The past month, in summary

So much has happened since the last post (sorry about that) that I'm not even sure where to begin- so I'll take it from the top.


It has been our routine for some time now to have lunch all together on Wednesday afternoons, somewhere in the general Stanford area, then Geoff and Hayley head to Grandma's house and hang out until I'm off work and then we have family dinner at the house. Every once in a while we eat on campus so I can show Hayley off to my co-workers- which is just what we did a few weeks ago. The big difference this time was that Hayley's walking so when we went to lunch we let her lead the way- while also trying to steer her out of the way of golf carts and students on bikes- and watched as she waved at everyone we passed. We, obviously, took some pictures and this one of her with Hoover Tower in the background is a favorite of mine. I can't quite pinpoint why Hoover Tower is so meaningful to me, but I do know that from miles around it's always the beacon I look for to orient myself and find my way. Being on this beautiful campus, the same campus I remember running around on as a kid, with my own daughter and seeing Hoover Tower in the distance kinda brings tears to my eyes. Stanford, meet a future member of the Class of 2031!


Another part of Hayley's routine has been Gymboree class once a week. It's taken some time to get used to this new environment, and Hayley still hates going through tunnels, but over time she's warmed up to it and it is great to see her interact with the other kids and learn her little body's physical ability at this stage. Hayley just recently moved up to level 4 and it's, again, taking her some time to adjust to this change but she's making progress.


Now that Hayley's walking, time spent at the Children's Discovery Museum is much more enjoyable all around. Lots of new play areas and activities, such as virtual snowboarding, have opened up to her due to this new-found mobility.


A favorite section of hers seems to be the little house section; she likes to set the table, have tea parties and throw the pretend food, plates and cups all over the place.


She also seems to enjoy taking a snack break on the park benches outside- she even shares with the pigeons!



I've been wanting to get Hayley a little play table for a while now and a few weeks ago a neat little LEGO/activity table was on sale so Geoff took Hayley to Toys R Us to pick it up. I know Geoff's been looking forward to playing LEGOs with his own child for ages now, so this was a big day for them. Hayley seems fairly interested in the table, though her favorite way to "play" with LEGOs seems to be bringing them to us one by one over and over again.


Hayley's friend, Maddy, turned 2 at the end of June and she had her birthday party at a bounce house party place. Hayley wasn't so sure at first, but she couldn't hide her smiles as she went down the huge inflatable slides or chased me around the bouncy.


When it was time for cake we were surprised to find that Hayley preferred her little box of raisins to the yummy birthday cake. I suppose we shouldn't have been too shocked- that girl would happily eat fruit exclusively if we'd let her.


A few Dum Dums were included in the party's goody bag, which led to Hayley having her first lollipop. She enjoyed it for a while- then asked for some fruit instead.


Earlier this month was Independence Day and we went down to Morgan Hill to spend the day with family at Danny and Patti's.


As usual, the food was delicious, the pool and weather perfect and a good time was had by all. I think Hayley especially enjoyed her dessert of berries and whipped cream.


This year we decided to stay for fireworks and Hayley stayed up well past her bed time with no melt-down at all. I was so proud! She didn't seem to be very scared of the fireworks, though she did retreat to Geoff's lap a few times for some of the louder blasts.


Truth be told, Hayley was less interested in the fireworks than she was the graham cracker and marshmallow she was munching on throughout.


A week or so ago Hayley's started building towers out of her alphabet blocks...


...for the sole purpose of knocking them down.


Hayley's interest in books has dramatically increased lately, causing Geoff and I to read the same 4 books over and over again. And then another few times for good measure. Grandpa David and Grandma Tina came for a visit this past weekend and got to see first hand how much Hayley loves her story time.


Another development, one which I must admit I'm THRILLED about, is Hayley wanting to play dress up. She hands us her pink tutu and bead necklaces to put on her pretty regularly these days. I should have known this was coming, considering her slight obsession with shoes. Here she shows off her new Disney Princess slippers:


We caught Hayley playing with her reflection in the mirror the other day and found it especially hysterical when she'd hug or kiss herself. Though, we can't really blame her- she IS pretty smooshable.

