27 Months

**Disclaimer:  I actually wrote this post about 2 weeks ago and basically just wrote whatever came to mind at that moment.  I saved it as a "draft" with the intentions of going back and editing it so that the post would be organized and  I had intentions of uploading pictures to my computer so that I could upload them as well as videos this post..However, life has been extremely hectic over the last month and we are making huge changes (which deserves a post all in itself) so the blog has taken a ride in the back seat.  Due to limited time, I have decided not to go back and edit this post or add pictures and I'm just going to post it in it's raw form so that I can at least remember all of these things that I want to remember about this stage.  So excuse my crazy post, but enjoy reading about Mary Hyatt at 27 months!!!



I'm not sure when I'll decide to quit doing these monthly posts--probably never.  I'm obviously not doing them on any kind of schedule anymore.  Mostly just when I feel the need to update on the things you are doing.

Mary Hyatt you are So. Much. Fun these days. You have developed so much personality.  You are so outgoing, strong willed, silly and energetic.

Your vocabulary and expressive language is out of control.  Everywhere we go people are always commenting on how well you talk.  Rarely do we meet a stranger that doesn't comment on your talking.  You are putting 5-6 words together making grammatically correct sentences at times.  I laugh because in school I learned that we should expect 2 year olds to be putting at least two word phrases together.  You blow that standard out of the water!  Sometimes I worry that people will think you are older than you are or that you can "understand" or are more "mature" than you are because of your language.  I have to remind myself all the time that you are still just 2 years old and still "think" and "reason" like a 2 year old.

Your play has dramatically changed in the last couple of months.  You now truly "pretend" play.  I have found you moving your Little People toys in your doll house and pretending to make them talk.  You talk to your baby dolls constantly.  Speaking of baby dolls, we are entering the phase where you want to take a baby with you everywhere.  The other day we let your baby ride with us to school.  I told you that you had to leave it in the car so that we didn't lose it.  You picked up your baby and said "Baby, I come back and get you.  Give me big hug. I love you."  My heart almost exploded in to a million pieces.

We love to listen to a children's christian cd that I bought at target one day.  It melts my heart to hear you sing the words to the songs.  Your favorites are "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands,"  "God is so Good" and "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus."   You often say "Mommy I want Whole World" or "Mommy I want God is Good" or "Mommy I want Follow Jesus."  I never hesitate to turn it to those songs when you request them and we both sing as loudly as we possibly can.

You are starting to enter the phase where you say things that are so funny and cute.  I wish I could just bottle up your sweet voice and inflection and keep it forever.  It is so cute.  Off the top of my head, some of the funny things that you are saying these days are:

• "What time is it?"   (We answer.) Then you say "Ok."   and leave it at that, as if you really understand what "time" means.  We have no idea why or how you even learned to ask about the time haha but it cracks us up every time. 

• Mama your name is "kissin". haha You put emphasis on the syllables that make you sound so "ghetto" if I should even say that.

• You love to count but when you do you always say 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10!  No matter how hard we have tried to tell you that you are leaving out numbers, 4-6 you don't care and never add them in!

• "Covers up."  -Anytime you want a blanket over you, you say "I want covers up" or you will say "Mama you want covers up?" or "baby needs covers up."

• "Peas"-- You have started to throw some temper tantrums when things don't go your way.  I always tell you to "use your words" to tell me what you want or if you are whining or saying "no!" (which is common these days) I always tell you "I want to hear nice and calm words."  You instantly stop what you are doing and saying "Peas mommy I want ___ peas." You think you have to say "please" multiple times and your inflection and the way you say it is so sweet and so cute that I usually  will reinforce it and give you whatever it is you are asking for. 

Your favorite thing to watch on TV these days is "Finding Nemo."  We watch it over, and over, and over!  You still love The Lion King, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the movie Cars, and Thomas the Train too but usually Nemo wins out...at least this week!

