Madelyn's bike accident

Madelyn had a major bike accident today.

She took a right hand turn without slowing down first. Her tricycle tipped with her on it, sending her face first into the pavement before rolling her right over.

I tried to keep a calm demeanor as I picked her up off the pavement. Inside, I was terrified!

She immediately let out a wail, which was totally expected. It was quite the spill. To her credit, like she always does, she recovered very quickly, and wanted to go home to get a band aid. Her finger was covered in blood.

Before bed, I asked Madelyn about the tricycle incident. Her recollection was quite different than mine, and it painted her in a better light, which I thought was adorable. Now, we're all guilty of embellishing stories, or painting embarrassing moments from our past in a better light when we retell stories. Here's Madelyn's moderately inaccurate recollection of the accident.

According to her, her tricycle tipped over.

And then she said "Oh No! Why did I do that!?"!

Really?! Because that's not what I heard, unless something was lost in translation in the "WWWWWEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed!

I'm not posting this to make fun of our little trooper. To the contrary - she cried for less than 20 seconds before sucking up her pride and politely asking if we could go home and get a bandaid for the bloody finger. A lot of kids her age would wail and whine for an hour.

I just fell in love with her slightly different version of events.

Donovan

Playtime

After everyone left this morning, I tried to do a bit of tidying up. This is how I found Madelyn's playroom.

She had all her Little People animals all lined up, looks like they were gettin' ready to board Noah's Ark.

And then, once everyone was home again, Roo was overheard making an announcement to her friends by stating in a very loud and commanding tone, "Ladies aaaaaand Jellybeans!"

Yep, she CAN stop talking!

Watercolor

During last night's "splish splash", Roo re-discovered her bath crayons.

The only thing that sucks about her love of bath crayons is trying to figure out how to hang her bathtub art on the fridge. I think I need stronger magnets.

Roo: "Can I have some gum, Mommy?"

Me: "No, I don't think so."

Roo: "Mommy, can I please have some gum?"

Me: "No, sweetheart."

Roo, after picking up whichever inanimate object was closest to her: "Madelyn's Mommy, this is Madelyn's friend, the pen. Can you say yes, can Madelyn have some gum now?"

Hey Bono, Madelyn loves you, too!

Mommy's FAVOURITE band is in town for a show tomorrow night.

It promises to be the biggest rock 'n roll show this city has ever hosted.

I have been a fan of U2 for more than 20yrs, and anyone who knows me can attest to this.

In fact, the mutual love of their music was one of the reasons Dono and I hooked up in the first place (see: http://yaciuk.blogspot.com/2011/05/bono-kissed-my-wife.html).

So when I heard they were going to be in town a couple of days BEFORE their concert, shooting a documentary, and I knew WHERE this doc would be shot, I made sure I was there, in the wind and sleet (yep, crappy weather at the end of May - welcome to Winnipeg!) to meet them.

Surreal.

That was last night.

Tonight - well, tonight was about sharing the experience with my family.

Late in the afternoon, after receiving a tip from a fan friend we had met in line the day before (oddly enough we were both at the Bomber Store purchasing U2 merch with Madelyn in tow!), we decided to swing by the house and pick up the camera and do a drive-by. Y'know, just in case.

Well, the drive-by turned into a full-on waiting game, with rumours it would be "any time now" that we would see them, and Donovan and I weren't gonna pass up a chance to have Madelyn meet "the man"!

We were equipped with a lawn chair, snacks for Roo, water, food, an umbrella, the camera - it was quite the haul. Madelyn did SO WELL, keeping busy by throwing rocks into puddles through the mini barricade that was set up between the fans and the Burton Cummings theatre (the site of the documentary filming where the band was inside, doing their thing).

My friend from work Christina showed up (she's as big a fan of the band as I am), and begged to take over and keep Madelyn entertained (she's surrounded by boys - only has sons and LOVES Madelyn!) while Daddy took a much needed break during our 4hr stint waitin' for the band!

