A few months ago, I blogged about Lil’Jerry and promised one about Hadley. Here it is…
Most of you know her as the very quiet and shy little girl. Don’t let those bashful long eye lashes fool you – she is one outgoing, vocal, little “Haddie Monster”! She usually growls when you call her that too. I believe she is well aware she has the men in her life wrapped around her tiny finger.
She is a Mama’s girl – she is a Daddy’s girl. Well it depends on who is asking. If Daddy asks her if she is Daddy’s girl, she’ll tell him “NO, I Mama’s girl!” And if I ask – she’s Daddy’s girl. She is the master of contradiction as humor – and she finds herself very funny.
Her favorite color is blue – every color is blue. Her favorite food is “Tah-toes” or tacos – anything wrapped in a tortilla. For more of Haddie style humor, she will come to me, go nose to nose and say, “ tah-toe?”. She expects an over dramatized NO! She laughs and goes nose to nose again “tah-toe?” This repeated over and over. Some times she’ll mix it up and throw in an “I cream?” Unfortunately, that is one thing she can’t have anymore as she is recently been diagnosed as lactose intolerant and no citrus. Upsets her tummy very much. She loves to eat and is a total carb-addict. Pasta, rice & potatoes top her list of favorites. But, she will eat just about everything – after she finishes her carbs. The only thing I know she won’t eat is cooked spinach. She loves spinach salad - has to eat the croutons first…
She loves to sing and make up her own songs. Her favorite song is “Happy Birthday to Meme”. We have to sing it frequently – especially when we play tea party-every cup cake must be sung to. She loves to talk to Meme on the phone and have girl’s night out with Meme & Mama -eat “sketti” at Olive Garden. She sits in her high chair, eating a bread stick, telling strangers “Hi”, and dabbing her face with a cloth napkin.
She is a girly-girl. She loves to have her nails painted- called “pretties”. She likes to have a bow or barrette in her hair –also called “pretties”. The other day she wanted a bow for her hair. So, she grabbed my hand and said “Mon Mama”. Haddie drug me to their room and pointed to the bows and said “pretties” and then touched her head. I took down a bow that I thought went with her white, blue & orange gold fish dress. “No Mama.” So took down another bow. “No Mama -I hold you.” So I picked her up and she picked out a green & red polka dot Christmas bow that she wanted. She loves twirly skirts, dresses and tutu’s-all called “pre-dresses”. When we went shopping with Bridgette for her wedding dress at David’s Bridal, I showed her a blue dress. She snatched it up and hugged it tight – yelling “my pre-dress”. It was definitely a parenting UH-OH moment. The long cornflower blue dress with crinoline petticoats was NOT going to leave her arms. Although the color made her eyes look even blue-er and her hair even redder – it was $65. I had wrestle it from her – big crocodile tears and screams of “My Pre-dress!” Meme said that if Pappy had been there – he would have bought it. It is well known that Pappy is one of the men under the bashful-cuddler’s spell. He’ll write her a check – what ever she wants.
She is a girly-girl…WHO KICKS BUTT. She may be wearing a pretty dress – but she is not afraid of getting it dirty. Any thing her older brother does – she can do too. Don’t cross her bossy directions – or you get a “NO, NO, NO, NO!” finger shaken at you. It is not uncommon for her brother to be tackled at full speed and pinned to the ground until he cries. She likes taunting him – especially with her contradictory humor. She’ll say yes to his no – until he cries. One time she made him cry by telling him “shoo fly” over & over again. I have been giving the kids a 5 minute warning before something happens. Well when the 5 minutes is up – Haddie holds up 5 fingers and tells me 5 minutes. I can just imagine her someday running the High Heel Mile Race in New York someday.
While Jerry is my morning person – Haddie is not. She is slow to wake and would prefer to sleep in. Haddie can be quite grumpy until she has her morning waffle. She is a night person – staying up late being happy, playful & very silly. When she gets tired she loves to be cuddled like an infant and through her ba-ba (pacifier) she will say – “I baby.” Yes, she still has a pacifier – but only to go to sleep. She MUST twirl your hair or her own to go to sleep.
She is very good at following directions and is helpful finding things. She loves to “I help-n-me” fold towels, wipe everything clean, gather laundry and assist with dishes. She is an expert helper with a dust pan. She wants to help-n-me with everything.
She is the mama of many babies – I think we are approaching double digits. She covers them and pats them to sleep, feeds them and cleans them with wipies. They are all naked – she can take the clothes off but still lacks the fine motor skills to put them back on. She loves babies – hearing a baby cry breaks her heart and makes her cry too. The documentary Babies (a wonderful movie) is pure torture –too many crying babies.
She loves to give kisses & hugs. She has a routine of asking for a kiss, hug, head bonk and then an Eskimo kiss. She thinks very highly of her big brother. Since she has moved to her new classroom – Jerry & Haddie have some playground time together. From what I understand they are always together and holding hands. She calls her brother Jerry or Bubba – but most of the time she calls him Sissy. One Saturday, for some reason she started calling me by my first name. I’m very glad that was a short lived fad.
Haddie loves animals but is very afraid of them. She will scream and shake and try to scale the nearest grownup to get away from them. But…for some reason-she loves the neighbor’s new kitten. It is the ugliest cat ever. It is amazing to watch a girl who is afraid of a cute fuzzy chick to carry around this very homely cat. She calls it “Key”.
Well, I hope these little insights didn’t make her sound like a little terror because she is not. It’s funny all those words that we use to describe young children's behavior in a bad way – assertive, demanding, risk taker, independent, persistent, strong willed- are the same words used to describe some of the most successful leaders and entrepreneurs. I hope that some day everyone gets to know the little girl that we know.
