Warning: Growth Spurt Ahead!!

First I have to say that I am proud of myself AND, I think this is a record....four posts in one day!!!

Mama-Dirtyfoot just wanted to report that we are in the process of a growth spurt for Madeline. I have noticed a trend with my dear child and it seems as though the trend is continuing. First, prior to/during a growth spurt Madeline tends to get very brave with testing her limits and gets quite difficult to deal with. Regular readers know that this has been the case with Madeline lately. Also, I often find that during these times Madeline usually comes down with a cold (which she is just getting over). Maybe her body is too busy working on helping her grow that it can't put its usual energy towards the immune system. Additionally, Madeline tends to be more tired and packs away the food as though she is a bottomless pit.

At dance class today, I noticed how tall Madeline is getting. She is just as tall or taller than the other girls in her class but all the other girls are between six months to a year older than Madeline is. Also, when we snuggle with Madeline she likes to rub our face. Her hand on my face no longer feels like a baby's hand but rather that of a girl. While rocking Madeline at bedtime Madeline has truly exited the baby stage as again, in this situation, she no longer feels like a little baby. The same holds true when I hold her hand. It is just amazing to me how quickly she is growing up.

Madeline seems to have somewhat grown out of the napping stage unless she is absolutely exhausted and even then, there are no guarantees for a nap. Yet, Madeline napped the past two days!!

As far as packing away the food, Madeline has been totally doing that the past few days. She was a bottomless pit today! For breakfast Madeline had eaten every bite of a scrambled egg, 3 pieces of bacon, a piece of cinnamon toast, and strawberries. For lunch she ate an entire grilled cheese sandwich and an entire orange. Madeline napped and when she woke up, snacked on some shredded wheat cereal. We went out to dinner tonight. Madeline devoured a full hot dog, about 4 french fries, about 1/2 of her Macaroni and Cheese. She then started in on the huge orange wedges that the restaurant gave as a garnish on her plate. After devouring the initial serving of two wedges (which were probably the equivalent of a 1/4 of an orange) Madeline started begging for more oranges. We asked the waitress if we could get more and she brought them. Madeline devoured those too! Then, we figured how can we complain about her wanting to eat fruit so when Madeline started begging for even more oranges the waitress brought out a huge container for us (yes the service was awesome!) and Madeline ate about three more of the wedges. Looks like Madeline is fueling up for a massive growth spurt!