They had so much fun playing Ring Around the Rosie, and high 5's on repeat!, that Madelyn really developed a love for Auntie Christina!

At around 9 or so, the cars started to move into position on the other side of the barricade. We got ready to take our pics and have our merch autographed! Roo was up on Daddy's shoulders, and had prime line of sight when the band finally came out and started greeting their fans!

By the time Bono was about 2 people away from us, signing autographs and taking pics, Madelyn said in her normal speaking voice (after a quick prompt from Mommy!), "I love you Bono," and after I told her he didn't hear, she yelled as he posed for a picture with a fan, "I LOVE YOU, BONO!" He smiled and looked up at her in a moment of distraction!

And then came our turn!

As he approached me and smiled and said hello, and gave me ANOTHER hug (he embraced AND kissed me the day before!), and as I passed him the tour book to sign, I said, "Bono, if I could just take a minute here to introduce you - this is my daughter Madelyn..." Donovan had at this point took her off his shoulders and was holding her in his arms, right beside me.

Bono said, "Well hello, Madelyn!"

I continued: "...and Madelyn was conceived to the Achtung Baby album!" Bono started laughing, as did the fans around us.

"I was wondering if she could get her picture taken with you!"

Bono: "Haha, she truly is an Achtung Baby!" Cue picture.

Donovan: "Madelyn, can you give Bono a kiss?"

Bono and Madelyn leaned in towards each other (right in front of my face!), and she kissed his cheek - not sure if he kissed her back, as his face was on the other side of hers. "Well thank you Madelyn, you made my day!"

Bono continued, as he was being ushered along the line, "Which song was it?"

I started laughing - I wasn't prepared for him to ask ME a question - although I think I ended up saying something like, "Who knows!"

Donovan told me after he was dying to blurt out "Even Better Than the Real Thing", but thought that would be awkward, since that's only the 2nd track on the album!

At any rate, even though SHE has no clue what just happened, we will definitely be printing out the pic and framing it, along with the autographs we snagged.

I'm sure she'll learn to appreciate it as she grows older!

Ariel said WHAT?

A few days ago, while I was making supper, my iPod had just finished playing (what Madelyn calls) The Skittle Song (or what I called The Fiddle Song, which is really John Denver's Thank God I'm a Country Boy) and, in its Shuffle state, played Salt-N-Pepa's Push It.

My hands were covered in chicken juice, so I couldn't race over to the iPod to change it back to The Skittle Song, which has become a Roo-favourite, so I just hoped she wouldn't put up too much of a fuss having to listen to that tune while I quickly tried to finish up with the raw meat and wash my hands.

To my surprise, she was DIGGING IT.

In fact, she loves it! She even mimics the breathing effects!

Tonight as I was reading The Little Mermaid storybook to her, she was listening and enjoying the funny voices I was throwin' in there every now and then, and suddenly, out of the blue, Madelyn pointed to a picture of Ariel and said, "Mommy, look, Ariel says (insert breathing sounds) Push It!"

HAHA! Whoops...

Roo: "Mommy, is that an owie on your hand?"

Me: "Yes it is. How shall we fix it?"

Roo: "Well first we will take a screwdriver and stick it in there and then we can put a band-aid on it."

Tool time!

Uncle Robin gave Madelyn this Handy Manny tool kit for her 3rd birthday. It comes complete with hammer, screwdriver, pliers, tape measure, wrench, and some other thingamajig. ;) Any chance she gets to pull out her trusty tool box to fix something, she's on it!

Her playhouse needs repairs? The wall could use a good hammering? Here comes Madelyn with her "Handy Mandy" tool box to save the day!

This evening was no exception!

The particleboard under Madelyn's mattress is broken, and Didi suggested we get some slats to support it. Daddy went to the store (while Madelyn and Mommy made finger paintings for everyone in the kitchen) and came back with wood, ready to go!

He pulled out his power drill and got things set up, and by now, Madelyn was bathed and dressed in her PJs - so, perfectly ready to pitch in and lend a helping hand!

