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

Twenty-Nine Months

Wow - almost two and a half kiddo! This summer is flying by. Last week Nana was here, and this week Andpa and Grandma are here. You are having so much fun! You are so amazing with your grandparents - so loving and silly. Just what they want from you.

You continue to develop and amaze me everyday. You are so independent! I love that I can ask you to go downstairs to your room to get something and you can do it all by yourself.

One of your latest phrases is to yell "OK!" when someone tells you to do something or tells you the definition of something. You say it with such enthusiasm it makes me giggle everytime. And the singing! You learned so many songs this year in music class at school - we have so much singing in the car, before bed, while changing Berit. You are so serious about your little hand movements that go with each song it's all I can do to keep from laughing.

You discovered the joy and excitement of water this summer. They have lots of "water play" at school where you get to wear a bathing suit and run through sprinklers. In fact at your recent parent/teacher conference they said you are the first to run through the sprinkler everytime - screaming and laughing. So we bought something similar for our backyard and you LOVE to run through it after school. Preferably naked. It's hysterical. You are slowly becoming a tiny version of me, and when I see you running naked through the yard I envision all those naked photos Gramps took of me. Pretty funny. I can't wait to see you in the lake at Nana and Papa's in a few weeks. I think it's time for swimming lessons.

iloveyoumadly.
mama

Ask Nicely

So we're trying to teach you basic manners - you know, "please" and "thank you" - stuff like that that a two year old could understand. When we ask you to say "please" you do - but it comes out more like "mees". And your "thank you's" come out like "ank choo", but we get the drift. And it's very sweet.

What's funnier is when one of us reminds you to ask for something "nicely." It comes out like this:

"Hadley. Tuppy. Nicely."

Translation: "Can I have my cup please?"

iloveyoumadly.
mama

ummmmmm......Mommy.

You're language develops exponentially everyday. You're a total sponge for everything you hear. At the end of the day - when we're all at home after work and school - you chitter chatter through the last hours of the day and we start to realize how many words you really know.

Two of the most distinct developments happened in the last week - and I think it was gradual since I can't pinpoint exactly when it happened.

#1: When asked a question, you start your response with "um." This is hysterical, as "um" is clearly not a word, rather a response when you are stuck without an answer. It's very funny to hear you say it.

#2: This one is bittersweet. I've somehow morphed into Mommy. No longer Mama. (You also started calling Dada "Daddy" but I don't care as much about that!). I know this means you are growing up, and I am so proud that you are. But there is such a sweet innocence about the way you called me Mama that it makes my heart ache.

You can call me Mommy all you want. But I will always be your Mama.

iloveyoumadly.
MAMA

Twenty Months

So you're twenty months old. That's ALMOST TWO! Almost two. Wow. And yet you're still not really talking..... hmmmm.

You're very communicative though. Daddy and I know pretty much what you are saying, even though it doesn't always sound like English. I think that may be why you're not actively increasing your vocabulary at the rate at which we wish you would. We enable you by giving you what you want when you grunt. ENABLE. This is a dirty word in many respects. And by mentioning it here, I can already see the therapist's office 15 years from now. "Ginna and Nels, you are ENABLING Hadley."

Even though you don't use specific words all the time, you are very expressive and make it pretty clear what you want. I've mentioned many times what an easy baby you are - you sleep well (most of the time), you eat well, you share well - you are a wonderful child. You even tell me when it's time for a bath and when you're ready to stop playing and crawl in your crib to go to sleep. Just the other night we were rocking in the chair, speaking quietly about the day, about your new pajamas, about Peef - and nothing in particular. All of a sudden you sat up, pointed at your crib and looked at me as if to say, "I am tired woman. Put me to bed and leave." It was pretty funny. So I put you down, kissed you good night and told you I loved you (very important steps that if skipped, you tell us we didn't do it right). As I shut the door behind me I realized that even though you don't use your words very often, you have never failed to communicate to us what you're thinking. There isn't a doubt in my mind that you are brilliant.

iloveyoumadly.
mama