Gymboree

Miss Haley and I get some one on one time while Hanna is at Mother's Day Out. We are in the Play and Learn class at Gymboree and she just LOVES it. She gets to crawl around and explore all the fun toys. She especially loves all the colorful balls and we've met lots of new friends; Noah, Avery, and Colter.

Crocs

Love my new crocs. Thank you Waven!

Books, Books, and More Books

Hanna is CRAZY about books and on any given day could have up to 10 books in her bed. I take them out but magically more appear. When she is locked in her room with spare time on her hands it is scary just how quickly she can destroy her room. We used to have a doorknob cover on her closet door but she figured that out. So, when I went in to get her this morning I saw that she'd done a little rearranging of her books, from the closet to the bed. (left) We put them back neatly in the closet. I put her down for a nap, didn't hear much out of her and thus realized that she was sound asleep. Later I had to sneak into her room to retrieve something and low and behold I was astonished to see that she had cleared out one whole shelf of books in her closet and they were resting neatly on top of her while she napped. (right) To say she is a bookworm is a gross understatement.

Bedtime Rituals

I know once we start the bedtime procedures that it may take a good 30 mins before Hanna is tucked into bed and ready for a good nights sleep. We brush our teeth, read a book or two or three, sometimes four, sing all the songs that we know. You think that would lull any toddler off to sleep but not Hanna. She then starts with, "tickle my tummy," "tickle my hands," "tickle my eyes," "tickle my nose," "tickle my back," "tickle my eyeballs," (yes, even eyeballs) "tickle my teeth." So on and so on. I am surprised at how something so sweet could be so annoying at the same time.

Johanna Cathleen

Hanna is such a little lady and will be turning 3 in less than three months! She is my cautious child and analyzes everything before jumping in head first, if she does that. She is very sweet letting us know often that she misses us and giving big bear hugs all the time. She is also very stubborn and will not do anything if she thinks you want her to. The whole reverse psychology trick has never worked better. One of her favorite past times is playing with her "people" as she has so lovingly dubbed them. "People" could be anything ranging from cars to dinosaurs to animals but all miniatures. I often hear the conversations that her "people" have and they sound hauntingly familiar, i.e; "No, don't do that"; "I'm not joking"; "Stop that right now". Her second favorite thing to do is read her books and has many that she can read from front to back. Well, it's from memory more than anything but we are still very proud of her. She talks a big talk about going pottie on the big girl pottie but when it comes time, she just runs. So, we are taking our good 'ole time in the potty training business (see reverse psychology). Hanna is very much the Daddy's girl and drops whatever she is doing to greet Daddy at the door. We love our Hanna-Banana and while at times she is a drama queen she is still our sweet princess.

Haley Dawn

Haley is now a little over 7 months and is into EVERYTHING. She gravitates to anything of Hanna's completely ignoring her own baby toys. Of course, this overjoys Hanna as Haley has to taste everything she picks up hence leaving a trail of slobbery wet with the addition of "spit-up" on occasion. She is an active little girl and is already pulling up to stand! She is a Mommy's girl and crawls after me wherever I go wanting to be picked up and while I am flattered it can be a little frustrating sometimes. I've gotten pretty good at going about tasks with only my right hand. My left arm is a little more muscular by contrast. But she is oh so cute with her fuzzy strawberry blonde hair and eyes of blue. Even complete strangers stop us to comment on her cutie cute cuteness as she flashes them a mouth full of gums. As most babies go she likes her orange veggies but does love a good grean bean as well. She adores her big sister and lights up whenever Hanna enters the room grinning from ear to ear. I don't know that big sis shares the same degree of adoration but she does smile back sometimes. I think as time goes by they will be the best of friends as I am with my sister. We love our little "Hae-Hae" as she is our little chunky monkey that adds some sugar AND spice to the Kaiser family.