Madeline's double life.

Madeline, seeing how tired and ready to be done with pregnancy I am, has kindly been stepping up her efforts to make the time fly by. Mostly by playing Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. Some of her antics are pretty cute, and some are not so adorable.

Cute: Her new obsession with babies- hugs, kisses, giving them binkies, and generally being friendly.
Not Cute: Her new obsession with randomly hitting and kicking babies out of the blue.

Cute: Her eagerness to help me clean. Scrubbing the walls with rags, picking up her toys and dirty laundry without supervision, putting away shoes and clothes, etc.
Not Cute: The fact that she causes most of the messes I'm cleaning up. Trying to carry a bowl of cereal and milk around the house, getting raw eggs out of the fridge and smearing them across the floor, pulling all the toys out of her toybox at once, scattering goldfish around the house in an artistic fashion.

Cute: Memorizing Oh the Places You'll Go and other books and reading them back to me enthusiastically (even if I can't understand half of what she's saying.)
Not Cute: Demanding I read the same book over and over ten times in a row and throwing fits if I don't comply.

Cute: Running into our bed at six-thirty in the morning excited to snuggle with Mom and Dad and get them up for the day.
Not Cute: Running into our bed at six-thirty in the morning excited to snuggle with Mom and Dad and get them up for the day.

Cute: Running to the door to greet Daddy when he gets home, and practically falling down with excitement when he lets her wait for the carpool with him in the morning.
Not Cute: The tantrums and sobbing when Daddy leaves for work or meetings because he doesn't love her and is probably never coming back.

Cute: Making up dances and songs for our Mom's entertainment.
Not Cute: Making up dances and songs stark naked after baths and running the the house in said manner screaming because getting dressed and having your hair done is child abuse.

You get the idea. We sure are glad to have Madeline around, making our lives interesting, joyful, and occasionally stressful beyond all belief. Reminds us why we're having another one.