4th Birthday Portraits

Madison turns 4 this week. Here are the results of her photo session.

Happy Halloween!!
Madison loves to play dress up and I love buying her dress up clothes. Madison has a party at school today, a party at daycare tomorrow, a trick or treat birthday party tomorrow. So a girl should have a few costume changes.

Fairy

Princess
Princess (Yes we love to be a Princess and to sit on our sister)

A First....

On Tuesday and Wednesday we were at the Fragile X clinic at Childrens Hospital in Akron, OH. On the drive up we stopped to have lunch. Usually when given the paper and crayons that must accompany any meal as far as Madison is concerned, she just scribbles with no intended outcome.

This is the first drawing that Madison has done that was of something..... She told me it was a Spider........ It is the best spider that I personally have ever seen.

Vacation!!!!!!!!!!

We have just returned from our first vacation since Madison became a part of our family. And I have to say this was by far the BEST vacation we have been on ever. We have been on a few cruises, to Mexico, Alaska......this was so much better. We are now going to make Pelee Island our annual vacation spot. Is was so nice just to have family time. We played on the beach, swam, fished and just hung out and relaxed. Here are a few photos from our lovely trip...

Pelee Island SunrisePelee Island Sunset
Storm on Friday Night
Ferry Ride to the IslandMadison loved the wind in her hair
Fun in the sand with Becca
Fun in the Water
Playing Simon Says with Daddy and Becca
Fun with Jake on the Ferry Ride home

Long Time

Wow….it sure has been a long time since I wrote anything on Madison’s blog. So, lets catch up. Madison is doing great and getting so big. She is now almost able to walk up and down stairs by herself. She is still a bit unsteady, but she has progressed to staying on her feet going up and down the stairs. She uses the rail or our hand to guide her. Soon she will be flying up and down the steps. Her physical therapist had inserts made for her shoes. Madison has extremely flat feet. The inserts help to shape her feet and give her an arch when she wears them. She seems to like wearing the inserts. She has made amazing progress with her speech. There is nothing she won’t say or try to say. Her two favorite words are “either” and “why.” As in, “I don’t want that either.” And Why, Why, Why, Why….about a million times. At some point Rory gave up and said “because I said so.” Now if you ask Madison Why, she will tell you, “Because I said so.” Too cute! The school wants us to get her to the dentist to have her narrow pallet checked out. She also needs an eye exam. The narrow pallet is one of the physical characteristics due to the Fragile X. Our problem is Madison really hates doctors. We know that she will not have to have the narrow pallet corrected until she is much older, so we decided to give her a break from doctors for the summer. We will get her scheduled for these appointments later in the year. Perhaps this is not being a good parent, but at some point you have to say enough is enough and let a little girl enjoy just being a little girl. Madison still has quite a few behavior issues. But, things are improving greatly in that department. We changed daycare centers about two months ago. The center we have her in now is awesome. Madison is in the 3 year old room even though she is not potty trained. Her teacher has her degree in early childhood behaviors. She has worked wonderfully with Madison. Madison is on her way to being potty trained. This weekend for the first time she told us she needed to go, prior to going in her pullup. The doctors told us that potty training would not be easy. So, we don’t sweat the small stuff. We praise her and tell her she is a big girl when she stays dry or tells us she has to go, even if she has already gone in her pullup. And we don’t make an issue out of it if she goes in her pullup.

Madison is all girl. She is totally into the Princesses, especially Cinderella. She has watched her Cinderella DVD about 8000 times. I will need to buy a new one soon. That one is about worn out. She loves to have her hair put up, and then runs to the mirror to check out her new hairdo. Of course she keeps it up about 5 minutes and then wants us to put her hair back into a hair tie. I finally gave up one night and put her hair into 10 little pony tails. She never took one out. I don’t think she knew where to start.

We are preparing to go on vacation at the end of July for a week to Pelee Island, Ontario. We rented a cottage on the beach. We are so looking forward to a week of peace and relaxation. No cell phones, no computers. Only kids and fun. Jake, Becca and Madison are looking forward to vacation almost as much as Rory and I are.

Here are some random photos from the summer and our camping trip last weekend.

Celebrating Becca's Birthday with a walk across the bridge.Playing in the sand at Rory's work picnic

Wild Hair...(I am thinking about getting it cut)

...or I can just put it up in 10 hair ties

...a wig might work also

Playing with Playdoh with cousins Rheanna and Jess

Madison and Aidan agree that camping would not be camping without

Uncle Danny's homemade applesauce!

Madison and Rheanna enjoying ice cream

Madison really enjoys watching birds. We put out 2 bird feeders and 3 humming bird feeders. This "little" fella likes Madison's feeders. Have you ever seen such a fat humming bird? I took this photo with my new digital SLR camera...An early anniversary gift from Rory.

Sisters

Playing catch up.....

I guess it is time to catch up since I have not posted since Madison's first day of school. Madison is doing great in preschool. She loves her teachers, her classmates and the bus. The bus is her favorite part of the school day.

Madison knows her first and last name. She knows our first names. She knows how to spell her first name and many of the names of the children in her class. She can count to 20. She knows all of her shapes and colors. She has made incredible progress over the past two months.

Its actually kind of funny. Since Madison learned that Mommy is Donna and Daddy is Rory, she insists on calling Rory by Rory instead of Daddy. :-) It drives him nuts. He does not like for Madison to call him by his given name. So now whenever I address Rory in earshot of Madison I call him Daddy.

We had a massive snow storm last weekend, to the tune of two feet of snow. Madison wanted nothing to do with it. She liked to watch Rory shovel snow. And we finally got her to play in it a little.

Saturday Becca, Madison and I went with a friend from work to a Foster/Adoption Easter egg hunt. Since it was rainy, muddy and cold the egg hunt was cancelled, but they had games, food and fun for the kids. Madison was leary of the Easter Bunny. She would look at him. She would scream if we suggested she go and see him. Becca finally suggested Madison give the Bunny a high five. Madison went right up to him; gave him a high five then let him pick her up. Of course I had already put my camera away and could not get the thing out of the bag. I did manage to get one decent shot of her on the bunny's lap.

Watching Daddy Shovel Snow

Playing in the Snow

Playing Games at Preschool Family Night

Madison didnt like face painting...but enjoyed getting her hand painted.

Enjoying time with Becca

Casing out the Easter Bunny

Its not so bad......

School Days

Madison began school last Monday. The first day was as expected. Madison screamed hysterically when Rory put her on the bus. I called the school to check on her and was informed that she was doing fine. Rory and I were beside ourselves all day. There is nothing like the feeling of knowing you were putting your 3 year old in such an overwhelming situation. We placed Madison on the bus, an environment she did not recognize, with strangers. When I picked Madison up from daycare, she was beyond excited. She only wanted to talk about the bus. Madison was out of school on Tuesday due to a snow delay. On Wednesday, she did not shed a tear. On Thursday I had to take her to the bus. I expected the worse. What a surprise when Madison talked all the way to the bus about the bus and then did not shed a tear.

Madison has also become very girlie lately. She has a crown she LOVES to wear and refers to herself as a princess all the time. She has gotten very into necklaces, princess dresses and her beloved crown. We have to hide it at night or risk the fight of trying to get her out the door to school without it.

These are photos from Madisons' first day of school.