At 19 Months Old..
-This month has been a pretty big turning point for Cody and Hanley. Hanley has always been a little bit of a Mama's boy which has always been hard on Cody. There have been many nights in the past year when Cody comes home after a long, hard day from work and then Hanley acts like he wants nothing to do with Daddy. It would absolutely crush Cody. We thought we were getting past this stage a couple months ago then Cody left for St. Louis for work for a couple days. After his return, they were back to square one. We hope those days are past us now because Hanley is finally starting to ask for Daddy for certain things or pass right by Mama to grab Daddy's hand to go play. Probably one of my favorite moments earlier this week was as soon as Hanley heard the garage door open, he screamed DADDY!!!! (and I mean, screamed with more excitement than I have ever heard from that boy!). Then he started dancing around, calling for Daddy. I ran to grab the video camera it was so cute. No video though. The camera shyness kicked in apparently.
-We have been enjoying the sun to the fullest this month. We bought one of those little blue kiddy pools-best $10 bucks we have ever spent. Hanley's favorite evening activity is playing Ring Around the Rosie in the pool, holding both Mama and Daddy's hands (he insists we both be in the pool). His excitement leading up to the "....ashes, ashes, we all fall DOWN" is contagious. And clearly, the bigger the splash, the better in his eyes.
-We have tried really hard to teach Hanley proper manners. So, he's really good at saying "please", however he seems to think its the magic word. He tends to assume by saying "please" you 1)know exactly what he is asking for, 2)will respond in milliseconds to his request, and 3)thinks that even if its something he knows he can't have, you will change your mind if he asks for it nicely.
-We kicked off the camping season with another great trip to Crescent Lake for Memorial Day Weekend. Hanley absolutely loved it. He loved the dirt, the rocks, the water, the food, the friends, family and all the dogs (seven dogs, if I am counting correctly). He played hard all weekend. We ended up being blessed with a beautiful weekend. God knows, we were due for some sunshine after the past couple years we have had up there! Of course we set up the wall tent for the weekend. Cody was able to keep it plenty warm for both Hanley and I each night. So, we all slept well...well, everyone except Cody who was up in the middle of the night keeping the fire going!
-The sale of our house isn't going as ideal as we hoped for. The buyers ran into a financing issue and everything is up in the air at this point. It's really disappointing. Things were going so well right up until the end. We hope to have more information next week but lets just say I am not holding my breath.
-Hanley has one month left with April. Researching new childcare has been very emotional for me. So emotional, that I even cried on the way to one of our scheduled tours! I know, I am ridiculous. As a parent though, you always want to make the right decisions for your kids and deciding when, where and how he will spend the majority of the week is hard. Weighing out the costs, convenience of location, quality of care, interaction with other children, etc. can be overwhelming at times.
