Hadley is 15 months old! This afternoon we have her checkup and the kids are both excited to go since they'll both get a sticker. I could be wrong on this but I don't think Hadley gets any shots today, so that could be a bonus. Hadley says between 40 and 50 words (I keep a list on the fridge). She says "yes" whenever you ask her a question or, more infrequently but no less enthusiastically, she will shake her head no. She and Hayden both like to pretend to be the Cookie Monster and shove pretend cookies in their mouths and make a crunching sound. They both love Little Bunny Foo Foo and even Hadley will do hand motions to go along with the song. When they can tell that I am upset about something or completely fed up with them for climbing on the furniture, Hayden will come and kiss my knee and Hadley will follow and do the same. I'm not sure why they started doing that.
We had Nana come for a visit this weekend and we had a big time! The kids love Nana, and she had all sorts of things with her for them--sticker books, a Thomas DVD, and new school clothes. Nana went to watch Hayden at his swim lesson on Saturday, and in the afternoon Nana, Drew, Hayden and Hadley went to see the doggies at PetSmart. Hayden had fun showing Nana his firetruck, lining up his animals on the firetruck, telling the animals to go night night and not get up til it was light outside, and then hugging them and kissing them and putting them down. It was a short visit but we all loved every minute!
Originally I was going to substitute teach at the kids' preschool this fall but now I am going to teach full time, which at their school means both Mondays and Wednesdays. I will have the children a bit younger than Hadley, probably 12 months old or so. It is such a fun school and since it wouldn't take any time away from my own children when they would be in school anyway, I figured why not!
As many are aware, both strangers and friends alike, Hadley is jumping ahead into the terrible twos. She is awfully opinionated, not surprisingly, and has no qualms about throwing herself on the ground, the gym floor, or the nearest parking lot and writhing and screaming at the top of her lungs. Mostly she is mad that I make her hold my hand rather than allow her to run out into traffic. Both of my kids have a tendency to sprint away without a moments hesitation if I look away to deal with the other child for even a second. We'll see how long this terrible twos bit lasts. Hayden has been in various stages of it for quite awhile.
Hayden is saying all sorts of funny things these days. Some of his favorite phrases are "bye bye people see you next week" for when we leave the gym, "go get it BB" when he wants Hadley to fetch a ball he has thrown, or "write my name RIGHT HERE PLEASE NOW MOMMY". He said something the other day that was a little disturbing but totally not his fault. This is TMI so read at your own risk. I was drying him after bath and he goes "dry my balls mommy". So I asked him where on earth he had heard such a thing and he smiled so I said "did Daddy teach you that?" and he said "YES". He certainly learned no such thing from me.
Hadley and Hayden like to play Mats. Mats is a bizarre "game" where I get the kids baby blankets and lay them out on the floor like napmats and they each lie down on them with their pillows and stuffed animals and they say "night night" over and over. Then of course Hadley picks up the blankets and runs off with them and Hayden gets hysterical that she ruined the game so I drag her and the blankies back and we repeat.
Last night was Hayden's last day of soccer. He got a ribbon from Coach Mo and said goodbye to his little friends. He still has swim lessons on Saturday mornings for another month with his teacher Jason. We're getting Hadley ready for fall Mothers Day Out and bought her napmat, lunchbox and backpack yesterday. Hayden is still in summer Mothers Day Out for a few more weeks. I think Hadley will do well at Mothers Day Out this fall since she is used to being there in the church nursery on Sundays and for bible study on Tuesdays. I'm not sure if she will actually nap on the napmat but Hayden learned to do it when he was barely a year old so she'll learn too. I am going to substitute at their school this year but I'm hoping to mostly help with the 4 year olds or the babies and avoid seeing my kids so they don't freak out and want to go home!
Hayden decided he is working on potty training with no pressure from me. I wanted to wait until he was 3, but the kids in his summer school use the potty so he wants to also. The first time he pooped in the little potty at home Hayden and Hadley and I were all crowded in the bathroom and he no sooner had stood up to look at the poop when she grabbed it like a prize and ran to the front door of the house with it squished in her little hand. I got it out of her hand and flushed it and then disinfected every last one of us. Hayden's potty training is here and there, and since I am not pushing it with him, it'll probably be awhile. He hates Pull-Ups, which they want him to wear at school.
Two weeks ago I took Hayden and Hadley to their first movie in a movie theater by myself. It was one of those free movies at 10AM on a Thursday and it happened to be Charlotte's Web. We made it through the previews and then 7 minutes of the movie. Hayden did great but Hadley wasn't heavy enough to hold the folding seat down so it kept folding her up in it, but she didn't want to sit on my lap. She really wanted to sit on the buttery floor and roll around in grease but I wasn't having much of that. We tried the Veggie Tales Pirate movie last Thursday and made it through 20 minutes, so we're improving.
Hayden's favorite word is Yes these days. He says Yes to everything, we love it. He also says "Hay wants ____ RIGHT. NOW. Mama." about whatever he happens to want right now. He says it very emphatically. He's also big on eyeballs. He talks about watching Nee put on her eyeball makeup and mommy putting on her eyeball makeup.
