Hayley and Kate Minter

After her nap, Hayley noticed that she was wearing a shirt that had a crown on the front. She then announced to Holly that she was “The Queen of Far Far Away.”

I think it’s time to cut down on the “Shrek 2″ viewings.

Our little baby girl isn’t so much of “little” or “baby” any more - she celebrated her second birthday today.

She’d been aware for a while that her birthday was coming. Every day, she’d ask for some “hap-day-cake,” or “Happy Birthday Cake” in Hayley-ese. So she took it in stride when we got her this morning and told her “Happy Birthday.” Her cool demeanor quickly faded, though, when we came downstairs and saw that Holly had decorated the dining room in a “Finding Nemo” birthday theme. Her jaw dropped and her face lit up, and she had a grand time playing with the helium balloons.

The threat of frozen weather in Virginia knocked out about half of our birthday guests, as Grandma Agnes and Bill, and Aunt Beth, Ashley, and Blake stayed home. We gained a couple of surprises, though, as Nana and Lele both came down. That put the party members at Grandpa and Lele Minter, Grandma and Granddaddy Estes, Nana, and the Hegarty family next door. Everyone rolled in by 11:30 or so and, since the Virginians were nervous about travelling back home in bad weather, we went right into the make-your-own-sandwich lunch.

After lunch, Hayley got her hap-day-cake. She sort of got the concept of blowing the candles out, but was more hissing through her teeth than blowing on the candles. Her aim was a little off, too. So we “helped” her blow the candles out, at which point she looked around saying “I know _I_ didn’t do that!” The cake, also Nemo-fied, was very good, and Hayley didn’t make anywhere near the mess she made last year. In fact, apart from the orange soda mouth, she looked rather dainty as she shoveled icing into her mouth with her hands.

We opened presents after we had our cake. Hayley wanted Grandpa Minter to help her with the unwrapping, which was pretty cool. She ended up getting quite a bit, including a Dora outfit, a nice big bouncy ball to replace one that popped a while back, a real Slinky (she’s had a cheap plastic one and a mini metal one, but this is the real deal), some art supplies, a set of plastic animals, and some smaller toys. Her big present was based on one of her favorite activities - going “fwoo tun” (or “Through the tunnel”). She can amuse herself for quite a while going “fwoo tun” on just about anything - under tables, under chairs, between your legs, you name it. So we found her this little tunnel set that looks like some sort of habitrail for toddlers. Once we set it up, she was hooked. She, Brian, and Jenny went in, out, and around that thing until it was time for everyone to go. Now she gets to see the unfortunate reality of the “winter baby,” as she doesn’t get any more presents for 11 months. She should have planned that better.

It took longer than normal to get her down for her nap, which is understandable given that she was pretty worked up and we put her down about an hour later than normal. She only slept for an hour, too. After she got up, she watched some “Shrek 2″ and we got dinner from KFC. A little more fwoo-tun play, and it was time to put our big girl to bed.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since we made that early morning trip to Rex Hospital and ended up with a beautiful little baby dripping on us at 6:06pm. This year has been amazing in terms of how Hayley relates to us and to the world around her. It’s a joy just being around her every day. Now we’re officially in the “Terrible Twos,” (as I type this, she’s just awoken for the second time in an hour and a half) and while I’m sure there will be some trying times, it’s going to be another great year watching her grow.

Happy birthday, Baby Bee. Mommy and Daddy love you!

Wade’s friend Brock Owen got married last weekend, and we all attended the festivities. Wade was an usher for the ceremony, so we were invited to the rehearsal dinner. Hayley was quiet but active during the rehearsal; then once the stage was empty after the rehearsing ended, Hayley and the other children there began to run back and forth across it. Hayley then decided it would be fun to jump off then stage. She mostly landed in Wade’s arms, but she took a few tumbles onto the carpeted floor below the platform. Fortunately, Hayley is rarely fazed by such falls, although the people who don’t know her were amazed that she remained unhurt. We walked over to the restaurant for dinner, and the first thing Hayley did upon walking into the restaurant was jump up on the little stage in the corner, grab the microphone stand and begin to “sing.” I guess her parents being who they are, she is a born performer.

Other things going on right now include Hayley’s continued improvements with language. Her progress is not in leaps and bounds anymore but in small subtle ways. She used to say just the beginning of most words, but now I hear her making a conscious effort to say entire words. “Chee” has become “cheese.” “Oop” has become “open.” We are also trying to encourage her to say please when she wants something. She’s always been good about saying thank you (which also shocks people when they hear it), but we would like her to be polite on the other end of the spectrum too.

Hayley can now reach the light switches when she is standing on the floor. She also likes to turn on the light in her bedroom in the mornings. Wade gets her out of bed most mornings and he says she has usually reached over and flipped the switch.

At first Hayley was scared of the movie Monsters, Inc. I think it made her believe there was a monster in her closet. But, now she likes the movie and requests it whenever she is in the van. She calls it “hairy monster,” I guess because the main character is a hairy monster.

