Hailey @ 26 months

For my records (sorry no pics):

I wish I could be a 2 year old again so I could see the world through their eyes. For example, last week at the zoo, Hailey saw some Ostrich's and swore that they were ballerinas. Really I couldn't convince her otherwise. But I guess if you really think about it they do sort of look like ballerina's. They have long skinny legs, a big tu-tu of a body and then a long slender neck. According to Hailey, that is exactly what a 'rina' looks like. Cute.

Her imagination is adorable and quite unique. For example, yesterday I gave her a candy...a small candy...a very small candy cut into thirds. When she looked at it she said "oh no mom...the baby candy is sad...wah wah wah". Everything, regardless of how small (or whether it gets eaten by her tiny mouth) has emotions and a personality. All things are just little people and friends in her mind.

In fact...all objects are real enough that she needs to share with them (I wish she would apply that concept with her real life friends). We've been working a lot on sharing and taking turns...I think she's almost grasped the concept. For example, yesterday as she was eating her oatmeal for breakfast she said "Hailey turn" and put a bit in her mouth, and then she said "toe's turn" and proceeded to feed oatmeal to her toes. bah ha ha ha!!!

Oh...and I can't forget how fair she is with her toys...or anything (once again as long as it's not a real person). Yesterday before bed she was eating her nightly bowl of cereal and she decided her hand and spoon needed equal time in her bowl. She would say "spoon turn" and feed herself a bite from her spoon, then she'd say "hand turn" and grab a handful of milky cheerios and stuff them in her mouth. I sort of love the running commentary of her day. Really, we know what she's doing and thinking all day long...because she tells us - ALL DAY LONG!!

And finally, I've been trying to get back into shape (in a really weak and lazy way). But we've ( me) been working on the '30 day shred' in this house...and even Hailey joins in. She has to wear a 'suit' (bathing suit) while she works; which is cute on it's own, but you've GOT to see her doing push ups. Hilarious I must say!! I'll post a picture soon...it's soooo cute! I may be biased though, and that's ok.

Oh and I should mention a few things about the other daughter in the home. She's turned into quite the joy to be around. She is still very very particular about things (i.e. where and how she naps), but she is so smiley and really just a doll. She is trying her hardest to roll over, but she's not quite there yet. Hailey was almost 6 months when she rolled over, so we'll have to see what Paige can pull off. Paige is also getting quite big...I didn't notice how big until I held her up beside her 4 day old cousin Jaxson and then it hit me. I no longer have a newborn...she is a big chubby almost 3 month old ball of love. And although I'm sooooo not good at the newborn stage, I do sort of miss how tiny they are and how they just curl up so small and sit on your chest. And how they have no choice but the cuddle with you all day long. I do miss it...just not the sleep thing. Speaking of which...Paige was doing pretty good at night (until this week of course). We had almost 2 weeks of 9 hour stretches...and then we got a bit off schedule during the day and her night sleep went down to 6-7 hours between feeds. Not as good. But almost there. I have high hopes that it will get better again soon. I'm having a hard time remembering how well Hailey slept at this age, but I think she was better. I think I need to break out those baby books again and try to get some more sleep. But really, It's not as bad as it could be right?

Anyway, that's it. I'll have something more interesting to post next time and maybe some pictures too!