Sleeping is finally getting a little better! You are officially sleeping in your big girl toddler bed!  We converted your crib to the toddler bed where you can get in and out of it on your own.  I hate to admit it, but I actually have to lay down with you for about 20 minutes every night but you usually sleep until around 5 the next morning.  Usually somewhere between 5-6 you walk in to our room and pat on daddy's arm.  We then just let you get in the bed with us for an extra hour.  (I know bad habit but when we have long work/school days ahead, the battle of making you get back in your bed at that point in the morning isn't worth it to us!)

Occasionally you do have some trouble going to sleep and I usually leave you by yourself after 20 minutes.  Sometimes you cry and we just let you tough it out.  Occasionally you will yell "Mommy you rock me?" in the sweetest voice known to man. Again, I know I am reinforcing this behavior, but I usually can't resist and I go back and rock you for a little while.  There is nothing sweeter than to feel you cuddled up on my chest and to see how just my presence soothes you completely and calms you down.  I know one day I will long to rock you and you will have nothing to do with it so I'm trying to cherrish these moments when they happen.

You are so complimentary these days.  You often say "Mommy, I like your shirt." or "Mommy I like your necklace." etc.  The other night you said "Mommy, I like your eyes. and I like your nose."  We laughed.  I hope you always have such a sweet spirit like that.

You love clothes.  It totally baffles your daddy and I how much you have a preference for what you wear these days.  If we pick something out that you don't like, you will throw a tantrum.  We have had to start pulling out two outfits and letting you make a choice each day.  This way, I still have most control over what you wear but it gives you a little control too.  On the weekends, there have been days where you have worn the same thing three days in a row.  You will find this specific striped shirt from Target with these pink shorts and you beg to wear it all the time.  You even find a picture on my phone of yourself wearing one of your favorite outfits and you say "Mommy, I wear this morrow."  Most of your favorite outfits are my least favorites. Go figure.   One morning I gave you the choice to wear your most favorite outfit and you would have thought I hung the moon.  You grinned from ear to ear and you instantly ran to your daddy, held your shirt out, and said "Daddy, look my dress!"  "This my favorite outfit!"

You are a growing girl.  You weigh 26-27 pounds.  You are wearing mostly 2T clothes, with some 18 months things and some 3T things just depending on how they run.  You eat non-stop.  You still eat almost anything we give you, but I do think you are becoming a tad bit more picky.

Mary Hyatt, you are seriously such a joy to both your daddy and me.  We truly feel so blessed to be your parents and can't imagine life without you! I just wish I could slow down the time a little!

Random Pictures

I was looking through my pictures and realized that there are several that I never posted on here that I'd like to have documented.  This post and the pictures will be really random, but it's worth it to me.

Mothers Day 2013--We went to church with my parents and grandparents and then ate at O'Charley' s afterwards.  We snapped this picture before going in to the restaurant.  It was a great day! Being a mama is one of the greatest blessings to me!

These two are some of my favorites.  My mom and grandmother.  I just love this picture of them so I had to include it.  

Mary Hyatt is still all about shoes and purses these days.  Not a single day goes by that she doesn't have on at least one (usually more) pairs of my shoes.  She has found the hanging shoe rack on the back of our bedroom door and she helps herself to all of my shoes--flip flips, flats, heels, wedges--continuously.  Sometimes she even wears daddy's shoes!  

I found her walking like this not too long ago--purse, picnic basket, cell phone, flip flops--ready for the days adventures!

We went to Decatur at the beginning of June to celebrate Baby O's christenening.  I had no idea how Mary Hyatt would last throughout the entire service and I was a nervous wreck. Surprisingly, she was perfect during the actual christenening and then fell asleep in my lap during the sermon. I didn't have my good camera with me and didn't get a chance to take a picture of MH with Baby O but Ben did get this one on my phone..

I think the two year old stage should be called the Terrible and Terrific Twos.  Two year olds are SO cute and we have so many moments throughout the day where I seriously can't get enough of sweet baby girl.   She has moments where she is super sweet and so cute.  Then, in the blink of an eye, we have those "terrible" moments filled with tantrums and a battle for control.  She definitely knows how to push our buttons and we have spent a lot of time in the time out chair.  One day, she got in to my makeup and decided to play with my mascara. She knew she wasn't suppose to do that and as soon as I walked in the room and saw her she stood up and said "I go time out" and ran to the chair. haha I couldn't help but chuckle.  Time out kind of defeats the purpose when she willingly goes though... haha

Nana bought Mary Hyatt a "paint with water" book one weekend.  She thought it was super cool.  She grinned from ear to ear and was so proud of herself.  I just couldn't believe how big she seemed "painting" by herself. 

