Madeline at Two and a Half

Our sweet girl is two and a half, and she's quite a riot these days.

Some of my favorite recent Madeline-isms are:
In a high pitched concerned voice, "Mommy! She's dripping!" = Amelia spitting up
At the gym kids' care, if one of the ladies is not holding Amelia, they put her behind the counter to keep probing, curious fingers off of her, and Madeline seems to forget this fact. Poor Kathy, she must hear this no less than 50 times: "Miss Kaffy, where's my baby sister?" --- in the sweetest, most concerned voice ever
I have the same little routine for Amelia each morning before we leave --- pump out, make the bottle extra warm in the warmer, and put it into a bottle huggie. It just so happens that Daddy also uses the very same bottle huggie for his beverage in the evenings. One morning, Madeline noticed that I was putting Amelia's bottle into this bottle huggie. She says, "Mommy! That is for Daddy's beer not Amelia's bottle!"
"Mommy, I want to use some ocean too!" (ocean = lotion)
Me hugging Madeline one morning: "You are such a doll baby (or another term of endearment)! I love you!" Madeline: "I am not a doll baby. I Madeline!"

First and foremost, I absolutely love watching her interact with Amelia. The first time Amelia smiled at Madeline's antics, Madeline was busting at the seams with pride shouting, "Mama!!! She smile at MEEEE!" while clapping her hands over her chest. So cute. She even shares baby dolls and jewels with Amelia, and it's so cute to hear Madeline say, "Here Amelia, you can have a turn!" Madeline can be overly helpful and crowd Amelia's personal space, but overall Madeline takes her big sister role very seriously!
Secondly, Madeline is continuing to learn what we expect of her, and she continues to live up to and beyond our expectations 90% of the time. I'm constantly amazed at her ability to not only understand our directions but also to carry them out on a regular basis. For example, Eric was tired of Madeline's desire to constantly snack at the dinner table (initially eat her dinner then get down, then come back for more, walk around, etc.), so he put his foot down one evening. He explained to her from now on she must asked to be excused from dinner. (This also gives us some definitive say to determine if she is really done with her meal.) Since then, at every meal, not just dinner, Madeline says, "Can I get up please?" while holding out her hands to be checked & wiped. Her manners blow me away. I'm so glad that she's such a polite child. I would say that is her biggest complement from strangers.
Thirdly, Madeline is only two, and she has the potential to be a loose cannon. I constantly have to remind myself of this fact. I definitely have the tendency to hold my bar pretty high when it comes to behavior, and I've had dig deep for my patience when dealing with some of her behaviors. She's passionate and has a mind of her own, so when her anger flares, it's pretty intense. While her temper tantrums are few and far between, they still occur, and they are still pretty ridiculous! We are working on her bossiness, her overuse of the word, "NO!", her use of the phrase, "I don't want to ___!" whenever we tell her whatever it is that we are doing, and her interrupting conversation between adults.

Finally, Madeline is a dear sweet child that loves to learn, read books, eat chocolate, laugh, and play with all things girly. She is the most wonderful big sister, and we are so proud to call her our daughter.