Dancing Queen

Pick any happy, upbeat song and you'll find those chubby little legs start to bend a bit to the rhythm. Then with more enthusiasm, she bounce up and down with a huge grin on her face. If she really likes the song, then she'll not only bounce but she'll throw a few piroettes in there as well. In our brief lapse in access to cable TV, she has been unable to watch one of her favorite shows, Backyardigans. The highlight of the show for Madeline is the singing and songs. I love it because each episode tries to pick from a different brand of music from blues, ragtime, reggae, bassa nova (???), and so on.

To my chagrin, her favorite type of music seems to be R&B. I blame it on the Disney Channel (stupid Choo-choo Soul). However, she does very much enjoy dancing to the Gorillaz "Dare". I don't mind them so much so its fun to dance along with her. In the car, her whole little upper body and head is bobbing to the music.

Now to get her into 80s synth pop (yeah, right but I can dream) - Oh Mickey, your so fine, your so fine you blow my mind, Hey Mickey!

(This one's especially for Grandpa!!)

Close Call

Today I witnessed a terrible accident. We were sitting at a stoplight a few cars back, late for church as usual, when the car in front pulled into the intersection and was t-boned by a woman who was trying to fly though the intersection. The woman's car's front end was totally demolished and she was going so fast that the poor man driving ahead of us flipped over on his side. My initial reaction was concern mostly for the man, hoping that despite the pitiable condition of his SUV that he was ok, and some concern for the woman that hit him. But then I found myself crying uncontrollably. We were only two cars behind this man who was hit on the passenger side. My beautiful daughter was sitting in the backseat on that side. What if it had been us? What if that stupid, stupid woman had hit us? Oh the ugly thought of it just floored me. But it was not us. The Lord was looking out for us and, thankfully, for the man in the SUV who walked away from the accident without even a glass scratch. Today re-confirmed for me how very important my beautiful little girl is, and how I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that she grows up to become whatever she wants to, God willing. But I also know that if, for some reason, God does not will, we are bound together forever as a family. I just hope the former rather that the latter is His will.

My little girl is not making me wait for her to be "grown-up". That little one is 16 months going on 16. She already sasses me - "Nooo!" she says as she points her little finger at me with those furrowed brows. She talks on a cell phone like a teenager (see previous post). And now she hangs with the girls too. The other day we were at the apartment pool and we were sitting in the hot tub. A group of teenage girls about 12-13 years old got in after us and were fascinated by Maddy. They asked to hold her and I consented, since she was already pushing me away to get at them. One of the girls grabbed her and brought her over to where they were sitting. She sat down in the middle of them looking perfectly at home. She even tried to talk to them in her way. They giggled and she giggled too (although she had no idea why she was giggling.) What's next? Is she going to be asking me for lipstick and eyeshadow at three? Probably.

My Little Wonder with a dash of Tornado

Imagine a room with perfectly vacuumed carpet, furnitured clean and dusted, everything put neatly in it's place - and then she wakes up! The tornado hits and everything is on the floor, in disarray and crayon is on the windows. Sigh. I love her but it is now so hard to keep everything looking decent when she loves to get into everything. I should be grateful that she is curious, playful and creative.

This afternoon when she woke up from her nap she was doing something so magically wonderul I can't get over it. I know she's awake because I can usually hear her talking to herself in her room. When I went up to her crib, somehow she had gotten a hold of an empty plastic storage bag, the kind you'd put food in the fridge in. She showed me the bag, put her hand in, grabbed at her imaginary food and put it in her mouth and chewed. I laughed so hard. I never imagined that at this age she could be so inventive. She even offered me some. So I took it, ate a bit and then she took her turn at eating her imaginary treats. Sometimes I don't know where she gets these ideas. We've not played at make-believe in this way so I can't imagine where she would learn to do it.

It reminds me of something she did last week that had me completely laughing and fascinated. She has her own crayons now with a Disney Princess coloring book. I had walked in the room where she had some show like Backyardigans or Wonder Pets on that had a particularly upbeat song on. There she was, holding one of her crayons like a microphone, singing her own song and dancing to the song playing on the TV! I do not do this so that she could pick up on it - I have no idea where she could have learned something like that!

One thing I think she has learned from me is her abilities with telephones. She sometimes is 16 months going on 16! When I have her talk to people on the phone, she doesn't like me to hold it for her. She wants to hold it herself. She then cocks her head and talks on the phone like she was some teenager or something. And she prefers cell phones to the house phone. I guess she's too cool for the house phone. But then the 16 month old comes out in here and she can't resist to push a few buttons during the conversation.

She never ceases to amaze me with all the things that she does. She is so friendly, not just to people in the family but to anyone and everyone in general. She will give a big smile and wave at random people. She loves to give babies her age kisses and will run up to them without compuntion to give them one, usually scaring the crap out of the other toddler. She will also just go up to strangers and just start talking to them. The other week when Amy Jo and I were at the ZCMI Center mall, we had gone into the Deseret Book. There were a pair of sisters sitting on the floor in the children's section, the older one reading to the younger one. Madeline thought nothing of sitting herself down next to the older girl and listen to her read. At first the girls were unsure what to do, but after myself and their mother encouraged them, the older girl continued to read and Maddy sat there and listened. Oh, my heart! One day I hope that Madeline will be the older sibling reading to her younger brother or sister.