Hailey with Tigger at 2 1/2.

For comparison, here is Hailey at 2 years old with Tigger.  I think the difference I can see the most is that at age 2 Hailey still looked like a toddler.  Now at 2 1/2 she doesn’t really look like a toddler anymore

Hailey actually turned 2 1/2 a little over a week ago.  I’m a little late with this post since we are in the process of moving.  Anyhoo- at age 2 1/2 Hailey is doing just great.  She is so much fun and has such a great personality.  As always, I am absolutely loving this stage.

Here are a few pictures of Hailey doing her favorite things:

Hailey still loves books.  She always has books to read and will sit and listen to stories as long as someone is willing to read to her.

Another one of Hailey’s favorite things to do is to line up all of her little people.

Physically at 2 1/2- Hailey weighs 33 1/2 pounds and is 35 3/4 inches tall.  She looks so much older than 2 1/2 and people are always surprised that she is only 2.

Developmentally- Hailey is doing great.  She talks and talks and carries on fun conversations.  She uses some pretty big words for a 2 year old- the other day she said, “I’m confused Mommy.”  She is such a little smarty- she can count to 13, recognizes most of her letters and knows her colors and shapes.  She understands one to one correspondence- she can count four items and say, “I have four.”

Hailey had to have an appointment with a neurologist this last month for some headaches she had been having.  She is totally fine.  After a very, very thorough checkup the neurologist told us how impressed she was with how smart Hailey is.  She said that Hailey acts like a much older child in the way that she talks and understands what people are saying to her.  (Of course, she hasn’t seen the very age appropriate tantrums that we see at home.)  Anyways the neurologist said that the reason Hailey probably gets occasional headaches is because she is extremely bright and children who are very advanced tend to get headaches because they are so very observant and kind of go into overload.

Hailey knows soooo many songs that I can’t even start to list them.  But, a few of her favorites, that she knows all of the words to, include:  “The ABC’s,” “Twinkle, Twinkle,” “Jesus Loves Me,” “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” “He’s Still Workin’ On Me,” “I Am a Promise,” “The Butterfly song,” “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” “This Little Light of Mine” and sooooo many more.

I absolutely love this stage- and I know I’ve said it before about other ages- but 2 1/2 is my favorite age so far!  I am so blessed and so thankful for this amazing little girl God has given us.  I pray every day that we are making the right choices for her life.

Hailey with Tigger at 2 years old.  (Just so you know- Hailey is holding a bottle for one of her dolls, she does not use a bottle.)

And just for fun- here is Hailey last year at one year old.

Hailey had her 2 year check up on Thursday.  When we got there I noticed a bit of toothpaste on her chin from brushing her teeth after breakfast.  So, I licked my finger and cleaned off her chin (which I swore I would never do).  Hailey responded by saying, “That’s gucky Mommy.  Don’t eat me chin.”

Hailey did very well at her appointment and was very cooperative with her doctor.  She was also very patient as I had a list of things I wanted to talk to the doctor about and Hailey waited very quietly, looking at books while I talked to the doctor.  Hailey’s doctor is also very patient with me and always sits and talks to me and answers all of my questions.  She never acts like I’m annoying her or tries to rush our appointments.  She is wonderful with Hailey and I’m thankful that we found her for Hailey’s pediatrician.

Physically- Hailey weighed 29 1/2 pounds and is 34 1/2 inches tall.  She is in the 75 percentile for both.  She didn’t have to have any immunizations this time, although we did want her to have her flu shot.  She did great for her shot and didn’t even cry.  After her shot was over Hailey said, ”It wasn’t too bad.”

Developmentally- Hailey is still doing great.  She knows her colors and shapes and almost all of her letters.  Hailey can count from 1-11 and she talks in full sentences, using 7-9 words and carries on fun little conversations.  Her pediatrician said that she is doing fabulous and is developmentally advanced.

I’ll be posting pictures from Hailey’s 2nd birthday just as soon as I have some time to upload some more pictures.  Have a great weekend!

**This is my sticky post for Wednesday, July 9th.  Newer entries may be posted underneath this one.**

There is just no way that I will have a two year old in 3 months. It is just not possible. Will someone please slow this ride down?

Hailey- one year ago at 9 months old

Hailey now at 21 months old

Developmentally- Hailey is right on track.  She is talking a lot, although most of the time I am the only one who can understand what she is saying.  She says 3 and 4 word sentences, knows her body parts, names and sounds of various animals, counts to 2, recognizes several letters and writes the “H” for her name and tries to write a “B” for Brooke’s name.

Physically- Hailey had her well visit on Monday and she is 26 pounds, 10 ounces and is 34 inches tall.  Both of those are right at the 75th percentile.  She got her last immunizations too- she’s done until she is getting ready to go to school.  Yee haw!!  Her shots were pretty hard yesterday- even though it’s been 6 months since her last shots she apparently remembered.  And she fought like crazy.  I had to hold her down and the nurse was amazed by her strength.  So, I am relieved that we are done for a while.

I am loving this age.  I know that during the 18 month update I said that was my favorite stage… but I’ve changed my mind- the stage Hailey is in now is my favorite.  She is soooo much fun.