Reading is still one of her favorite things to do.  Now, she pretends to read the book herself.  She babbles a bunch of jargon  with inflection as if she is reading.  We have even found her pretending to read to her baby dolls before.  She props them up near near her, reads, then shows them the pictures.  It's pretty cute.

Not only does she "read" now, but she legitimately plays with her toys now.  She cooks in her kitchen and brings us "cookies" and "coffee" all the time. Our house pretty much looks like this on a daily basis...I don't mind though.  It just means she's having fun!

The little chef herself..

We have spent many days this summer out in the backyard swimming and playing on a slip and slide.  I was getting it all set up one day and when I looked up I found these three sitting just like this. I couldn't believe they were all within the same vicinity of each other so I couldn't resist snapping a picture.

We also have taken many walks in the evening.  Mary Hyatt always asks to walk to the park and requests that we walk to the swing.  One night, we gave her an extra special treat and walked downtown to the ice cream shop.

This is one thing that I love about our neighborhood.  We are within walking distance to many shops and restaurants.

Mary Hyatt is just like her daddy.  He LOVES ice cream, and so does she!

I mentioned play earlier, but here is another prime example.  I was actually drying my hair this particular morning when I looked over and found MH having a tea party down beside me on the bathroom floor.  It cracked me up that she had her baby propped right beside her.

My 2, going on 16 year old!

She loves her sunglasses.

Hair twirling is still her "comfort" thing.  Caught her twirling daddy's hair one morning just like this!

   and again a little bit later like this..

I use to get pedicures all the time but that luxury has moved far down the list of priorities so I rarely do it anymore.  I decided to get one before we headed to the beach one weekend and Mary Hyatt went with me. She loved putting her feet in the water and pretending to get a pedicure herself.  I love having a girl!

This was Mary Hyatt's last morning as a one year old. This is how she spends most of her mornings.  She usually eats breakfast then likes to cuddle up on the couch and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or the Lion King while Ben and I get ready. 

That's it for now! Next up...Birthday Party!

First Day of Preschool

About a year and a half ago when I mentioned that I was changing jobs, I think I mentioned that one of the perks was that MH could eventually go to "school" there when she turned two.   At the time that seemed like a long way away, but like always, time flew by.  The months leading up to her second birthday I was so so excited about her coming to work with me for many reasons.  One- it was going to save me over an hour of drive time each day since I wouldn't have to take/pick her up somewhere else. Two- I could pop in and see her or observe her (booth with a one way window where I can see her but she can't see me) anytime during the day. Three- It would save us a little bit of money each month since I get a pretty good discount for working there.  Four- After working there for an entire year and being able to witness first hand the ins/outs of the preschool program, I knew it was exactly where I wanted her to be.  My boss actually ended up letting me start her three weeks before her actual birthday so that I could start at the beginning of the month.

Here is the big girl dressed with her backpack on and snack box in hand ready for her first day.   

 Her backpack was stuffed with her lunch box, sippy cup, diapers/wipes, and a change of clothes.  It was so heavy I thought it might pull her backwards, but surprisingly enough it didn't!

 She cried when I first dropped her off that morning and I was a nervous wreck all day.  Every break I had that day (and really the entire week) I was running down to her classroom and popping in the observation booth to see how she was doing.

 I snapped this picture the first day at the end of naptime.  Her teachers said she went down like a champ and slept the entire 2 hours!