Hold on, Daddy, don't start anything yet, here comes Handy Mandy to assist you!

She loves getting right in there and fixin' things up! Here she is, examining how Daddy does it, then she goes to town herself. Daddy had to supply "the little things" (otherwise known to the rest of us as "screws"), and she was happy as could be just hammering away, or measuring random parts of the bed or "wrenching" things....note in the last picture, she's decided to

saw the bed - she gets that level of comprehension for the carpentry craft from her Mommy!).

:)

Ta-daa!

On her way out the door this morning for daycare at Auntie Fran's!

With a tummy full of G-pa Cereal, and after having listened to a few of her fave tunes on repeat during brekkie (The Purple People Eater and "The Skittle Song", which is really John Denver's Thank God I'm a Country Boy, but for her memory's sake, I just called it "The Fiddle Song", and she gave it her own title anyway!), she was in a very "performy" kinda mood!

Here she is, on her way out the door - TA-DAA!!!!

Grandpa Cereal

When G-pa left to head back home last week, he (purposely, I think!) left behind his box of Fruit Harvest cereal.

Option 1 was to ship it back to him (in exchange for the ballet slippers he accidentally took home with him in his coat pocket!), but of course knowing how much Roo LOVES her ballet class (not really!), we decided to go with Option 2 - feeding it to our daughter!

So Roo has been enjoying multiple bowls of "Grandpa Cereal" for breakfast these past few days!

Madelyn picked Mommy a flower...

...just a couple of days ago, and although I recognize that it's probably not gonna come back to life!, I'm having a hard time getting rid of it!

3 yrs old and already reading labels

It would seem these days that we are beginning a modern Saturday morning tradition that consists of a breakfast of champions.

Even before Roo's early morning Musical Theatre class begun (about a month ago now, and she's REALLY enjoying herself!), Madelyn would come to expect a seemingly once-in-a-while treat of a pancake breakfast on a regular weekly basis! And both Daddy and I love her enthusiasm when she wakes up and realizes it's Saturday - Pancake Day!

Yesterday, as Madelyn and Daddy were enjoying Mommy's vanilla chocolate chip concoction (of which she helped with the mixing and addition of chips!), Roo noticed an opportunity to put her astounding development of recognizing letters and spelling out words she sees with the syrup jug on the table.

The label simply states "syrup". And although she KNOWS which letters she's reading, sometimes she reads a different message than the rest of the general population.

Here is her interpretation of the label, verbatim!:

Tradition in the making!

Face painting!

Saturday afternoon!

I picked up a kit from Michael's a few weeks ago, and Madelyn has been nothing short of ecstatic to have her little face painted up in the style of her choosing.

Today was our 4th run at this crazy fun pastime!

For her first go, she wanted to be a tiger; next, it was a clown; then it was a bunny (on Mother's Day, while Gpa and Baba, Didi and Uncle Chris were over - I was lucky to find bunny ears just

SITTING in her closet waiting for her!); and today, it was a black kitty cat.

When Daddy came home from the store to see what we were doing, he was so excited to see his hyper little kitty, and Madelyn fed on that excitement - being the nurturing and sharing little girl she is, she wanted to give Daddy that experience too, so she offered to paint his face up as Spider-Man (which evolved into a kitty cat at some point as well!). She picked the colours, and my job was simply to load up her paint brush, and she went to town!

Here are the results:

So much fun! I have no clue what she'll want to be next - good thing is, she doesn't care that Mommy isn't an artist, as long as her face is painted, she's having a ball! :)

Sleep talking! :)

Daddy told me Madelyn was stirring last night, so he went into her room to make sure she was ok, and as he covered her up with her blanket, she rolled over and, in her sleep, said, "No, Daddy, I don't want to go to the car!"

Then faaaast asleep again!

I wonder where she thought she'd be going at 4am?!

Snuggle bug!

