Dear Hadley,

Last week you turned twenty-five months old. You have only been two for a little over a month and I feel like you have it mastered. I would never say you are “terrible” as the two’s are often described, but I certainly understand why some people do. You wear your feelings on your sleeve and we are constantly riding an emotional roller coaster that quickly goes from complete happiness to utter devastation, then rounds the corner to stubbornness sprinkled with rage and eases gently back to blissful content. In fact just the other day you were throwing a sitcom-esque fit and stomping your feet in anger. You were shouting, “Too tiny! TOO TINY!” When I asked you what was too tiny, you looked at me in disbelief and said, “ME!”

As you want to express your new-found independence, more and more we are finding ourselves at a battle of wills as you want to “do it by myself” and I want you to, say, hold my hand to safely cross the street (shocking, I know). I understand that you want to show me what a big girl you are, and when it’s safe (and we have the extra 20 minutes required for you to actually put your pants on by yourself) I am more than happy to let you.

You are also not afraid to tell it like it is. Kids don’t have a censor button like adults (thank goodness because you wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining!) and so if you think it, then you say it. I will be flipping through the radio stations and you will tell me, “No like it.” over and over until I find one that you actually enjoy (like your father, you are quite fond of Christmas music). But I can forget about singing along because whenever I do you are quick to tell me, “No singin’ Mama. I no like it.”

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all struggles and emotional outbursts. In fact you have become our family cheerleader. You are always clapping and telling us what a good job we are doing. Last week we were driving to playgroup when you suddenly started clapping and shouting, “Yeah!” Thinking you were just realizing where we were going I said, “Do you recognize where we are?” You paused and looked at me with a confused expression and said, “No.” So I asked why you were clapping and you got all excited again and said, “Good driving, Mama! Yeah!”

You are also incredibly sweet and polite. You are always trying to hug your friends or hold hands as you walk along together. You also have amazing manners for a two-year-old. You are always saying “p’ease” and “t’ank you.” And while I think is to be expected from most kiddos your age, you are the only child I know that says, “T’ank you, Mama. T’ank you.” when I simply change your diaper.

There are so many things you say that just crack me up.  You have recently started referring to Ana as “Sissy-Poo” and while I have no idea where this came from, I simply cannot help but smile when I hear it. You have also adopted Ana’s nickname for your dad and when you are being extra sweet (or want something), you refer to him as “Daddy-o.” (I’ll try not to be offended that you don’t have a pet name for me, but simply oscillate between Mama and Mom.)

Hadley, you are such a wonderful little girl. I just love to be around you and I marvel each day at how quickly you are growing into such a little lady. When you aren’t click-clacking around the house in tiny dress-up high heels you can often be found “doctoring” your baby dolls. You are so nurturing and kind that I can’t help but graviate towards you. Thank you for being amazing, perfect, and most importantly, mine!

All my love,

Mama

Dear Hadley,
Today you are twenty-four months old… which means today is your birthday! Happy birthday, my sweet TWO YEAR OLD girl! You have grown up so quickly, I honestly have no idea where time has gone. You are talking up a storm lately and it is just so much fun listening to all the things you have to say. Mostly you are telling me “I do it!” because you are quite an independent little thing.

We celebrated your birthday last weekend and I know you had a wonderful time because you simply cannot stop talking about your party. You are obsessed with owls so it was only natural that you had an owl themed birthday party. As I pieced together all the details for your party (love is in the details, after all) from owl favor bags, to an owl pull-string pinata, and your (if I don’t mind saying so myself) adorable homemade owl cake, I kept you involved in the whole process. You were very quick to give my work your “Like it!” seal of approval.

In our family, smartphones (that can trust the services that are available in a cell phone repair site mentioned here) are never more than an arms length away. From keeping track of all of our busy schedules, to responding to emails, to constantly snapping pictures of the adorable things you do, you are no stranger to having an iPhone in your face. So it was no surprise when I caught you trying to take MY picture with your iPhone the other day.

Before we round the corner into winter, I must take a moment to discuss all the fabulous fall activities that you were able to enjoy for the first this year. We went to the pumpkin patch with our MOMS Club friends and it is my firm belief that no pumpkin patch experience is complete without a caramel apple. So I bought one for you and Ana to share. You were delighted to no end with the sticky, sweet treat. Eventually you girls ate the apple all the way down to the core and I literally had to pry the stick from your gooey little fingers.

