Madison seems to learn how to do something new everyday. I have not been so good about writing down dates for when she starts doing something new, because it seems like she learns things so gradually. It seems like one day she isn't doing it, then the next day she kind of starts, and soon she is doing it all the time! So since I have not written things down as I should, I guess I will have to do an update without dates.
She waves hi and says "hi". She has been doing this for a while. When she first started waving, she would wave to me when I would go to get her out of her crib in the morning. She would just sit there, with squinted eyes, and wave backwards at me, as if to say, "Hi". This is how she started waving, backwards. She would open and close her had towards her. It was really cute. Now she moves her hand back and forth with her palm out to say hi and bye-bye. She doesn't say bye-bye yet, but she sure knows what it means. When I go to take her somewhere from the house, and tell her we are going bye-bye, she starts waving and blowing kisses.
This leads me to my next "trick". She blows kisses. So cute! She always makes a mmm-ahh sound when she does it too! Sometimes she just randomly does it to Matt and I at home when we are across the room! It melts our hearts!
She also give regular kisses. She opens her mouth, leans in and makes the mmmm-ahh, sound as she pulls away. She is little stingy with her kisses to mom and dad. She will give them out to other people if she is in the mood. When she first started doing it, she loved giving Grandma Penny kisses! She would give her kiss after kiss! (Mama did get a little jealous) She also loves to give objects she likes kisses. Especially stuffed animals, and pages or characters in the books I read to her. When I read her, "Elmo Loves You", the last page says, "Will you be Elmo's Valentine, can Elmo have a kiss?" EVERYTIME during that part, she leans in and gives Elmo a kiss!
Matt taught her to give high fives, which is adorable too. He also taught her to raise her hands in the air when he says, "Touchdown!". She started doing this when she is on her little pink scooter she got for her first birthday.
Lastly, Madison began pulling up on things to stand up, then she started walking along things, and then on April 23, the day before her first birthday she took her first steps by herself! I was sitting on the couch eating a chocolate nutrition bar. Matt was also on the couch on the phone. Madison was in the middle of the living room standing next to one of her toys. Before Matt and I knew it, she let go, and started walking towards me to get a piece of my bar. Matt and I just looked at each other with wide eyes and mouths open. We were speechless and looked at each other as to say, "Did you just see what I just saw?" It was an amazing thing to see!
Since those first steps about a month ago, Madison has gotten VERY brave and often lets go of whatever she is holding onto and starts walking! She is getting farther and farther everyday and braver and braver. Often when she falls, she puts her cheek to the carpet and smiles. She really never cries unless she hits something.
She also seems to have learned what to do with various objects. We find her all the time, trying to put shoes on her feet, and clothes on her body. She will take the temporal thermometer we have and try to rub it across her forehead. The next one makes me feel a little guilty, but early on, she would take my cell phone, and put it to her ear. She even now says "Hi" when she does it! Just today, (May 22) she took the power cord from the computer that was laying on the ground, looked at it, looked at the computer, and then tried to put it into the hole where it goes!
Madison Rose is growing and learning new things every day! It is so wonderful to watch her grow and we thank God for our little miracle.
