Straight from the Hart: October 2013

We still don't know many people here in Birmingham, but fortunately we have kept in close contact with our friends in Florida. We have also had a TON of visitors....glad we bought a bigger house!!

This month we had visits from G-ma and Nay Nay and Papa (this was after our 2 sets of visitors last month!) We love all of the visitors and get excited to cook and entertain anyone who wants to come visit us...hint hint. ;)

Maddie is doing so many things it's getting hard to keep up...

She is starting to speak in sentences. She really tries to speak in long sentences, but the middle gets all mumbled. Usually she's good for 3-4 words.
Will really listen to you and attempt to hold a conversation. This makes it fun to be home with her. I don't feel that alone during the day.
I made a little fall bucket list and we have been trying to complete the things on there. So far we have made pumpkin cookies, made pumpkin cheesecake, made pumpkin muffins, drank apple cider (well I did), went to the farm/pumpkin patch....I'm not sure who was more excited about the farm me or Maddie. I have never been to an actual farm and well here in Alabama there are lots of them! They had hayrides out to the pumpkin patch, hay bail mazes, a petting zoo, and cotton! It was super exciting and Maddie talked about riding the tractor for weeks!
Maddie is getting to wear lots of jackets and hats! We had some colder weather in October (highs in the 40s). The trees have all changed color and our lawn is filled with leaves...it's pretty nice to have our first change of seasons!
LOVES Story time and Kindermusik. We haven't missed a week yet and Maddie gets so excited to go to the library and music class. She talks all about her "teachers" and the things they do every week.
Likes to help me grocery shop. We go to the grocery store every Thursday after music class and she loves to hold the produce bags and put the fruits/veggies in.
Is so friendly to everyone she meets. She says hello to just about everyone no matter where we are. We go down the aisle in the grocery store and she says "hi" to anyone that walks by.
Doesn't like it when the cashiers at the store take our stuff to scan it. We are working on the concept of buying items and then taking them home. Now she has been telling me, "mommy buy it?"
Loves to kick the ball. She is actually quite good....future soccer player! ;)
Still LOVES books and animals! She will read all day!!
Is getting long hair! Her hair is starting to curl in the back and she occasionally will wear a bow.
Loves pretend play, play doh, and arts/crafts. She will sit for a long time and play "party"...she sets up her animals and gets out the tea set/picnic basket. Just about everyday we do something with play doh....she runs up to me and tells me it's play doh time! She loves to color with crayons and markers.... we sit daily at her table and color!
Eats super well with her utensils. We have even taken her straps off her booster chair, so she is really just sitting in the chair by herself...so big!
Is doing super well with independent play. She use to want to do everything with me and now she will go into her playroom and make her own decisions about what she wants to play with. This is super helpful when it's time to prepare for/clean up meals.

We also turned our formal living room into a play room for Maddie. We are working on some fun ideas to add to it and make it even more exciting! So far she loves it!

Pictures...