Dear Hadley,
Today you are eighteen months old. Or one and a half! It’s so hard to believe how big you are getting. There isn’t a day that goes by that you don’t do something new or figure something out. You are currently obsessed with animals and you love to mimic the noises they make. Since you aren’t always sure what kind of animal something is or what sound they make, you sometimes have to guess. For example, while we were in Sunriver recently we kept running into this small herd of about six deer. When you would see them or go looking for them, you’d point out the window and say, “Mooo!”
A couple weeks ago we took you to the Wooden Shoes Tulip Festival in Woodburn. It was adorable to watch you waddle around in your little rubber boots, so excited to see and touch everything. Being the shoe lover that you are, you were quite entertained by the giant wooden shoes and were very excited to get to climb right up into them. We didn’t even have to coax a smile out of you for the camera, you were grinning from ear to ear!
I’m not sure where you got the idea, but as we wandered through the tulip fields you kept having to stop and smell the tulips. Now while they are a beautiful flower (and my personal favorite) tulips do not have much of a fragrance, but you were determined to keep checking… just to be sure!
Despite the fact that you broke your leg on a slide, it hasn’t diminished your love for them. You are my little thrill seeker! In fact, you barely even wait for me to hold your hand or get to the bottom to catch you anymore. You just climb right up and before I know it you are at the bottom, standing up to do it all over again!
The great thing about having a big sister is there is always someone around to play with. And she comes with a lot of really cool toys. You love going into Ana’s room and playing with her pretend make-up (you tend to prefer the lipstick and nail polish varieties), checking out her collection of Barbies, and even digging through her stash of costumes (you gravitate toward the sunglasses, wands, and crowns). I never know what you are going to emerge from her room holding, but chances are it’s going to be good!
It seems like overnight you just started getting hair. It’s coming in all thick and shiny with lovely little curls that spring up in the back when your hair is wet. And just last week I was able to successfully pull your hair back into pigtails. That’s TWO ponies! It was adorable. But since you have such well-behaved hair that lays perfectly, I tend to just leave it alone. Besides, I’m in no rush because I am relatively certain we have YEARS of fighting with your hair ahead of us.
Ana has recently started wanting to play with blocks, which means you have recently become very interested in tearing apart block structures. It can sometimes be a race to see how long it takes Ana to build something before you have disassembled it. The other game you like to play is “empty the box which contains all the blocks.” It’s not that you were looking for something or needed one special piece. No. You just needed every single block out of the box. Lovely.
If I had to describe you with one word this month, it would be the word, “book.” I hear that word more times in one day that any one person ever should. And that is coming from an avid book lover! More often than not, the first word you say to me in the morning is “book” and it is also the last word your dad, who is in charge of the bedtime routine, hears at the end of the day. Last week I made the mistake of telling you we were going to the library and the entire way there all I heard was, “Book? Book. BOOOK!!”
You are very excited about the world around you. You are inquisitive and love to explore. I love watching you figure things out and start to understand the way things work. I love when you get that look in your eyes that means you really GET IT and then seeing the sense of pride wash over you (and probably me!) in realizing your latest accomplishment.
It has been another fantastic month with you. You are such a joy in my life. There are very few things that make me happier than when you climb up onto my lap to snuggle, or wrap your arms around my neck in a huge hug. You are such a sweet and caring little girl and I cannot wait to see what life has in store for you. I can guarantee it’s going to be an amazing journey and I am so thankful that I get to come along for the ride.
All my love,
Mama