Big Update

It has been forever since I updated this thing. I've been working on a few big projects at work, limiting my blogging time during the day, and I've been making my Christmas gifts in the evenings! Trying to stay within the budget this year, ya know.

So, what is new? Haleigh is a terrible two year old. She's gone from an easy baby to a difficult toddler so fast. but it doesn't help that lately we've all had head colds; the ones that make you feel miserable, but don't totally incapacitate you. I kept her home from the sitter last Monday, but other than that we've been doing okay. She complained about her ears, so I decided to take her in, and she had a round of antibiotics. I'm supposed to flush her ears now and they'll recheck them this coming Monday, but I'm not really excited about doing that. I think it will just make her poopy attitude all that much worse.

So yeah, she's been expressing her wishes rather loudly. Yes, that's a nice way to put it. She doesn't want to do anything unless it's her idea. If you suggest something you know she loves, she will say NO just to spite you, then seconds later think it's a great idea because it's HER idea. When did she become a teenager??

But she's still the sweetest baby I know. And the easiest to get to bed for the night ((knock on wood!)). We have our routine: bath, lotion, brush the hair, clean the ears, diaper and jammies, brush the teeth, drink of water, give Daddy a kiss, and into bed! She doesn't complain about any of that, unless I mix it up. Look out if I clean her ears BEFORE I brush her hair out... oh my! So she's already showing us that things have to be JUST RIGHT or it will set her off.

On a better note, I moved her little table and chairs into the living room so she can sit and color/draw whenever she wants. She sits at that table all of the time now. I even let her eat breakfast there. She likes to draw with the crayons, not so much color. She makes circles, and asks for help, "I help you?" when she wants me to draw a flower or a pumpkin (the only two things I can draw). We found out this past weekend that she knows some letters. If we write her name out on the paper, she can identify the H-A-L. Sometimes she thinks hard about one and taps her finger on it to help her, but most of the time she remembers what they are. She also knows what squares and triangles ("tri-rangles") are, but can't quite draw those straight connecting lines. She prefers circles.

What else? Oh, she can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star pretty darn well. I'll have to get it on video. One line at a time, she'll say:
Twinkle twinkle starrrr
How wonder you arrrrrre
Bup above world so hiiiiiigh
Diamonds in the skyyyyyy

In the car, she identifies every single school bus, every Jeep Liberty (her grandma Buscia has one), and she's the ONLY one who likes it when there's a train. I got stopped the other morning, and happened to be the first car in line. When the train came by, really slowly, I put the window down a little so she could hear it. Then they blew the whistle and her eyes got real big and she said "Didja HEAR dat??!!"