Maddy's First Car

Today, we introduced Maddy to driving with her own car. The box said it was for 18 months plus. We had some reservations that she was strong enough to stay on herself. Check this out .....

Crawling???

OK, so maybe it's a bit of a misleading headline. Madelyn is not yet crawling, but it's definitely going to be sooner rather than later. It's funny to me that a milestone used to be contained in one little area ..."Jim, do you think she can see her fish on her mat?" or "Look, I swear she moved an inch!"

Now, milestones take on a whole new meaning ... can I leave the room with Madelyn on her playmat or will she ooch her way over to the fireplace grate and knock it down? Can she sit nicely on my lap and work on sitting up or will she propel herself off my lap and bang her head? Can I hold her with my white work pants on, or will she spit up her peas? (BTW, the first two have not actually happened, but we've been close! Wish I could say the same about the peas.)

Our little cottage has never felt so small with an exosaucer, playmat, swing and bumbo in our living room (not to mention the adult furniture). The hazards to kids have never felt so prevelent .... cords, dog hair, dog slobber, sharp edges to furniture, hardwood floors! I guess it's time to babyproof, but we've been putting it off. Maybe this weekend??

Nah ... I think I'll wait!

Eating

Jim and I have been looking forward to the day Maddy would start eating baby food for a while now. In fact, we've heard so many different theories and assumptions on HOW to introduce food and when to do it. Ultimately, we decided to wait until the pediatrician said it was OK, which was six months.

We started several weeks earlier with rice cereal (i.e. cardboard with formula, we don't recommend it), and Madelyn didn't really "get" the whole eating thing. In fact, note in this picture of one of her first attempts to eat, that rice cereal has made its way to her eyelid!

Last week, we introduced green beans and peas to her diet .... and "oh baby" life is good. Turns out, Madelyn simply didn't like cardboard ... but she loves her veggies! And green veggies at that! We are getting ready to introduce carrots and squash this week! Here's a photo of her eating her veggies!

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6-Months!

Wow, was it just six months ago when this bundle of joy joined us? Jim and I talk often about not remembering life withour little girl. Life before swings, exosaucers, boppy's and bumbos took over our small cottage house. But we wouldn't have it any other way! Madelyn is ready to be mobile, grabbing at things, eating green beans and in general a happy, healthy little girl.

Her six month check-up went well. We thought she had gone through a growth spurt, but didn't know how much. She is 27 inches long and in the 95th percentile for height! It's so hard to believe it, but she is 7 inches longer now than when she was born.

We celebrated by taking her to swim classes the next morning. Here's some photos of her first time in the pool with Daddy ... it's Mommy's turn next Saturday!