While we were at the same pumpkin patch, you took the opportunity to play on the assorted obstacle courses and slides scattered around the grounds. You were VERY fond of the tunnel slides. Not knowing how you would react the first time you tried it, I encouraged you to start with the little slide and gradually work up to the loooong one. But you, being the fearless child you are, as soon as you shot out of the small one you made a beeline for the large one and you never looked back.

We also did our annual family trip to Lakeview Farms  for their corn maze and pumpkin patch. It managed to stay dry for our entire walk through the maze and while we wandered around selecting our perfect pumpkins. But just as we boarded the little train to take us back to the farm and check out, the sky opened up and it rained (there was even a little hail mixed in there) like I have never seen before. I pulled you close to me and use myself as a human shield to keep you as dry as possible. You looked up at me with a bewildered look on your face and said through chattering teeth, “It raining….co-co-cold.”

The grand culmination of fall festivities is indisputably Halloween. Since you had ballet that morning I seized the opportunity to use your costume from last year (which I had bought big) and dressed you as an adorable peacock for ballet class. You kept referring to yourself as a “Hall’ween Peacock” and you even remembered to say the “pea” the majority of the time.

While the peacock was perfect for indoor festivities, for trick-or-treating I insist that you wear a costume that will keep you warm in our chilly Oregon weather. You were more than happy to don the cuddly lion costume that was handed down to you from your big sister. You happily assumed the role of your character and would cheerily growl or gnash your teeth on command. Since your costume kept you nice and cozy, you became quite the trick-or-treating machine. I was very impressed that you walked all by yourself, never whined or fussed, and managed to keep up with the big kids the entire night.

You are a very determined little girl and when you want something to happen, you don’t give up until you succeed. The other day I was working in the kitchen when I came around the corner to check on you and discovered you had dragged the doll stroller up onto the couch and were sitting in it to watch TV (while still caring for your baby, of course). I’m not sure what was more impressive: that you had somehow managed to get the stroller up onto the couch by yourself or that you were able to fit into the tiny doll stroller!

Ana is still your favorite person in the entire world. Sure, you guys fight over toys and get cranky when you are in each others space, but the majority of the time you get along better than I could have ever hoped. I am always witnessing little moments where you are snuggled up together, sharing a snack or reading a book and it just melts my heart. I love the relationship you two have and so on my hardest parenting days I try to remember these moments and I know that I must be doing something right.

I don’t know if it’s from watching Ana and absorbing her interests, but you are suddenly into building and creating things. When Ana does art projects (painting, coloring, crafting) you climb up right next to her at the table to let your creative juices flow. You’ve also developed an interest in Legos and constructing things. I love watching your “thinking tongue” come out as you figure out how to put the pieces together and create the masterpiece you envision in your mind. It’s great to watch you develop your creative side and know that my prejudice against the mess and chaos that generally accompanies these activities hasn’t stifled your potential artist or architect within.

But don’t get me wrong, just because you don’t mind making the occasional mess doesn’t mean that you aren’t still obsessed with cleaning up. In ballet class your teacher is always commenting on how you like to stop the activity a few minutes before we are done doing it so you can start putting things away. And your cleaning up doesn’t stop with toys either. Grandpa Larry came over to help us trim some of our trees and haul away the excess of yard debris that accompanies a project of that nature. I brought out the bikes and scooters fully expecting you to go play while we worked, but you got right in there with the adults and did your part with delight!

And your OCD doesn’t even stop there. A couple days ago you kept asking me for “tan tire” and I was looking all over the house trying to figure out what kind of toy that could be. Eventually, seeing my confusion, you said (and I could almost hear you rolling your eyes with annoyance), “I show you.” You grabbed my hand, took me over to my diaper bag, and dug out my bottle of HAND SANITIZER. The whole time you were not looking for a toy to play with, but rather were asking to clean your hands. Silly mama.

But just because you get your obsession with being clean and tidy (and maybe even your stubborn determinedness) from me, doesn’t mean that you aren’t just as much like your Daddy. Just yesterday we were walking around Target and when you saw the Christmas decorations you got so excited you sounded like you were hyperventilating. Sure, you pointed and said, “Look, Mama! Hall’ween!” but I knew what you meant. This reminded me so much of your father who waited (just barely) until the day after Halloween to start listening to Christmas music. You two are going to be quite a force to be reckoned with one day.

