Maddox's First Birthday

So I can't believe it but she is 1!! We had a great birthday celebration on Saturday. Thanks to all the family who made the trek up/over to celebrate with us. It was a really great day even with only 1 short nap. She has been playin' up a storm with her new toys since everyone left and yesterday she got back to her normal napping schedule. She is still pushing the giraffe backwards, loves to empty out the clear leggo container, and listens to the talking tea pot repeatedly. All the gifts were perfect! Thank you so much. Can't say she has had anymore cake since the party but I'm going to try some baked beans tonight for dinner...figure I'll be able to moosh them up and we'll try 'em. She RESUMED making the lion sound after a 24 hour hiatus. Don't know what that was all about but she's back to doing it again. Maybe she was on learning overload. Grammy was here all last week while our sitter went to Las Vegas for vacation. She was trying to teach Maddox the 'MOO' sound for the cow along with various sign language words in addition to teaching where HER and everyone else's nose is. Maybe just too much to throw at her in one week. I added on a couple non-birthday party pictures. Grammy, Maddox and I went to a new park over in Rock Island that one of my friends let me know about. It has a great water feature but that was too cold to play in so we just played on the playground equipment. It has rubber tiling on the ground underneath the equipment instead of sand or wood chips. Maddox had a BALL crawlin' all over and as a result you'll see her knees were black by the time were were ready to go. Swingin' is still her favorite. She is afraid of the slides and would rather just crawl around on the ground. I added a couple of pictures from last weeks swim lessons too. Grammy was able to man the camera while I was in the water with Maddox. She JUMPED into the pool from the side last week which was an 'upgrade' from the week before. However I am certain she was copying. The little girl next to us is 18 months old and is very BRAVE. She jumps ( from a seated position) into her Dad's arms so Maddox thought she'd try it out. I couldn't believe it. She still doesn't always kick her legs and 'scoop' her arms very well on her tummy like the teacher wants her to. I know she can do it but I think she is just on overload in the pool so far. In time I think we'll actually get to see her learn. We'll see what this week brings...!