Madison at Three and a Half

Madison is now three and a half (as of June 22nd)! Wow! Where has the time gone!?! Madison is so full of energy and personality (the proof is in the pictures)! She is also still just as sweet and loving as ever, with a little bit of attitude thrown in! With the addition of Mallorie, Madison started acting out more and almost eight months later she continues to act out negatively for attention. She always speaks kindly of Mallorie, but you can tell she feels threatened when the baby is getting more attention than her. Madison will usually get loud and hyper and not listen to us when she is in this mode. Needless to say she has seen quite a bit of time out the past few months! Despite that, she is a very good big sister. She is always looking out for the baby, almost to a fault. She will try and stop her from doing things that she thinks may hurt her, but she is a bit too rough. For example if Mallorie is going for something she shouldn't ie a crayon or something small, Madison will try to hold her down or pull her back by her leg. She has the best of intentions, but her methods tend to hurt or upset Mallorie. She loves to help out with the baby by getting things for me (burp cloth, pacifier, etc), helping with feedings, playing with her, etc.

Naps are pretty much a thing of the past...unfortunately. Very rare are the days when she will take a nap. Recently she actually fell asleep sitting up in the glider in the playroom!
I don't know how tall she is, but she is about 36 pounds (per the Publix scale she ranges between 35-37lbs. She loves to see 'how big' she is whenever we are there!).
She is a good eater and will try just about anything. If we have something new she is required to at least try it. She still doesn't like potatoes (unless they are fried) and recently she tried squash and didn't like that either. She also doesn't like anything spicy.
She still loves to color and paint. we have worked some on writing her name and the alphabet. She is very eager to learn new things, but I have to admit I'm not the best at sitting down and doing it with her. It's so hard for me with work and the baby. I really need to look into getting her into some sort of preschool a couple of mornings a week. Scott and I have been so reluctant to let her go, but I think we need to do it for her. She also loves for us to read to her.
She is now swimming (I need to make a separate post on that).
Madison loves dance. She is looking forward to classes starting up again soon. She will randomly ask if she has dance class today and is disappointed when I tell her no.
She has MANY imaginary friends! I never had one when I was little so it's kind of hard for me to understand. She knows they are pretend and can't be seen and yet she talks about them and to them quite frequently. Oh, and one of them has a birthday everyday! One of the favorites are Emme, AV and Tomato head! There are several others that are ______head (apple, acorn, usually some kind of fruit or vegetable).
Madison LOVES her whole family. She tells us this all the time. She also tells us how much she misses all of her family that doesn't live in our house.
She is so emotional! She is such a little lover and hates when she has to leave her family. She definitely cries when she has to say good bye. She has such a big heart!
I'm sure there were other things I wanted to say about her, but I'm tired and that's all I can think of right now! Overall Madison is a ball full of energy and love! She also comes up with the funniest things and speaks in words beyond her years (she has a huge vocabulary full of big words). We love our big silly girl!