After Madelyn was left to fall asleep in her room, she began to get a bit restless, so Mommy went in for a quick little cuddle to help her calm down (and because I wanted another excuse to snuggle!).

We were both lying on her bed, her little bum pushed into my ribs, and I was stroking her hair. After quite a number of songs on her Disney lullaby disc, her breathing was getting deeper, and I realized I'd managed to put her to sleep, so I stopped stroking her hair and began to move my hand away. Unbeknownst to me, she was still awake, and instead of letting my hand go, she grabbed onto my thumb, pulled my hand back and cuddled with it against her cheek!

My heart melted - she'd never done that before!

I would've stayed all night if I could have, I was loving every single moment, but I couldn't stay in her little bed - so after another great number of songs passed, and she hadn't moved, I thought for sure I had my chance to slip out of her room silently and undetected.

Only I was, again, mistaken.

As I slowly began to prop myself, she seemed automatically jolted from her sleep and reached around to grab the strings of my hoodie and pull me back down, telling me, "No, Mommy, you stay here and close your eyes with me and go to sleep."

So I did.

Sweetest moment of my life :)

A Day at the Zoo - May 5, 2011

Grandpa came up from Utah to visit with the whole fam damily, and Madelyn had no clue (we like to really surprise her!). He showed up at the door bright and early just as the Roo and I were comin' down the stairs, and his voice through the screen calling to her didn't phase her initially - but once she stopped, listened, and turned to look, the look of pure joy and the oozing excitement was amazing!

And so the adventure began!

We were lucky to have some great weather that day, so after running a couple of quick errands and getting Gpa, Madelyn and Daddy to the McDonald's Playland for a quick lunch, it was time to head out to the zoo!

We had SO much fun checkin' out the scene, and Gpa was lovin' pushing the Roo around in the dinosaur rider she had selected as her ride of choice! After a few brief exhibits, we hit up the play area, and she was off, testing out the monkey bars for the very first time!

This zebra bus with the monkey bar middle had a little side window at the front that she loved to poke her head out of and give us a little royal wave before heading out for another attempt at those bars!

I managed to catch her in her adorable little gesture:

After much fun was had in the play area, it was o

ff to see the snow leopards and the monkeys and the tiger, and of course, the lion, whom she appropriately dubs The Lion King.

(The lioness in the exhibit with him is affectionately known as The Lion King's Mommy.)

Right after the lion exhibit, Madelyn knows the camels are coming up. I had just caught on enough to know that when the Roo begins getting excited to see Alice the Camel, it's not that she's looking forward to actually seeing the CAMELS, but rather, the little camel PLAY AREA located AT the camel exhibit! This has a camel slide that she is more than familiar with!

So when I was gettin' her pumped up to see the camels and the Alice the Camel slide, I knew it would be a home run.

Of course, this little girl is full of surprises.

Once we got to the play area, she checked out the slide, but not with the same vigour as per usual - no, this seemed more obligatory. THIS time, she was all about the sand box, and making "a castle for The Lion King".

This "castle" was a pile of sand.

A pile of sand that she became VERY protective over, and even snapped at a little girl who accidentally kicked a bit of it down as she walked by. (That's my girl!)

A pile of sand that she could NOT be pulled away from, not even with the lure of ice cream!

Check out the intensity of this 3yr old in a sand box, dedicated to completing her mission:

Unfortunately, we didn't take many snap shots of Gpa's visit with the Roo, and not even when Grandma showed up a day later for the weekend! We did get a lot of video though, but this little girl was in heaven just by being around 2 of her favourite people!

We went out for dinner at The Keg, and Madelyn enjoyed "Grandma's steak" (the name she gives to all steak now in general, ever since Gma let the Roo sample some of her steak quite a while ago!). Gma and Gpa played with the Roo in the g

arden, and tuckered that little girl out! It was so incredible, and sad to have Gma leave us so soon after arriving, but Gpa made sure to step up his game by going golfing with her for her very first time!

