My big girl is 2 and a half!

My pretty princess is 2.5 years old! CRAZY. She talks up a storm and for the most part everyone can understand her now.

She recently started survival swim lessons. The goal of the program is to "Once your child has completed training, our goal for your child is to have the ability to float and breathe, no matter how deep the water, for an undefined period of time". My nephew Max did this last year and then a refresher this year and he jumps in the water, swims underwater, then can turn and float on his back. It's really pretty great.... the hard part is getting through the 15 minutes of HYSTERICAL SCREAMING louder than you've ever heard..... UGH. Hadley's first lesson was all about getting used to the water and the teacher, I thought we were golden. 

UNTIL they made her do stuff.... they put her face in the water (she was cool with the blowing  bubbles, it was the put your whole face in, when she lost it. She just kept screaming for me. Then day 2.... luckily she still was semi-excited to go and I thought we had an understanding of no crying everything will be fine blah blah.... it's clear she doesn't comprehend.... she immediately didn't want to be handed over to the teacher and hysterics the whole time.... at one point hadley's SCREAMING "ROCK A BYE BABY ROCK A BYE BABY" I was "hiding" as per their request and another mom in there was explaining what was happening. I guess the teacher was having her float on her back and singing to her to get her to calm down. Apparently Hadley had requests and was SHOUTING them out in a panic haha it was actually comical for a half a second. Everyone in there assured me they all do this (and Max def. did this too) and it will get better but mannnnn it's excruciating. When James gets back, he will DEF be taking his turns taking her. I'll happily sit in the car. 2 down..... 28 more to go (luckily they are quick 15 min. sessions)

LOVES
Hadley loves her kitty Bella, playing outside, playing dress-up, water play, eating, and throwing full blown melt-downs :) She's into doing anything anyone's doing and will copy-cat so cutely. I almost forgot, she's OBSESSED with baby dolls. ESPECIALLY if they aren't hers..... She loves feeding them bottles, changing them, anything baby related.

SLEEPING
She goes to bed around 8 (since it's lighter out now) and up a little after 7am. Naps are hit or miss. Some days she goes down super quietly and is out for at least 1.5 hours on a good day. Some days she's up talking/singing to herself for an hour or so and then never sleeps. I never know what we'll get. Hadley's still in a crib with the mattress all the way to the floor. There is no way she can climb out and doesn't even try. I have no need to put her in a big girl bed. I'm happy with my 11 hours of sleep without her trying to get out of a bed.

EATING
She still loves cheese (if you know me that's odd haha), TACOS, well she just loves Mexican (chips and guac, quesedillas etc.) and pretty much any fruit. Vegetables she's getting better at but not the best. She'll eat green beans, peas, cucumbers, and carrots usually with no issue.

HATES
Hadley's still not the best car rider, we have to resort to kid songs on CD which is annoying but not as annoying as her screaming. She hates being told NO and often replies "one more time" or "another time?" and if it's still a NO after that.... que meltdown. Flailing, on ground, kicking screaming, etc. Let's just say she is a handful and I'm trying my best :)

DEVELOPMENTS
I took the paci away about a month ago and I think I blogged about it. In summary, it's been super easy after day 2 and she has barely even asked for it. She still has her blankies and likes to take those to bed. Even with her cousin coco having a paci she likes to go help her and give it to her. Although I did catch her one day HIDING getting her paci fix haha it was funny.

Potty training- UGH, besides Hadley's tantrums, this has been the hardest part of parenting so far! Every kid's different yeah yeah, but Hadley I guess is just straight up stubborn. I have no doubt that if I wanted to put diapers back on her that she would be fine with that. Luckily, I have supporters telling me to just stick with it, so we are. We did just get back from a trip and we've been everywhere so now we are more stable it should go back to being good. I have to take her religiously or she'll have an accident (pee). She hardly ever has a #2 accident in her undies, she'll just wait til nap time when she's in a diaper (sigh). Usually we have pretty good days so it can only go up from here (right?), I will not mention the part where she peed in the neighbor girl's play car...... let's stay positive haha

When she's happy though she's happy. If you keep her busy then she has no complaints. She has a contagious laugh and she's my bestie buddy. I'm really enjoying her being able to talk to me and understand me. We love our big girl. HAPPY WEEKEND!