13 Months

Well, 13 months marks the end of the monthly photo shoot with her paper sign. It was getting harder and harder to convince her to ignore the sign, anyway. ;)

Here are some new things Miss Madison has been up to this past month.

- Mostly size 18 month clothes, but still in some 12 month.
- Sign Language: New Signs : Water, Car, Baby, Waffle, Flower, Please, Thank You.
- Understands "How do you say...?" If we ask her, she'll sign or say what we're pointing to.
- Crawls to us when "called".
- Enjoys air drumming. *haha* Her Daddy taught her and when she hears rock, she sticks out those little pointer fingers and starts "drumming" away.
- Thor has really warmed up to her and lets her pet, kiss, hug, and practically lay on him! Amber still keeps her distance for now.
- Mads has this little reading activity where we'll sit on the floor with her in our lap and read her a book. Then, we'll ask her for a different one, she'll crawl to her pile of books, look through a few until she chooses a winner, and then brings it back for us to read to her. Lather, rinse, repeat. I think she would do this ALL day if we let her!
- Enjoys putting little items in containers and then taking all of the little items back out. Over and over. She also understands the phrase "Clean Up" and will help me put her toys/books away when it's time for bed or a nap.



- Understands an amazing amount of words. Until having I child, I never realized the kind of comprehension and awareness a barely one year old has! She picks words out of normal conversation with no problem and has a fantastic memory. We'll name something for her once, and the next time we ask her where "____ is?", she's on it.
- Still just the 8 teeth.
- Meal time can still be a battle. She's even trying to outsmart us now. Jason was trying to feed her something and she pretended there was something in her hand and PRETEND ate it so that J would leave her alone. *LOL*
- She also pretend eats her fake food. It cracks me up. She started doing it the day after her birthday, actually, while playing with her new kitchen/food stuff.
- Mads has started to defend her personal space (from a parent with one too many smooches, perhaps) by a frustrated grunt and even smack. We're trying to teach her that it isn't okay to hit, but it is okay to say "no."
- She's now pretty good at walking with her wagon!



- The climbing has begun! She may not be walking yet, but she loves climbing stairs, us, and anything else she can get her feet up on.
- Finally has an interest in throwing/rolling her balls around.
- Likes to push around the toy cars (actually, bugs shaped like cars :) she got for her birthday.
- Is completely adorable with her baby doll Grandma & Grandpa Fisher got her for her birthday. Clip 1 :: Clip 2
- Schedule :: It's pretty out of whack right now as she's making the difficult transition from 2 to 1 naps. She typically takes that 1 nap at between 12-1 depending on what time she got up in the morning. She's been waking up between 5:30 and 6:30... ugh. Her 1 nap is sometimes very short and she's often tired lately. Luckily, though, it seems the nap is starting to lengthen slowly, so we're hoping she's starting to get used to the change.

What? This is safe, isn't it?

From 2010 - 2 - February

Little Girl in Big Shoes

From 2010 - 2 - February

Valentine's Day : Photos, Food, & Date Night

We started the day by taking photos with Meg Sexton Photography at Canyon Cree Ranch. We had a lot of fun in the stables, on the hay, and in the mud. :) I can't wait to share the results!

We decided to get an early lunch in Castro Valley before heading home. We chose Lucca Italian Deli and were not disappointed! Their pastrami sandwiches were so yummy. We even got an extra one to-go for later.

While we ate, we gave Mads her card.

From 2010 - 2 - February

From 2010 - 2 - February

She liked it. :)

From 2010 - 2 - February

At around 4:00, J & I dropped Miss Madison off at my parent's house to stay for the night and headed out as just the pair of us to celebrate Valentine's day.

After snacking on always-delicious clam chowder in a bread bowl from Boudin Bakery, we walked around Santana Row for quite a while before settling down on the patio of the Vintage Wine Bar for a glass of Prosecco for me and Merlot for the hubs.

From 2010 - 2 - February

From 2010 - 2 - February

Dinner at Pasta Pomodoro suited our craving perfectly and Pinkberry was the perfect way to end a fabulous day. I <3 you so much, Jason. Happy Valentine's Day to the man who will always have my heart!

Please & Thank You

Mads has been signing "Thank You" for about a week and this morning while we were waiting for a table at Stacks, she signed "Please" for the first time! Here's a video very shortly after she first signed it.

There's a "please" in the beginning and "thank you" toward the end. Our polite little darling. ;)



And just for kicks, a few shots from when we were waiting.

A classic Maddie skeptical face.

From 2010 - 2 - February

From 2010 - 2 - February

From 2010 - 2 - February

From 2010 - 2 - February

From 2010 - 2 - February

And later in the day we were all hanging out in the living room when Jase and I look over and Madison had climbed in her wagon and sat down. I guess she wanted a ride!

From 2010 - 2 - February

From 2010 - 2 - February

Signing "Baby"

Here's M signing "Baby" for the first (or second) time. She's really into photos of babies, babies in real life, and her baby doll Grandma & Grandpa got her for her birthday!