A rainy Monday had us indoors at a black light glow-in-the-dark mini golf facility with dinosaurs and underwater creatures (she L.O.V.E.D. it! - two of her fave things at the moment!). Luckily it wasn't busy there at all, so we had the run of the place, which was great, b/c Madelyn wasn't exactly working on perfecting her technique! She had more fun standing b

ehind the ball and whacking at it with the club between her legs (and then she just resorted to picking the ball up and placing it directly into the hole - y'know, to avoid all that annoying "trying" stuff!) HA!

Gpa got to see Madelyn in action at her Kinder Ballet class that night. Everyone in attendance witnessed Madelyn pay attention to the teacher's words for a few fractions of a second, the rest of the time was spent running over to us and not wanting to participate (I think Gpa still enjoyed the show!). Then that evening, he spoiled her with an incredibly fun game of "Name that Person", where he showed her pics of ppl and she had to guess who they were correctly to get a present!

A couple pics of Mommy, Daddy, Gma and Gpa (not recognizing Gma from the pic though? Gpa was sure to enjoy THAT, he's all about competition!), and the kicker - a picture of Baby Madelyn, which she got right off the bat! Gpa did NOT expect that one!

He spoiled her with pop-up dinosaur books, a glow-in-the-dark Ladybug book, a ladybug piggy bank, a big collection of Dr Seuss stories, a Fantasia dvd, a spinning light-up bunny, and he created the most amazing memory for her: Puff the Magic Dragon - a song he sang to her earlier that day, multiple times in the car as we drove around. She grew to love that tune, and wouldn't you know it, the final surprises consisted of a Puff storybook and a music box that plays the tune!

The evening was topped off with a snuggle session on the couch watching her new Fantasia movie. Thanks for the great visit, Gma and Gpa!!! Madelyn loved every moment, and I know she'll remember it for years to come!

Kinder Ballet!

On April 9, Madelyn started her first Kinder Ballet class!

The program runs until early June, and each onday the small kidlets learn how to point their toes and feet positions and the like.

Of course, Roo seems to have her own agenda!

She loves getting all dolled up for ballet, but doesn't enjoy the "listening" aspect of it too much! She'd much rather get up and run over to

Mommy and Daddy watching from the sidelines to tell us to "Hushhhhhh! Be quiet!" and then scurry back to her group, OR she'll run up to us and ask us for a snack (she ate a whole sandwich during her class tonight!). The only time she's actually doing what the teacher tells her to do is when the teacher instructs everyone to just dance around, and that's when she's at her peak!

Nonetheless, it's something to learn, and it

keeps her busy, and she DOES enjoy getting dressed up and

twirling around. Of course, if she'd be kicking and screaming and not wanting to go, we wouldn't do it, but she's always excited to go and be a funny little disturbance for the rest of the class, and a full-on entertainer for those of us lucky enough to be there watching!

Pirate Captain Madelyn

When she was just a weeeee little baby, Madelyn loved The Backyardigans.

One episode we watched on repeat was one that highlighted Pablo, the little blue penguin, as a cleaning-obsessed pirate on his ship. Pirate Captain Moody was his name. And he had a little ditty that he sang (as they all did, all the time). As Madelyn watched it on repeat, she was able to learn the words:

"Clean, clean, clean, my ship must be clean..."

She'd sing this while "helping" Mommy sweep the kitchen floor, or putting her toys away, or whatever required her attention.

Lately, she hasn't been too interested in The Backyardigans, instead focusing her attention on the Care Bears or the standard Dora or even The Little Mermaid.

However, today, Madelyn channelled her inner pirate, a throwback to her Backyardigan days, by picking up a roll of paper towels and looking through the tube at me. "Arrrrr, Mommy, I'm Pirate Captain Madelyn!" she exclaimed in her best pirate voice as I was making supper.

"Oh really?" I said. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Pirate Captain Madelyn!"

Noticing what I was doing, and not being a fan of the concept of supper to begin with, the Roo stated, "Arrr Mommy, pirates don't eat supper!"

