**Thanks to my cousin Katie for the great photos.
Since I completely SUCK at blogging now (seriously, still haven't written about Redfish or my birthday), and since I lost all short (and long) term memory after having a child, I decided I just needed to do a random blog of things Hadley's been up to. I seriously worry that I won't be able to remember all the funny things she has been doing.
Here goes:
- She still calls other kids "babies" and always tries to hug them. Most kids are completely put off by this, but every now and then a kid (usually right around her age) will give her a hug back. She'll say, "Awww Baby!" and pat their back. So sweet!
- She is amazing at saying the entire alphabet and can count to thirteen all by herself. She recognizes about 80% of the alphabet by sight and can point out letters throughout the day. Because we now almost exclusively watch Netflix, she will see the big red screen on the TV and say, "N. E. T. F. L. I. X!" She also spells out STOP when she sees a stop sign. She may have a speech delay, but she'll be reading before we know it!
- She loves her toddler bed now. It was a nightmare getting her in there, but now we can't get her out! These past few weeks she's been sleeping in until 8 or 9 (she's a night owl and stays up with us until 9:30ish) and then she takes at least an hour and a half nap. We've been loving this and she wakes up chipper and ready for the day. I found some great white bedding from Target and I'm starting to plan her "big girl" room, but for now we have stripped her bedroom of nearly all toys or other distracting things, so she can just go in there and relax and quickly fall asleep.
- She is into singing a little more and can mumble along to the Dropkick Murphys' song "Rose Tattoo." She likes watching the video and there's a part that shows a picture of a guy named "Nuf 'Ced McGreevy" who is an old-timey looking guy from the early 1900s who rocked a sweet mustache and when the picture comes up she says "Papa!" because she thinks it's Levi's dad Brad, who also rocks a mustache. So freaking cute!
- She has become EXTREMELY clingy. I'm worried that people will be offended when she runs away from them, but really, she's just become obsessed with Levi and me always being in her line of sight.
- She has started to secretly put rocks in her mouth and when I catch her and say, "Hadley, no! That's yucky" she spits them all out (sometimes as many as 3 or 4) and laughs like a crazy person.
- She is still extremely picky and will still only eat a select number of foods (this is because of her sensory problems) but we are making some ground, like yesterday when she took a bite of string cheese! Small victories!
- She loved going to the pool this summer and we're going to be sad to see them close next week. Seriously, I need some ideas on how to keep her busy this winter. I'm not sure how much the YMCA's pool is for non-members, but I'm going to be looking into it.
- She LOVES going for bike rides with us. We put a bike seat on the back of our new tandem and she loves sitting behind me. Whenever she (or I) get restless in the evening, we get the bike out and go up and down all the streets behind our house.
- She still loves Wilson, which is always funny considering Wilson is a typical 11 year old, who doesn't spend his day playing with toddler girls. She always wants to hug and kiss him and I love watching him squirm away from her!
- Hadley LOVES books now and my Barnes and Noble heart is singing! She has many of them memorized and makes me read them over and over again. Believe me, I am NOT complaining. When she first started speech therapy, she wasn't interested in books at all and never pointed at anything in them. Now she spends minutes on each page pointing at all the details and making me repeat the lines PERFECTLY.
- Her first multiple-word phrase (besides "Thank You") is "Where Are You?", which just sounds like, "AreYOU?" We'll take it! Also "All done" sounds a lot like "I down" which usually works too :)
- When left in just a diaper, Hadley will instantly get it off and run around naked. I don't mind, except the breezy air makes her pee EVERYWHERE. Still cute though to see her wandering around the backyard naked.
There are so many other things I want to say about Hadley, but this is a short glimpse into our amazing toddler's world. We love her so much and I can't wait to see what else she discovers!
