Hadleigh 2.5 years old!

Whew! Hadleigh is our little spitfire! Should I be surprised?!

She is cute, loving, fun, controlling, funny, stubborn, and impatient all rolled into one little girl! Are you exhausted just from that one sentence describing her? Yeah, that explains our lives :)

Her Personality is great.  She's starting to become more outgoing.  Very full of energy and seems to be becoming the ring leader when I see her in play with others. (greeaat). She's very thoughtful when she wants to be - but then other times sharing is the worst thing possible.  She has no problem telling you what she wants and how she wants it - and is pretty stubborn, so good luck trying to change her mind or get her to do something else. In addition to that, she lives for control - so she will do anything to control the issue/situation. She's still unsure about new things in the beginning, but once she gains confidence there's no stopping her.  I love that she still likes to cuddle with mommy and daddy every day. I hope that NEVER stops.

She has a love/hate relationship with sleep.  If you’re trying to get her to sleep, she fights it to the bitter end. And it’s bitter. If you’re trying to wake her in the morning, she doesn’t want to get up. She’s got so much energy, but is not a morning person at all. Gets that from her daddy.  She will sleep in her big girl bed, but we still lay with her until she falls asleep.  We also still let her sleep in bed with us – whenever she wants, or whenever it’s easier for us. Bad habit some say, but you know what? We don’t mind and it works for us. Let us be.

Hadleigh goes to school 3 days a week.  And while the morning drop offs can be teary, she has great days.  On March 4, she actually moves up to the 2.5-3.5 year old class, so they’ve been starting to introduce her to the class already.  Some days she even asks to go to the bigger room.  I think she’s ready for sure.  She’s made a few friends that she will talk about at home, so that’s exciting!  They work with her on potty training and she seems to do a lot better for them than for us.  Granted, they work a lot more with her probably too.  We’ve taken a very laid back approach to potty training.  I have tried the cold turkey a few times, and they’ve obviously failed.  She will pee right through the underwear and it doesn’t bother her at all. One day. One joyous day.

The bippy is still in her life somewhat.  The past few days she has done great.  We haven’t even really put together a big “operation no bippy” theme either.  School has always put it away, so she was used to not having it there.  And then she fell asleep one night without it, so we knew it could be done.  Now when she asks for it at night, I don’t go get it.  Now, she still takes Hayden’s when it’s around, but I correct her and give it back.  Hasn’t been a huge struggle {knock on wood}

She talks all.the.time now!  She will still speak jibberish, but for the most part she’s very clear.  Of course we still have those words that Daniel and I know exactly what she is saying, but we will have to translate for other people.  For first time parents who were scared of her not talking enough – she’s making up for it!  She can say the funniest things!  I need to start writing them down more! Put it on my list.

2.5 has definitely had its challenges.  I’m sure they will continue. She is becoming more independent - “no mama, I do it” is a sentence we hear often.  We’ve hit into what people call the “terrible twos” but I like to think of it as her being challenging.  It’s a mixture of independence, sometimes her being tired, stubborn, wants control, not being able to fully express her feelings, and her just being a 2.5 year old! 

We wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. Love my girl!