Then this morning I asked you what you wanted me to make you for your special birthday breakfast. You promptly replied, “Ham sammich. Elmo on it, p’ease!” If your father had heard that request I know he would have beamed with pride. He would happily eat ham sandwiches, or “sammiches” as the case may be, just about any chance he gets.

I want to thank you so much for all you bring to my life. You make me laugh out loud every day. Oh who am I kidding, it’s more like several times a day. You are just about the sweetest child I know. Every time they pass out maracas at Gymboree or scarves at ballet class you are the ONLY child who quickly runs back to get some for me. All of the other children happily run off to enjoy their own toy while your only concern is that I get to participate as well. I am so proud of you and the amazing person you are. Happy birthday, baby!

All my love,
Mama

Dear Hadley,
Today you are twenty-three months old. This last month you have really started talking and at times it seems like you’ll never stop (for anyone who has met your older sister, they know that it is definitely a possibility). It is so much fun listening to you formulate your thoughts and try to communicate with everyone around you. You always want to be included in the conversation, copying the things we are saying or repeating the last words you understood. Even if you have no idea what we are talking about, you always side with Ana, stating, “Yeah, Ana.”

You are constantly by your sister’s side. The other day Ana needed to do her homework and you climbed up in the chair next to her at the table and asked, “Homework too?” So I dug out a reusable sheet of traceable letters and a dry erase marker so you could do your “homework” right next to Ana.

Since school is in full swing, so are fall sports. Ana is playing soccer and you have been to almost all of her games. I know you’d much rather be in the game along with her, but until you are big enough to play you are stuck in the cheering section. You always sit next to me on the sidelines and clap and cheer for the girls along with all the other parents. You are definitely Ana’s biggest fan.

Every morning we take Ana to school we pass through several school zones and therefore we are surrounded by many, MANY school busses (here is what the McAllen auto injury lawyers suggest measures to implement that is for the safety of both the drivers and pedestrians). This has brought on quite the obsession for you. It became a fun game to point out the busses we see while we navigate our course to and from her school. So when I found out the library was putting on a Truck Day and there would be a school bus that you could actually play inside, I knew you would love it. Sure enough when we got there you headed straight for the bus, played there the longest, and it was the only “truck” we had to come back and play on AGAIN. You can check out Orange County suffered a TBI if you need the best truck accident services.

This month you finally got to start your ballet class. You refer to it as “Had’ey school” and look forward to it all week long. It is a fun class and I just love watching your excitement as you run around the studio, playing with ribbons, scarves, and hula hoops.

I’m not sure if your singing started because of your dance class or from watching your sister, but you love to sing. We have this little play microphone and it is quite the coveted toy around our house. Since you are still learning to speak, most of your songs aren’t particularly lyrical in nature. Mostly a combination of humming and mumbling, sprinkled with a lot of “yeah, yeah, YEAHHHHH.”

As you are getting bigger you are starting to notice all the things everyone around you does differently and you are NOT a fan. Case in point: the high chair. Everyone else sits in a chair at the table while you are in a high chair. So lately it has become quite the struggle to get you into (or keep you in) a high chair. It started in a restaurant where they either didn’t have a high chair or the table we were at couldn’t accomodate a high chair (I can’t remember which) so we went without. Then once you realized you could eat dinner without being in a high chair you didn’t want to be in one anymore. Ever. I try to accomodate you and your growing abilities, but I am quite fond of the removable tray on your high chair (and it’s ability to contain spills) so we may be keeping the tray, if not the high chair, for quite some time!

It’s getting close to Halloween so the other day we dug out Ana’s costume from when she was your age. Mostly I wanted to see if it would fit you, but you thought it was the best. Thing. Ever. You kept running around the house yelling, “ROAR!” Then you would run upstairs to Ana’s room to the only full-length mirror in the house so you could laugh at your reflection.

Over the last month we have really settled into our new back-to-school routine. When your sister is off at school we get to spend all our time together, just you and me. We play at the park, we meet up with friends, we have dates at Starbucks. Then in the afternoon you get to be around your sister, a best friend hand-picked for you by God. We all have such a great time being with you. Your laugh is delightfully infectious and coupled with your chubby cheeks (which, lets be honest, demand to be squeezed) it literally takes all the control I have not to just hug you all day long. But you don’t mind, do you?

