Sleeping Beauty

I'm in shock... Madison refused her nap outright yesterday. she had a fit, kicking, screaming, told me i was mean, even tried to bite me. I held my ground, and pulled a nanny 911 on her and continue to place her in her bed and ignore her outburst. This went on about 10 min or so on and off.... it felt much longer. She finally settled into her bed and read books. She started to thing napping was a good idea, but it was getting late and we had planned to go get our nails done like big girls, so she had "quiet time " yesterday, but no nap. We went to get her nails painted and she stuck her hand out and said "no lady, i don't want you." Needless to say there was no nail painting for her. We came home to find Poppy and Uncle Rick and Jay cutting grass. We decided to go get outback curbside... Madison rode with Kristina and I... on the way home, despite my every efforts, she fell asleep. IT WAS ONLY 6:15!! I took her in the house, put her on the ouch, changed her clothes, pull-up and took her hair down. She was out. I took her to her room and laid her in her bed. She curled up on her side and that was that. I waited and waited to see if I had made the right choice, and fully expected to be up all night. When bed time came and she was still out, I fully expected to start my day at 5am... She stretched around 12 midnight and rolled over and about 3 am sat up in bed for a minute before grabbing her num-num and giving in to the night again. I heard the pitter-patter of little feet at 7am! Wow!! She was tired.

We got up this morning and made dinosaur toast and eggs. She wanted to know where her white was, so we learned about eggs and how heat turns the clear stuff into the white stuff she likes to eat. It's been a good morning!!

Here are a few pics from the last week or so...

~Oh yeah, she had her first "hay"-ride!!

Writer's Block...

I am finding it increasingly hard to blog... or maybe it's that I don't have time to blog... or it could be that my brain is "why"-ed out. That's right, Madison has entered the world of why and she is dragging everyone in with her, kicking and screaming. She just woke up one morning and out it came. All I can do is laugh to myself. I have been waiting for this stage. She wants to know the ins and outs of everything now. Lately our conversations go a little like this:

Mads: Where are my puppies?

Mommy: We put them downstairs.

Mads: Why?

Mommy: You wanted to have a picnic. I didn't want them to eat your food.

Mads: Why?

Mommy: I want you to eat your food.

Mads: Why?

Mommy: So you can grow big and strong...

Mads: Why?

You get the general idea. By this point it tends to be smiling and cringing all at the same time. You never know how long one of these conversations can go.

In other news, Mads is recovering from quite a nasty cold and fever. She's on the up and up now with just a nagging cough left behind. She's doing well in her new toddler bed, just likes to fall asleep with the door open. She is waking up earlier in the mornings too. It's good though, it means she gets a good nap in and makes it through the day without getting to cranky.

She woke up last night at 12:20 (am) crying out for her friend. She was crying b/c "nana' (Adrianna) is gone far away and she needs her here. It was really sad. We rocked, sang, read a book and I even laid in bed with her for a bit. When I moved to the floor she put her hand out and waited for mine in return. She held my hand while she fell back into slumber.I can only imagine she had been dreaming and was disappointed when she woke up. While she drifted I couldn't help but notice how big her little hand was becoming with mine. She seems to be growing overnight!

When her whole cold thing started we had been at Chuck-E-Cheese earlier in the day. Mads had won a white balloon from one of the games. She played and played with it. We even took it outside and tied it up while we went swimming. To our dismay, the balloon managed to slip ot of her hands and my reach and float right up to the sky. We watched it for a long time. Mads was not too excited. She remembered sending balloons to Baby Aleah in Feb for her heaven day and asked if that was where it went. She asked if Aleah would share her balloon and send it back. After a while we managed to get fixated on something else. I believe she had her first night terror that night. She woke up screaming for me, but didn't seem awake. She was calling for me through half opened unfocused eyes long after she was in my arms and even out to the living room. The whole thing lasted about 20 min, but it felt like forever. I hope she never does that again.

Once she was awake and feeling better (it was now about 10 pm) she remembered her balloon, which we told her had become a star for her to look at. She was distraught, so Mom, Cassie, and I decided to go on a balloon hunt. We put Mads in the car and went searching to see of her balloon had been floating around anywhere. Our hunt led us right to the Giant parking lot. Mads and I waited in the car while mom and Cassie searched around. And guess what?! That special white balloon came all the way back from the Heavens and brought friends of all colors with him! Mads was so excited. From there she went off to sleep pretty quick! Oh, and did I mention Cassie is allergic to latex?? Amazing what we will do for our children!

