"Look at the state of me mum. I'm a big girl!"

Those were Maddie's exact words from the back of the car today as we drove for a play date with her best bud in the whole world, Linus Stafford. And let me tell you, she is absolutely correct! Our little baby girl is becoming quite the little lady. Here are some things you should know about Madeleine Grace Nicholls at 2 years and 8 months old....

1. She is "absolutely, definitely getting a big girls bike for her 3rd birthday" (in her own words)

2. She loves the word "actually". Eg: "actually mummy, I really think it would be best if you gave me a treat before dinner in case I am not hungry after dinner!"

3. She has an amazing memory and belts out a song after hearing it just a couple of times. Her favourites include; 'ABC' by The Jackson Five (RIP to the troubled MJ), 'It's Not Fair' by Lilly Allen (a little concerning given the subject matter) and 'It's Raining Men' (thanks to her Nanna Nicholls!)

4. She is obsessed with long hair. I guess it is because hers is taking some time to flourish. Every day she says "soon I'll have a long pony mum won't I?"

5. She is a total girly girl. She can't get enough of Barbies and Bratz dolls (much to my dismay!) and fairies and princesses. Just about everything in her wardrobe is pink and she insists on wearing fairy wings and tutus almost everywhere we go.

6. She is completely besotted with her best bud Linus and she thinks her cousin Daisy May is "totally beautiful".

7. She totally and utterly adores everyone in her family and asks god and the angels to bless all of them before she goes to sleep every night

8. She has a very naughty streak and has been know to hurl abuse at strangers in shopping centres for no apparent reason. "Go away man!" or "I don't like you lady"... horrendously embarrassing!

9. She also has an amazingly outgoing and kind streak and will go up to complete strangers and say, "hi my name is Maddie, you have beautiful hair, what is your name?"

10. She is nuts about rainbows. We were lucky enough to see about 12 rainbows when we spent the week at our friends house in Victor Harbor. She was in heaven!

11. She gives the most wonderful cuddles you could ever imagine. Some of them even include a run up!

12. She is a terribly fussy eater and would live on peanut butter sandwiches, apple & guava juice and furry friends if she had her way! Bloody nightmare!

13. She makes Simes and I giggle every day and she has one of the loudest most infectious cackles I have ever heard.

14. She is a great negotiator and will often get her way through sheer sweetness and "Maddie rationale". Eg: "Mum, I really think it would be better if I came into your bed and gave you a 20 minute cuddle rather than stay in my bed. Just 20 minutes OK?"

15. She is a very old soul and her vocabulary astounds us. The other day when I was cooking Sunday lunch for friends and she was buzzing around my feet asking me a million and one questions, she eventually tugged on my cardigan and said "mummy, you would like me to be self sufficient wouldn't you?". I nearly fell on the floor with laughter. I am guessing I have said 'you need to be more self sufficient' to her once or twice before, (like when she is ordering me to get her the cup of water that is two feet away from her when I am upstairs and she could very easily get off her bottom and get it herself!) But I certainly wasn't expecting it to be repeated back to me by a little lady of 2 1/2! She also told me to "stop being so demanding" in the car today, so I guess she has heard that once or twice before too.

16. She is having varied success with her toilet training. But quite frankly I don't even want to sit on the cold toilet seat in winter, so I don't really blame her for wanting to put the whole toilet thing off. She loves the big girls pants, but just keeps forgetting to tell me when she needs to go to the lav. I need to remind myself to keep my patience, but frankly soiled knickers are deeply depressing!

17. She might have been a bag lady in a former life because she insists on hording everything. We cannot leave the house without several bags, toys and accessories. It is like every journey could be our last and she wants to make sure she has everything she will need to keep her amused and well accessorised!

18. She thinks that her grandparents are the bees knees. We just spent a bit over a week in Adelaide and it made my heart want to pop every time her little face lit up when she saw them. She bossed them all around constantly and they all seemed to love it!

19. She LOVES reading. Nothing makes her happier than sitting down with a pile of books and listening to stories. She memorises the pages and if you stop at any point in the story (or try to skip ahead in order to get her into bed faster) she will fill in the gaps or correct you.

20. She is the light of our lives. I keep wondering if this deep sense of love that we have for her will ever become less intense, but the truth is that I think I fall in love with her more every day. I really do count my blessings.

Here are some photos from her best friend Linus' 3rd birthday. Linus calls Mads his "one in a million girl" and Mads proposed marriage to him on Monday night when she got back from Adelaide. I guess that means they are pretty keen on each other!

Love and laughter to all xxx