All my love,
Mama

Dear Hadley,
Today you are twenty-two months old. It has been a packed summer yet I cannot believe another month has come and gone! We have been keeping busy as usual but I am really happy for us to get back into a nice smooth routine once again. Since it’s September, Ana is back in school (full day kindergarten!) so I am really looking forward to the adventures you and I can have together during the day. We will continue doing Stroller Strides and Gymboree, of course, but I have also signed you up for a little ballet class and you are SO excited to be “a ‘rina!”

I guess the big news this month was the fact that you hurt your arm. After a simple fall (something you do LITERALLY All. Day. Long.) that resulted in much screaming and crying, we took you in to Urgent Care. Luckily nothing was broken, and most likely you just sprained your wrist, but as you were in a lot of pain they wrapped your arm, adding a splint for stability, and stuck your arm in a baby sling. You wore the sling for the first couple days and the splint and ace bandage for a few beyond that, but as the wincing and saying, “ouch!” or “owie!” lessened we eventually set you free and you have been fine ever since.

Lately you have been pretty fixated on the potty. This is not to say you want to USE the potty but rather you want everyone else to use it. Your parents, your sister, your dolls. You’ve even decided the Little People wheelchair is a toilet and you let the Little People take turns going potty.

That is until today.

Today you actually told me you needed to go potty before you went, I took you into the bathroom, stripped you from the waist down (though you really wanted me to take off your shirt as well, which, I had to explain, is totally not necessary… if you do it right.) and set you on the little potty. You kept shaking your head and saying no, and I fully expected you to bolt like you normally do, but this time you actually stayed on the potty and the next thing we knew, you had pooped on the potty!! Let’s just say there was much cheering, clapping, and generally excitement from ALL the members of our household. Way to go, Hads!

Another exciting milestone was this month we took you to your first Timbers game. We used to love going to Timbers games from time to time but since they became MLS the tickets have been next to impossible to get. So we finally ended up going to a reserve game with tickets you and Ana got for completing the Summer Reading Program at the Beaverton City Library. We adorned you in Timbers clothing, bought some cheering accessories (you were partial to the foam chainsaw), and enjoyed a lovely summer evening at the soccer field as a family. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

We also went hiking at Multnomah Falls this month. You are still a little untrustworthy on the steep trails so we stuck you in the backpack, but you didn’t seem to mind. You enjoyed the view from Daddy’s back and we even let you out from time to time (when it was safe to do so) to stretch your legs and run around. It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful hike, but we were all exhausted by the time it was over. In fact you fell asleep on the way back down to the bottom! This trek was very safe compared to others and that’s why we didn’t buy 5.7×28 ammo for our trip.

Your personality has really taken off over the last few months. I think a lot of it has to do with your ever increasing vocabulary. You are talking more and more but still in mostly one or two word sentences. Last night when I was getting you ready for bed you pointed at my water bottle, said, “Mama’s water.” When I acknowledged that yes, it was my water, you then pointed at it again and sternly said, “Drink it.” I’m pretty sure your favorite word right now is, “What.” But you don’t always ask it like a question, but more like “Yeah. What are you gonna do about it? Huh?”

Another aspect of your personality is your OCD. You don’t like things to be out of place. This would be perfectly ok with your-more-than-a-little-OCD mama, but YOUR idea and MY idea of where something belongs aren’t always on the same page. As a result, you are constantly moving things that I set down. For example, you simply cannot leave your sippy cup just anywhere on your high chair tray. It belongs in the cup indentation. When you aren’t moving things, you are putting things away. The other day I cleared all the stuff out of the bathroom so I could mop the floor. By time I came back with the mop bucket you had gone into the bathroom and put everything back where it belongs.

Well, Hadley, I think it’s pretty obvious you are doing a great job of keeping me on my toes. You aren’t even two yet and I feel like your independence and self-assurance are sky rocketing through the roof. I am so proud of you and all the thing you are able to do, but I don’t mind if you want to slow down. You are so busy trying to keep up with your big sister that I think you sometimes forget to be little. I know I shouldn’t say this, but a small part of me didn’t mind you having your arm in the splint this month because you were finally willing to ask for help. Lately all you’ve wanted is to do it on your own, brushing off my offered hand or denying my assistance, so when I see those little glimpses of vulnerability I have to cling to them. Whether you think you need me or not, I will always be there for you. Because that’s what moms do.

