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Happy Birthday, Maddie!



Wow. my sweet little baby, who I swear I just brought home from the hospital, turned two today. I wasn't home when she woke up because I was out with my running team and she woke up waaaaay to early, but as soon as I walked in she ran over in her pajamas with her crazy bedhead and immediately wanted to be picked up and to begin our morning snuggle routine. I sang her happy birthday. which she has been asking everyone to do all week; "sing happy happy!" she asks/demands. I made her pancakes with funfetti the color of Thomas and let her play with her trains while she ate. We chatted about her upcoming day and our Skype date with Grandma tonight so she can open her presents "live" with her and then we got ready and off to pick up her nanny.
 I was going to stay home from work today but I have most of the week off next week and my boss is on vacation and I know that Maddie will have just as much (ok, probably more) fun with her nanny. I will be ready to celebrate tonight, then again tomorrow with Jane, and again on Friday with Kate. At age two she has already adopted the "birth week celebration" that we O'Sheas love so much - smart kiddo!
Here are some other stats on Maddie as she begins her terrific twos!

Favorite activities: She loves the playground, especially climbing high ladders and going down the high slides (eek, my heart!); attending her weekly music classes where she is dancing and singing up a storm these days; going to the Museum of Science and looking at the "dine-dines" (dinosaurs) and coloring, oh the coloring! Maddie can sit down and color for hours, demanding that you draw trucks and trains for her to color over; she plows through coloring books in one sitting, so if you are at Target and see them in the dollar bin please grab ten for the next time you come over!

Favorite foods: She is definitely a toddler and a pretty picky eater, but we make what we make for dinner and offer it every night and if she refuses then we offer her some supplements: yogurt, applesauce or bread, since we know that she eats well during the day and on Thursdays when we have family dinner at my AIL's house. Her other favorite foods are mac and cheese, cheese in any capacity, more cheese, pancakes, soup (or as she says, zuppa!), pasta, kiwi, grapes, berries, bananas and peanut butter and jelly on potato bread. She really does not have a sweet tooth and still has very little interest in meat, so overall she eats pretty darn clean and I am proud to say that she has never had McDonalds or any sort of fast food aside from pintos and cheese from Taco Bell and a grilled cheese from In & Out.

Favorite people: When Maddie grows up and asks what kind of kid she was I know that I will never ever use the word "shy". She says hello to any and everyone who she sees, from the grocery store clerk to the homeless men in the park, and it could not make me happier. I think that stranger danger is a load of shit and I am happy to foster an outgoing, community aware little person who I am sure will make good decisions about who she should and should not talk to. Even now there are some people that she chooses  not to talk to, and in general I have agreed with her taste, so if you ever hear someone call her shy, it is because they don't seem fun enough to chat with; sorry creeps. Aside from her love for strangers Maddie deeply loves her Jane, her nanny Hannah, Kendra and Uncle V, Grandma, Papa and Sheila, Kate, her go-to sitters Mary, Robyn and Jill, her "fwends" from her birthday party and her cat, who she affectionately calls "Lou Lou no".

Her personality: To us she is smart beyond words; already singing (some of) the alphabet song, repeating every word she hears (that's been a fun change for our vocabulary); accurately pointing out different types of construction equipment and differentiating colors correctly (gone are the days where everything is "ye-yow"). Madeleine Jane is outgoing, funny, affectionate, empathetic (she gets very concerned when other kids cry), independent, stubborn and curious. She loves trains, trucks, buses, planes, people, playgrounds, pancakes and parades. She hates sleeping, going to bed, being told that she needs to go to bed, or staying asleep, which truly is our only parent struggle with her.

Maddie Jane, you have brought so much joy, laughter and love into all of our lives and you are by far the most amazing little human I have ever known. Thank you for having us along for your journey!

Happy Birthday!

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