Hat Full of Tricks

I've been so busy lately updating the blog with specific events and parties and so on and so forth that I haven't spent much time actually writing about all the silly/new/ridiculous/astounding things Hal has been up to lately. I can't decide which new stunt I like best so we will just start with her OBSESSION with hats. Well, not that she didn't already have a love for head coverings, but now she's taken it to a whole 'nother level. It all started when Nanny and Papa gifted her with this sweet, little colorful hat from their trip to Canada. She wears it EVERYWHERE.......

Watching cartoons? Most certainly.

Grocery store? Why of course

Waterpark? Duh.

And it doesn't stop with that hat. Her beach hat gets a lot of wear time these days as well. We shall call this her cartoon-watching hat....

She had a ball getting a boatload of use out of her giant balloons while they hung in their and stayed somewhat-inflated and floated around the house for a week or so.....

It was great fun and all until she insisted on going "side" (outside) to let them go. How do you explain to a two-year-old why her balloons won't fly?!? We had to make them fly. It turned out that those suckers bounced pretty high. They eventually "flew away" aka got stuck on the roof. Hehe.

"Do you need some of my juice box for some energy, Mr. Balloon?"

Potty time is becoming much more routine and is just a natural part of our day. She pulls her pants down and empties her potty, flushes and places the potty back in place. And of course we must always give a final, friendly farewell..."bye bye poo poo, bye bye pee pee." She continues to get grand reports from daycare and is wearing her big girl panties at home with pride. Pullups are still our friend at nightime and naptime. I snapped a picture the other day that I'm sure will be one of those mental mommy pictures that stay in my mind forever. She was bathed in bandaids, missing a pair of pants, wearing her new sneakers and her new Dora shirt and sipping on some lemonade whilst sitting in the potty. I just couldn't help myself....

I find myself finding her in my some very strange predicaments lately. Take last week for example....I found her sitting on her slide pouting because she was out of stickers. "Where did they all go?", you might ask? Someone, ahem, emptied three sheets of jumbo stickers and placed them over every inch of her body. The girl even had one on her eyelid at one point. Head, shoulders, knees and toes.....

Running out of stickers never seemed so devastating

When she isn't covered in stickers then you can usually find bandaids in their place. Bandaids, oh bandaids, what is your appeal?? I cannot remember being even remotely interested in placing the sticky suckers on me as a youngster. I can't help but chuckle everytime she looks at me with those sad puppy dog eyes and mumbles sadly "boo boo, momma." My inability to resist this innocent plea has resulted in us going through five boxes of bandaids in less than a month. Our new favorite pretend boo boo location is the upper lip and nose area. Riley and I have both tried this placement (after being forced by Hallie, of course) and it is not pleasant nor the least bit comfortable. The bandaid obsession will remain a mystery. An entertaining mystery though.....

"You should try it mom!"

"C'mon, just one!!!"

Fashion trend setting is nothing new in the Fanning house. Our fashionista is constantly busy revamping her stylish wardrobe. She recycles items she already has and combines them all together to make quite the statement. Here are a few examples......

Her "sans pants" look

Her "don't mess with me, don't you know I'm a movie star" look

Her "what's there to see here?!" look

Her "oh darling, it's terribly hot outside" look

Her "naked nutty professor" look

As always, she's been surprising me with new tricks each time we visit the grocery store. Let's just say that she enjoys exercising her freedom when we enter this place. I swear that she has a little reminder go off inside her brain the minute we enter the doors....it probably says something like this...."now remember Hallie, you need to make your mom's life as difficult as possible for the next twenty minutes. Be crazy, go wild, act like a complete fool." It's no surprise that she embraces this message.....

Doing some shopping of her own

She's not the only one with tricks around these parts. Riley had me shaking my head for quite awhile the other day. We were attempting to talk Hallie into taking a nap early Sunday afternoon. She just wasn't feelin' it. So Riley took a new and rather unconventional approach to making naptime look more appealing. I'll just go ahead and show you because there is no need for explaining......

I assume that the crib's weight limit was exceeded here but nobody seemed to mind. Hallie was too busy grinning from ear to ear, I was busy picking my jaw back up and Riley was busy pretending to cuddle with Dora.

Could he be any cuter??

It goes without saying that I am quite a big fan of her multitude of stunts, quirks, tricks, habits, hobbies and favorite activities. The great news is I don't think she'll be stopping anytime soon. Hallie Grace, it's fun being your momma! XOXO