"They don't? Well then what do pirates eat?"

And without hesitation, Madelyn responded: "They eat treats and carrots."

Perhaps she was getting "pirates" mixed up with the "Easter bunny". Understandable, since the holiday was just a few short days ago. (I should note that she eventually DID eat her supper, carrots included!, with the promise of enjoying some Easter treats for dessert!)

All dressed up and ready for dinner!

Here are some pics of the Roo in her pretty Easter dress, ready to head out to Baba and Didi's for an Easter Feaster!

Easter 2011!

Finally, Madelyn is at an age where she can appreciate the glory of the Easter egg hunt!

And her reaction and devotion to the craft of holiday egg retrieval was a magical and satisfying experience!

Upon waking up early in the morning, the Roo was greeted with her Easter basket, complete with a chickie that cheeps when you squeeze his tummy (thank God she's at the age where she

doesn't care that she got that chickie LAST year,

she was STILL so excited to see it!).

Also, Bunny Bunny (a gift from Baba and Didi for Madelyn's first Easter) made a welcomed appearance. (I can only guess that, when she's in her teen years, this trick of reusing items from past years to bring a smile to her face will only be looked upon as "cheap" and "unappreciated", so I'll play this out for as long as I can!)

After filling up on an Easter basket cupcake for breakfast (we knew right outta the gates that

this day would be devoid of nutrients), it was time to get her geared up for her first REAL Easter egg hunt!

And it was a BLAST! I thought I'd done a good job of hiding some of the eggs, but this is one clever little girl we're dealing with here, she was ON her GAME. Once she caught on with what we were doing, there was no stopping her! She had so much fun that I do believe I will find ways to incorporate the concept of the Easter egg hunt into normal everyday life.... "Madelyn, can you find all the socks that the washing machine ate?"

Thanks to Daddy for recording the whole ordeal! Here it is as it unfolded, the hunt in all it's glory:

What goes "bump" in the night...

The other night, probably around midnight, well after everyone had settled in, Madelyn took a tumble.

Now no one knows for sure what happened, we can only go by what she told us, and what she told us was that she had fell out of bed (not sure how with the bed rail?) and hit her head on the floor!

Regardless if it was the floor she hit her head on, or if she just bumped it against the wall or her headboard as she's done once or twice before, one thing was certain - her noggin took a bit of a lickin'.

She was sobbing. I would've, too! You're woken from a deep sleep, you're in pain, it's pitch black, maybe you've just had a bad dream too...it must have been scary for her.

By the time we got to her bedroom, all of less than 30 seconds since she stared crying, we threw open the door and found her sitting on her bed, crying. I climbed onto her bed, and pulled her into my lap. She was curled up on me, her sobs starting to dwindle, as we asked her what had happened. No goose eggs, no blood, her crying stopped, and she was leaning back towards her Dora pillow, so we kissed her goodnight, and that was that.

Hated that she was upset and crying, but LOVED the chance to get that good snuggle in. And it was a good one. Short, but I adored every moment of being able to hold her and have her just cuddle into me, and loved that I was able to calm her down.

The next morning, Donovan told me that when he went in to get her up, the first words out of her mouth were about that moment during the night, but she corrected herself as she recounted the story for Daddy:

"Daddy, I fell and hit my head and I was crying and then Mommy held me...no, first Mommy picked me up and THEN Mommy held me and I stopped crying and went back to sleep!"

I was able to relive that precious bittersweet moment all over again, but this time it was more sweet than bitter, because it meant THAT much to her, that not only was it the FIRST thing that she told Daddy about, but she made sure to tell the story PROPERLY!

:)

Song lyrics

We all have the tendency to screw up some of the words to their favourite songs every now and then, and when it happens, we catch ourselves and struggle to get right back to the right lyric as quickly as possible.

The GREAT thing about 3 yr olds is they have NO idea what the words ever really SHOULD be at that age, so when they sing the wrong lyrics, they make it their own and they just continue to sing loud and proud. It's ridiculously adorable!

