schools out.

from the moment she was concieved, we coddled her.

i mean i stopped painting my nails dedicated. and toenails! (i heard there is formaldehyde in nailpolish.) and stopped drinking diet cokes. big sacrifices for me.

her first two years were filled with unimaginable loads of attention from at least a dozen adults, big big madelyn fans- i mean, roomsful of adults playing games with just her. like: one person holds her behind the closed door, then opens it and ten adults clap and cheer. or: peek a boo with four adults popping from behind the couch to suprise her. or: her second birthday party, in attendance: fourteen adults, one child. she's garnished quite a following in her three years.

we gave her our undivided attention. we read innumerable books. we taught her to sign. we dressed her up in adorable outfits. we sang our lungs out for her. we gave her no sugar for at least her first 18 months. i made her baby food. i nursed her to sleep for the first 26 months of her life.

we had a schedule. mondays: kindermusik. tuesdays: little gym. wednesdays: story time. thursdays: zoo. fridays: story time. it was baby heaven.

we moved to mexico after that. where the fun is. where the cousins are. and then we added olivia to our little family. (and we don't do kindermusik, little gym, story time or get to the zoo very often. but we do have joyschool, and she loves that.) this last year has been a bit rough for m.j.

and then i tried to send her to preschool.

she loved the first couple of days of it. then she didn't want to go anymore. (remember the deal, if she didn't want to go, she didn't have to?) but oh, but it was so nice to have that break. and i really liked packing up her little snack lunches. and picking out outfits.

apparently she started pulling mercedes braids. and getting out of line while walking to the playground. and singing, loudly, right in the teacher's face while the teacher asked her to stop.

so they told her, 'madelyn, if you keep doing X, we're going to have to call your mom to come get you.' and she said really? with delight in her eyes. and pulled mercedes braids again. (poor sadie. the innocent victim of it all.)

looks like baby girl isn't ready for preschool yet.

we tried to push our baby out of the nest too soon. (just like daddy said.)

she said she didn't want to be at school because mommy and daddy aren't there.

come back in the nest our baby girl. packing lunches will wait.