Hadley Turns One!

Hadley is our little outlier. Our other four kids look alike, overall, and Hadley...doesn't. Our other four kids crawled between seven and eight months; Hadley crawled at almost ten. She's never been interested in standing or cruising until very recently, whereas the first four would've preferred to never sit. I joke that she was my first baby who spent months happily sitting on the floor and playing with toys...and she was of course a twin, so I couldn't reap the benefits (since I was always chasing Anders around anyway).

I referred to her as our "surprise fifth" once and my mother asked how I knew she was the "extra" twin. All I had to do was raise my eyebrows in response. Of course, she is still a Noon. Her mischief cup runneth over. 

She is so, so smiley and sociable. She wants to babble every moment she's not sleeping--sound familiar? She lights up from head to toe when someone picks her up. She has the throatiest, wheeziest belly laugh.

What Hadley looks like at twelve months old: She has brown hair that shows up ash blond in the sunlight (which is odd); hazelish brown eyes that have never gotten lighter or darker, as far as I can tell; her skin has a more golden tint to it (like Dave and Finn) than my lily-white children. She is 29.5 inches tall (61st %ile) and 22 lbs., 8 oz. (86th %ile) with a skull that knows no equal (99th %ile).

Hadley likes: Baths! People! Hugs! Dogs, cats, balls, dolls, food, getting tickled, laughing, peekaboo, talking, being held, eye contact, high-fives, tickles.

Hadley dislikes: Being put down, being woken up, running out of food on her tray (and apparently being tortured with headbands).

Who Hadley loves: Anyone who will make goo-goo eyes at her (so most people), but especially her siblings. Bridget dotes on her the most.

What Hadley loves to eat: She has the occasional disdain for green beans or peas, but she's pretty ravenous when presented with anything else. Her favorites seem to be cheese chunks, sweet potato and Cheerios.

What Hadley loves to read: Even more so than Anderson, Hadley thinks our reading to her is another of our great jokes. As I said, the girl likes to laugh. Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? is a book that gets her giggling, but it's when she cranes her body around to watch us make the noises that she really goes into hysterics.

How Hadley sleeps: Like Bridget, Hadley is an all-around sleeping champ. She sleeps twelve hours a night and would totally take a three-plus-hour nap if Anders would let her. (He won't.) She falls asleep in the car and then falls asleep again in her crib. She falls asleep chewing on socks and eating her lunch.

How we feel about Hadley: Like lovestruck fools--like she will always, to us, be the amazing plot twist baby who made sure we'd never argue over whether to have a fifth, because we already do. And she's awesome.