Maddy's Update

Today finds Maddy at almost 31 months old and becoming a little girl! We have survived what I hope was the worst of the 'terrible twos', and she finally has learned and uses the word YES! She loves: Caillou, Minnie Mouse, Disney Princesses, play-doh, puzzles, books, wearing princess dresses, spinning in circles, jumping up and down, brushing her teeth, taking baths, playing with baby-dolls, seeing fish, singing ABCs (although usually starts at Q), counts to 10. We are soon going to attempt potty training, although she is resisting at the moment.

*weighs almost 30 pounds

*around 36 inches tall

*wears 2T, some 3T

*sleeps 10 hours at night, naps 2 hours in the afternoon

We are having fun with this age, she is such a sweet girl and says the cutest "I ove u" .

We love you Madeline Mae!

Love,

Momma and Dadda

We're Back!

Please excuse the almost 7 month hiatus, but we're back! Now that we are expecting #2, I hope to get back into blogging, these days when our kid(s) are young we'll be the ones we want to remember, and will be fun for them to read when they are older.

In the last 7 months (some big, some little):

*I (Amanda) was 'pink slipped'/rif'ed/became unemployed for almost 4 months

*I got rehired by the school district and found new dream job as an intervention teacher, working 1/2 days, 5 days a week, pulling students out in small groups to work on math and language arts

*we became pregnant with baby #2, due June 8, 2012

*I was nauseous every evening for 5 weeks straight, Mike was super-dad and husband and took care of everything, while letting me be as still as possible on the couch

*welcomed our new niece "Baby Lizzie"

*Have started letting our 3 cats go outside, Lina and Lula pretty much stay inside all the time and Lani is outdoors almost 24/7 with visits to eat and drink throughout the day

*Mike has started to walk/run/'rulk' in 5K races, we have several weekends in the next few months that we will do mini-vacations revolving around the 5K destinations

*We continue to be Disneyland fans and visit A LOT, Maddy frequently asks to go "See Minnie"

*We take full advantage of our other annual passes to Sea World, Aquarium of the Pacific and LA Zoo

That about sums it all up for the Kitano family! Happy holidays!

Our little girl is now 2

On May 24, 2011, Madeline turned 2! I made it almost 2 years with pretty regular monthly updates, so forgive my lateness on this post. We've been spending a lot of time at Disneyland, Mike decided that season passes (for Mike and I, Maddy is still free) would make a great weaning present for the family. There is a great monthly payment option for So Cal residents too.

Yes, we've weaned! We successfully breast fed for 23 1/2 months. She was showing no signs of stopping on her own, so I stopped cold turkey one day. I had been telling her she was going to be a big girl and big girls don't do that anymore. I came home from tutoring one day and decided this was our end time. Told her I ran out of milk, and that's how we stopped. It was a rough few nights (we co-sleep and were night nursing), but she got the hang of it. We do a late night snack to fill up her belly or she'll be up in the middle of the night needing to eat. She won't drink milk at home (she'll do it for her grandmas sometimes), so we do a lot of yogurt. When I say a lot, I mean a lot, sometimes up to 8 of those Danimals yogurt drinks a day. She got a few colds back to back right after weaning, but has been pretty healthy lately. So to celebrate, we decided to become pass holders at Disneyland. Maddy LOVES going on her favorite rides; It's a Small World, the Enchanted Tiki Room (she sways along with the music), The Jungle Cruise (where she insists to "shoot hippos"), and the Disneyland "choo-choo".

We had an "Elmo" themed birthday party; apparently Caillou lost in the final rounds.

We are amazed as how much of a bigger girl she is becoming. She continues to torment the cats and loves her "Caillou" and "Elmo".

Maddy continues to attend her YMCA classes where she loves the parachute. All of the other activities doesn't appeal to her as much.

We are very proud of you as you continue to amaze us!

Love,

Momma and Dadda.

23 MONTHS OLD

On Easter, Maddy turned 23 months old! We've had an interesting month..

Maddy caught another cold just a couple weeks after her last one, resulting in a trip to urgent care when she woke up from her nap with a rapid heartbeat and quick, shallow breathes. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and given an antibiotic, albuterol and prednisone. Luckily the kid likes to take medicine! She recovered very quickly and you'd never know that that she had been sick.

Unfortunately, this month we also felt the need to start giving Maddy time-outs, she dove head first into the "terrible twos". All the medicines she was taking for the pneumonia seemed to escalate the naughty behavior and she is behaving much better these days. Her favorite naughty behaviors include: climbing on the couch and hitting the glass walls in our family room, pulling cat tails, smothering the cats with her whole body, screaming, throwing all the couch cushions off the couch onto the floor, throwing food and drinks onto the floor, refusing to sit in the bathtub for a bath (we had a week of only stand up baths) and tantrums galore!