A few of the fun things she is doing at this age include:

• Being dramatic.  Every morning after Hailey gets dressed she looks at herself in her full length mirror and says, “Ta-da!”
• Some more drama- when the ceiling fan in our kitchen is on Hailey will put her hand on her head and say “My HAIR!  My HAIR!”  And then “My hair, my eyes!”  A couple of weeks ago her bangs were getting long so they were blowing into her eyes, but she has since had them trimmed but she still does this.
• Hailey does a fake cry when she is playing by putting her hands over her mouth and making a funny crying noise.
• We have no idea how this started but when she wants to play a tickle game that Rich does with her, Hailey will yell out “SOUP!”  And then giggle like crazy.
• Hailey had recently become scared of loud noises.  If she hears a loud noise like thunder or a motorcycle she will say “Funder?  Cycle?  Truck?”  And wait for me to tell her which one it is.  Then she says “Okay Mommy?” and waits for my reassurance that she is okay.  I wish that it will always be this easy to calm her fears.
• Back when the lilacs were blooming I showed them to Hailey.  Now she calls all trees and all flowers “Lilacs.”
• Hailey loves to hide on me and when I say “Where is Hailey?”  I hear a little voice answer me and say “She gone.”  Or “She owwwside.”
• When Hailey sees a picture of herself and I ask her who it is she responds “You!”  I guess she has heard me tell her so many times “that’s you” that I have confused her.
• I love how I can carry on a conversation with Hailey now.  I can ask her questions like “What did you and Daddy do downstairs?” and she will tell me “Play Wii”  or “eat emma (M&M’s).”  The conversations are just so much fun.

I could go on and on because I love this age so much but I figured I’d just give you a little glimpse into my life with my 21 month old sweetie.

I couldn’t possibly be having anymore fun than I am during this stage with Hailey.  My only complaint is that it is going by too quickly.

Ya know what’s really weird?  A couple of weeks ago, maybe a couple of months ago at the most, I brought home this little, teeny, tiny baby.  And now today- she’s 18 months old.  Whoever is playing tricks on me by speeding the time up really should stop.

So, here I am doing another update (every 3 months now, instead of every month) to tell you what Hailey has been up to.   And can I just say- I love this age.  I have had a lot of fun with Hailey ever since she was born, but this stage she is in now is so much fun. 

Hailey does lots of cute things now and keeps me smiling and laughing everyday with her little sense of humor.  She loves to laugh and she loves trying to find ways to make us laugh.  Hailey loves to read books and loves to have anyone read to her.  She will sit for pretty lengthy time periods to listen to as many stories as I will read her.  Hailey enjoys doing art activities and I try to do several with her each week.  She has also figured out how to climb up on all of the furniture- so she keeps me on my toes as I am constantly trying to catch her.  Hailey is doing a lot more talking and she tries to say anything we ask her to try.  She is just starting to put three words together to say little sentences.  Some of the most common ones she says are “Look-it-dat” (look at that), ”I clow dow” (I close door), “Dare ya go” (there you go). 

So, there is a little update about what Hailey has been up to.  And here are some pictures I took of her today. 

Hailey is 18 months old!  She is doing her usual pose with Tigger.  You can see Hailey posing with Tigger during our previous monthly photo shoots by clicking here.

We had some beautiful weather today, so we Rich got some yard work done while Hailey and I played.

Hailey helping pick up the leaves that Rich had raked up.

Putting the leaves in the garbage bag was so much fun (for Hailey). 

And then it was time to come inside for lunch and a nap.  As you can see Hailey did not want to come in. 

This age is so much fun, tantrums and all, I just wish it wasn’t going by so fast.

Well, I certainly can not believe it, but it is time for another monthly update. Since Hailey turned four months old I have done a monthly picture of her next to Tigger to have a reference as to how quickly she is growing. Once she turned one I decided to do it every three months. So, now at 15 months it is time for a picture with Tigger.

Hailey is 15 months old! You can see Hailey with Tigger at 12 months, 11 months, 10 months, 9 months, 8 months, 7 months, 6 months, 5 months, 4 months and 3 months (Just click on the one you want to see).

For this months update I decided to share some pictures with you. And so…..

Hailey working on a puzzle- trying to figure out why that piece is not going into it’s spot. She loves to make this scowling face any time things do not go exactly as she expects them to.

Hailey loves playing with her new kitchen she got for Christmas. Here she works on washing the dishes.

And lastly- a sweet little smile from my sweet little lady.

Hailey says all sorts of words, although most of the time we’re not exactly sure what it is she is saying. She knows too many signs to try to keep listing them each month and she is really picking up on the animal sounds. Pretty much anything we tell her to try to say or sign or a noise to try to make- she’ll try to do it.

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point during the last couple of months, Hailey suddenly seemed so much older. I’ve known for a while that she is not an infant anymore- but it was like it suddenly really hit me that she’s no longer a baby. She just seems so grown up- she looks and acts so much older. Time is just flying by and I can’t believe it’s already been 15 months since my little Hailey was born.

And so as I close I’m going to post a poem that my Grammy shared with my mom when I was a baby. My mom shared it with me when Hailey was born and I’ve posted it a few times on my other blog. I actually posted it there today again- but since most of you come here for my updates- I want to post it here too.

Cleaning and cooking can wait ’til tomorrow
for babies grow up as we’ve learned to our sorrow.
So, quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep,
for I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.