Here are some of Madelyn's most commonly misquoted lyrics from some of her favourite songs:

1. I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues by Elton John: *actual* title

The MADELYN version: "I guess that's what they colour the blues"

2. Private Eyes by Hall and Oates: *actual* line: "You play with words, you play with love"

The MADELYN version: "You play with worms..."

3. Yakety Yak by The Coasters: *actual* line: "Take out the papers and the trash"

The MADELYN version: "Take out the piggies and the cash"

4. Mamma Mia by ABBA: *actual* line: "Oh Mamma Mia, how can I resist you"

The MADELYN version: "Mamma Mia, how can I assist you" (pretty good!!!!)

5. My Girl by Chilliwack: *actual* line: "My girl is just a memory, she's been so long away"

The MADELYN version: "My girl is just a memory, she's been salami"

This morning at Auntie Fran's house....

Daddy takes Madelyn to daycare, and every morning, as he drops her off, she gives him a goodbye kiss.

This morning, when the Roo got to Auntie's house, accompanied by the friends she brought with her (Baby Kitty Cat and Baby Jaguar, as per usual), she saw that one of the other children, Jaron, was already there. So she runs up to him and starts making him pet her friends, and then Daddy says, "Oh, Madelyn! I need a kiss!" Madelyn says to Jaron, "OH! Hang on a minute Jaron! I have to go and give my Daddy a kiss!"

Daddy said she had the biggest smile! Not only is it awesome that she runs to Daddy to give him a kiss, she had to let Jaron know what was happening!

That's my girl!

How I found out about the mailman.

Catherine:
I feel so horrible because so much time has passed and our little girl does SO much, and we just don't always have the time to commit to updating things, but I want to get a few cute little stories out here before they're gone from my memory!

Just about a month ago, Daddy was ready a bedtime story to Roo called Why I Love My Daddy. The story depicts images of a child animal with its daddy, and is accompanied by a line or two, written by real children, of reasons why the kids love their fathers.

On this one particular page, Madelyn showed Daddy, as she loves to do with everyone, who everyone is in the picture by pointing to them and giving them a name.

And on this particular day, on this particular page, Madelyn decided the parent in this setting was the Mommy as opposed to the Daddy, as the title so aptly suggest. "And here is Madelyn penguin," and continued to give a title to each of the other penguins in the background. "This is Baba penguin, and Didi penguin, and Alexis penguin, and Grandma penguin, and Grandpa penguin..."
Donovan:
So, Madelyn finishes going over who each penguin is, and I couldn't help but notice that she didn't give ME a penguin! Not to fear, there was ONE penguin left at the far right of the page.

A big, strong looking penguin, that surely reminded her of her daddy.

"And who is THAT handsome penguin?", I asked her, getting ready to hear my name being called.

"Oh. That's MAILMAN penguin," she replied, and quickly turned the page.

Uhhhhh......

You can bet that Mommy and Daddy had a pretty long talk after THAT bombshell! :)

And yes, this is a true story.

Kitty cat fell on his bum-bum-bum!

Grandma recently bought Madelyn a subscription to Ladybug Magazine. It's perfect for Madelyn's age!

At the back is a comic strip called Molly and Emmett, about a young girl and her cat. Madelyn is in love with this strip, and the day after I read it to her, she was acting it out and reciting it verbatim!

Her favourite part is when a bird scares Emmett the cat so hard, he falls on his bum.

She starts laughing so uncontrollably, she can barely finish telling me what's so funny!

Madelyn: hee hee hee... Kitty cat fall on his bum-bum-bum

She laughs at this until all the air is gone from her lungs, and then proceeds to utter a huge gasp as she refills her oxygen.

It's adorable!

My sleeping beauty

It's just after midnight, so it's officially the last day of January, 2011.

My little Roo is having a restless sleep - just about a half hr ago, she started crying, but she wouldn't open her eyes when I went in to see her. She was dreaming.