She did fine with me away for our first night apart, Grandma Jane held her throughout most of the night so daddy could rest. They get to have another sleep over this weekend while I am away for a wedding.

23 months finds Maddy:

• 26 pounds
• 33 inches
• size 7 shoe
  
• size 2T clothes
• size 5 diaper
• more independent
• a climber (climbed into her high chair by herself, all I heard was "I did it" and found her in her chair trying to snap the tray in)
• Putting more sentences together like "I see you, Lulla"
• washing herself with a wash cloth
• loves Caillou, play-doh, painting

Next month you turn 2! We are busy planning an Elmo birthday party for all your buddies. We love you Madeline Mae, and are amazed at how quickly you are becoming a big girl!

Love,

Momma and Dadda

Twenty-Two Months Old!

Today is Madeline's 22nd month birthday!

She has been sick all this week with a cold and completely off her schedule...so we have had naps that don't start until the time they usually are ending, fun times here!

She is starting to talk more clearer and putting more words together this month. She used to drop the end of multi-syllable words, but now will almost always say the whole word. New words or phrases this month include: Happy to You ( for the happy birthday song), I got you, I see you, sit down, naked, tattoo (won't explain why she knows this one ;), Dida (for cousin Diana), playdoh, choo choo, beeba (umbrella), paint.

22 months finds Maddy:

• Size 5 diapers
• size 7 shoe
• size 2T clothes
• 16 teeth
• making monkey sounds with gestures whenever she has her shirt off
• spinning around in circles until she gets so dizzy she falls over
• climbing on everything
• recently discovered how fun it is to take the couch cushions off the couch
• obsessed with "beep beep", daddy lets her sit in the driver's seat of the car and play with the steering wheel and horn
• we turned her pony over on its higher side, she has mastered climbing on and off of it
• bites her nails (is this genetic?)
• not a fan of having her diaper changed

This weekend Maddy and I will spend our first night apart while I am on Catalina Island for a bachelorette weekend. Her and Daddy will go spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa Kitano's house for the back up support. Wish us all luck!

We love you Madeline Mae!

Love,

Momma and Dadda

21 Months Old

Today is Madeline's 21 month Birthday! 21 months sounds so close to 24 months/2 years, I can't believe she will be 2 soon.

We are making good progress with the toddler bed, she goes to sleep in it for all her naps at home and starts the night in it every night. She still wakes up in the middle of the night and joins us in our bed for the remainder of the night. The time she wakes up is getting later and later though, so hoping she'll sleep through the whole night one of these days. I do enjoy her snuggling up next to me and am sure I'll miss it when that day comes.

She is a very shy kid, but is becoming more adventurous. Her vocabulary has also grown, she tries to repeat so many words. She requests songs to be sung to her too, "row row", "wheel", or makes the wheel motion or spider with her hands.

She has become a much better stroller rider, we take walks daily (when it isn't raining), and will gladly ride along in the BOB, and usually falls asleep.

21 months finds Maddy:

• wearing 24 month, 2T clothes
• squeezing into the last box of size 4 diapers, we have size 5 ready to go
• has a new found love of climbing
• toddler bed!
• could eat miso soup all day long
• possibly made her TV debut while running a work errand with Dad to the courthouse (Lindsay Lohan was there too), E news was filming outside as Mike and Maddy walked by and she waved at the camera
• continues to LOVE babies (real and dolls), I think she is hinting she is ready for a sibling ;) (no, we are not pregnant)
• visited the Zimmer Museum twice in one week (we loved it)
• randomly asks for her cousin Bella (she says her name by saying "Bell" and sicking out her tongue and moving it side to side while saying the "a"
• "Peepa" for Grandpa, "Meema" or "Gamma" for Grandma, "Hahel" for Hazel, "Ja" for Jack

We love you Madeline Mae, thank you for being our sweet girl!

Love,

Momma and Dadda

20 Months Old

Yesterday, 1/24/11, Madeline turned twenty months old. We'll have to start counting her age in years soon. We've made an effort recently to help her become a "big girl", we turned her car seat to face forward (and one of us no longer rides in the back seat with her anymore), and took apart and stowed away her crib (that she slept in for a few hours total her whole life). We welcomed a toddler bed into our room and are in the process of having her sleep in it, instead of snuggled in between us in our bed. Next step...weaning off of breast feeding, I hope to be done with this soon, she is not as eager. We are also practicing sitting on the potty, but so far there does not seem to be any interest in using it.

20 months finds Maddy:

• 24.5 pounds
  
• size 4 diaper
• size 7 shoe
• 24 month, 2T clothes
• says "P U" when she does a stinky
• blows bubbles
• Elmo obsessed, kisses his picture in books
• says "I down" when she wants up
• "I do" when she wants to do something
• loves to give hugs
• screams her way through swim class
• loves playing with baby dolls

Madeline, We love watching you become a big girl and are amazed at all the new things you can do!

Love,

Momma and Dadda