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Madeline was super-cute at bedtime yesterday night. She was in my lap in the glider for stories, and Chris passed her little stuffed bear for her to hold. When the stories were finished, I said, "Kisses for Mom?" and she pressed Bear up to my cheek to give me a goodnight kiss. And then a hug. And then I had to kiss and hug Bear. Awwww! When on earth did she become so sweet?
The other day I was listening to CBC while making dinner for Madeline and there was a story about the Roots of Empathy program. Madeline and I didn't participate in it, but a couple of my friends did when their toddlers were infants. If I had to summarize what the program is about, I'd have to say that it uses infants to teach other school children about the need to feel empathy for others and demonstrate positive social behaviors for the next generation of parents. It was an interview with the founder of the program on the radio, and it sounded really interesting. I kind of wish that we had participated in it when Madeline was little!
I've been frittering away time on the internet lately poring through the Diary of a New Mum series of illustrations from Claire Robertson, more commonly known as Loobylu in the blogging world. I've been a fan of Claire's artwork for several years, and I love the trip down memory lane. I'd have to say that I currently relate the most to this one, but both this one and this other one are curiously familiar to me :)
Whenever Chris and I take Madeline out, she gets really excited to see other little babies and toddlers. I guess it's fun to see people one's own size instead of just the big people one lives with :) Today we were out at an indoor playground and Madeline was thrilled to see the other kids. She ran around giving unsuspecting toddlers bear hugs for awhile, until she threw herself at one little girl a little too forcefully and knocked her over! Oh dear ... Then Madeline had fun showing off flashing her tummy and belly button, and pointing to the tummies of the other kids when they were playing together. I haven't seen her be so sociable before! It was a lot of fun for me, too.
How on earth was I ever so ignorant of all of the warm infant gear for sale right in my own backyard? Well, not my backyard per se, but at Mountain Equipment Co-op! I was thinking of ordering Madeline a snowsuit from LL Bean, but I don't really have to - there's one at MEC that we can check out in person! And not pay duty on! Chris came home one day with this fuzzy fleece jacket and this fleece onesie for her to wear, and since then, we've added a matching hat (covers her ears, too!), and a pair of Hyperloft booties!
I'm really excited to see how well the booties work. I wasn't too keen on buying Madeline a pair of regular snowboots as they seem kind of heavy and clunky to me, but these are totally lightweight and they have a thin and flexible rubber sole. Unfortunately, Madeline seems to fuss each time I put them on her ...
Madeline has now worked through most of the case of the Costco-brand paper diapers that I wrote about just about a month ago, and I am less enthusiastic about them. The Kirklands just don't seem to have the absorbancy that Huggies do - most mornings Madeline's Kirkland diaper will feel damp to the touch on the outside. And whatever absorbant material they're filled with kind of clumps up as soon as the diaper is on, and gets kind of hard when wet. I also did the math on the case of Kirkland Size 4's vs Huggies Size 4's. Both brands retail for the same amount at our Costco. There are ten more diapers in the Kirkland case. Technically, we'd only be saving $0.15 ...
Madeline currently likes:
Madeline currently dislikes:
There. As long as the top list is longer than the bottom one, I guess I should just smile!
After two months of watching Madeline tease us by taking a few steps on her own every so often and then falling to her knees to motor away, she actually seems to have given up her addiction to crawling and is finally walking on a nearly full-time basis. Or running. And by most of the time, I mean daytime, night-time, and during her swim class if the water is shallow enough! I think that the delay with her was simply about becoming as fast on two feet as she is on hands-and-knees - she's one swift crawler ... Since my little shmoo was an earlier-than-average roller-overer, sitter-upper, and crawler, I guess she was certainly entitled to take more time to perfect her two-legged gait. And it's really cute :)
I guess we'll have to think about warm boots for the fall and winter now!
Madeline's love of containers created the opportunity for some interesting imagery over the last few days. On Friday, Chris and I took Madeline to Julio's Barrio for a late lunch, and I ordered a non-alcoholic watermelon margarita. Well, Madeline was totally taken with the glass. I didn't mind her having a sip, but then she spent most of the meal with a death-grip on the glass, happily stirring my drink with a straw. It occured to me that the other patrons would not be able to tell that there wasn't any alcohol in it ...
Then on Saturday, we took Madeline to Millarville for the farmer's market, and she was fussing in the car a bit on the way. I passed her my empty Starbucks cup and she happily played with it. She didn't want to leave it in the car when we arrived, so she carried it around the market with her the entire time, pretending to take sips every so often. The toddler who appeared to be drinking a latte attracted quite a few comments from other market-goers ...
