Arch Enemy

Meet Piggy:

I don't know if you're familiar with this toy, but Hattie HATES it - the toy we have named Piggy. I bought it for her about 3 or 4 months ago because she fell in love with the cow version while we were having a playdate at a friend's house; it was a pretty cheap toy, and I was excited to find something that she would play with for more than 2 seconds at a time. When we went to the store, they didn't have the cow, so I opted for the pig. No big deal, right?!?! Still the same toy, right?!?! WRONG.

Piggy spends his day hidden behind the couch. Hattie knows Piggy's hiding place. She won't go behind the couch for anything, even if the ball that she's so happily playing with rolls back there - neh eh - that ball is staying behind the couch unless I go back there and get it for her.

Several times a day while we're downstairs, she'll stop whatever she's doing, look at me, then look towards the couch, wrinkle her brow , and say "Piggy!" I kid you not. Sometimes I'll say, "Where's Piggy?" This always causes her to break into nervous whining. Sometimes I'll go get Piggy from his hiding place (the mean mama that I am), and she always begins to cry. It's so weird. I do this only to try and rid her of the fear she has for him. I have kissed Piggy, hugged Piggy, read a book to Piggy. Hattie keeps her distance and watches us with caution. She is NOT going to befriend that pig.

I don't understand her fear, but I think I'll use it to my advantage; afterall, it was ten bucks I wasted otherwise.

You see, Hattie loves to pull books off the bookshelf in our living room. We have tried to baracade it, tell her "no!" and push the books back so it's harder for her to get to them. Nothing works. I find myself spending much of my time putting books back on the shelf. It's really annoying.

I thought I would just have to remove all of the books for now until she gets over her interest of pulling books down, but then today I got a brillant idea . . . . I think Piggy needs a new hiding place!

It's working, too. The books have miraculously stayed on the shelf all morning. But then I started to worry: Will she develop a fear of books now? We don't want that.

I don't know. I guess Piggy will go back behind the couch, and we'll just have bare shelves for a while. We might use him in the future, though. You know, in the liquor cabinet, on top of a pack of cigarettes, in a boy's car..... oh yeah, this toy was totally worth the ten bucks I spent!

Walking and More

Yes, Hattie is finally walking. She's been taking a few steps here and there for about a week or so now, but just a few days ago did she really start taking lots of steps at one time. She can walk across a room now! She spends much of her day walking from one object to another. She loves to carry things in her hands while she walks, too. Sean and I smile every time she takes off because it's just so darn cute. She also still falls a lot and has tons of bruises and scratches to show for it. Poor boo-boo! She's gettin' better by the day, though.

Notice that my prissy girl is wearing a necklace in the photos. She LOVES wearing necklaces and bracelets and any type of "pretties." She is such a girly-girl!

And her 8th tooth FINALLY popped through. It's been rough for about a week around here prior to that dern tooth finally surfacing, but things seem to be on the upswing again.

Hattie's newest phrase is "mean cat!" Sean's parents have a cat that HATES everyone except Sean's mom, so every time the babies would chase it, it would hiss like crazy at them. Kinda scary. So now Hattie is on this kick where she says, "mean cat!" and then will "hhhiiiiiissss!" She acts extra proud of herself if I act startled when she does this. It's really cute.

Finally, this is one of my favorite pictures that I took of Hattie and Wendy together. They sure are staring each other down, aren't they! Wendy was so cute. She would curl her little tongue up to the faucet and try to lap up the water. I hope they'll have many baths in Mimi's sink together in the future. My cousin and I were still bathing in my grandmother's sink together at the age of 3 or 4.....okay, maybe we were a little too big to be doing that, but man, we had a BLAST!

Oh Baby, Baby, Baby!

Our trip to Houston is almost over, and we've had a ton of fun. Yesterday was Wendy's little first birthday celebration, so all of her family could celebrate with her before she goes back to Washington to celebrate her real birthday on September 6th, which also happens to be Sean's birthday! Christie, Creighton, and their son, Luke, who is about to be one, came to help celebrate, so it was fun having the 3 babies together. Seeing the 3 of them interact just reinforces the fact that Hattie is a shy little girl. Wendy and Luke are so social. They even held hands for a while :0) and enjoyed having all of the attention on them, but my shy little girl preferred to be away from the attention. She did SO MUCH better for her cousin's birthday party than she did for her own, though! All 3 babies were so CUTE and SWEET together. But man, I couldn't imagine if I had triplets, if they were ALL MINE!

Some pictures from the party:

Each baby had his/her own cupcake, which just so happened to match their outfits. Luke and Wendy went to town on the sugar. Hattie was a little more careful about it, but they all got messy and enjoyed the treat!

And another one of the girls enjoying a lounge in Mimi's chairs and a cookie break. I don't know why this picture is so big?!?!

Oh, and Hattie is on her way to becoming a walker! Last week she started taking a few steps, and since she's been here, she's been getting more and more daring, taking as many as 6 or 7 steps at a time. WOOHOO! She won't be crawlin' down the isle on her wedding day afterall, I guess :0).

Chee-O

Here's a pic of Hattie and me at the children's museum this morning. The girls had a BLAST!Funny story: We gave Hattie a bagel this morning on the way to the children's museum in Houston. When Hattie took the bagel from me, she looked at it and proclaimed, "Chee-O!" (cheerio). Haha! Yep, anything that's a circle with a hole in the middle MUST be a cheerio, right!?!?!

We MISS YOU, Dadoo!!!!

Twins!

Wendy and Laurel are in town for a while, so Hattie and I made the trip to Houston for just a few days to spend a little time with them. Katie, a friend, was so sweet to buy them matching outfits! We took them to the store and got asked, "Are they twins?" I don't think they look a thing alike, but the matching outfits are so cute and "twin-like," I guess!

The girls are really bonding so well. They enjoy each other's company and smile and talk to one another. They even give each other kisses. It's so sweet - this cousin love!