!

I gave her earplugs on New Year's Eve. She slept through all the fireworks.