Naptime

About halfway through the day at work, Mommy gave Daddy a call on Skype and told me simply, "You have to see this." She moved out of the way, and behind her at the kitchen table, there was Madison fast asleep!

She was playing with her Play-Doh, and fell asleep right there in the kitchen - it was all catching up with her. She's been in bed on time lately - but not going to sleep for a bit. She's been getting up early too, and anyone who knows Madison knows she goes full throttle all day long!

Everyone in the office came over to see Madison on Skype. It was funny. Even funnier, Madison saw herself in this photo later on in the day - she didn't believe us when we told her she was sleeping earlier. Then she saw the picture, and it dawned on her, and a smile crept across her face. Funny!

We did some shopping today when Daddy got home, just to get out of the house for a bit. We did get some groceries, but we also wanted to bless Madison with a baseball glove of her own. Yes, we got her a pink baseball glove. She loved it! To test it out, she and I spent some time playing catch in the aisle there at Wal-Mart. She has got a very good arm. Very good aim. And she was learning to catch really well also, to the point where Daddy was sitting there amazed!

Anyway, it was a big work day today. It was much more peaceful outside, although a bit more brisk. Madison spent the day with Mommy at the house, and she did something wonderful today: she counted a lot of objects, and counted up to ten. After ten came fourteen and fifteen, which was somewhat off, of course. But she counted out loud to ten, which was great. She really is speaking better and better each day, although we've got a ways to go on certain letters. It's just a lot of work, but when we look at everything else with Madison and how much grace we've been given, we've been so blessed.

Bedtime was funny. We had a really weird bedtime story. Yes, Madison helped tell this one:

Once upon a time, Princess Madison had to do some grocery shopping. She walked into a grocery store nearby the castle with the hopes of picking up some items on her list. As she walked into the store, though, she noticed deep amongst the shopping carts a most unique cart.

It was solid gold!

"How peculiar," Madison wondered. She dug out this shopping cart, and decided that this one would be rather nice to use at the grocery store.

But something very interesting happened: the grocery cart began to fly. Strangely, Princess Madison didn't have a difficulty holding on to it as it began to soar through the air. Smiling, she flew around through the aisles - and all the people in the grocery store gasped at the sight of her!

But there was one person in the grocery store who did not gasp.

It was Darth Vader. He stood there in the fruit aisle. He clenched his fist and waved it the air. He wanted that golden shopping cart! Why did he want it? The reason will become clear in a moment. For the time being, his voice bellowed out, "I want that shopping cart!"

Madison simply waved. After all, she had it first.

"Give me that shopping cart!" Darth Vader threatened.

Madison did not like his tone, so she started to fly away.

Darth Vader was not happy about this. That's why he grabbed his shopping cart, which was painted a dark black color - and suddenly started to fly as well!

Madison looked behind her, and realized he was chasing her. There they were, two shopping carts zipping all about, one chasing the other all throughout the grocery store. As all the people in the store dove for cover, ducking out of sight, the two shopping carts zoomed up and down aisles, from the bread aisle to the cereal aisle to the aisle with all the different soups in it. Madison reached out and grabbed a few cans of Princess Ravioli - and tossed them in the air backwards.

"Ahhhh," Darth Vader said, as he got pegged on the head with a can of soup.

Madison sped up, flying along the back of the grocery store, past all the meats. Darth Vader pursued, increasing his speed. He was getting close!

"I have you now," he announced.

But Madison made a sharp left turn and disappeared!

"What?" Darth Vader said.

Suddenly, he saw he was going too fast - which is why he and his Sith Grocery Cart slammed into the wall, right into the cottage cheese section. Cottage cheese flew everywhere, completely covering the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Madison only smiled as she flew away, down the aisle with potato chips and snacks. She knew she had some more shopping to do, and started to think about the things she needed to get on her grocery list.

She thought of blueberries, and POOF! Suddenly, blueberries appeared in her shopping cart.

She thought of Corn Pops, and POOF! There was a box of Corn Pops in the cart.

That's when she realized why Darth Vader wanted that gold grocery cart so much. Whoever was using it, whatever they wanted would appear inside!

When Madison discovered this, she decided the good and proper thing to do was to take this magical grocery cart to some place that needed it. After leaving the store, she flew all the way to a needy orphanage - and it was there that she left the magic shopping cart. All the children in the orphanage would never have to worry about food ever again! There was much rejoicing!

They were very happy to get their cart, and Madison was very happy to have all the items on her grocery list. But Darth Vader was not very happy to be covered with cottage cheese.

So if there's one thing we can learn from this, it's to ask nicely if you want something. If you don't, you too could become covered in cottage cheese.

The End.