The Ballard Bunch

I've been meaning to do this for awhile, but haven't gotten to it. Inspired by yet another blogger - thanks Cami! - I wanted to do a top 10 list of each of my girls. Not quite sure if I'll make it to Hayden tonight, but I figured that since I'm at my wit's end with Tate, it might be a good idea to remind myself why I really do love her so much.

Here goes...

1) The dimples. I remember thinking, when I was pregnant with her, "I hope she gets Beau's dimples." Something about that boy's dimples make me melt and all I could do was picture them on a little baby girl and I knew I'd be butter. They're especially adorable when you can really get her to giggle and grin...mostly when you tickle under her chin.

2) How any time you tell her "Swiper, No Swiping" she'll stop what she's doing and say "Awwwwwwwww Man!" and throw her fist down in frustration like Swiper on Dora the Explorer. It's pretty darn cute.

3) Her curly hair. Even though she hates having it fixed, it is super cute and perfectly manageable. She's got the curl that every girl wants...enough to give you some body and a good wave, but not too tight and it can be easily straightened. And, if you work at it a bit, you can have the most adorable ringlets ever.

4) The way she greets Hayden in the morning. "Hi Baby!!!!!" The most excited alarm clock a girl could have. Never mind that it's at 7:30 in the morning...it's still pretty awesome. She really loves her baby sister, even if she is in bed very early tonight for tormenting her.

5) She says "please" and "thank you" almost always without a push. It's a silly, small reward for a mom, but I love when I see her being polite on her own. And, if she doesn't want something she's offered, she says "No, Thanks." It's priceless.

6) Her rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". It goes something like this (repeated over and over and over - never ending): "Twinkle Tars. How I are. Like a Diamond in the Guys." I can't find it in me to correct her because I secretly love how she sings it MUCH better than the original. Guys = Skies. Too cute.

7) How almost every word that starts with an "s" somehow gets changed. For instance, swimming = wimmings, star = tars, stay = tays. She's stopped doing it as much as she's learning the right way to say things, but it's totally Tate. She'll tell the dog, "Emmit - tays!" And she used to tell him, "Good God" instead of "Good Dog". I'd laugh so hard every time. Is that bad?

8) She gets excited for any kind of presents - hers or someone else's. For father's day she kept telling Beau, "Presents Daddy! I make you presents!". And after he'd opened all of them, she kept asking him if he wanted more. No more to give, but she likes the idea of giving and opening a surprise. I'm hoping she'll continue this as she gets older - it's nice to see her love to give to others. Sharing? Not so much.

9) She names every baby either "Shantell" or simply "Baby" and when I ask her the name, she takes a moment, looks up and out the corner of her eye like she's really figuring it out, and then tells me one of the two. I'm going to have to somehow get a picture of the eye thing - it's awesome. She makes fantastic faces.

10) The Princess, Ballerina, Dress-Up Phase. She's turned into such a girlie-girl. She is constantly playing dress up and dancing for us in the living room. "Mamma, I'm a pretty princess" and she'll march in and dance. When she's a ballerina, she'll twirl and try to spot her head, but it ends up looking more like a head shake while she jumps. Super girlie with a rather prominent streak of fearlessness. I'm a little scared of the chances she takes sometimes!



Whew! This really was therapeutic - I need to do this more often. I'll try and get to Hayden's soon.

Maybe tomorrow? Here's to hoping.