This afternoon at the park Maddie climbed the steps to the top of the big slide and surprised us by sliding down all by herself!  It was so fun to see the big smile on her face when she reached the bottom and realized she had done it without any help.  We laughed and watched as she repeatedly climbed the steps to slide down again and again.  As she climbed she would count, although not necessarily starting with the number one.  "Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, twelve, thirteen. . . ."  We'll eventually get past that pesky number.  :)

After her little legs tired of climbing the mountainous stairs, Maddie wanted to swing.  The baby swings were wet from the rain, so I tried to get her to swing on my lap, but no, she wanted to be Miss Independent.  We sat her on one of the big swings, told her to hang on tight, and gave her a little push.  She loved it!  I think she probably stayed on the swing for five to ten minutes before I was able to get her off.  I'm so proud of our big girl!

Tiny Tidbit:  Maddie LOVES the Clean Up song.  She sings it while she cleans, in the car, and she even sang it tonight while she was eating.  Silly girl.