Simple joys in the life of an (almost) 2 year old

Having an almost 2 year old around is such a joy (although quite the challenge at times). It is amazing to see her little mind at work when she is trying to figure life out. She is getting so smart, which is not always a good thing for mom and dad. She loves to dress herself now (and undress herself, including the diaper, which drives us crazy!) She loves to sing songs, and although most of them are made up words to a made up tune, each of them is special to me. She loves to set the table for dinner, and help cook when I'm patient enough to let her. She loves to jump, skip, and do somersaults. She runs way too fast for mom and dad to keep up. Although she still has a limited vocabulary, she puts phrases together, like "thank you, mom," or "please, dad"... but by far her new favorite things to say is "baby cow" and "no, mine." She still loves books more than anything else, which I hope will turn into a lifelong love for reading. In fact, many days when I go to check on her during nap time, her bed is usually covered in books, with her asleep on top of them (or sometimes I find her still awake, reading them). I love the maternal instincts she has already developed. She carries her baby around, saying "waah, waah!" She wraps it in her blankets, put it to sleep in her bed. She loves to strap it into her high chair (as seen above) and feed it her snacks and give it drinks from her sippy cup. She is becoming so independent and grown up. Its so fun to watch her learn new things every day. I love this beautiful little girl.

We are so looking forward to spending some quality time with family in just a few short weeks! I'm so excited to show her off a little bit :) She has all sorts of new tricks for her Grandmas and Grandpas.

Another request was made from Rachel to update the blog, and I found a few videos that have not yet been shared, so here they are. I just love that they show how easily entertained this girl can be :) The first is Hailey's first experience with Jello Jigglers... don't ask me why I haven't ever made them for her before, but they were a big hit. Next we have Hailey playing with her friend Janae. And finally, Hailey playing the piano- she LOVES the piano, and has somehow figured out how to get it to play rhythms and songs... I still don't know how to do that!