RSS 2.0 FeedThursday, January 5, 2012, Bellmore Life
Bellmore Baby Madeline is one year old!
Little Madeline lights up their lives.
“She’s the light of my life,” said dad Luis Abreu (pronounced A-bray-o) of Bellmore’s 2011 First Baby of the Year Madeline Grace Abreu, who just turned one year old yesterday.
Happy Birthday, Madeline!
Both dad and mom Annalisa gave Bellmore Life a glimpse into the world of one-year-old Madeline as she reached her first milestone. “She’s very smart, very attentive and aware of everything now,” said mom Annalisa. “She’s curious about everything.”
Surely enough, as Bellmore Life at and talked with mom and dad, Madeline was turning over the pillows on the couch, crawling up on dad’s knee, getting down, going over to her toys and rattling them, grabbing for a camera bag to take off the table.
Oops! Mother and dad look quickly at one another to see who moves first to avert a potential problem – in no time she’s in their laps again.
“We take her to Mommy and Me at Tots on Track in Massapequa every Saturday,” continued Annalisa. “She plays gymnasium, sings songs and interacts with all the children.”
When they mention Ms. Rhona, leader at Tots on Track, Madeline’s face lights up with a smile. But when they mention Bellmore pediatrician Dr. Roberto Marchitelli, her face grows serious. “She knows she goes there to get her shots,” said Luis.
“Dr. Marchitelli say she’s within the 95% range in height, and in the 50% range for her weight,” mom continued. He predicts she’ll be a tall, slim girl, Annalisa says.
While both her and Luis were dancers who loved going out on the town after first being married, having Madeline has completely changed their lives. “Our life is different now with her,” dad Luis says. “We don’t go out to dance anymore like we used to.”
Instead, he says that when he’s at work as a dancer or when working at Bye Bye Baby in Garden City he thinks about coming home to be with Madeline and his wife Annalisa.
But when they stay at home both parents will sometimes put on dance music, in which Madeline will move to the beat. Annalisa swears that Madeline may already know the beat to the music they dance to because when Annalisa was pregnant with Madeline both she and Luis would go dancing regularly.
Their daily routine is as easy as watching TV, giving her a bath and reading books to her every night, such as “The Cat in the Hat,” “Elmo” and Disney books.
With only her bottom two teeth Madeline, who takes “baby steps,” is able to eat a wide range of foods now. “She just started drinking whole milk,” said Annalisa. But she will also eat rice and beans, macaroni with sauce, spaghetti and eats her veggies, too.
Equally interesting is that mom and dad are teaching her both English and Spanish. As mom is a employee with the Town of Oyster Day in Massapequa who works with both English- and Spanish-speaking clientele, and dad Luis is from the Dominican Republic, bilingualism is the way to go in this household.
“The majority of books and toys are bi-lingual,” said Annalisa. Madeline will also watch cartoons in English and in Spanish on the Spanish TV network. “I speak to her in English and Luis speaks to her in Spanish,” she maintained.
Annalisa said that the sponsors of the gifts she and Luis received for Madeline being Bellmore’s First Baby of the Year have all been “just great.”
Saying she couldn’t go to each and every sponsor within six weeks because Madeline didn’t need some of the particular gifts until she grew older, such as shoes, Annalisa said the sponsors all honored their gift offerings throughout the year.
She thanks them for that.