 After the first few days she adjusted quite nicely and I think she really enjoys it now.  It's a little different than her previous daycare because her day is completely structured and she is being engaged every second of the day.  Her classroom is built of 10 children in which 5 are typically developing and 5 are on the Autism spectrum.  The typical peers serve as models for the spectrum peers.  Each classroom has 1 lead teacher with a Master's degree and at least 3 other adults in the room at all times so the teacher-child ratio is fabulous.  The only downfall- in comparison to her previous daycare- is that it's not a christian based program meaning that they don't teach bible stories or sing bible songs in the classroom.  At first I was torn between leaving her at her church preschool for this reason or moving her to my work, but with a lot of prayer and thought behind it, Ben and I decided that we, along with our families and our current church family, will be responsible for teaching her those things and that it didn't really matter that her school wasn't spiritually focused. I couldn't be happier with our decision!

I have a few more pictures to share of MH with her new friends.  Every Friday we have water play day in the afternoons in which the occupational therapists plan various water activities for the kids.  I try to go out with Mary Hyatt's class every Friday and last week I was able to snap a few pictures.   It's funny how much smaller MH looks than most of her peers.  Some of these kiddos are in the class above her, and for the most part, many of the kids in her class now will be moving up at the end of the summer.  Our school year lasts from August until July, so in August she will stay in her current class and a bunch of new kiddos will join her.

 We always end water play with a popsicle! So fun!

23 months

Holy cow my baby is going to be 2 YEARS OLD in less than 3 weeks!!

How can this be?

Just yesterday we were on our way to the hospital unsure of whether my water had just broken. 

Just yesterday we were watching her roll over, sit up, crawl, and walk for the first time. 

Just yesterday we were watching her stick her fingers in her cake at her first birthday party.

Another year has passed.  Time is going by WAY. TOO. FAST.

This post is going to be fairly chaotic, with no organization.  I just wanted to put in writing some of the things Mary Hyatt is up to these days so I'm just going to basically type whatever comes to mind. This will probably be pretty boring for any of you that may be reading.  I'm not even gonig to take the time to add pictures, so you may want to skip this post.  Here we go...

One thing that is constantly changing is her vocabulary.  She is talking like crazy.  We can now hold conversations with her and we can almost always understand exactly what she is trying to say.  (Still to an unfamilar listener, it may not be totally intelligible but it's close.)  I can't even begin to count how many words she has.  She has started to put 2-3 words together and even occasionally 4 words.  Just tonight she walked over to our fence and said "Emma, where are you?"  clear as day.  I was totally shocked.  This past weekend we had people over to celebrate Memorial Day and Ben had pulled out a bunch of chairs in our backyard.  Mary Hyatt walked over to the door and said, "What happen chairs?"  Again, I was so surprised that she had the words and knew how to put them together to form such an appropriate question.  She talks non stop.   I do think she may be a tad bit advanced in her communication skills...which is truly music to this speech therapist's ears.  Her teachers at school have made the comment that she talks so much more than her friends and just last week she came to my work and a few of the teachers made several comments at how impressed they were with her vocabulary.

Some of her favorite things these days are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, baby dolls/strollers, purses, jewelry, shoes, books, puzzles, and lately her biggest obsession is with trains. She talks about "choo choo's" all the time.  She especially loves to go to Decatur because we can hear the train from my parents house.  She associates it with my dad, Pappy, and always asks for him or reaches for him whenever we hear the train.  It's pretty funny.  That brings me to another obsession, she LOVES my dad. She talks about Pappy all the time when in Decatur and in Birmingham.  She cries for him often and when we are home she is like his shadow.  She follows him everywhere and is always in his lap or in his arms.  We aren't sure what prompted this; she just has a connection with him.  She also watched Cars 2 with us one day because it just happened to be on TV, and ever since then she requests to watch it daily.

It's fun to watch her play these days.  She is developing so much more independence.  Almost at least once a day, we will find her putting stuff in and out of her pretend purse, throwing it on her shoulder, and then pushing the grocery cart around the house.  She loves to play with baby dolls and her favorite thing to do is to pretend to feed them a bottle. She plays in her kitchen and has started to bring us cups or spoons to pretend to feed us.  

Mary Hyatt still eats just about anything but she is starting to become a tad bit more picky.  Don't get me wrong, this child can still eat Ben and I both out of the house, but she just doesn't eat everything on her plate in one sitting like she use to.  She would much rather graze, and she definitely prefers fruits and vegetables over any kind of meat.  Of course, like her mama and daddy, she loves snacks and sweets.

