New Tricks

I haven't done an update on what Hadley has been up to the past few weeks, other than exploring Paris and turning one! Here is a quick recap of her daily life -

She loves to "read" to herself, she gets the books out of the shelf and carries them to a pile. She then sits and jabbers to herself while flipping the pages. Sometimes she will let me read to her but sometimes she just wants to sit on her own.

Before her birthday she learned how to climb the stairs, here is one of her first attempts

We put Grandma in the laptop to motivate her cause she would just stop on the second step. It worked like a charm, I LOVE this action shot and look of determination. She then had to learn to go down and understands when we say "turn around", she scoots a few feet before getting to the top stair - I really need to capture it on film before she stops doing it.

She stands whenever she can and can walk along the couch and if there is anything to hold onto. She loves talking to her Grandma while standing and actually interacts with her through skype. If anyone knows how to keep a house clean with a one year old, please leave detailed instructions in the comments.

She loves being "chased", we don't really understand the game but she loves it when we get down and crawl with her - sometimes we just go in circles or she chases us or we chase her, but whatever the point of the game, she laughs like crazy.

She has discovered our un-hemmed renters curtains

And how to open the treats and feed herself

And finally she cannot wait to walk...although I am ok if it takes awhile! She loves to hold our hands and has just started trying to let go and stand on her own.

She has learned a few phrases, but doesn't always follow them - "sit in the tub", "turn around", "hands up" and of course "no", we save the no for the dangerous things. We know she understands them bc even if she doesn't do it she looks at us between her lashes and laughs, as they say here - cheeky girl! She has also developed a little sense of humor, she will pretend to offer us her food and when we lean in pull it back and shove it into her mouth, she will just laugh and laugh. She also knows that when she puts her forehead out I will kiss it, she will bonk her head back and forth and then skip one or two to throw me off so I miss, she cracks both of us up.

Her nicknames these days include Missy Mouse (from her favorite song froggy went a courtin'), Missy, Honey Bun (shortened from Honey Bunny) and the little kids at church call her Hadders - I really didn't think you could get a nickname from Hadley but somehow it caught on!

One of the heartmelting things she has started to do is go exploring then come back to me. She has never been a big snuggler but she started crawling into my lap or coming to get a hug and snuggle in, or sometimes come sit or stand next to me with her hand on my shoulder - then she will head back off to her busy baby life, but it still makes me feel a little bit needed. I love watching her discover, she really is such a delight!