All my love,
Mama

Dear Hadley,
Earlier this week you turned twenty-one months old, or one and three quarters, if you want to simplify the math. Which ever way you look at it, you are far too young to have the amount of attitude you possess. You have the emotional range of a teenager (thanks for that little sneak peak, by the way). You can go from crying to smiling to sullen pouting in the blink of an eye. We treat your attitude just like the weather in Oregon, if you don’t like it just wait a minute.

But baby, when you laugh you can light up a room. And once we get you started it can be hard to get you to stop. And it is so infectious. When I hear that deep belly laugh, even if I am having the worst day, I cannot help but smile. I simply cannot stay in a bad mood when your smiling face is shining at me.

The big milestone of the last month was your first air plane ride! Two weeks ago we went to Salt Lake City, Utah and you had an amazing time on the plane. At your age, everything we do is an adventure and you were more than up for the challenge. You enjoyed all the new things to see and do. Since you are under two, we didn’t have to buy you your own seat and that was probably the only thing that irritated you. When one of us would get up for one reason or another you would happily take over our seat. But upon our return you were less than happy about being relegated back to sitting on someone’s lap and clung to the seat stating, “mine!” You are, after all, a BIG GIRL and you thought you were entitled to your own seat. Soon enough, my dear. And when the time comes that I have to buy four tickets I will mourn the fact that our tiny family will no longer be able to all sit in the same row on most airplanes.

Part of getting bigger is taking on more responsibility in your daily tasks. You have really stepped up when it comes to getting dressed. You are very happy to run into your room, grab a few random things from your drawer and attempt to put them on yourself. More often than not, you are trying to put them on OVER your pajamas and you are usually trying to put your shirt on over your feet, but by God, you are doing in ON YOUR OWN. The other day we were getting ready to go play in the kiddie pool so we let you pick between two swimsuits (both happened to be Little Mermaid). Your dad put on the suit you selected and continued to get things ready to go outside. Little did we know, you were far from done! You went back to your dresser and grabbed a pair of shorts which you actually managed to put on properly, then you found the other Little Mermaid suit and proceeded to try to put it on as well. I was quite impressed because anyone who has ever had to put on a one-piece swim suit knows those things are tricky to get on, especially OVER other articles of clothing.

When you aren’t getting dressed, you are generally keeping yourself busy around the house with lots of other menial tasks you see your dad and I doing, whether that’s cooking in the play kitchen, pushing around the pretend vacuum, or working on the Barbie laptop. I love when I see you copying something you have obviously seen us do over and over but I love watching your interpretation. The things that you find important and complete with painstaking attention to detail is really enlightening and a constant reminder that you see everything and you certainly don’t miss a beat. In this picture I think it’s fairly obvious you were thinking, “What do you need? Can’t you see I’m working?”

While you certainly learn from watching your parents, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the amount of things you learn from watching your big sister. You constantly follow Ana around the house copying every thing she does. I’m sure to her it can seem a little annoying, but one day she will realize what it truly is: the most sincere form of flattery. You idolize her in a way that only a loving little sister can. You don’t always understand why she does the things she is doing, but you follow along because that is what you are suppose to do.

The other day we were shopping at Costco and they happened to have the Halloween costumes out. Your sister will tell you that I am a sucker for Halloween so we stopped to play a little dress up right there in the store. Upon seeing Ana try on the wig, you wanted to be involved in the fun as well. You kept pointing and squealing, “Hat!” so I decided to see what would happen and placed the fake hair onto your head. I fully expected you to yank it off just as quickly but you never fail to surprise me! You loved it! In fact, you kept the wig on for the majority of our shopping trip, totally enjoying all the smiles and stares you got from people in the store. You and Ana were having so much fun with the Merida (from Brave) and Rapunzel (from Tangled) wigs that we just had to buy them.

While you can be sweet and kind, you also have quite the cunning, mischievous streak. We were at a restaurant for breakfast and had ordered one cup of milk for you and Ana to share. You figured out pretty quickly that as soon as you finished your sip we would pass the drink to your sister. So after a few rounds of back and forth you decided you would just stop taking the straw out of your mouth, which would then end your turn, and continued to eat your meal out of the opposite side of your mouth. Well played, Hadley, well played.