She is wearing mostly 24 month or 2T clothes and weighs about 26 pounds.  I'm not sure how tall she is.  I'm looking forward to finding all of this out at her next doctor appointment.

The "terrible two's" tantrums have definitely hit full force.  They seem to be less on the weekends when we are home with her all day and she gets in a good nap, but during the week after long days at work/daycare she really knows how to push my buttons.  "No" is becoming a frequent word used and if we tell her "no" or don't give her what she wants, it's not unusual for her to whine/cry and sit on the ground/kick to pitch a fit.  She wants to do everything all by herself, which causes a lot of the tantrums.  For instance, if we have a bag of chips or goldfish, she wants to hold the whole bag and get it out.   If she wants some water out of a water bottle, she wants to hold it.  If I say "I have to help you" because I don't want her spilling the bag or the water etc. all over the place, she pouts/whines and throws a short tantrum. We have been spanking and using time out frequently.  It's actually pretty funny sometimes though, because when she realizes she has done something that isn't nice, she instantly says "sorry mommy" and usually follows that with "sweet mommy" while she rubs my face.  She says that because I often say to her "Be sweet to mommy" or "Those are not sweet hands." 

Though the tantrums happen daily, in the blink of an eye she can be the absolute sweetest child on the face of the planet.  Just tonight she was sitting on my lap facing me and I was talking to her.  A piece of my hair was kind of falling in to my face and she grabbed it so gently and pushed it behind my ear.  Some days when I pick her up from daycare, she is in a big play room area that has giant windows that look out to the parking lot.  I'd give anything if I could bottle up a video in my memory of her jumping up and down with a giant grin on her face when she sees me.  Melts my heart every single time. She loves to give hugs and loves to cuddle. She will now lay on the couch with us and watch whole episodes of Mickey Mouse.  She even watched the entire movie "Tangled" with me one night. She also loves to help us with any chore around the house. Her teachers say she has such a sweet heart, that when other kids in her class are crying she always walks over to them, pats their back and says "daddy workin'"  "he be right back."  haha  I guess that's her way of consoling them...and I guess she thinks the only reason they would be crying is because their mama and daddy isn't there.

She is still hooked to her passy and I dread the day we decide to take it away.  For now, I'm not pushing it.  Sometime soon we are going to try to start limiting it to sleep/nap times though.

Sleeping is still not an area that is pleasant to talk about.  It's my fault.  Let's just not even go there.

Still a huge mama's girl and typically won't leave my side, or my hip, from the moment we get home until bedtime.  She has started this thing where she requests me to do everything.  For example, Ben may be changing her diaper and she will cry and say "mama change you." (waating me to change her instead of him.)  We don't usually give in though...because mama just can't do it ALL the time. :)  With that said, she does whimper and whine for at least a couple of minutes whenever Ben leaves the house.  For example, he goes to play basketball or workout a good bit during the week.  When she sees him go out the door, she often cries for him. She loves her daddy and loves to play with him.

For now, that's all I can think of.  I may be back to add some more if I think of it haha but I think this pretty much sums up our sweet girl for now.  Can't believe this 2nd year of her life is almost over.

18 months

Mary Hyatt, you are 18 (well actually 19 now that I'm writing this post) month's old.  How in the world can this be? Though at times I hate that you are growing up and aren't really a "baby" anymore, I have realized that every stage seems to just get better than the last.  And at this stage, you are so. much. fun.  

We celebrated your offical  half birthday with a cookie from the Great American Cookie Company.

At 18 months your vocabulary has skyrocketed.  Your daddy and I tried to count how many words you have and we lost count because there are so many.  You have well over 50; probably somewhere closer to 100. All of your words may not be totally intelligible to other listeners, but your daddy and I typically know what you are saying because you say words the exact same way every time you want a certain thing.

