MADELYN LEE | EIGHTEEN MONTHS

before this month gets away from me with all the holiday activities, i wanted to be sure to remember my sweet little miss madelyn at this age.

age: eighteen months
height: 30 inches (6th percentile) 
weight: 18 pounds 10 ounces (6th percentile) 
head: 45 1/2 centimeters (29th percentile)

clothes: since m is definitely on the smaller side, she can still wear 6-12 months tops. she is truly in a 12-18 month size as far as tops and bottoms goes but for now i mostly buy 18-24 months clothing since at this rate she'll be wearing these for years. she wears a size 4-5 infant shoe which has been exciting since i can actually buy her 'real' shoes. i am obsessed with this little minnetonka fringe moccasins i brought her before thanksgiving. i am pretty sure i'll be purchasing me a matching pair!
favorite toys: loving her stella baby doll (this was a birthday gift she received and lastly she has become so interested in taking care of her, it's the cutest and couldn't come at a better time to reassure me she is going to be an amazing big sister and mommy's perfect little helper), fisher price keyboard (m loves to sing and play this piano. it has a demo button where it plays like twenty different songs and she absolutely loves singing and dancing to it),  balls (vy has been teaching her how to throw, kick and catch), fisher price walking dog, crayons + paper to draw, bubbles (obsessed), b. parum pun pun drum and alphabet puzzle.

favorite foods: obsessed anything apples (applesauce, apples, apple slices), grilled chicken, soup (i went home to my parents house for a weekend when it first started to get cool here and my mom made soup. even since then m has been all about soup. if there is a bowl and spoon, she thinks it's suppose to be some kind of soup), pirate booty,
favorite activites: dancing (i don't how they learn to dance but girlfriend has some moves), singing (loving abc, wheels on the bus, if you're happy and you know it, i'm a little teapot and twinkle twinkle little star), going outside, playing ball with daddy and reading books.
favorite words: (she is literally talking so much and can repeat almost everything we say but these are a few that come right to mind...) nope, ball, outside, open/close (always together), dixie and jager (our fur babies), soup, strawberry (sounds like "sorry"), stop, love (for her lovie), shower/bath, i love you, sit and mommy.

movement: madelyn was a little late in the walking game (really they can begin walking anywhere from 12 months to 18 months), she started walking a few weeks after her fifteen month appointment then didn't show interest in walking for another month. at our fifteen month check-up our pediatrician recommended that if she wasn't walking by seventeen months we should call to get a occupational therapist do an evaluation, which to be honest scared me a little. of course as soon as she turned seventeen months little lady took off and hasn't stopped walking since.
signature moves: giving high fives, blowing kisses, waving hi and bye, dances anytime she hears any music and giving the sweetest shy smile to strangers.

this is by far my favorite age, madelyn is learning so much every second of every day. she is so silly and her little personaility is really starting to shine through.

oh how i love my sweet baby girl all the way to the moon and back!

THE MAN IN RED

last year we drove to the middle of nowhere for a woodland type santa with a local photographer, those pictures were great for the price but not worth the forty-five minute drive for a not even five minute photo op. this year i registered early (in july, crazy) for the santa at phipps, i started to panic a little when i realized that other families were already getting their confirmation emails in september for him and i had not heard any thing. afraid that we would be miss him like last year, i remembered that baby braithwaite does a santa with the alice park photography team. luckily i looked when i did because the very next week b. braithwaite were taking appointments. 

saturday morning we braved the rain for our very special visit with the big man in red, santa. the entire ride there, vy and i kept asking madelyn if she was ready to see santa...she would say "yes" with such excitement.

oh this santa, he was the sweetest. he sits in his big red sledge with beautiful frosted christmas trees in the background.

'pound it santa'

then as soon as mommy and daddy peaced out...

i mean, it's only appropriate for her to have a "you two are terrible horrible parents for leaving me on the lap of an old man in red.'

maybe next year, santa...maybe next year...

this is our santa, we will be visiting him every single year.