Terrible Twos

Madison has been such an enjoyable, complient child... too bad she's turning 2 soon. It's like she knows it too and has been working overtime the past week or so to live up to the 'terrible two' name. She's gone through 'no' phases before -- usually she's just saying it because she can. Lately she's started saying it quite frequently and adding a defiant "you gonna make me?" look to go along with it. We've not had that before. Fun fun.

Welcome to the school of hard knocks, Madison! With Madison testing us constantly, Matt and I now get the unenjoyable task as parents to mean what we say and follow through. Part of that lately has meant teaching Madison that when she says 'no', she needs to mean what she says, too. This morning I told her it was time for a nap and asked her if she wanted to read a book first - which is what we usually do. With a defiant tip to her head she said, "No!" Ok, I said, Then it's off to bed. I picked her up and carried her into her room as she started crying saying, "No no no! I want book!" I calmly told her - I'm sorry, Madison, but when I asked you if you wanted to read a book, you said no. So then I went to put her in bed and asked, Do you want to sing Twinkle, Twinkle? - which she always asks to do. Today she responded, "No!" Ok then, I said, 'night 'night -- and I left the room. After I left I could hear her wailing in there, "Wait! Wait! Twinkle Star, Momma!" She's such a sweet little sinner, isn't she? ;-) I hope she's the type that learns lessons quickly and her defiant stage doesn't last all the way through to age 3!

Firstborn Playtime

Madison has recently taken a new fascination with Little People, partly due to watching a Little People video. It's been cute watching her play with them -- although to her, part of playing with her toys means organizing her toys. (Takes after her mom ;-)

Oh - I should add, the other non-Little People here is Noah from a cloth Noah's Ark set. But Madison calls him 'Moses'. All old men or Bible characters are 'Moses'. She reads a book about Jesus and when pointing to the picture says, 'Moses!' We were in the parking lot of a Catholic church the other day and there was a statue of Mary. She pointed to it, crying out excitedly, "Moses!!" I was like - well, close enough. ;-)





Avery at 16 weeks (I started to type 14 and when I counted it out realized I was off by 2 weeks - Oops!) -- Starting to look older, must be the hair coming in -

Depression Era Daisies

Tim Hawkins Alert!

ATTN UPSTATE NEW YORK TIM HAWKINS FANS!!

Tim is coming back to Fulton! (north of Syracuse)

August 7, 6pm, $20

www.timhawkins.net

Anyone want to caravan??

Childlike Faith

Madison: (pointing at the coffee table) "Daddy's book! Daddy's Bible!"
Me: "That's right, it is Daddy's Bible. Who is the Bible about?"
Madison: "Jesus!"
Me: "Right. And Jesus loves you, and Jesus loves me."
Madison: (nodding) "Yep. Mm-hm."

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's been raining today and yesterday, so I taught her Rain, Rain, Go Away. Now she's standing at the window singing, "Rain, rain, rain. Go away rain. Nudder day."

The Chatter Part

Here's the talking video - I thought it would probably be best to upload them in separate posts just in case something didn't work.

For those that are used to seeing Avery screaming, with her face beat red and scrunched up in a scowl, you probably won't even recognize this baby. ;-) But we hope she sticks around!