Madeline is 8 Months Old!

Once again Madeline has a visitor! Abuela is now in Hong Kong for the second time since Mads was born. Let me try to count the times my mom has come to see me since I've been abroad: pause....pause.....awkward pause.....oh, it's zero. Now that we have a baby I can't keep her away!

You'll notice Madeline's socks all askew. They are and
have always been impossible to keep on her feet! 

Mads loves her Abuela.

Madeline had her first swim lesson last week! Despite being called a tiger mom (jokingly, I hope!), I signed her up for the infant aquatics program held at our school. In my unbiased opinion, Madeline excelled at the skills of kicking, lying on Mommy's shoulder, and not crying when water was poured on her head. Madeline wishes she could have been graded on her best skill - lapping up pool water.

She also got her first haircut! Finally, the mullet is gone. I took her to a legit kiddie salon because I figured I'd probably botch it up if I did it myself. Ryan was super excited about his little girl's new 'do until he realized that he's never had a haircut that cost that much in his life. Oh, Hong Kong!

Mads was mostly excited about the toys
she got to play with/eat.

She did a great job at holding still.

The price of the haircut is justified by this very professional certificate.
Worth it! The stamp of approval gave it just that extra edge of legitimacy.
This is definitely going on my Tiger Mom wall of certificates.

Cute little bob.

Madeline continues to enjoy trying new foods. Fortunately it's been smooth sailing since the wheat/balloon face incident. She loves to feed herself but hasn't quite yet mastered how to do that without creating a huge mess. And now that she is eating solids regularly we can go out to restaurants again. Just a couple of months ago Mom and Dad had to sneak in bites in between Madeline's wiggles, but now we can eat as a family!

I'm  hoping broccoli cigarettes are not a gateway drug.

\

I gave up on the spoon while feeding her yogurt,
so Madeline devised her own method of eating it.

Eating out is so civilized!

Madeline loves to smile and laugh. Her newest tricks are clapping, clicking her tongue, and snorting like a piggy. Her Abuela taught her all of those!

I love this face.

Ha ha that's funny!