"mommy, don't leave"

I have been hearing a lot of this lately. My little girl who has always been outgoing and never afraid of running off to play is now turning back to look for me. She is having a hard time letting herself sleep at nigh or go down for naps b/c she is afraid I'll leave her. So bedtime now goes something like this... We have her bath, go to her room to read, rock and sing, say prayers... she gets into bed, asks about the tv to which I say that TV is already asleep. (she will stay up as long as it is on) I rub her back and then she says mommy don't go, don't leave me... I tell her I will never leave her, and will only be in my room at night. SHe tells me again not to leave, I "lay low" on her floor holding her hand. WHen she lets go I stay on her floor waiting for her to drift off. I never fails that 2-3 times she sits straight up yelling " Mommy... mommy, where are you?" If i don't answer she begins to cry. I'm not used to this. It breacks my heart. Of course it makes me doubt preschool. It's great there, but I hate to take her when she tells me not to leave her all the way there. They are great about letting us call to check on her though. And I HATE her being there on fridays whie i am home, but it seems that 2 days a week will help her to adjust better than one. It'd be nice if tuesdays open up b/c then she could go then and stay home on fridays. Wish us luck as we try to get her sorted out. She's going through a lot, and as smart as she is I know she is onto the whole thing.

Preschool week one

Our little girl started preschool last week on the 25th. We were nervous and excited. Aaron and I met there and took her in together. She was all smiles holding her num-num close. As soon as we got in her room she shimmied out of my arms and took off. I watched as she settled onto the floor and started to quietly fight with a little girl for the toy she had. I started to speak with the teacher and took a look back to see the num-num laying alone in the floor where Madison had been. It hit me then that she was going to be just fine. I looked at the teacher and asked what to do now. She replied with a smile "you leave."

They said it took her an hour and a half to realize we were gone and she whined for us on and off for about 2o min and then was fine. She ate well, sat on the potty and even napped. When we showed up to get her she played for 10 min before we finally had to call her attention. We watched her run and play, ride a car, wash her hands, and drink from a water fountain. We saw her artwork too. When we saw her she said "Hi Guys." We asked her if she was ready to go and she said no and later told us she wanted to go back to school then. She said she had a blast and when Rachel call her to see how her day went she said "My mommy left me at school!" Do you believe that?? She also talks a lot about her little friend Gabby from school and of course Lexi and Aiden.

Friday as we drove to school she was excited but told me not to leave her. When I got there she put her num-num in her cubby and took off. i told her bay and she took off playing again. i called to check on her at 11 and they said she was great. When I got there at 4 to get her she was playing but happpy to see us. They said she didn't nap and cried for me. Madison made sure to tell me too. It broke my heart. "mommy, I cried for you." I reminded her that mommies and daddies go away sometimes, but they always come back. They said otherwise it was a great day. She ate ALL of her food and stayed dry all but once and used the potty the rest of the day. She loves school, but has her moments. I just hope this is the best for her.

My New Bed

Last week we converted Madison's crib into a toddler bed, only to find out we were missing the rails that make it a toddler bed. So,in essence, it became a day bed at that point. We decided to try it out and see how she did and placed a beanbag chair at the head of the bed incase she rolled off. We at that point started on an apparently endless journey to locate the company and found out how to obtain the rails that were never recieved. We tried only to find that Simplicity (the company) had gone out of bussines and that the company that was still selling the cribs was not taking any responsibility for problems prior to that time, even though we only wished to purchase the rails and did not want any freebies. It is the same company that just last week refused to cooperate with a recall of the simplicity bassinet that killed to infants recently. Needless to say, I'm done with them.

Madison came home from Aaron's and we took her to her room to show her her new bed and she said "My bed, it's got one broken piece" placing one finger up. We explained that it was a big girl bed ad that she didn't need her crib anymore, but she could not wrap her head around the idea. She reluctantly slept in it all the while reminding us that it was indeed broken. She rolled out of the bed and onto the beanbag. This didn't wake her, but scared me to death. I decided then to shop around for a toddler bed. I found a really cute toddler sleigh bed in cherry to match her room and had it ready when she came home today. She loved it!! It looks tiny in her room, but it's great for her. I'll let you know how it goes.