I'm judging by the length of this post, few of you will make it to the end (except maybe you, Mom). But sometimes I just need to capture some little snippets of my kids' personalities. Some day they'll be all grown up and I'm afraid I won't remember all the little nuances.

Hadley

Hadley is a firecracker. There's just no other way to describe her. She's got sass and spunk. She is fearless, outspoken (in her own language), determined and resourceful. I'm always amazed at the things she will figure out. I'll just mention something casually in passing and the next thing I know, she's standing in front of me, offering me the aforementioned item.

She is convinced she's just as skillful as her brother (she might be) and insists on doing everything that he does. She pushes her way right to the middle of the action.  She refuses to go down the stairs backward on her belly like most kids start out. She walks straight down them like she's three years old, batting my hand away when I offer it as help.

She puts her own boots on when it's time to leave the house (although usually on the wrong feet) and wiggles awkwardly to get her coat on. She will have it figured out before long I'm sure. Then she gets Wyatt's hat and places it on top of his head and hands him his coat, as if to say, 'get on with it, brother'. In spite of her brazen ways, she's got a real sweet side that makes it impossible not to fall in love with her.

She's talking up a storm, often repeating what we say and stringing three words together. Her little voice is the sweetest thing. She sneezed mid bite at dinner last night and her chewed contents splattered all over her plate. She looked at them briefly and said "oooohhh...NOOOOO!" and looked at me like, what now?

She loves to dip her food in something, it doesn't matter what. When I put her plate down in front of her, she examines it, then asks "dip?" She dips each and every piece. She's pretty adventurous too - she likes hummus, tzatziki, baba ganoush and spinach dip. When she runs out of food to dip, she uses her fingers.

The other day, I heard her squawking and yelling something unintelligible. I went in the living room to find her standing there in her pajamas unable to move because both legs were in one pant leg together. I'm not sure how she managed to pull that off, let alone stand up.

She clomps around the house purposefully in her pretend plastic high heels, carrying her brother's Spiderman Halloween pumpkin, loaded with her treasures. She's a girl on a mission.

She loves her family. When Dayven is gone, she'll ask me at least half a dozen times "Where Daddy doe?" (where did Daddy go?) She especially LOVES her brother. If she can't find him, she desperately searches the house, calling his name. "Wyatt? Wy!? I know he feels the same because even though he gets frustrated and annoyed by her sometimes, the second she's gone, he is asking about her and looking for her. I love to hear them giggling and playing together. 

They feed off each other. Wyatt laughs hysterically when Hadley is scolded for something. I'm not sure why but it could be pure elation that for once, it's not him that's getting in trouble. Hadley mistakes his laughter to mean that she is hysterically funny and she laughs too, then continues the behaviour that got her in trouble in the first place. I get more frustrated by the second that no one is taking my empty threats seriously. Surely they are mocking me with all this laughter??

Wyatt loves to roll on Hadley, hug her (way too tight) and launch objects at her. I'm sure it's all in the name of love deep down? Hadley loves it until...well, she doesn't love it. When Wyatt is doing something to her she doesn't like, she'll cry out (knowing I'll quickly rush to her rescue) or she'll give him a forceful "NO! NO! NO!" and shake her finger at him. We warned him it would only be a matter of time before she started fighting back.

Wyatt

Wyatt is becoming quite the big boy lately and he reminds me often. He is more insistent on doing things himself. When I try to hold his hand while he's getting out the car, he bats my hand away saying "Mommy! No holding hands! I'm a big boy and I can do it myself".

He selects most of his own books at the library. He's good and usually finds ones that overlooked. He likes big boy things on TV. No more Franklin or Thomas for him. He likes Bakugan, Transformers and all things big boy.

His stuttering his passed thankfully and he's back to his chattering ways with a constant stream of verbal diarrhea spewing from his lips. He has even started adding "hey?" to the end of his sentences, which is so Canadian. He obviously picked it up at school since we don't say it at home. It's really silly and cute.

His little voice and slight mispronunciation is sweet and endearing. I said something the other day and he responded with "What? Are you serious? You're kidding." in such a deadpan tone, I was sure he'd heard me say it to someone. He asked for my help with something and when he saw me struggling, he gave me a little pep talk. "Mommy, flex your muscles. Come on. You're the strongest mommy I know. You can do it".

He has this strange need to know where everything is from. "Mommy, where is this lunch meat from? Is it from Grapevine deli?" I'm not sure why it's so important to know the origin of everything, but he is fixated on knowing and asks endless questions until he gets an answer that satisfies him.

WYATT: "Where did you get this apple juice? Walmart?"
ME: "No, it's from Safeway".
WYATT: "Oh. It tastes like the kind from Walmart."
ME: "Yeah. It's the same brand."
WYATT: "Oh. Dat's interesting.....it's willy tasty!"

He asks a lot of questions. I mean a LOT. Where are we going? Who is that lady? What is her name? What is she doing? Sometimes I just have to tell him I don't know, no more questions.

He has quite the imagination and always seems to entertain himself doing something. The pot lids from Hadley's kitchen become Tron Identity Discs, a crumpled up grocery list becomes a secret treasure map, an empty paper towel roll is a rocket ship blasting to the moon. His robots and cars are always having pretend conversations with each other. I love to hear what he comes up with.

He loves to look at circular flyers that come with the paper. It doesn't necessarily have to be for toys. He loves Best Buy and Costco too. He sits and the table and flips through page by page. He tells me he's reading his newspaper. 

We got him a special clock that turns green when it's ok for him to get out of bed (I set the "green time" for 7am). Every morning, he gets up and comes into my room, "Mommy, the clock is green. I'm up! Hadley is awake too!" (she's not). If I don't stop him, he runs into her room and flicks on the lights. "Had-wee, are you wake!??" (she is now).

He's the sweetest little guy and always has such enthusiasm. I love the way his face lights up when Hadley and I pick him up from school. We wait in the hall and when the classroom door opens, he comes spilling out with this silly smile on his face. "Mommy! You were waiting for me! It was a great day today at school!"

I am so blessed to have such spirited, spunky, smart, unique children in my life. There are days when they test my patience to the limit, but I can't imagine my life without them.