 Here are a few of our favorite things to hear you say because you don't quite have all the sounds right but its really cute:
    You say "pathy" for passy
    You say "Edie" for Ellie.
    If we ask you a "Where" question like "Where is your juice?"  you say "I know" with your  hands turned upward as if you are trying to say "I don't know."
     You call your blanket that you sleep with "Nigh Nigh"
     You say "duckkkk" with the "k" really emphasized when trying to say "truck" (We love to  look for trucks when in the car)
     You have started to call your daddy "Ben."  haha I guess you have heard me call him that and have picked up on it.  We laughed so hard the first few times you did it, but now we are trying to correct it and I try to call him "dada" as often as I can..
    You say "gup" for " get up."  You have started to wedge your arm under our head or back and push us when you want us to get up to get you juice, a snack etc. You are a demanding little thing! :)
    You say "nack" for snack.
    You say "peas" for please.
    You say "uice" for juice.

 Speaking of communicating, you use all kinds of gestures and facial expressions and you understand almost everything that we say.  You are just about able to get most of your wants/needs met by communicating.  You have even started to come up to us and say "poo poo" and wave your hand in front of your face when you want your diaper changed. haha.  You don't do it every time but when you do it's pretty funny. (Yep, we bought you a potty since you seemed in to it, but you aren't quite at the point where you can tell us ahead of time yet.. are at least showing an interest! Maybe that means you will be potty trained earlier rather than later!)

I absolutely love the above picture of you.  It captures your sweet smile and personality perfectly! If we say "show me your teeth" you will now smile for the camera sometimes! :)

 At 18 1/2 months we turned your car seat around to face forward.  You were so excited and you still love it.  You are so much more content in the car and I love being able to look at you through my rear view mirror.

 You are all girl.  You love shoes,purses, and necklaces.   You often put on mine and your daddy's shoes and you love putting on my boots.  We got you your own pair of rainboots for Christmas and you love them.  You will often bring them to us and ask us to put them on you. Same with necklaces. You have a Hello Kitty necklace that we often can't get away from you.  You call it your "neck" haha.

 We have gotten a lot of use out of these boots lately since it has rained nonstop for the past few days. You love splashing in the puddles!

 You are such a big helper these days.  You love to "help" us cook and you do all sorts of chores. We try to let you help us as often as we can.  One time I let you help me put all of the water bottles in the refrigerator.  You were so proud of yourself.  Last night I was folding laundry in the living room.  You kept trying to mess up all of my neatly folded clothes so I decided to give you a task.  I gave you a pair of daddy's socks and said "take these to dada."  You did it and came back so proud of herself with hands out waiting for the next thing. You love to empty the dishwasher too and sweep the floor.  Lately, your favorite thing to do is to pretend to vacuum with the vacuum cleaner.

 I actually changed your bed to a toddler bed this month.  I'm not sure that it really needed to be changed this month but your daddy and I were getting a little desperate in trying to get you back on a good sleeping schedule.  I hate to admit it but it's really my fault that got you all messed up.  Your daddy was out of town for work for about 2 monthsstraight and I got "lazy" and just started putting you in the bed with me.  I didn't realize how hard it would be to break you of that habit.  I figured that making your bed in to a toddler bed might allow me to lay with you a little in your bed or at least sit at your bedside.  The first night you slept a solid 11 hours in your bed and your daddy and I thought this toddler bed worked like magic.  The next few nights you went to sleep fine but often woke up in the middle of the night and would walk in to our room (it's right next door).  As soon as you would come in to our room you would reach up, pat daddy's arm and say "ma ma? ma ma?"  It has been a work in progress and we still aren't perfect yet, but (knock on wood) you have slept in your bed until at least 4 AM every night this week and a few nights have slept all the way until 6 or 6:30.

 You are such a cuddle bug.  You love to cuddle with us now and will even cuddle up and watch cartoons with us now.  You are still allll about twirling hair.  The second I pick you up, your hand goes in my hair.  Here you are twirling your daddy's hair when we made a pallet on the floor one night to watch a movie..

 This month you have been to the dentist for the first time.  You were SO good.  The dentist told me he  was totally shocked and that most 18 month olds aren't that calm.  You even let them put the mechanical toothbrush in your mouth to clean all 12 teeth that you have. haha He said your teeth are looking beautiful!