Hayley’s two new foods that she likes are corn and raw carrots. I was hesitant to let her have raw carrots because they are a choking hazard, but she hasn’t had any trouble with them so far. Of course, I keep an eye on her while she’s eating them. Hayley doesn’t like many vegetables, so when I find one she likes, I try to give it to her nearly every day. I bought a bag of little frozen cobs of corn, steam them one at a time, and Hayley eats the whole thing. Of course, she calls it “popcorn” while she’s eating it, but the results matter. It’s funny to watch her eat it–she eats all the kernels, then gnaws on the cob for a few more minutes to make sure she got them all. Maybe some day she’ll like broccoli too.

Hayley decided to follow up her milestone moment last night (using the potty) by waking up at 1:30am and then again for good at 5:30am.

Yin and yang, that kid. Yin and yang.

Update: Ok, that makes more sense. It turns out she has “The Croup.” That would explain her, um, “digestive issues” over the past couple of days, too.

Hayley peed in her potty for the second time ever tonight. We were trying to get her changed into her pajamas, and she asked to do one of her favorite things, “Run round nay” which means “run around naked.” Wade asked her if she wanted to go sit on her potty. Now, she has sat on it countless times without ever doing anything, but tonight she surprised us. Wade and I were both standing there with her when we heard a distinctive tinkling. We applauded this grown-up behavior enthusiastically. I refuse to push Hayley toward potty-training too early because I don’t want her to regress. But, it is nice to see these small steps she takes on her own toward wanting to use the potty.

As I write this, Hayley is downstairs watching my DVD of “Looney Tunes: The Golden Collection” and laughing her head off at a RoadRunner cartoon.

Atta girl!

As we approach Hayley’s birthday, she continues to amaze us with the way she’s picking up on things. A couple of days ago, she was playing in the living room with Holly when she decided that she was hungry. She got up and went to the kitchen but, before she left the living room, she turned to Holly and said “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

She’s warmed up to me a lot more recently. Now, it’s fairly common for her to want me to do things like feed her, hold her, or change her diaper (not read to her at night, though). And she’ll come up to me and hug me and say “Dada’s baby girl.”

We’ve pretty much retired the high chair now. She’s been wanting to sit in the chair like big people for a while, so we found an old booster seat that our neighbors had given us, strapped that to a dining room chair, and she’s been eating in it for a couple of days.

The more of her baby furniture we move up to the attic, the more we realize how much she’s growing up.

It’s been a fun weekend. I’ve spent a lot of time just hanging out with Hayley, while Holly caught up on some work around the house. Thanks to the absolutely gorgeous weather (low 70s and sunny all weekend), we spent a lot of it outside.

Yesterday, she liked riding around in her wagon. Grandpa Minter and Lele got her a Radio Flyer for Christmas, and she’s doing much better in that than she ever did in her stroller. I made a few laps up and down the street with her yesterday. She likes laying down in the wagon, so it’s lucky that a Spongebob pillow she got is just the right size for her wagon, otherwise she’d have a headache.

Today was even busier. We started off in the morning by coloring in the driveway with her sidewalk chalk, then did a little bit of wagon time. After that, I decided to take advantage of the nice day by getting some stuff done outside, and Hayley was absolutely wonderful while I was doing it. I cleaned out the shed (it still had sawdust and debris on the floor from its construction), and Hayley was stacking scrap wood while I cleaned. Then, as I was sweeping up the sawdust, she helped push the broom. I was able to get a lot done in there, and she couldn’t have been better.

We followed it up by her helping me move the firewood back to where it was before it got relocated by the siding contractor. I was moving the big pieces, and she wanted to do what Daddy was doing, so I gave her smaller pieces to carry and put on the pile.

We went next door when she spied Brian and Jenny. Brian had a “pig catapult gun” - this handgun looking thing that had a catapult on the top that fired little plastic pigs. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen - weirder than Nunzilla. Of course, Hayley wanted all the pigs, and Brian was nice enough to let her hold one. And hold it she did - it was in a death grip in her fist the entire time, except when she was doing her Olypmic training on the rings.

The thing that impressed me was that, when it was time to leave, she didn’t want to give the pig back. Brian said “Hayley, can I have that back please?” and she (slowly) put out her hand and gave it back to him. No fussing or anything!

After naps, we came back outside again. Holly and I tried to get her distracted by her chalk or digging so that we could toss a frisbee to each other. We felt kind of guilty about that. But Hayley was having fun, alternating between entertaining herself and playing with us.

She did well at dinner, too. As finicky as she’s been about eating lately, she’s been vocal in demanding food when she’s hungry this weekend. “Want food!” is what we hear if she’s hungry. She’s doing better about eating, too, eating more at mealtimes instead of just picking at her food.

Bedtime was a little iffy, as we couldn’t find the little plastic hop-toads she’s been sleeping with since Christmas (we found them after she was asleep). But it’s been a great weekend with my baby girl, and I think she had fun being with me, too.