Miss Hadleigh Claire Is 25 Months

So, Hadleigh Claire is now 2 years and 1 month. She is so interactive, alive, inquisitive and hilarious! She has started to talk non-stop. Sometimes you can understand what she is saying and sometimes it is just jibberish. She likes to talk about all the things she sees, books she is reading, and anything and everything else. She loves to sing "Winkle, Winkle, little star" and "the wheels on the bus go ron and ron".

Our evening routine has added a few more songs to it. We now sing "Peace Like a River" and she knows all the words and motions and knows when you have mixed them up...it is not love like a fountain! It is love like an ocean! She also now consistently bows her head and folds her hands to pray. At the end she always sasy "Jesus!" It is sweet.

We have a lot of the normal 2-year-old stuff going on. An occassional tantrum, a bout of defiance, testing the limits...seems normal. We continue to seek how to best discipline her and train her. It is hard, and sometimes drives me nut-so. Sometimes I think, goodness, if there is drama between HC and I know at 2-years what will it be like at 14. OOOh! But she is so super sweet and we seek to really give much love and grace in the middle of everything.

Reading is the number 1 priority in the day. Whenever Annelise is sleeping we try to sit down together and read several books. She could really do that all day long. It is amazing. All of her board books are out in her new playroom where she can sit and read to herself, and the big girl books are in the family room where I can read them to her. We recently bought a kiddo Bible called "The Big Picture Story Bible" and it is fabulous at pulling all the "stories" together to show that the Bible is one big story. It had been recommended to us, but I was thinking it would better once she was a little older. However, she LOVES it and will sit and listen to several chapters at a time.

She likes to run, which is a more waddle, quick walk than a run. When I ask her to come to me, she will say "Run?" and I will say "Fast" and then it looks like she is starting a race and she will come straight to me. Being outside is a favorite part of the day, and she loves exploring our new backyard and all the little bugs and animals that live back there. She also likes watching the planes and helicopters that fly overhead and listens for the train and fire trucks to go near the house.

She is not a frilly, girly-girl. She is so tough it always surprises Dave and I. Last summer she got stung by a bee and never shed a tear, after that we knew she was a tough cookie. This past week she was out on a walk with Dad and Mom and she took a big tumble. Both knees were scraped up and her hands were scuffed, she never cried. Saturday she sliced her finger and never cried. She is tough.

This last picture is Hadleigh with her cousin, Jon. He came down for Annelise's baptism on Sunday, more on that later. Hadleigh adores her cousins, Jon, Josh and Jacob and follows them around whenever we are together.