We took you bowling for the first time this month. While you had no interest in rolling a ball down the aisle (let me say you really weren’t missing much) you loved the ball return. You enjoyed watching the balls roll up the chute and you were quite entertained by the fan. You stood down there just letting the air blow in your hair and watched the different colored balls come and go as the game progressed.

Can I just take a moment and say something silly and trivial? You have the most amazing hair. Not only is the color unbelievable, golden blond with subtle red undertones, but it can be both perfectly straight and totally taken-over by ringlets. Much like you, I have no idea what it is going to be like from one day to the next. You will do down for a nap with relatively tame smooth hair then wake up with a cloud of curls. As soon as you sweat (like during warm nap times) or get your hair wet, the curls magically appear. Your father was just commenting yesterday about how he feels like we were always having to do Ana’s hair at this age and for the most part, we have yet to have to really do much with yours. I told him that you just have amazing hair and we are just going to enjoy it being like this for as long as we can!

Well my sweet girl, it has been another amazing month. I honestly cannot believe how quickly you are growing up. It feels like a month goes by in the blink of an eye. Sure now the milestones are airplane rides and first time at the bowling alley, but before I know it they will be first day of school, getting ready for prom, and walking you down the aisle on your wedding day. I keep catching little glimpses of your future and I have to remind myself to just slow down. It will all happen soon enough. So for now I will make the time to sit down on the floor with you to dress up the princess Polly Pockets, have tea parties with teddy bears, and play with you on the plasma car. Because these are the moments of today and today is all I have ever wanted and all I could ever ask for rolled into one.

All my love,
Mama

Dear Hadley,
You turn twenty months old today. We are officially out of the “teen” months and edging closer and closer to two. But I’m not too worried about the “terrible two’s” though, because while you can be quite stubborn and rather opinionated (I have no idea where you got these often-misunderstood-but-not-all-together-bad characteristics from), I know your true personality. You are a Little Miss Sunshine. You love to smile and laugh and giggle and when you do, all those other less favorable traits just disappear.

As you get older (and who wouldn’t consider twenty months to be old, anyway?) you get girly-er and girly-er all the time. Right now you are all about the accessories. Everything you find becomes jewelry or something to adorn your little body. You found an old cow-print hair scrunchy of mine buried deep in one of my bathroom drawers and you would have thought Christmas had come early! You wore that thing all day long and refused to let me take it off your wrist. You also discovered that all of Ana’s multi-colored hair bands make perfect bangle bracelets. Between you and the cats, I am constantly finding hair bands scattered all around the house.

While you can be very loud and flamboyant, commanding the attention of everyone in a room, you are also perfectly happy sitting by yourself playing quietly. On one of our recent bike rides the older kiddos were burning off energy, running around like hooligans, and I looked over to see you sitting quietly in the middle of a grassy field.

Summer is in full swing now and one of our favorite activities lately has been berry picking. The first time I took you out I wasn’t sure what to expect. I brought the stroller just in case I needed to contain you but it didn’t end up being necessary. I put a handful of berries to snack on in your bucket, but once you ate those you discovered you could just follow our friends around, politely asking “More? P’eees!” and they handed you more berries to enjoy.

Peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek are very amusing to you right now. Even if you could disappear simply by covering your hands over your eyes, you’d quickly reveal your location with your high-pitch screeches of delight.

Shoes. Does it really need to be said again? Yep. Some things never change.

A couple months back at your 18 month doctor appointment we were discussing your lack of teeth, well we really didn’t need to be concerned because over the course of the last month, during a couple sleepless weeks you got SIX teeth at once. Your lower lateral incisors as well as your upper and lower first molars poked through, literally doubling the number of teeth in your mouth.

Luckily we were able to distract you from the teething pain by keeping your social calendar filled with exciting activities. Like playing in the fountain at Progress Ridge. Since it hadn’t been too warm this year, you had yet to play in any type of water feature since you’ve been mobile. I wasn’t sure what your reaction would be, maybe cautious and curious, slowly building up enough courage to venture in. But I certainly wasn’t expecting you to point, shout, “Gawter!” (Hadley-ese for “water”) and run full boar into the spraying geyser. You LOVED it. Giggling and running back and forth from one stream to the next deliriously excited that water was just shooting out of the ground and you could be there to enjoy it.