Hadley put herself in timeout last week. Hayden had been put in timeout so many times that day that I think she felt left out. She led me to the microwave timer and wanted me to set the timer and then put herself in the chair and waited for the beep. She is big into animal noises, animal flashcards, and pointing out body parts like eyes and noses and ears. She also likes to rock her babydoll and point at her eyes and nose. Hadley loves to get on the couches now. She can climb up there by herself and then roots around and laughs. She stands up and when I tell her to sit down she is fairly obedient and sits. She also will spontaneously lie down on her back on the floor if I bring out a diaper--at least one kid currently will have a diaper change without a war. Hayden is an entirely different story as usual.
Hayden is working to become a gentleman--I told him that ladies go first and that Hadley is the lady and he is the gentleman. So she gets her shoes on first and pants changed first and is first into the carseat. He thinks it is so funny to be the gentleman. We'll see how long that works. I hear the same things many times a day from Hayden: "Mama watch this"; "What's this mama?"; "No baby!"; and my favorite, "Bye bye see you next week". Hayden says bye bye see you next week to pretty much anything if we are leaving, including the gym, the store, the bank, church, etc. At soccer they tell the kids to do Thumbs Up, but Hayden has never really been told to do Thumbs Up so he has no idea what is going on. We're working on Thumbs Up. Sunday night Drew and I were working on it with him and somehow we got sidetracked and taught him Gig Em Ags (??), Hook Em Horns, Texas Fight, Go Pack, and Sic Em Bears. He thinks all of those are really funny, and he can do them all.
Hayden has a monster black eye right now from the park yesterday. It is purple and looks awful. He was so good about it though and only cried for a bit. We went to the doctor about it anyway but all is well. He and Hadley were so good at the doctors office. Hayden was making me laugh so hard because he would imitate our doctors speaking voice by doing his own falsetto. She would say something and he would repeat in this high-pitched fake little voice. He always gets a sticker from the doctor and then asks for one for baby. He chose a black car sticker for Hadley this time and Thomas the Train for himself.
Hadley recently dropped her morning nap, so she is down to one nap in the afternoon like Hayden. She has done well dropping the nap but I kind of liked her taking that nap, except it was ruining her afternoon nap and it had dwindled her afternoon nap down to 20 minutes. 20 minutes is not enough peace for me during our little 14 hour day! Hadley will eat anything that I put in front of her, which is very different from Hayden. He likes the same things over and over, very much like his mommy. Hadley will eat anything she can get ahold of, from casseroles to marshmallows to french onion dip. She and Hayden play this phone game where they each drag a pull-phone around the house and chase each other screaming until one of them wants to trade phones. It echoes pretty loudly in our front hall and they love the sound of their own screaming in there.
Hadley is really liking swimming in our pool and splashing around with Hayden. They both still love to be outside although it is 102 degrees. We've been spending alot of time at the library, the bookstore, and the petstore. When we are at home it is a constant battle over the toys...Hayden sets them up and Hadley deconstructs everything, which makes Hayden really upset, so he shoves her or bites her, then he goes to timeout, then she goes over to timeout and pulls his hair or yanks his blankie or pats his bottom, and then we repeat. This is what we do every waking minute when we are in our home!
Today is Nana and Pop's 35th wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary Diane and Tom, we love you!
Drew and Hayden are both back to school! Drew started on Monday and has class until 8PM. Hayden started at his new summer school, and we are loving his schedule there, as they don't nap at school so he naps at home with Hadley on Mondays and Wednesdays--very key, especially since Drew gets home after the kids go to bed on those days. At his new school his teachers asked me if he had been to school before since he behaved so well and never fussed about anything. I told them yes, of course...he behaves so great at both schools and the church nursery and the gym childcare. He is even in the same class with Hadley in the church nursery during Tuesday morning bible study and they are so good there together. I think they tend to act up for mommy but put on a good front in public. There are worse things I suppose.
Hayden and Hadley love to feed mama. It is so gross. They will pick up a slobbery goldfish off the carpet and want to feed it to me. They love to feed me, so it is truly hard to say no. I do draw the line on some things, but I will oblige if it is something I can tolerate and is not terribly nasty. I will have nothing to do with tunafish. My kids adore it, and honestly I have tried so hard to eat it here and there but it is disgusting in my opinion. I fix a can of it for lunch once in a while and they beg for more but I have to limit them because of the mercury. And then the whole house stinks for the rest of the day. At least they are eating their protein! On Sunday I got them to both eat guacamole for the first time! I have been trying and trying and they finally ate it. Hadley is pretty open to new things.
The kids and I spent this past weekend in Houston for my mom's 65th birthday party. It was so much fun and everyone came and had a blast. Hayden and Hadley loved visiting Houston and got to ride the carousel at the mall again. Hayden even got to go in Nannie's pool. He pitched a fit because a 3 year old girl was there and she could swim to her mommy without help. He wanted to swim without me in his way, but I couldn't let him or else he would drown. He was screaming "NO! MAMA! NO! MAMA!" over and over. He starts swim lessons this Saturday. It is going to be a mommy and me swimming class, which I am not thrilled about. I bought this horrible bathing suit to wear since he ripped my suit off a few times last weekend in Nannie's pool. Luckily, Hayden and Drew have a fun summer activity too, which starts this Thursday. It is a daddy and me soccer class on Thursday evenings. Hadley and I will have to go and cheer them on and take some video.