Leaps and bounds and baby steps

My amazement is renewed daily by this child of ours. Family members who spend some time with Hayley, but don't see her every day, frequently ask "How do you stand it?" We can only answer honestly: we can't stand it. Miranda and I alternate between staring in wonder and smooshing her. It's not like she never misbehaves, or frustrates us, but all is quickly forgiven and forgotten; we're just compelled to adore this kid. And it's only going to get worse.



A week ago Hayley decided that she could walk all the time, instead of only when we hold her hand. Knee-walking is now a very rare occurrence. She'll hold your hand if she wants to take you somewhere. She can go from sitting to standing without assistance in a couple seconds. She's on the verge of running. She can wear dresses without losing mobility. She can play outside, for real!



Speaking of playing outside, we started our Memorial Day weekend with a trip to the beach. This was actually a re-creation of a special day from last year (which I blogged about here) when Hayley was just 5 weeks old. Breakfast at a great cafe in Half Moon Bay, followed by a drive down the Pacific Highway where we stopped at San Gregorio beach (still the only beach Hayley's ever visited) and topped off with ice cream at Marianne's in Santa Cruz. She was a little hesitant at first, but once she saw how fun the sand was, Hayley dove right in. She happily played for quite a while and was less than pleased about leaving the beach. She forgave us when she got her ice cream (which was only her second ice cream cone ever, her first happening just a week earlier at Baskin Robbins).



Along with the improvements in mobility, Hayley has been pushing forward with her communication skills. Whether she is excitedly telling us about the train she hears across the street or letting us know she's hungry, sign language is fast becoming a fun and useful tool for her. She's even starting to link two signs together (such as "more" and "please"). Hayley can also understand quite a bit of what is said to her. I only have to mention changing her diaper once and she gets right up, toddles into her room and walks over to the changing table. Of course, as we all know, hearing and listening are two different things; I'm sure the listening is not going to happen as often as the hearing when she gets older.



This weekend also marked the end of bottles. For a while, Hayley was getting sippy cups and straw cups throughout the day and a bottle right before bed. That last bottle has now been replaced by a sippy cup. Aside from the big stuff like the crib and diapers, the last remaining evidence of once being a baby is her pacifier. She only gets it in her crib, but I have a funny feeling she's going to hold onto that one for some time. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to taking it away from her.



Not all of the changes happening recently are so obvious. Some of them are subtle: small changes in behavior that are hard to explain or even remember. Big or small, though, changes happen fast and they are always unexpected. These moments, when my daughter surprises me, continue to be some of the best moments as a parent.



Oh, and she had her first official tea party with daddy on Memorial Day.

Sign of the times

Today Hayley is 15 months old. In some ways it feels like it's been a lot longer than 3 months since her birthday, but seeing how big she is just boggles my mind. We are full on into toddler country now. As some of you know, effective communication is one of the biggest issues when dealing with toddlers. To help with that, Hayley and I took a 5 week course in sign language (specifically ASL) at our local community center. The format was pretty simple; basically it's just a teacher (certified in ASL) showing the parents some signs each week while the kids play. Upon completion of the course, I know about 50 signs (including people, animals, colors, vehicles and more) as well as the alphabet. At this point, for any more signs I might want to learn and/or teach to Hayley, I can just refer to our old friend the internet.

One of the things the teacher explained right away is not to expect too much from our children. It can take anywhere from weeks to months for a young child to learn just one sign and there doesn't seem to be an established system for teaching them. The only thing you can really do is to consistently use signs while talking. So that is what we're trying to do, although it can be tough to remember to do that.

The first week of the class, we learned the sign for "more" (among others) and it's a sign that both Miranda and I have been fairly consistent with in usage. Hayley surprised us both a couple weeks ago when she actually did the sign on her own. She still does it occasionally and this was my attempt to capture it on video:

May the Fourth

Today was a very special day. Today, our little girl officially became a toddler. Just last week we showed you how close she was to walking on her own. Then on Sunday she took a few steps by herself. Yesterday she did it again. Then this evening, right in the middle of a very exciting playoff hockey game, Hayley decided she could walk. She proceeded to show off her new ability over and over:



We are so proud of you, Hayley! Welcome to the wonderful world of bipedal independence.

I hope...

...you always stop to smell the roses.