13 Months!

We are one month into Maddie's second year already, can you believe it? I don't know how that happened, but it did, and with it has come many wonderful new tricks and traits of our little sweetheart.

Maddie is a talker. She loves to fill up a room with her voice, be it to herself or talking directly to you, it doesn't matter. The important thing is, she has lots to say! We get a kick out of watching her hold up one of her hands, with a very serious look on her face, as she starts to tell us a story. Usually it is a very intense story, with lots of dramatic moments (as her voice gets louder and almost sharper), all the while, her arm is waving around as she speaks. It is hilarious! Sometimes, I will sit her in the middle of our bed in the morning, and she will go on and on like this, waving her arm in different directions and holding on a true conversation with us. I like to pretend that she is an interior decorator and she is giving us her free advice on what we should do with the room. I will ask her questions, and she will wave her little arm around, telling me her opinion. :) (She is very deep in conversation in this picture).Maddie has officially figured out how to climb. I'm not talking stairs - those were figured out awhile ago. Seeing as we do not have stairs, this action has been forgotten as of late. However, today, she decided to show me that she can put her little leg up and over onto the coffee table and pull herself up. What?! Yeah. And now she as successfully figured out the same trick when wanting to climb into my lap, while I'm laying on the couch. It is pretty sweet, but certainly has caught us off guard!Our little girl is still growing tall! At her doctor appointment 2 weeks ago, she measured to be 30 inches tall, and weighs 22 lbs. Today, I looked down the hallway and she was reaching up, standing on her tip-toes, just barely touching the closed door handle...uh, huh... Regardless, she is taking after us and is successfully being thought of as much older than she really is, due to her height. :)

Maddie is getting much better at playing in the sand at the beach. This last weekend, we went to Malibu for our beach day trip (hence the pictures in this post). We brought sand toys with us this time and she loved them! She has been playing with them a lot in the house, and once we brought them into the sand, she thoroughly enjoyed herself. She likes to stick her face into the bucket, tip her head back and listen to the sound of her voice (again, this girl loves to talk!). It was cute for a few moments, until she did it with a mound full of sand inside. We looked over just as it happened - she had her mouth wide open, talking away and smiling, while she tipped her head back...enter, sand. She didn't seem to mind, too much!Another super cute thing Maddie has been doing lately is dancing. This started a few weeks ago, when "The Office" theme song came on. Maddie started bopping her head, waving her arms and hands, clapping and rocking back and forth. She loves it! She will drop everything just to start dancing when the music comes on. This doesn't happen with all music everywhere, but we are noticing it more and more, be it with musical toys, to songs on the radio or a song we are singing. I will try to get it on video soon!

Maddie is really close to walking, but we are not there yet. She can walk around holding on with just one hand now, but still will not venture out on her own. It will come, and I think we are kind of excited for it to happen now. Our apartment is fairly well baby-proofed and we're ready to see her go for it.Maddie continues to say "Dada" and "Daddy", as her two favorite words of choice. They are used whenever she is happy or referring to anything that is familiar. She can get out the phrase, "Hi, Daddy," when she sees Brant, if she really wants to, but not always. When asked if she is hungry, she replies, "Ma." We are working on, "yes." :) Maddie is a pro at using sign language for "more," "please," and "all done." She understands us very well, even if she cannot use words to express it. We will ask her to find her "ball" or her "baby", and she will successfully go around the apartment to find the object. She loves to open and close cupboards/doors, and when we pair this action with the words, she will respond. So fun!Maddie is our joy and our delight. We are so enthralled by her personality and in love with her more everyday. I hope this has given you a bit of a flavor of what its like to be around Miss Mae at 13 months!