Growing Haines: Where did my baby go?

While I was at playgroup yesterday, one of the women there who has seen Madeline almost every week for the past year or so, remarked, "she's getting so big! I can't believe it!" And every time I look at my little lady, I think the same thing. I can hardly believe that I have such a big girl now! I still think of her as my baby (and I know I'll think of her this way all the days of our lives), but truly, she isn't a baby anymore. Not quite a big girl yet either, but definitely more big girl than baby :). And here are some of the "big girl" things she can do:

1. Mimicry - Miss M loves to pretend and mimic a lot of different things that we do. She has been known to pretend to feed and give water to her dolls, stuffed animals, and the pictures of animals in her books. As I put cream on my face in the bathroom after my shower, M stands beside me and rubs her face. She pretends to cook with the dishes I give her to play with in the kitchen. She also mimics sounds - when the dogs groan and growl, Madeline also does so.

2. Talk - OK, so, calling it talking is a little bit of a stretch, but, Madeline does have a few actual English words (including the essentials of Poopoo and peepee) as well as an array of personal words that make sense for what she's trying to indicate. For instance, water is called "ahhhhhhh," you know, that satisfied sigh you make after taking a long drink. Dogs are generally referred to with a barking sound, or, for my parents' dog who pants a lot, by panting. Cats are "u-mah," which I think is her approximation of meow. She calls Elmo "na na na," which is sung to the tune of the Elmo's World theme song. Between her words, "words," and gestures, she's pretty good at making her desires known. She's also quite good at understanding pretty much anything you tell her or ask her to do. Understanding and compliance are two different things however....:)

Since I've last blogged, Madeline's big event has been her baptism. She got to see all of her relatives at once! And, in the next month, Madeline is going to be an East Coast Traveling fiend - going to Concord, MA, Poughkeepsie, NY, and Naples, FL in one month. And yes, we are crazy to be doing that much traveling in one month. Oh well. :)

To close off, here are some pictures of the big girl:

Pre-baptism family pic

She is going to hate me for this picture one day. For the record, while it was my choice to leave off the pants since bath time was only a few minutes away, I did not choose to put on the shoes. That was all her.