Thirty-Four Months

Inching ever closer to three.....

The major milestones are no longer looming over your head. You have reached and passed them with ease. The latest? You are now 100% certifiably potty trained. NO MORE DIAPERS!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you sense I'm excited about that? I think you were ready to ditch the bedtime diaper a long time ago. It was daddy and me that kept you in them. We weren't ready for the bed-wetting phase of life, especially since your sister was going through her "I've reached 6 months and I am going to completely screw with my sleep schedule" thing. But one night about 3 weeks ago you said you didn't want to wear a diaper to bed, and that was it. And no accidents so far!! Way to go, baby.

I asked you to entertain your sister the other day while I went potty. You were both hanging out on the floor in Berit's room. Without any prompting you sang her the ABC's - and you did it all by yourself! You were so proud. I almost cried.

Another big and exciting thing this month was the arrival of Bodhi Ray DeRoma on November 25, 2009. You haven't met him yet - he is only two weeks old. But you are so anxious to meet him! He is precious and I think all 3 of you are going to be lifelong friends.

So you are going to have a fun few weeks ahead of you. Grammy is coming tomorrow for one night to see you and Berit, Nana comes Monday to stay with us for a week and Grandma comes on Christmas day to stay with us for a week. And then Grammy comes back after New Year's with Gramps and Uncle C! How much fun. You are going to be so spoiled.

iloveyoumadly.
mama

Pink Boots and Old People

We were in the car this morning on the way to school just chatting about life, like normal. You were commenting on how excited you were to turn three. And then you asked how old I was and I said "I'M OLD!!" And tried to explain what 35 was since I think you can only count to 20 right now. You sat there quietly for a minute, and then you asked quietly, "Are you going to go away?" I of course said "no" and asked why and you responded, "My kitties were old. They died." I felt horrible. You poor thing! You thought for that minute that I was going to die because I told you I was old.

You quickly recovered and moved onto the next topic: farm animals. We passed one of the farms on 75th and you saw the horses and said you wanted to go back to the pumpkin patch. I mentioned that pumpkin season was over, but that we were going to go to a farm soon to buy a Christmas Tree. I proceeded to try to explain what Christmas was, but you didn't really follow me at all until I mentioned PRESENTS! So I asked you if there was something in particular you thought you might want for Christmas this year, and without hesitation you answered, "Pink boots."

Ok then. Pink boots it is.

iloveyoumadly.
mama

Thirty-Three Months

My dearest Hadley. I mean Tinkerbell. I love your how your mind works. If only I could crawl inside your brain and take a peek at what you've got brewing up there. I opened up your school bag this morning and pulled out your daily art project. This one happened to be titled "All About Hadley." They asked you a few questions, and then wrote down your answers verbatim. (Oh to have been your teacher yesterday!) I'd summarize it here, but it's just too precious not to rewrite in it's entirety:

PAGE 1:
"My name is Hadley. I love Tinkerbell. I wear wings. I dress up and fly. My kitties died. My hair is long. I like Tinkerbell."

(reads a bit like a poem so far, don't you think?)

PAGE 2:
"Papa and Nana live in Minnesota. My daddy hurt his ribs. I have a sister, Berit. My daddy's ribs are better now. My mommy is Ginna."

(I have to say, I am impressed that a) you know your grandparents live in Minnesota, and b) when did you learn what my name was?)

PAGE 3:
"I like to go to the park and play with my family. I like to play with my friends. I like to read books. Isabelle. At home."

(You actually have "The Adventures of Isabelle" completely memorized.)

PAGE 4:
"When I grow up I want to be like Tinkerbell. I'll fly. That's all. I go have fun at the store. At the milk store."


At least you didn't say the "beer store."


iloveyoumadly.
mama

The Drive Thru

So we were out running errands this weekend and decided to grab a quick lunch at GoodTimes. We pulled into the drive-thru and you asked "Where are we?" Daddy replied "At the drive-thru". And you asked "At the beer store?"

Apparently your daddy takes you and your sister to the drive-thru liquor store after school more than I was aware.

Nice.

iloveyoumadly.
mama

Thirty Two Months

At least that's how old I think you are. Counting your age in months now is a bit tedious.....

You started pre-school this week. I can't believe it. You are so grown up. You left Miss Linnea in Tod 2 quite devastated - she loves you so much. We'll probably ask her to babysit you both one of these days, assuming your daddy and I actually go out and do something. haha. Your new teacher is Katie and you seem to like her quite a bit. From what I can tell, she is very patient and kind.

Already this week you've taken a walk with your class to the park, you've learned two new songs and you've taken your first Spanish class. SPANISH. AT AGE 2. Crazy. I am insanely jealous of you. I never took a day of Spanish. German. That was my foreign language choice. Go figure.

Your baby sister is growing increasingly more aware of, and in love with, you each day. Watching your relationship blossom is so spectacular. You are so lucky to have a little sister. I hope you cherish it always as you do now. After your bath tonight you wanted to go visit Berit in her crib since she was already asleep (usually you get done with bath soon enough to kiss her goodnight as she is eating in the rocking chair). So I scooped you up and we went in her room. I reminded you to be quiet and told you to say "Good night Berit". And you know what you said? "Good night Sweetie Pie." Sweetie Pie. How precious are you?

iloveyoumadly.
mama

Soooooooo Tiny

You're filled with funny phrases and sayings - you come up with them all the time. One of my latest favorites is "sooooo tiny" when talking about anything smaller than you. Sometimes you say it with a long drawn-out "soooooooo" and other times you say it like it is one word: "sotiny". No matter how you say it, it's adorable. Here are a few examples:

1) While in the car on the way to school, you were feeding your baby doll (Baby Shel to be exact) spoonfuls of something out of your baby bowl. I asked you what it was and you said "sotiny pasta".

2) Sitting next to Berit on the floor last night, you grabbed her feet and said "Berit's feet are sooooooooooo tiny".

You are so freaking adorable.

iloveyoumadly.
mama

A few notes from the past few days....

1)
Friday night after school Ellary, Todd and Judy came over for pizza. Apparently Ellary is punting on the whole potty training thing right now and it is really frustrating to her parents. You tell me you need to poop, so Judy tells Ellary to go with us so she can see how "big girls go potty." You sit down on the potty, and Ellary sits down in front of you on the little stool. You squeeze my hand, your nose gets red and your eyes get all watery - your M.O. when you poop. You look at Ellary and in a very strained voice, ask "Do your poopies hurt?" And Ellary wrinkles up her nose, thinks about it and says, "Yeah." I almost fell in the tub laughing.

2)
Your cousin Bryn is here with Kyle, Chelsea and baby Wyatt. Since we don't have a formal guest room at the moment, we thought the two of you could sleep together in your big bed. You both thought this was a grand idea. That is, of course, until Bryn decided to repeatedly hit you over the head with Monster to get you to play when you turned your back on her to sleep. We watched this all take place through the monitor. It was quite humorous. Their visit has reaffirmed my belief that you are one of the best-behaved and loving little girls I know. Thank you for being so wonderful.

iloveyoumadly.
mama