Hannah

I love Hannah so much. I'm realizing more and more that she is my difficult child, especially now that I have Ben to compare. She's wild and refuses to listen to Devan or I. And she's very loud for such a small person. But she's also funny and cute and I know that the intestity that makes her hard to parent is also what gives her her amazing personality. Here are a few things that have impressed me about Hannah lately.

She is so smart. She picks up language without being taught. Yesterday she wrote "MOM" and brought it to me. I didn't tell her how to spell mom and they don't learn letters in preschool.

Then we went to the mall a couple of days ago and they had their big Christmas tree up. We walked into the mall and she said, "Hey! This is where I got my ears pierced!" She got her ears pierced last Thanksgiving weekend and afterwards we took her picture under that same Christmas tree. That was a year ago and she was only 2 and a half at the time, but she remembered.

Also, when I told her that Christmas is Jesus' birthday, she said, "We dressed Ben up like Jesus last Christmas!" Yes, we did. I think that's amazing that she can remember things from that long ago.

She's been talking a lot lately about when she grows up and has babies. I told her that when she's a mommy then I'll be a grandma. She figured out all on her own that if mommy and daddy are the grandma and grandpa, then grandpa and grandma will be great-grandpa and great-grandma. See what I mean? Smart kid! She also said, "When I have my own babies, will I be able to hold them standing up?" HA! Because we always make her sit down to hold Joshua.

Hannah loves Joshua so much, but she's had a hard time since he was born. For a couple of weeks she was being super naughty and throwing the biggest fits. And having potty accidents. Like 3 or 4 a day. She'd totally regressed. Then it hit me: Hannah NEEDS a ton of attention. It isn't just something that she likes to have, it's an actual need for her. Ben can play by himself forever, but Hannah needs to interact with us every few minutes. While I was pregnant, I'd turn a movie on for her every afternoon while Ben was napping and tell her that she didn't have to nap, but she had to lay on the couch and rest. Then I'd go take my rest. Lately, I maybe get 5 minutes alone while she is watching a movie until she's in my room talking to me. Finally I decided to give up on the afternoon nap and her behavior problems have gotten so much better. Now, no afternoon nap has been easy this week because Devan has been off work, so he's been getting up if Ben cries in the night and then wakes up with the kids and lets me sleep in. We'll see how next week goes when I'm back to being on my own.

Hannah's need for attention means she's a very social person. She loves to go play with other kids. Whatever she does, she wants someone to do it with her, even if it's just watching a movie. All day long lately she wants me to play either princesses or dinosaurs with her. Both games go the same, we each have a dinosaur (or a princess) and we make them talk to each other. It goes something like this:

Hannah: "Dinosaur?"
Me: "Yes, dinosaur?"
H: "Would you like to play with me dinosaur?"
M: "Yes, I would dinosaur."

And then our dinosaurs go to the park or the zoo or to a birthday party or something.

I love her and I love playing with her once we get started, I'm just always so distracted. I either have work to do or I want to rest and be alone. But this year has been so busy and gone by so fast I feel like I'm missing her growing up. I'm trying to be better. I want to be the mom she needs me to be.

I love seeing the big girl that she is becoming.