Big Girl Maddie

After turning 16 months this weekend, Maddie wanted to show just what a big girl she is.

Here she is walking into church holding daddy's hand with her bookbag on her back:



And eating a big slice of yummy pizza:

Anna Riding her Bike

Here's Anna riding her bike with her new Disney Princess Helmet (Maddie is chasing behind in the PowerWheels car):

Maddie's 15 Month Checkup

I took Maddie to her 15 month appointment this morning. As expected, she was holding her own in the growth department:

Weight: 24 lbs 3.5 ounces (70 %)
Height: 31.5 inches (75 %)
Head: 48 cm (84 %)

Our main conversations were about behavior. I have gotten so accustomed to reasoning and using consequences with Anna that sometimes it is hard for me to remember that Maddie isn't quite there yet. He suggested I ignore some of the (non-aggressive) behavior and see if it goes away when she doesn't get the negative attention she is looking for. (For those of you who know Maddie, ignoring her shrill screeching isn't quite so easy to ignore :)). Just today at lunch when Maddie started spitting out her milk I looked at her and she smiled as milk spilled out of her mouth and then I turned my head and that was the end of it. So we'll see how it goes.

Another change that I started this week is during mealtime. I have to admit I usually don't enjoy lunchtime (except those wonderful Friday lunches out with the hubby, of course) and most of our dinners are spent with either my husband or myself constantly getting up and down from the table to get the girls' food. This week for lunch and dinner I have started putting a plate together for them with a variety of foods and that is their meal. So far it is working great. I am enjoying mealtime much more and without endless options from the pantry, Anna seems to be a little less picky. This seems like one of those 'duh' moments but it took me awhile to catch on :).

Here's Maddie showing off how much of a big girls she is with her first lollipop and going up the big girl slide.

On the Road

On Friday morning at 3:30am we loaded up the girls in the car and headed north to Connecticut to visit with my husband's family. At 1:00am on Monday morning we once again got back in the car and came back home. Over 1000 miles overall but the girls were fabulous!

I tried to be as prepared as I could for the 10+ hour drive and so I packed lots of goodies in bins. During most car trips I am scrambling all over the car trying to find what I need but this time I packed 2 cubicle bins, one had food items and changes of clothes and the other had snacks. This helped me be able to locate things before crying set in.

Thankfully the girls slept for a good portion at the beginning of the trip both ways (it would have been a nightmare for them to wake up for the day at 3am!). I then did my best to entertain the girls with books, magnadoodles and a few new items I picked up at Target including a mini etch-a-sketch and a Tinkerbell doll. We held off the movies for as long as we could but the remainder of the way the girls watched the Tinkerbell movie and various episodes of Veggie Tales. I am still absolutely amazed at how well they did! Usually I am climbing back between the carseats throughout the trip to keep everyone happy.

I was also a little worried how Anna's pottying would go during the drive. She stayed in a pull-up as a "just in case" but it wasn't needed. When we stopped, she went on her portable potty and that was that.

I am not quite ready to get back in the car for another long drive but I no longer dread it. I hope our trip to Orlando over Christmas will have the same success!

Words Abound

Over the past few months, Maddie's vocabulary has grown. She's very good at repeating words we say and loves to call out 'Anna'. Her big sister is teaching her all kinds of things including her colors and fun songs. Maddie is also picking up on some of the tunes from TV, scary! Here's just a few snippets I caught on camera (which was only the fifth time I've pulled out the camera this year!).

Potty update

I previously posted about the beginning stages of potty training in early June. Mid-June we went on vacation to the beach where Anna had problems with the particular potty at the rental house and next thing you know, we basically started over when we returned home. At home, Anna started going on the potty once again, but she had no problems going in her Pull-up as well. I was getting frustrated and putting way too much emphasis on those times when she would pee in her pullup rather than go to the potty. It broke my heart the day she told me she was "bad" for not going on the potty :-(.

I remembered a previous post where I talked about Anna needing encouragement and so that week I took Anna to Kohls and let her pick out some big girl panties. She picked out Hello Kitty and Tinkerbell. That day we went home and made a big production of washing the panties and then putting them in a special basket in her room. The next day I let her pick out whichever pair she wanted to wear (she was so excited about the panties I think we changed about 5 times just to wear the different ones) and diapers have only been used at night ever since. There have been a few accidents and I'm sure there will be a few more but I must say everything is going well. Anna even loves to take off Maddie's diaper and put her on the potty. How nice would it be to have them both out of diapers!

The Localvore Challenge has begun

My husband took this picture at one our recent visits to the NC Farmers Market. I have enjoyed going to the Farmers Market for the past 3 Friday mornings to pick up locally grown fruits and vegetables. I love looking at all the colors and comparing prices of all the summer produce. I especially LOVE my german johnson tomatoes (a NC heirloom tomato that, when sliced, can cover an entire piece of bread!).

This past Friday morning we were on a mission to find foods for our Triangle Localvore Challenge. Here's my husband's recap of items/prices that we purchased. The Farmers Market advertises opening at 5am but if you go on a Friday morning I would recommend arriving closer to 10 so that all of the vendors will be setup.