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.

It's a process

First she rolled, then crawled, pulled herself up and stood, cruised along furniture and eventually developed the unusual skill of knee walking (which she has since perfected). Over the past month, Hayley has thankfully taken a real interest in walking on her feet. She has yet to take more than a single step without holding on to something or someone; when she does have a hand, she is pretty much unstoppable.



The latest step in the process came this week when Hayley began standing on her own for more than 2 seconds. Her little legs are getting stronger and her sense of balance is coming along nicely.



At the end of the day, Hayley always resorts to knee walking, but she will outgrow that. It's only a matter of time before she is happily running into true toddlerhood.