We celebrated the Fourth of July this week and you loved it as well. I knew, being the social butterfly that you are, any holiday that centered around seeing our family and friends would be a hit with you, but you add parades with marching bands, beautifully decorated floats, and people throwing candy, then to top it all off with fireworks? How could anything be better! You were very brave with all the chaos and especially enjoyed the sparklers (probably because it was the only one we actually let you hold)!

Well my sweet girl, it has been another amazing month of milestones, memories, and magical moments. You are truly such an amazing child. It is such a pleasure to be able to spend so much time in your presence and watch as you grow and develop such a beautiful personality. You are so considerate and kind, silly and wild, sweet and cuddly.

All my love,
Mama

Dear Hadley,
You turned nineteen months old yesterday. Wow, what a difference a month makes! I feel like the last few weeks we have really had a break through in communication. You are trying to copy the things we say and if you can’t actually articulate the words yet, you mimicking the cadence of our speech. And what you can’t communicate verbally, you show us. You are constantly grabbing my hand to drag me over to the item you want. Or you say, “Mama!” and then pat the couch next to you to show me that you want me to sit down. No, not in the chair over there. RIGHT HERE. And so I sit. Because I will happily reinforce any communications you are willing to attempt.

Along with your ever expanding vocabulary, you are also increasing your independence. Understandably, you want to try to do things on your own. You can’t say it in so many words yet, but you get very upset and firmly say, “No!” when we try to help you. So whenever time allows, I let you struggle and figure things out for yourself. Sometimes your shoes end up on the wrong feet, or your vest ends up around your legs (or on backwards), but you did it on your own and that is all that really matters.

You are still wildly obsessed with shoes. If anyone has taken off their shoes for any reason you promptly sit down and remove your own shoes (and the majority of the time your socks as well) and immediately put on the unattended shoes. You then proceed to shuffle around like a little old lady in house slippers, lifting your feet as little as possible, doing whatever you can to keep those shoes ON.

The other day Ana was playing with some of her old (and rather small) dress up shoes and it was like Christmas had come early! There were fancy shoes! And they were small! And you could keep them on easily! You did lap after lap around the living room, strutting your stuff in those little play shoes. Tyra would be so proud.

If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Ana should be incredibly proud because you like to copy every little thing she does. You are like her mini blond haired, blue eyed shadow. If Ana picks up two sticks and starts banging them together, you quickly find two items to clank right along side her. If Ana is singing at the top of her lungs in the backseat of the car, you better believe you are chiming in as well. When Ana heads outside to ride her bike, you quickly come up to me, patting your head, saying, “he-mit?” I love to watch you two interact. From the moment when your eyes light up when you first hear her voice in the morning to the end of the day when you give her good-night kisses. I treasure the hundred heart-warming moments I have the pleasure of witnessing between you each day.

You are obsessed with animal. Real animals, animals in books, animal songs, pictures of animals, you name it. If it doesn’t have “moo” “quack” or “meow” sprinkled in there, we may as well just forget about it. We drive through farm land every weekend on the way to our favorite breakfast place, South Store Cafe. As soon as we round a certain corner, before you have even spotted a cow, you start mooo-ing in the backseat. I love that these things resonate with you, but I also love that we live in such an amazing place that so many varieties of animals are so accessible.

You are quite the little busy body. You are always quickly rushing off to do something, very rarely lingering in one place or sitting still. Whenever I am cooking dinner or putting away groceries you follow me around the kitchen closing each cabinet or drawer that I open. Sometimes, for example, when my hands are full, this can be very helpful. But the majority of the time you don’t even wait for me to be out of the fridge before you start trying to close the door on me. Apparently I don’t always move quick enough for your liking.

As the weather changes, we have been spending more and more time outdoors. You just love playing outside: riding bikes, swinging, coasting on the scooter, jumping on the trampoline, drawing with sidewalk chalk, or any number of the things we do during our precious sun breaks. I love watching you hold your own as you squeeze in between the “big kids” and just start playing. You aren’t afraid to try new things, and while my heart may not be ready to watch you hop on a skateboard and coast through the cul-de-sac, I have to admit that you stayed on longer than I could have!

Hadley, it has been such a wonderful month with you. I can’t even believe that we are on the downhill slide to you being two years old already. I just can’t say enough how quickly time passes and how I just want to find a way to bottle you up and keep you tiny forever. I love the way you waddle like a little duck, leaning back and leading with your round tummy. I love how you bring baby dolls, dangling limply from your tiny hand, with you where ever you go. I love that you alternate between calling me “Mama,” “Mommy,” and simply “Mom” when you are bored because you think it’s funny. I love the way you scrunch up your little nose and squint your eyes when you think I am taking your picture. I even love that despite that fact that you are going to stop doing every one of these things one day, that these are the things that make you who you are at this very moment and I wouldn’t change a thing.