We calmed her down, bundled her back up, and she rolled over and was quiet.

Then a few minutes later, same deal.

Rinse and repeat.

This last time, just now, Daddy went in to see if there was anything he could do. Madelyn gave him a subconscious peek into the movie playing in her dream world: "Piggies are (inaudible) on tv."

And with that, she rolled over and fell back into a silent slumber.

Because of this latest and greatest sleep talkin' that she's been doing, I decided I can't rely on just my memory anymore to keep these precious moments emblazoned in my brain, so here is a short list of some of the memories we have in the past couple of years of what our little Roo has said in her sleep:

- her very first instance of talkin' in her sleep, approximately a year and a half ago (wow, HALF her life ago!), was when she was well into her passion for the Mr. Men series. After having watched her Mr. Tickle dvd on repeat on numerous occasions, it's no surprise that her first audible dream had to do with that subject. Dono and I came in to check on a somewhat restless Roo in her bed, and while we were admiring her as she slept, she said, "No more milk Mr. Tickle." So obviously, either Mr. Tickle had already either given her some milk in her dream, and clearly she had had enough, OR perhaps Mr. Tickle was drinking more than his share. Either way, WOW!

- more recently, just after her 3rd birthday, Madelyn received a Handy Manny tool set from Uncle Robin, Taylor and Makenna. She LOVES this tool set. It is very loud. Dono and I don't care for it. ;) One night, just a couple of weeks ago, as we went in to check on her, I unravelled the blanket from between her legs and arms to cover her up, and she rolled over and said, "Handy Mandy" (because THAT'S what she calls her tool set!). Nice to see she's enjoying playing with that toy in her dreams, because as annoying as it is, if it were to ever "break", she'll be able to reconnect with it in the quiet of her mind!

- just last week, I couldn't sleep, so I crept into her room to make sure she was comfy and not contorted in any way. I picked her up (even though I'm not supposed to - she's just s'darn cute!), and her blanket was caught up in her little feet, to which she told me, as she continued to sleep, that she still wanted to wear her slippers. How sweet!

Then of course tonight's episode of whatever the piggies were doing on TV just makes me not want to sleep again - I would much rather sit awake in the darkness of her room and watch and listen to her breathing and wait to hear any more precious little gems she may decide to share about her dreams. I love these little insights into the mind of my baby!

Madelyn and her friend, Kangaranga Roo (sent with love from Grandpa!)

New Year's resolution: MORE BLOG POSTS!

Our little pumpkin is growing up WAY too fast. I mean it.

She will be 3 in just a few short days.

I've already asked her to stop growing, but she doesn't seem to listen. She's a Capricorn. She is inherently stubborn.

Aside from the fact that her and I can have conversations with each other (lately the content has been about Santa and how he ate his cookies and milk and how Rudolph ate his leaf! - she is QUITE the chatterbox, and I love every second of it - she uses real words about two thirds of the time!), she LOVES to sing. And play the piano. And as of late, thanks to Daddy's gift for me, the Roo LOVES to play the (MY) harmonica! Guess that means it's time to buy her her own!

She loves to colour, and is quite the little artist already! Just yesterday she surprised us with a series of triangles she drew (and caught herself off guard with them, too!). She even put a happy face in one of them! I'll have to get Daddy to scan 'em in - they're in her sketch book that she takes with her everywhere (so that whenever she has the urge to draw, she can indulge!).

The latest and greatest in Maddy'isms:

- she can count to 30, most of the time she leaves out 15. I don't know why. But she's very good with her numbers! "One, twoooo, free,...."

- she LOVES her Chipmunks DVD that Grandpa sent her. Classic Disney stuff. She watches that over and over, along with Dora. She has entire scenes memorized, and she will reenact them if the mood strikes. Sometimes it's complete with props. She is amazing.

- she loves to imitate puppies and kitty cats. LOVE this!

- she snores sometimes! (or as she calls it, sleeps with her nose!)