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
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
So grown up!
GROWN UP OBSERVATION #1:
We were sitting on the patio with daddy and Aunt Ba on Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, and you wanted to ride your tricycle on the patio. It had been raining so your trike was leaking water all over the place. You're not a fan of messes - dirt on the ground, sticky fingers, dirty feet - all of these things bother you. So all of a sudden you stand up, open the patio door (by yourself), and walk inside. The three of us stop what we're talking about and look at the door trying to figure out what you were doing. All of a sudden we hear the cabinet door shut and it dawned on us - you were getting a paper towel to clean up the spilled water. And out you waddled, paper towel in hand. I have never shown you how to open the cabinet, where the paper towels are or when to use them. But apparently you're very observant.
GROWN UP OBSERVATION #2:
You were sitting at your craft table yesterday coloring with your crayons with daddy. I was making dinner watching you both play - one of my favorite things to do. You started coloring on the table - not the paper - and daddy gently said, "No No Hadly - paper only." To which you stood up from the table and walked to the corner and gave yourself a time-out. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I did a little of both.
iloveyoumadly.
mama
We were sitting on the patio with daddy and Aunt Ba on Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, and you wanted to ride your tricycle on the patio. It had been raining so your trike was leaking water all over the place. You're not a fan of messes - dirt on the ground, sticky fingers, dirty feet - all of these things bother you. So all of a sudden you stand up, open the patio door (by yourself), and walk inside. The three of us stop what we're talking about and look at the door trying to figure out what you were doing. All of a sudden we hear the cabinet door shut and it dawned on us - you were getting a paper towel to clean up the spilled water. And out you waddled, paper towel in hand. I have never shown you how to open the cabinet, where the paper towels are or when to use them. But apparently you're very observant.
GROWN UP OBSERVATION #2:
You were sitting at your craft table yesterday coloring with your crayons with daddy. I was making dinner watching you both play - one of my favorite things to do. You started coloring on the table - not the paper - and daddy gently said, "No No Hadly - paper only." To which you stood up from the table and walked to the corner and gave yourself a time-out. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I did a little of both.
iloveyoumadly.
mama
Friday, September 12, 2008
Nineteen Months
I am so late this month. It's almost comical. This is what happens when your monthly birthday falls on a weekend. And this past weekend was a whirlwind. Daddy decided he wanted to build the Pergola over the new patio himself. But he needed help - and he wanted the advice of Andpa who apparently is a "master carpenter". So Andpa drove out from Minnesota, and brought your great Uncle Dick with him. Who also is apparently a "master carpenter." Before I go much further, I will say that the end result is gorgeous. But it wasn't without a little pain. These Larson men...they do a lot of talking. And standing around. And analyzing each other's work. And re-measuring. And not cutting. As your daddy likes to say: "It's all about the process." Yep - but it's a process I don't understand.
There's been so much going on in the world the last few weeks. I am worried about your future. I am worried about my future. Will we have enough money to retire? Will have enough money to send you to school? Will we always have health insurance? Will you have access to the best jobs when you're ready? Will the state of our environment cause you irreparable harm in any way? Hadley - it is of VITAL IMPORTANCE that the moment you turn 18 you register to vote. Your daddy and I sit here in agony waiting for the next 8 weeks to pass so we know if we need to move to Canada or not. I wish I were kidding. If John McCain and crazy Sarah Palin move into that White House instead of Barack Obama, I am terrified for what it means to our future. Gramps sent me an email today that summarizes the COMPLETE AND TOTAL INSANITY of this campaign and how completely crazy many of the residents of the US are - here it is:
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....
If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.' (Obama)
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story. (Palin)
If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. (Obama)
Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick. (Palin)
Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable. (Obama)
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded. (Palin)
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senaterepresenting a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience. (Obama)
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive. (Palin)
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. (Obama)
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian. (McCain)
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. (Obama and any other reasonable Democrat)
If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible. (Palin)
If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's. (Obama)
If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA , your family is extremely admirable. (Palin)
OK, much clearer now.
You see, my beautiful, brilliant, independent, strong daughter - there are people out there (Republicans) who want to leave the future of this country in the hands of billionaire oil moguls. Men who could care less about the condition of the environment, the cost of health insurance, the cost of education, the lack of education actually taking place in US public schools, religious freedom...men who only care about tax breaks for the rich, religious freedom for radical Christians only, sending your future job overseas to save money, the right to arm convicted drug dealers with war-grade weapons on city streets, and reminding us just how little "freedom" Americans really have. As your mother, it is my complete and total responsibilty to raise a responsible, well educated and well informed child. I promise to try to not influence your personal political beliefs with mine (but you will have to listen to me for the rest of your life whether or not you agree with me). But I will require this of you: be informed. Make your decisions based on all the facts available to you. Don't follow a path because it is the easiest to follow. And don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. Sometimes in life it will seem like you are standing alone in the dark. And sometimes you will be. And it's OK to be afraid in those moments. But my hope for you is that we raise you to know when to be strong and when to tolerate the dark long enough to know there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Here's to the light in 8 weeks.
"Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people"
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
iloveyoumadly.
mama
There's been so much going on in the world the last few weeks. I am worried about your future. I am worried about my future. Will we have enough money to retire? Will have enough money to send you to school? Will we always have health insurance? Will you have access to the best jobs when you're ready? Will the state of our environment cause you irreparable harm in any way? Hadley - it is of VITAL IMPORTANCE that the moment you turn 18 you register to vote. Your daddy and I sit here in agony waiting for the next 8 weeks to pass so we know if we need to move to Canada or not. I wish I were kidding. If John McCain and crazy Sarah Palin move into that White House instead of Barack Obama, I am terrified for what it means to our future. Gramps sent me an email today that summarizes the COMPLETE AND TOTAL INSANITY of this campaign and how completely crazy many of the residents of the US are - here it is:
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....
If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.' (Obama)
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story. (Palin)
If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. (Obama)
Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick. (Palin)
Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable. (Obama)
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded. (Palin)
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senaterepresenting a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience. (Obama)
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive. (Palin)
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. (Obama)
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian. (McCain)
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. (Obama and any other reasonable Democrat)
If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible. (Palin)
If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's. (Obama)
If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA , your family is extremely admirable. (Palin)
OK, much clearer now.
You see, my beautiful, brilliant, independent, strong daughter - there are people out there (Republicans) who want to leave the future of this country in the hands of billionaire oil moguls. Men who could care less about the condition of the environment, the cost of health insurance, the cost of education, the lack of education actually taking place in US public schools, religious freedom...men who only care about tax breaks for the rich, religious freedom for radical Christians only, sending your future job overseas to save money, the right to arm convicted drug dealers with war-grade weapons on city streets, and reminding us just how little "freedom" Americans really have. As your mother, it is my complete and total responsibilty to raise a responsible, well educated and well informed child. I promise to try to not influence your personal political beliefs with mine (but you will have to listen to me for the rest of your life whether or not you agree with me). But I will require this of you: be informed. Make your decisions based on all the facts available to you. Don't follow a path because it is the easiest to follow. And don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. Sometimes in life it will seem like you are standing alone in the dark. And sometimes you will be. And it's OK to be afraid in those moments. But my hope for you is that we raise you to know when to be strong and when to tolerate the dark long enough to know there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Here's to the light in 8 weeks.
"Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people"
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
iloveyoumadly.
mama
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
What's In a Name?
Names you currently go by (and answer to):
Hadley - obviously
Hads
HP
Hadley Bear
Baby Bear
Jelly Bean
Nugget
Nuggalita
Little Buddy
Angel Pie
Angel Face
Turbo
Turbo Nugget
Thunder (only your daddy calls you this one)
I think there may be more, but this is all I can recall at the moment......
iloveyoumadly.
mama
Friday, August 15, 2008
SHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
You wanna know a little secret? You're going to be a big sister. :-)
iloveyoumadly.
mama
iloveyoumadly.
mama
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Eighteen Months
Oh my GOSH! How can you be 18 months old already? That is such a big milestone. It is funny how much can change in a month. I was just re-reading the last post and started laughing about the biting and kicking. It was all so new then..... Somehow we've adapted as it has become a part of daily life. Usually only the changing table now, though. :-)
Your vocab still hasn't changed much - you're stubborn and it's funny. We ask "Can you say CUP" and you nod. But you are getting much better at communicating your wants and needs. Just the other night you and I were on the couch rolling around (one of your favorite activities) and all of sudden you stopped and said - clear as day - "Bath?" You knew it was time to go upstairs. Truth be told, I was actually going to skip the bath that night, but since you asked up we went.
You also know when you're ready for bed now. We no longer sit in the rocker - instead we pull your pink blanket down on the floor and we read a little, play a little...and now you point to your crib when you're ready to lie down. It's so easy!
Nana arrives tonight. She is staying with you this weekend because Daddy and I have to go to Salt Lake City for work. So tonight - in honor of your "half" birthday - we are having super special monkey cupcakes from Whole Foods. Your Mama sure must love you.
iloveyouMADLY.
mama
Friday, July 18, 2008
Seventeen Months
You'll notice I am a few days late.... with good reason. We were on vacation last week when you turned 17 months old! We were in Minnesota visiting Grandma and Andpa, and Nana and Papa. You had so much fun. It was an interesting week for us all as a family, as it has been a while since we had all been together 24-7. Needless to say, by the end of the 10 day trip I think all three of us needed a break from each other.
You didn't sleep so well - I think that might have been the issue. We all had to sleep in the same room at Nana's house, and you would wake up every night at 3:00 a.m., realize we were sleeping right next to you, and want to play. So every night we were up together (OK - let's get real: you and I were up together) from 3:00 to 5:00 a.m. It was great to earn all those points in the snuggling department, but you're somewhat of a restless sleeper.
Your vocabulary EXPLODED while we were away. You learned to say "Daisy" (Nana and Papa's dog), "Nana", "toast" and one other word I can't remember..... oh. Right. You learned "Oh Shit." We'll leave it at that for now.
17 months seems have brought a little terrible-twos precurser, as well. You're a little too into hurting your daddy and me. Punching, hitting, kicking, biting - these are all part of your reperatoire. So is the "Time Out" corner. I am not really sure you grasp the concept of a time-out, but since neither of us really know how to punish you for hurting us, this seems to be the best solution. It's actually kind of funny - you just sit there with your hands in your lap, sometimes you play with your feet, but really you just sit and stare at the wall until we tell you it's OK to get up.
I am thrilled and excited about how fast you're growing up. And yet all I want to do is put you in a little jar to keep you where you are. Every new phase brings such great rewards, and yet I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad to see my baby grow up. You are such a precious gift. Biting and all.
iloveyoumadly.
mama
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