Look At My New Favorite Past Time!

Mommy is not nearly as happy about my new favorite past time as I am!

Daddy You're Silly!

Hailey has probably 60 words or so and has been speaking in two word phrases for a few months now. Last night, she said her first three word phrase: Daddy you're silly!

We had lunch with a college friend and her adorable brand new baby at Chick Fil A. Of course as part of the Chick Fil A experience, we brought home balloons, which, as per usual, ended up on the 20 foot ceiling in our family room. This time it was Hailey's balloon and Hannah's commentary during the entire ordeal was priceless (Daddy, I think you missed; Daddy, are you sure you know what you are doing; Daddy, I don't think you're doing it right; etc). When Hailey's balloon was finally retrieved (through my suggestion of using two brooms to "grab" the string), I immediately grabbed a toy and tied the balloon to it. Then Rob decided it would be funny to put the toy on his head while Hailey wasn't looking. When Hailey turned around, she said "Daddy you're silly" (which of course was more like "dada yo siii"). I'm sure that phrase will be used a lot in this house over the years (actually, it already is), so it's fitting that it was Hailey's first!

A New Favorite Friend

We never did find Mr. Elephant, but luckily Hailey has picked out a new favorite friend. This is a bear that Great Grandma and Great Grandpa bought her for her 1st birthday. When she opened it, she immediately hugged it and now that the elephant is no longer an option, she has given all her love to this new bear. She carries it around, just like she did with the elephant, and she even seems to have named it. She says the exact same thing each time she points to it, but I still have yet to decipher exactly what she is saying. It sounds a little like "cand" or "band" - maybe she is trying to say "bear" but it doesn't exactly sound like that so who knows. Anyway, she loves her bear, sleeps with it every night, carries it around on and off throughout the day, and even tries to take it with us when we go out (although we aren't making that mistake again). So cute!

Swinging and School

I have noticed that my posts are tending to be about Hailey these days, probably because Hailey is at that age where they grow and change every single day. However, Hannah is also constantly doing things that show how big she is getting. Her new thing is swinging. Sure, she has always loved to swing but she can finally do it all by herself. We spent a lot of the summer trying to show her how to pump her legs so she could swing alone. She was making the motions but she wasn't putting her body into it and as a result, she wasn't going anywhere. About a month ago, we were outside and I gave Hannah a start push as usual and then began pushing Hailey. After pushing Hailey for a few minutes, I suddenly realize that I haven't given Hannah another push at all and she is still going high. On her own! Yep, it just clicked and now she has spent the last month proudly showing anyone who is over on our playset her newest accomplishment.

Thinking of this reminded me of another big thing that happened almost a month ago but I forgot to post about: parent-teacher conferences at preschool. We LOVE Hannah's preschool and she has had wonderful teachers both years. The teacher ran down the list of all the things they are "graded" on and Hannah is doing so well. She received the highest marks on almost everything and her teacher is very impressed with her. She said she's a fun, loving, eager-to-please child who is a delight to be around. She also said that Hannah shares well, plays well, cleans without having to be asked, and whenever she is looking for someone who is doing the right thing, she always looks to Hannah first because Hannah is always doing the right thing. We could not be more proud of our little girl!

Even More Shoes

Hailey has found the plastic Belle shoes that Hannah got in her stocking last year. She jams her feet in to the front of them and walks around, often pushing a doll or stuffed animal in a stroller. Those shoes really have to hurt but she is not deterred and continues to push her feet into those shoes day after day. I'm beginning to wonder if she is trying to get her feet good and numb now so that later she can wear real heels without pain some day...

Halloween Fun (A Few Times Over!)

Halloween was a few weeks ago but hey, better late than never. Our Halloween fun began with visiting the Children's Musuem with some friends the week before Halloween. The girls wore their matching Halloween shirts, which say "Scaredy" and then have a picture of a black cat. Hannah picked them out and even insisted that she and Hailey have matching shirts so they were "twins." The kids are also sporting their Halloween socks and got candy while exploring the "scary" haunted house:

Sisterly love:

Our Halloween fun continued with Hannah at preschool on the Thursday before Halloween. She had a fall party and they were allowed to dress up like scarecrows. Hannah didn't have a flannel shirt and I couldn't bring myself to buy her one (because I think she'll never wear it again) but I did find a plaid thermal shirt and thought if nothing else, she can wear it under other things to keep warm while playing outside in the winter. She also had a straw hat, but they took off the hats because apparently all the kids kept losing them. Anyway, here is Hannah showing the cookie she made:

And Hailey enjoying her cookie:

Next up on Friday was Hailey's playgroup. Everyone was dressed in their costumes and it was so cute. Here is Hannah as Dorothy (with Toto, of course):

And Hailey as the witch. I debated if it was mean to make her a witch but seriously she is the cutest little witch you've ever seen:

And here she is posing:

On Saturday, we visited the grandparents and great grandparents. Here is mom modeling Hailey's hat, which Hailey thought was funny:

Hailey at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's:

Getting a Halloween treat for her bag:

Getting more treats from Gigi and Great Grandpa:

And a hug:

Saturday evening, we ventured to Zoo Boo with friends:

And somehow even managed to get all the kids smiling:

And then on Sunday we went trick-or-treating with some friends:

I'd say we definitely had a very happy...

...and sometimes spooky...

...Halloween! Hope you had a good one too!

Adult Predicted Height

I have read that in order to get an "adult predicted height" you should double a girl's height at 19 months and a boy's height at age 2. Of course there will always be exceptions but it's supposed to be fairly accurate, within an inch on either side. I even looked at my height as a toddler (thanks mom for my baby book!) and found it to be almost right on. Anyway, since Hailey is 19 months old today, I thought I would take her height for fun. By my measurement, she was 34.5 inches, which should put her around 5'9 as an adult. As a comparison, Hannah was around 35.5 inches at this age, which should put her around 5'11 as an adult. The pediatrician did actually randomly mention at Hannah's 4 year appointment that she should be around 5'10 as an adult based on her growth curve.

Those predictions sound fairly reasonable to me since I am 5'8 and Rob is 6'2, but I guess we'll know for sure in about 16.5 and 13.5 years. LOL Oh and it sounds like there's a good chance that I'll end up as the shortest person in our family! ;)

...But Not Socks

My last post focused on Hailey's love for shoes. That has not diminished in the least since I posted and in fact as I write this, Hailey is walking around in some rather uncomfortable-looking plastic high heels that came with a Belle costume a few years ago. However, I failed to mention in my last blog how much Hailey hates socks. Personally, I think it's an unnatural hatred. How can you hate something that is warm and fuzzy and sometimes cute colors? But she does. I discovered this in the car a few weeks ago. We were driving to a store and when we got there, I noticed that Hailey was wearing shoes but not socks. Weird - did I seriously forget to put socks on my toddler? But then it happened again. And again. And again. Now I know I might not be getting as much sleep since having kids, but I couldn't possibly be continually forgetting to put socks on her. The whole thing just seemed so strange because nothing looked out of place except the missing socks. It took several times but I finally caught her red-handed - yep, the second we get in the car, she reaches down, removes her shoes and her socks and then puts her shoes back on. The truly impressive part is that she puts the shoes back on the right feet and even pulls the straps back across. I found a pile of socks stuffed down by her seat, which at least explained the missing socks.

I guess maybe she just wants to be closer to her beloved shoes...