Stage five clinger

Dear Sweetzers,

You are now 23 months - your days as a one year old are numbered. You are knocking on the door of the terrible two's. I am hoping that the saying for you will be "terrible 20+months..." and the two's will turn into "terrific two's"! These last few months have been difficult with you. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. People who told me that girls are so much easier to raise than boys must never have met you. You are your own little person. In the long run I think that will turn into a positive but for right now it runs me ragged.

You are into everything! Everyday you tear apart the craft cupboard and leave various objects strewn all over the house. You like to empty your dresser drawers and throw your clothes over the railing to watch them fall. If I give you a bowl of anything: dry cheerios, goldfish crackers, pretzels - in seconds you have "Hansel and Greteled" them all over the place.

You are very into climbing and jumping. You will get onto the kitchen chairs and maneuver your way onto the table. You have figured out how to climb out of your highchair and onto the counter. The other day I left the room for literally five seconds and came back to you sitting on the counter top holding the knife I was using to cut up your lunch in your hands! You jump on the couch, the chairs, our bed, your crib - EVERYWHERE! Not timid jumps either. Full out jumping for joy and falling down to heaps of laughter. I don't know how to stop you and I fear it is only a matter of time before you get injured somehow.

You seem to have split personality sometimes since you will go from overwhelming clingy to fiercely independent - or maybe that is just the nature of being almost two. More often you lean toward the clingy though - that is how you got your "stage five clinger" nickname. It is not uncommon for me to be cooking dinner while you are literally hanging on my pant legs. For some reason, that time of day tends to be your worst. Spencer claims it is because you are hungry, but I don't buy it because I will give you food and you will just throw it violently to the floor and continue to whine and cling. I just keep thinking that this too will pass and someday I will look back and long for the "cling- on" days. Yeah, right!

You are now a full fledged book worm. You will listen for as long as we want to read. One of your favorites is "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". You love to wave your finger in the air along with the doctor and tell the little monkeys to stop jumping. Then you laugh your little head off. You are starting to speak a lot more. You love to "talk" on the phone though your conversations usually consist of "Hi" followed by a couple of "yes's" and then a lot of your own gobbledy-gook which is probably extremely profound - but we can't decipher it enough to know what you are trying to expound upon. One of my favorite things that you say is "Oh" - you say it in response to many things. It makes you sound so grown up. For example: I will tell you to go put something away because we don't need to use it yet and you will look at me and say "Oh" and run off and put it away. It is just so matter-of-fact. I know I am goofy, but it cracks me up every time.

You get so excited about things these days. You love baths. When I tell you that it is time to get out you will scrunch your face up in a little pout and look at me and say "NO!". You love Daddy. When you hear the door opening when he is coming home from work you scream "DaDa!" and go running to him with a hug and kiss. You are in awe of all the Christmas decor that we have and every time you see something lit up you proclaim it "pretty"! You love to wrestle around with your big brothers. You love to be included in everything they do and you think you can do everything that they can do. If I ask "Who wants to help me set the table?" or any other chore you will answer along with the boys with a "Meeeee". You love anything that has to do with Dora and Elmo. Of course, every muppet you see is "Memo" and even Diego is "Doaa" to you. You are starting to play with your baby dolls a lot more and your favorite is your big baby doll that we named Mirabel, since she looks kind of like your little cousin. Oh, yeah - you LOVE Mirabel. Everytime you see a picture of her you get excited and say her name "Mirabaaaa". I can't wait to see how you react to the real life Mirabel in a few weeks.

You are always on the move and curious about everything. I can't even photograph you anymore - you just won't sit still! These pictures are not the greatest, but they are so you right now -our little Hurricane Hailey.

I know there is so much more that I wanted to say, but it will have to wait for another day. This time of year is so full - so much activity, fun and stressful and my head is just swimming in it all right now. I have been trying to find time to write this for weeks now (it started with your 22-month birthday) so I just need to get it posted. I am so looking forward to these next few weeks to see how you experience all the wonder of Christmas. You are at the perfect age where you find so much joy in everything and we will find our joy through you!

Love, Mommy