Brant and I believe we have been blessed with the most beautiful and wonderful daughter on the face of this earth. Maddie is our delight and the light of our life! She is the bright spot in each of our days. God has given us the most perfect gift in our sweet child and we thank Him daily for this amazing blessing.
Yesterday, Brant and I got into a conversation about little Miss Maddie Mae. She has truly blossomed into a full-fledged toddler, with all the bells and whistles that come with that stage of life. :) Our sweet daughter has vocal chords that seem to expand and reach new heights each day. I don't need to elaborate on that one. Madelyn is the source of all kinds of laughter and funny antics. She always ends up being the center of attention, whether or not she was trying to be - but between you and me, I think she enjoys the spotlight - I mean, who doesn't, right?
Maddie will say, "Hi!", nonstop, to anyone in her line of vision. Nonstop. She will persist and continue to give an energetic, "Hi!" "Hi!" "HI!" until she is acknowledged. That is one of her most endearing traits and truthfully, I hope it never dies. Our sweetheart is going to win the "most-likely-to-say-hi" award in the "Senior Standouts" yearbook page in high school. I am thrilled that she is super friendly and is genuinely excited about people. The world could use several more just like her!
We continued our conversation about Maddie Mae yesterday, as she was moving back and forth between us, lifting up our shirts to find our belly-buttons. Maddie loves to find things that are hiding. She is a very smart girl and will retrieve an item that is out of sight when you ask her to go and find it by name. She is also full of action! Maddie will request that you "
Caa" (clap) when music is playing, no matter where it is coming from - even from a car out on the street - and then she will start jumping up and down, dancing! Its awesome! Maddie loves to read books and be read to, and you can consider it a huge feat if you can actually sit with her and read a book with her from start to finish - this is rare. It isn't that she wants to move onto another activity; its actually that she wants to hurry up and move to the next book!
Madelyn is full of spunk and
curiosity. You can't pull much past this girl! She is quite intuitive and can understand EVERYTHING. I spell words out that she knows all the time in front of her when talking with Brant. Poor guy. He has to pause sometimes to catch up and think about what I just said. Maddie does get frustrated with the lines of communication, and often. Obviously, she is not able to speak perfectly yet, so can become
agitated when we don't seem to be "getting it." However, her vocabulary is sky rocketing each day. Some of her favorite words, or rather, most frequently heard, are, "
Ninni" (Mickey or Minnie), "
Toodles" (one of Mickey's friends), "
muh" (milk), "goo goo" (good girl), "mama", "daddy", "
Abbo" (Elmo), "
wawa" (water), "
nana" (banana), "
aapay" (happy), "cool" (cool, or school), "
cheo" (cheerios), "toe" (toast or toe), "
ay,
ay aaay" (I love you - I promise, this is how she says it!), "ca" (cup), "ball", "
baba" (baby) ....... and I really could go on, but I just realized how long this post is becoming!
Maddie is also testing her limits every single day. She has the twinkle in her eye when she looks at me, ready to do something we've told her not to do. She has become more than acquainted with the time-out corner, which seems to move locations from our house, to my work, to the park bench, or the car seat, and even a few places in Disneyland! Regardless, that seems to settle her down pretty well. Usually it isn't that she has disobeyed as much as she just starts throwing a tantrum after she decides to obey, but becomes frustrated that she had to stop doing whatever it was she was initially doing!
All of what I have written today does come full circle with the subject of this post - "'Cause She's Got Personality!" After Brant and I were talking last night, and we were laughing at how wonderful life is with Maddie, through all the stress, tantrums, screams, tears, and utter cuteness, we both concluded that our sweet baby girl has just got a big personality! And then it came to me! I don't know how familiar you are with the song, "She's Got Personality", by Lloyd Price, but the chorus of it goes something like this:
...Cause she's got, personality!
Walks, with personality!
Talks, with personality!
Smiles, with personality!
Charms, with personality!
Loves, with personality!
And, plus she's got a great big heart!...
And so I officially present to you, Maddie's Theme Song! Isn't it so true?! We got a great kick out of it last night, while we danced around the living room with her, while the song was playing on the computer. I really think this should be her father/daughter dance at her wedding, or even better, she should walk down the aisle to it! :) Okay, I know she'll have to decide that on her own, but for now, I think it would be PERFECT! :)
Now, go find the song on the I
nternet if you don't know what I'm talking about. And while you listen, picture our sweet little Madelyn Mae, and her beaufitul, perfect personality! :)
Kisses.
She was SOO excited! 
I think her face in this picture is really saying, "Mama, why are you in my special picture with Donald?"
Martha and Amber, aboard the Mark Twain.
Dale, Maddie and me, also enjoying the view from above.
Adorned with hats, Maddie took her grandparents on the Disneyland Railway.
The Himes crew, ready to ride Autopia.
It was late...can you tell by our faces?
We had such a great day, and made wonderful memories with Brant's family. We're ready to go back again on Friday when my parents come to visit! Hooray for visitors and multiple trips to Disneyland! :)
