Almost 18 Months

Hana is such a big girl now, she was able to stay home for 4 days with daddy while mommy went to Atlanta for work. Daddy and Hana had a lot of fun, but daddy was exhausted by the time mommy got home. :)

Other signs of her big girl-ness - she can almost put her pants and shoes on by herself. She asserts her independence by doing everything I say "no" about. (Perhaps a little reverse psychology is in order?) She can feed herself with a spoon, not elegantly, but she makes it work. Her hair is actually long enough for me to put it in a small ponytail or two pigtails, if she'll sit still and let me. I can't wait until the independence translates into potty training!

And she has a social life of her own, that apparently her parents are not a part of. I had the day off yesterday after being gone for 4 days, so I spent it with Hana. In the afternoon we went to the park. While watching the ducks, an adult walked up to us and said "Is that my friend Hana?" They chatted for a bit, shared a couple of high fives, and then she introduced herself to me. Apparently she has known Hana for quite some time, because she said that Hana is a very busy girl and is always asking questions like "Where's this? Who's that?" (Obviously, she knows here well. :) Hana spends a lot of time in the park with her nanny, so this must be how she has gained her celebrity status. She also periodically asks about Tucker and Angie, neither of whom I've met, but I assume are park friends.

We took Hana to her first soccer class last week and she loved it so much we are going to try to sign her up for the winter session. So Mia, if you're out there - the pressure's off! We've got the soccer player in the family covered. She learned to score a goal, stomp on bubbles with her feet, do soccer stretches, say the different colors of the different balls, and do some counting. Oh, and by the way, she can count to 5 now. The other morning she just busted out with it!

New phrases and sentences:

"Go see truck" (when she hears one, she wants to go see it)
"Go see kitty"
"I want get OUT!!!" (of car seat, high chair)
"I like it."
"No like it."
"That's mommy's/daddy's [spoon, shoes, shirt, etc.]. "Where's Hana's [spoon, shoes, shirt, etc.]?"
"No [pinch, poke, bite]." (immediately after she says this, she proceeds to pinch, poke and/or bite, but lately she has sort of caught herself in the act and says "hug" and switches to a hug which is very sweet and also much less painful)

On another note, the moms from my moms' group with dads and toddlers are coming over tomorrow for a brunch. Hana enjoys nothing more than a house full of kids to play with. It'll be a fun day.