Madison Mae--22 Months and Growing!

Don't let that little angel face fool ya!  Sugar and, nope...just SPICE!

This little lady blows raspberries and acts like a big goofball during her classy photoshoot.

SOOOOOOOOOOO MADI!  Almost "Terrible Two!"  Are we worried?  HA!  We've been perfecting Terrible since Two DAYS old!

The Grouchy Crafter...WHAT YOU LOOKIN AT?!?

Every great artist sports green marker on her forehead!

Making a picture for Daddy, "I 'Tink" You Are The Best Daddy Ever!"

Giving her babies a "tubby."  We get down and dirty clean with bubbles and bowls and water galore.

Good little Mama.  Rub a dub dub.

At 22 Months, Madi:

• is fun, fun, FUN!  She jibber-jabber talks, talks, talks all day long.  She's got quite the witto vocabulary and learns a million new words everyday.  I LOVE this fun stage.  
• LOVES Grandma and Grandpa Black.  Her favorite days are the ones where she is being adored by her loving grandparents.  She calls them "Gramage" and "Grampage"..kinda sounds like "Garbage" but is definitely NOT the same...in fact, exactly the opposite in meaning.  OOOOOh, she loves them.  She lights up, giggles and sparkles when we even mention them or see a picture of them, and can be bribed to go back to sleep after a night terror if she knows she will get to see them the next day.  She "calls" Grandpa on her toy phones and my cell phone all day.  Madi has never been very touchy-feely but you should have seen her feeding Grandpa, cuddling and flirting with him while she fed him lunch as they sat side by side at the kitchen bar during their last get-together.  It was true affection and adoration at its finest!  Intense love.  Grandpa got out his tool set and they set about fixing EVERYTHING in sight.  Madi would proclaim, "FIX, FIX."  Then upon successful completion of their joint project she would celebrate with an enthusiastic "HUG, HUG!"  Grandpa pointed out that if Matt never gets a boy, Madi will be even better cuz she makes a terrific little chap with the bonus of sharing endearing HUG, HUGS after conquering her tomboy tasks! 
• Is 99% tomboy--loves trains, airplanes, horsies, dinosaurs, garbage trucks, footballs, moving and messes.  But she has recently developed a love of "princenessess", jewelry and still loves her babies and a few other girl items like Tinkerbell and sparkly earrings.
• is a GREAT big sister.  She brings Hanni toys (after snatching them from her and making her cry), helps Mama feed her (she'll tell us which action the spoon needs to take--train, airplane, snake, rabbit, etc, etc,), rubs her soft head, brings her pacities (pacifiers) and blanketies and loves having a friend to "talk", dance and play with.  She pretty much knows Hannah is our package deal and goes wherever we go.  Sometimes they get in battles for Mama's attention but most of the time they are fast friends!
• Can NOT be trusted with an open top (non-sipee/lidded) cup.  She dunks EVERYTHING in her milk...macaroni noodles, chicken, cheese, strawberries, etc and makes a disgusting shake which she usually drinks...or spills all over her high chair/floor to splash in.  No item is un-dunkable in Madi's book.  
• LOVES coloring and crafting.  She loves her crayons and markers and can create beautiful works of art with stickers, noodles, cheerios, paint, etc.  She has been known to color on a door or wall (or two) and gets real skittish when we discover her mischievous masterpieces and confront her about them.  She tries desperately to change the subject, trying to interest us in an exciting toy or snack to divert our attention.  She "cleans" up with us, says, "Sorry," hugs and kisses, fills in the blank:  Crayons are only for ______ "PAPER!"  And yet . . .
• Has a few very special places on her list of favorites.  We go to Pet Smart (she marches me through our route at the store...fish, frogs, birds, hamsters, chinchilla, snakes, lizards, chameleon, cats and any and all dogs along the way), the library (has a strict routine here as well...book drop, drinking fountain, DVDs, computers, board books and padded children's area, check-out desk) and the temple (they recently turned on the fountain and Madi loves giving Tink a tubby in the splashy water) almost daily.  Now that it is finally getting warmer, we are excited to add our beautiful parks and the Willow Park Zoo to the circuit as well.  On Wednesday, we were finally able to reunite with all of our animal friends at the zoo and there was pure love and joy in the air.  Madi was positively ECSTATIC when she heard the BOOM, BOOM, BOOM of the emus (yes, they made a very un-bird-like bass drum sound...sooo cool).  Hannah was all smiles, too.  We definitely have two outdoor adventure girlies.
• Is still heck at church but loves nursery...phew!
• Is getting more affectionate...gives hugs and kisses and loves to rub heads and play with hair.
• Is developing a special bond with Daddy.  If Madi wakes up crying in the middle of the night, Matt is the one to console her and help her find her paci.  He is wonderful about calming her and coaxing her to stay in her crib for the rest of the night (whereas Mom would give up and bring her to bed...ugh).  They had a very special Daddy/daughter date day last week and went to the Jump Zone, dollar store, library, Pet Smart, temple, Wendy's for dinner, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart for a Tinkerbell Barbie and Tink Jammies (ACTION PACKED afternoon/evening).  Best date ever!  Madi is Daddy's little buddy for sure!
• Madi is a ball of energy.  She feels things STRONGLY and does everything was a high level of intensity!  She is saucy, sparkly and fun.  We love her immensely.