Bubbles

Today was yet another day of firsts for my sweet little baby. Except that with every passing day, I Maddie is less and less my little baby, and more and more her own child. I'm happy, I'm sad. It's such a blessing that Maddie is growing up to be such an independent, smart, and sassy girl. But it's just happening too quickly. I sound like a broken record, but I'm just repeatedly amazed at Maddie's progress.

Enough with the gushing...on to our day. First of all, Maddie sprung a tooth! This is her third tooth to date...This one happened to be the right, front, top tooth. I'm SO grateful that Maddie's chomper finally popped. The last couple days have been totally miserable because Maddie's poor gums were pink, swollen, and I can only imagine that they've been shockingly painful. We haven't slept well the last couple nights, which is what I expect when Maddie is teething. I mean, really. If it was me, I'd be kicking, screaming, biting, asking for something for the pain, and cursing the world. Maddie, on the other hand, handles her pain like a champ; there's a little extra drool, a few extra nibbles, and a lack of sleep, but other than that, Maddie seems normal. What a trooper!

The tooth is AWESOME, but the even better part of our day happened in the bathtub. I feel like everything neat that happens in our life happens in the bath...I already knew that I had a water baby, but I'm starting to really realize how MUCH of a water baby she is. We took our daily shower today (I have to stick Maddie on the floor of our shower while I'm showering so she doesn't seriously injure herself or someone else), and it was just as much fun as always! Maddie always takes her pink ducky into the shower, and we sing duck songs while we're washing up. (Oh, yes. Maddie and I are super, duper shower singers). Anyway, I digress. My story has nothing to do with the shower, and instead takes place in the bath.

We all know that Maddie LOVES the water, right? She splishes and splashes like a little duckling. When I could get a splash in edgewise, I showed Maddie how to blow bubbles in the water. This was not the first time I'd demonstrated how to blow bubbles, but Maddie seemed more interested tonight. After I did it once, I noticed how closely Maddie was watching me. So I did it again! And worked hard to emphasize how I was blowing the bubbles. Then...all of a sudden...Maddie just stuck her face in the water and blew bubbles!! I was so sure I'd seen wrong, but she did it again, and again, and again! Matt saw her a few times too! The last time she tried, Maddie blew a LOT of bubbles, and then tried to inhale...Oops. She swallowed a good lungfull of water, but then recovered and went right back to splashing. What a trooper.

I can't imagine feeling any more blessed than I do today. I've got the most amazing daughter!!

Amazing Love

I am so blessed to be Maddie's Mama. Today was probably my favorite time I've spent with her to date. We spent time reading, playing in the pool, playing with our kitties, and playing in the bath. I can't quite do justice to our experience, but I'll do my best.

Maddie loves her baths. Every night before bed, I turn on the bath water in our master bathroom. As soon as Maddie hears the water crashing, she comes crawling over with a silly grin on her face. She's almost too excited, as she stands up at the edge of the tub, trying to crawl in. Since the tub is taller than she is, Maddie just grabs everything on the edge that she can and squeals with delight.

Tonight was no different; Maddie was exhausted from our busy day but thrilled for her bath time, nonetheless. We got into the tub, and I gave Maddie a couple of her bath toys. Rather than play with her purple octopus or her little orange whale, Maddie just splashed. She splashed herself, she splashed me, she splashed her toys, and she splashed the bathtub.

After we'd been playing for about ten minutes, I gave Maddie her favorite toy of all, the red, plastic, disposable picnic cup. This cup is literally Maddie's favorite. She crinkles it and gets a great sound from it. She fills it up with water and then pours it out. She chews on the cup. She introduces the cup to her other bath friends. She loves this cup. Maddie took a bit of time to reacquaint herself and the cup, and then she did the most amazing thing. She shared it. Maddie would chew on her precious cup for a few seconds, and then she put it in my mouth so I could chew on it with her. We took turns for a good five or ten minutes. Nothing made her happier than to see me enjoying her cup as much as she did. The whole time she was "feeding" me, her eyes were filled with joy and mine were filled with tears and pride. I can't believe that I am blessed with such an amazing little girl. When we got bored of chewing on the cup, Maddie figured out how to play peekaboo with it. All of a sudden, Maddie put her face into the cup as far as she could. In fact, she was so fascinated with the inside of the cup, she went a bit cross eyed. She looked around for me, and realized she couldn't see me, so she quickly pushed the cup away from her face, and I giggled and screeched, "Peekaboo"! Well, Maddie caught on immediately, and we played peekaboo for the rest of the bath! If I didn't respond with appropriate enthusiasm, she would give me this, "Come on mom, you can do better" look, and of course, I did.

It's so strange to me that something so seemingly small can create this rush of emotion. My heart is overflowing with pride, happiness, love, and awe. I can't believe that my little girl isn't just a baby anymore. I can't believe what an intelligent, fun, outgoing, and BUSY little girl I have. I'm so grateful that I had today. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds for her.