All my love,
Mama

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

Dear Hadley,
Today you are seventeen months old. And today also happens to be Easter so it was a very busy day at the Bateman household! We hosted Easter Brunch and some of our family and friends came to spend the day with us. It was funny because a few people who don’t see you very often kept commenting on what a little person you are becoming, what with all the walking and talking (or rather, attempting to talk) you are doing. It just seems like you are growing up so fast all of a sudden.

This weekend you went on your very first Easter egg hunt. You and Ana have been hiding plastic eggs around our house and collecting them in baskets since we got the Easter decorations out, so your Dad and I were pretty confident you had this whole thing figured out. Sure enough, we set you down at the park and you beelined for an egg, picked it up, and put it in your basket. You were a natural.

This month your language has really taken off. I think you are up to about 25 words now. Since you have been attempting to communicated more and more we decided it was time to start working on your manners. You picked up on it right away and (with some mild prompting) you happily say “pees” and “tay oo.”

As your language is expanding, it’s interesting to see which words you are able to learn. You can now say “poop” and “butt” which your sister (and, who are we kidding, your father) find hilarious. One day you started saying them with such intensity, I thought maybe you wanted to do something about it. I asked if you wanted to go potty, you nodded, and headed for the bathroom. I was thinking “could potty training the second child really be THIS easy?” I took you in and you sat…and sat…and sat. Eventually I’m sure your bottom started to hurt, so I finally took you off. But that began your obsession with the potty. So I dug out the Baby Bjorn potty chair and you LOVE to sit on it. And rip off toilet paper and put it directly into the bowl. I am pretty sure all you think we do on the toilet is fill it with toilet paper.

Near the end of March, just before Spring Break, we had some crazy weather and it actually snowed enough here that school was canceled. We dressed you girls in your snow clothes and headed outside to play before it all melted away. You have been in the snow before, but this time you were mobile and got to walk around and really check it out. I handed you a little snow ball to play with and you instantly started to eat it (don’t worry! It was clean!). You made a series of silly faces… and then WENT BACK FOR MORE. You were hooked.

A day after the snow melted, the sun came out and it got warm, so as Oregonians we were obligated to get outside and play! Our driveway is a little steep and you weren’t sure how to get down to the flat cul-de-sac where your sister was busy learning to ride her bike. You couldn’t walk down without falling, but it wasn’t such a drop off that you’d need to go backwards on your tummy (like you do on the stairs). So, being the little thinker you are, you compromised, and scooted down the driveway on your butt! You were quite proud of yourself too.

You are still wildly obsessed with shoes. You are always trying on our shoes and walking around in any shoes you can step into. Boots are your new favorite because you can actually get them on your feet by yourself. Ironically enough, you spend most of the time we are at home trying to put on shoes, yet the second we get in the car (or the stroller) the first thing you do is pull off your socks and shoes. You, Hadley, are quite the enigma.

Your mobility is a blessing but it can also be a curse. Now that you know you can get around on your own you always want to get down and GO. Sometimes it’s not safe or convenient for you to be down so you are constantly telling me, “Walk! Walk!” and trying to wriggle out of my arms. I understand that you want to get down, so whenever I can, I let you walk on your own and explore the world around you.

As your coordination is progressing, we have started letting you use utensils with your meals. You love when we hand you a spoon or a fork with your food. You always give us this look of excited trepidation like, “Really? Are you going to let me use this? COOL.” Sure, it makes meal exponentially messier, but I figure you have to learn somehow.

Dolls are, hands down, your favorite thing to play with right now. You are such a little mama. I love seeing you cuddle and feed your babies. Whenever I see you going near the dolls I often find myself stopping whatever I am doing to see what you are going to do next. I see you cover them with blankets, give them bottles, and feed them. And it just warms my heart.

I often find myself hovering a step away as you bravely explore new parks or play structures. I know it can be frustrating for both of us having to be in such close proximity to one another, but I know that in no time at all you won’t need me to be so close. So for now, I will just treasure those amazing moments when you reach out and put your hand in mine.

All my love,
Mama