Just a quick post to share some fun videos of our little walker, explorer, laugh-er and funny-face maker. Mostly these are for the sole purpose of cheering me up since Hayden’s been sick the past few days with a fever up to 106 degrees. Hopefully the cute happy Hayden of these videos will be fully back soon…

Only 2 months left ’till Maddy turns 3, but to be honest it seems more like she’s 10 most of the time anyway. I can’t accurately remember all the funny conversations we have, but let’s just say it’s clear she’s very very aware of EVERYTHING that happens around her and everything we tell her.

She’s settled in at her preschool now and seems to really like it. Above is a picture they sent us during “soccer week” – we’re pretty impressed with her form on that kick. We’re less impressed with her swimming skills, or lack thereof. She seems to like going to swim class, playing with the water toys and singing the songs, but only if she can cling desperately to me the whole time and not do any of the actual swimming-related things in the water. The second we try to get her to do kicks, floats or anything, she starts pulling at my hair, swimsuit, ear, or whatever she can grab, and wraps her legs around me and chokes me with her arms.

She talks sometimes about her friends at school, especially a little boy named Willem. She used to give him hugs and kisses until she caught on to Dave’s nervous reaction to those stories. Apparently, he mentioned to her that she might want to be more selective about who she gives kisses to. When I asked her how her day was yesterday she said “it was good, I played with Willem, but I didn’t give him any hugs or kisses because daddy said not to.” Hmmmm.

Dave has earned the coveted status of Maddy’s “best friend,” which she tells him frequently. When I asked what that makes me, she matter-of-factly said “you’re Meagan” in a “why-would-you-ask-such-a-ridiculous-question” sort of way. But she still gives me lots of affection anyway. Whenever I go into my home office to work, she gives me hugs and blows me kisses and says “Have fun working, mommy! Be good! I love you! I’ll be out here! Don’t worry!” She loves to mimic me saying goodbye or putting her to bed – to me or to her dolls or to Hayden.

She’s also testing us a LOT. She has many very whiny moments, especially during dinner-time when I’m exhausted from a long day of work and have very little patience. I’m trying the “1-2-3 Magic” technique to get this behavior in check, but the whole “don’t over-explain things to your kids” part is totally against my nature. She’s still not so interested in moving back to the big girl bed, so her crib is getting lots of use. The good news is that she’s a pro on the potty now, finally for ALL the kinds of potty needs

We’ve had quite a big week with Hayden doing a lot of new things. She learned how to kiss the other day, which is the cutest thing ever, and she increased her quantity of walking from about 20% of the time last week to all the sudden more like 90%:

She also discovered how to fight back when Maddy is being pushy – Maddy now has a lovely bruise on her calf in the shape of Hayden’s 4 little, yet sharp, teeth. However, the sisters still love each other. Just check out this great dance video as evidence:

In addition to all this, we had my brother Gavin and my sister Lorna’s family over for the 4th of July, which was a blast. Dave cracked open our new grill, and the kids got a kick (much to my chagrin) from the firecrackers and sparklers he let them play with on our deck (which is made of wood, btw). The best part was that Lorna and crew stayed overnight and us grownups actually got to hang out and enjoy adult conversation over some games of cards after all the kids went to bed.

Then on Tuesday, we Phamsters had a mini-celebration in honor of Hayden’s actual birthday. Dave picked up some yummy cupcakes on his way home from work, and we gave Hayden her birthday gift – a fun toddler band set with cute “instruments” for her and Maddy to play. The best was the look on Maddy’s face when we decided to use a leftover sparkler since we didn’t have any candles for Hayden to blow out.

On Saturday, we had a fun family party in the park near our house with my Portland siblings and their families, my grandparents, and my aunt Sydney and her family. The kids had a blast on the playground, learning tennis from Dave, and blowing bubbles. Then we went back to our house for cake and ice cream. Here’s a slideshow of all Hayden’s bday festivities:

And today, we took Hayden for her 1-year check-up, where the doctor told us she has reached the frightening distinction of being in the 1st percentile for weight for her age. I’m trying not to let that stress me out. She weights 16 lbs 9 oz, is 28.5 inches tall (28th %), and her head is 43.5 cm around (10th %).

Now it’s off to Sunnyvale for me for a couple days…