As far as your stats go, you weigh 24 lbs and are in the 55th percentile and you are 32 1/2 inches long and are in the 75 percentile for  height.  You are still wearing size 4 diapers and are wearing 18 months and 24 months size clothes.  A lot of times I am already having to get the 24 month size for the length. 

Here is one more cute thing that happened this month that your daddy and I hope to always remember. We have been practicing saying the blessing before dinner every night.  One particular night this month the national championship game was coming on.  We were a little out of routine and were in a hurry to get done with dinner so I put you in your chair with your food and went in the kitchen to make my plate. We skipped saying the blessing.  As I was walking in to the dining room, I found you with your hands together, head bowed, and you were babbling away in your baby talk as if you were saying the blessing all by yourself.  It was by far the cutest thing I've ever seen and I was so proud of you in that moment.

Mary Hyatt, you truly are such a blessing to us.  I can't believe we are halfway through another year and that in just six (five now) more months you will be 2 years old!! We love you baby girl!!

16 months

I didn't plan on doing a 16 month post (thought I would wait until 18 months) but Mary Hyatt is doing so many new and cute things right now that I want to document them.  Not to mention I have a few cute and random pictures that I needed a reason to post them for. 

So, Mary Hyatt, you are 16 months old!!

  You are still so so busy but with each day are getting smarter and smarter and smarter!

 We can have a simple conversation with you now and feel like you know exactly what we are saying.  Your new favorite word is  thank you... "da du."  You say it ALL the time and it is seriously the cutest thing I've ever heard.  You usually say it appropriately when we give you something, but you may not totally grasp the meaning yet because sometimes you will bring us a toy or something and will say it. It is so cute!

 You also can answer yes/no questions completely now and really mean what you say.  We can say "Do you want___( food, toy, go outside, night night, bath) and you will answer. You have been able to shake your head "no" for a while, but now you shake your head and say "nooo" with it. If you want to say "yes" you do this whole body shake up and down.  You haven't verbalized "yes" yet but I bet it's coming.  Your daddy and I just love your little voice!

 You LOVE the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song and will often put your little hands together like you are trying to do it and look to us to sing it for you.  You really just love music.  You often point at the computer and bounce up and down to tell your daddy that you want to listen to music.  He plays music on there all the time and you will just sit in his lap and dance for a really long time.  It's easy entertainment, and pretty darn cute I might add!

Who doesn't love a baby in overalls?!? I could just eat you up!!

You still love to read.  You say book "bu" all the time and are starting to learn to point to pictures that we name on the pages.  For example, if I saw "where's the bird?" you will usually point to the bird and then you do this motion with your hands and say "teet teet" haha.  I don't know where you learned the motions. 

Look at this bed head... haha  but not kidding, you love to read!!

 

 We went to the doctor today because you have been very very sick for the past 5 days (we won't go in to that now) but they said you weighed 21 pounds.  I don't know about your height at this point.  You are still wearing a size 4 diaper and I don't see that changing anytime soon.  You are wearing some 12 month size clothes but mostly 18 months at this point.

I love the picture above. You look like such a big girl to me. You are all about your sippy cups these days.  But only the ones with the straws.  You are not a fan of the other kind. This picture was one morning before I took you to school. I don't typically take you to school in the morning because your daddy does, but he was out of town for work for three whole weeks so you and I had a lot of bonding time.  You have gotten to where you really love going to school.  We can say "Ready for school" and you grin and do your whole body shake for "yes."  You now willingly go to your teachers and don't even blink when I walk out the door.  You will often wave at me and blow me a kiss.  It's funny though because you still cry your little heart out if we leave you in the nursery at church.  I guess since you don't see them every day and since the teachers change you aren't as use to them.

 I can't believe in just two short months you will be 1 1/2.  You really are the greatest little girl and your daddy and I love you more than words could ever express.  We often say to each other, "How did we get so lucky to have her?" or "How did we get so lucky to be chosen as her parents?"  We truly mean it too.  We are blessed to be your parents!!