Cousins, Rides, Water & Words

Every day, my children amaze me.  Their active imaginations, nonstop energy, curiosity and even their boundary testing.  Hailey is no different.  Over the weekend, we had company.  I got to see a different side to Hailey this weekend.  Our nephew is almost one.  Very active and curious.  You aren't used to sharing your toys, your snacks.  He is close to walking so he puts himself very close to her level.  I thought it would bother me that in some regards he is close to Hailey's milestones.  It didn't in the least.  It was fun to watch the two of them interact.  We even heard a few new words.."Jax" and "mine" were uttered more than once.  We didn't even know she knew the word "mine", but it made us all laugh.  Hailey is a people person and is the first to say "hello" to everyone she sees.  She loves to join picnics, families, etc at soccer games, amusement parks, etc.  However, she likes to do it on her terms.  She can invade your space, but she doesn't really like someone invading "her" space.  Jax challenged her control.  She did good...she might have pouted "a little", but wasn't mean at all!

See...I'm sharing

He's getting a little close....

Excuse you....are you really letting him grab my bowl!

Hailey was finally big enough to enjoy a little of Kings Island and Great Wolf Lodge.  Her first ride by herself went well...she even stayed put :-)  She seemed to love the water...slides, waves, geysers

She even liked the little train.

Jax on the other hand, seemed a little less than impressed.

Hailey invading Jax's space

Sharing her opinion or telling him off...we aren't quite sure.

Disney this year will be in adventure with Hailey now walking.  It was a challenge last year with her crawling, but walking she will think she is "entitled" get out of the stroller and explore the parks.  She's quite the people person and likes to chat with people.  At KI, she went up and down this brick bench stopping to say "Hi", waving, examining electronics and trying to inspect purses/bags.  Fortunately, most people are good sports about Miss Social.

You mean, you are letting me free?

Jax getting away from Hailey or just exploring?

The next day we headed to Great Wolf Lodge for a little swimming.  Hailey hasn't been in quite awhile.  Definitely not since she started walking so I wasn't sure how she would react to it all.

Checking out everything before getting too close.

She loved the geysers and the waves in the wave pool.

At one point, a little boy was standing in front of the above geyser.  He seemed apprehensive about it.  Hailey looked at him, grabbed his hand and put it on top of the geyser.  I was impressed with her initiative to show the other child what to do.  The little boy still didn't seem sure of it, but I was happy with her thought process.

I think I like this place.

Where did my baby go?

Hey, Jax, what do you think?

I wasn't as bothered with Hailey's delays in comparison to the other two year olds there.  I didn't let her walk up the steps (we were in a little of a hurry) and I stayed at the top to make sure she was going to sit and go down the slide.  We will work next time on walking up the steps and sitting on the slide by herself (baby steps).  The first time down, she had zero facial expression.  I asked her if she wanted to go again and she signed and said "more slide".  How can you say "no" to that?  After a few times, she started saying, "more water slide please".  She said the word slide and made up her own sign :-)

Big brother making sure Hailey gets off the slide okay.

Hailey & Jax hanging out in her playhouse before Jax had to head home.

Happy to play side by side with their own toy :-)

I think Jax's first trip to OH was a success.  The kids were all exhausted when they left.  Hailey showed that she isn't quite the baby that she is in our eyes.  She eventually shared her toys and played with Jax.  She added new words and phrases over the two days they were here...water slide, Jax, Who's that and mine.  I see lots of trouble ahead with these two :-)  Once our nephew Landon is walking, we are in HUGE trouble with this trio!