22 months

Dear Madison and Jackson,

People ask me all the time if you two play together and get along.  I think they expect me to say yes but the truth is actually no.  As much as Madison seems to be annoyed by Jackson, she is always in the same room with him.  Madison, you are very independent in the way you play but you follow Jackson everywhere.

Your schedule has been great lately.  You wake up around 8 but are happy in your cribs chatting and laughing with each other until around 9.  We do all or our visiting, shopping and playing until 2 when it's time for a nap.  All I have to do is say "time for naps" and you both drop whatever you're doing and go to your room and try to climb into your cribs.  I really never thought I would see the day when that would work.  You both lay down on your pillow, I cover you with your quilt and place your bears and doggies in your arms.  You do chat for a little while before finally falling asleep but gone are the days of crying until you fell asleep.  That time was so stressful for me.  Even though I KNEW you would fall asleep I just couldn't relax until you stopped crying.

You'll sleep from 2-4 or 5.  Most days I sleep then too.

Dear Jackson,

You are still such a cuddle bug and I absolutely love it.  You have started to show a tiny bit of aggression in the last week.  Out of nowhere you'll come up to me and start hitting me with a funny angry face as you say 'grrr'.  It sounds like  you're misbehaving but really it's actually very cute.

You are still an awful eater.  Your diet consists of yogurt, applesauce, blueberries, any kind of cracker, puffins, kashi cereal, mac and cheese.  All in all not too bad but you won't even think of eating a vegetable.  I've had to start buying jarred baby food just so you'll eat sweet potatoes.

Your favorite thing to do around the house is ride your riding toys.  Daddy bought you a trike for chirstmas and you absolutely love it even though you can't reach the pedals.  It has a basket in the back and you love to put your cup in there and ride around with it.  The big dump truck that Daddy bought you for your 1st birthday is also one of your favorites.  You always put something in there to push around.

As much as you love to be active you also love to chill out and watch tv while sitting in my or Daddy's lap.  I absolutely love this time with you.

Your language is progressing. Some words you say a lot are bike, binky "bink", mama, daddy "da-ee", Maddie "ma-ee", kitty "ki-ee", cookie, more, please "peese".  You haven't put two words together yet but it's just a matter of time.

You're wearing size 18-24 month pants.  Anything 2T is too long for you.  Your shirts are 2T.  Diaper is size 4 and shoes are 6.

One thing I haven't talked about lately is your teeth.  You still don't have all of them in yet but there isn't a way for me to get a good look.

Dear Madison,

You are a little spitfire.  You go zero to 60 in an instant if you don't get what you want.  We're trying like crazy to teach you that it isn't appropriate for you to react that way but we still have a ways to go.

You got puzzles for Christmas and for the first couple of weeks it's all you wanted to do.  The thrill has worn off at this point but I was absolutely amazed at how quickly you learned to put them together by yourself.  Right now I'd say your favorite toy is Mr. Potato Head.  You absolutely love all the little pieces and putting them in and out of the body.  You also love your little people farm which I knew you would.  You gather up the goat, horse, pig, sheep and farmer and walk around with them.  You say all of those words except farmer.

You are obsessed with labeling things.  You say "mama boot, shoe, car, camera, keys, phone, cup, coat.  You know the difference between and say daddy car, nana car, papa car, gamma car, auntie car.  You are under the impression that the only person that wears sneakers is Auntie.  My sneakers were out the other day and you insisted they were "auntie shoe".  You said Jackson "dachen" for the first time today!  You also said Papa Leo today.  Daddy's grandfather passed away almost 6 years ago and we have a picture of him on the wall in the play room.  It's a picture of the first volkswagen beetle being lowered from a boat onto US soil.  Papa Leo is on the dock with a bunch of other men.  We have showed you which person he is in the photo but it's probably been a couple of months since I've pointed him out.  Tonight I asked you where Papa Leo was and you pointed right to him and said "papa reo".  The rest of the night you were randomly saying his name.  It was making me cry to think how sad it is that he never got to meet you and your brother.  He would have loved you so much.

One day I went into your room to get you up and you emphatically pointed to the floor and exclaimed "binky on the floor!"  I couldn't believe I just heard you say a four word sentence!

Other words you say often are coffee, mickey, minnie, daisy, duck, pluto "puto", pete, goofy, mac-cheese, pasta, i love you daddy, mama, auntie, stevie "a-wa".

You are teeny tiny.  I don't know how much you weigh but it's considerably less than your brother.  12 month pants are still the best fit but some 18 month pants will work.  18 month shirts are what fit you best.  You're a size 5 shoe and wear size 4 diapers.

Your hair is getting so long the curls are starting to weigh down now.  Your type of curl is just like mine where the front/top pieces are pretty straight but the back and underneath are super curly.