My growing girl....

Kisses all the way around!!!

Riding her 4 wheeler from Papa!

Being silly...
My little helper!







Best Friends Forever!

Playtime with Bella! Dropping food for Meatball then getting mad that he ate it!

such a silly girl...she's making us laugh constantly!

CONSTANTLY outside! She really like balls...of any kind!

I realized I haven't really updated much about Maddie's "progress" at 18 months! Where to begin?? There is so much happening right now. She is so fun and energetic. She is like a sponge...we have to be careful what we say! She also is willful and can try my patience daily! It's so amazing watching her little personality develop and seeing her gain new skills every day. I'm in awe of the whole process, really! Some more tidbits:

~She baaarely fills out 18 month clothes...she's kind of a pipsqueak! Very petite like Mamma, but has Daddy's long torso.

~She wants to be outside...all day every day, weather permitting or not. She seems to have no regard for the record low temperatures SW Florida is experiencing!!

~She talks...all the time! I suppose she gets it honest :). She can say lots of words and is starting to put them together: "all done, so cute, so big, yes please, oh no (her current favorite)..." She "converses" quite a bit although much of it is in what I like to call Baby Latin. But if you engage her, it really feels like a conversations, facial expressions and all!

~She just discovered Barney, much to my dismay! I try to keep TV time to a minimum, but it is a fun distraction and she does love the music and the other children in the video. A purple dinosaur. Who thinks of these things??

~She has always been a great sleeper (7pm-7am) for months now...until about a week ago. she is suddenly waking up around 10pm every night. We've pushed bedtime back to 8...so let's hope that works! She takes one nap a day, for about 2 hrs.

~She and Meatball are finally starting to bond...especially when she drops food on the floor (usually intentionally, for him).

~She's developing quite the little sense of humor! She does funny things that makes us laugh and, seeing there is a response, she does it over and over!

~We're trying to teach her how to share. She's not doing so well :). She and Bella bicker quite a bit over toys, food...anything and everything! But they are also best buds and I am so glad they have each other, especially sice Bella lost her brother :(!

~She loves to help or just be into whatever I'm doing. If I'm vaccuming, she wants to also...she really likes to wipe surfaces down. I'm hoping to harness this and eventually have her cleaning the whole house while I sit on the couch eating Bob-Bons...

~she's quite affectionate and gives lotsa kisses...my favorite thing about her :)