Hunter Tai

Last year we watched several “marathon movies” including: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones. All the girls enjoyed them, but Hunter seem to get into it the most. While the other girls were in and out during some parts of the movie doing other things, Hunter didn’t miss much. She fell in love with Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and got way into Star Wars.

Halloween 2008

For Halloween, she had a hard time deciding between Princess Leah and a Storm Trooper.When she finally decided on being a Storm Trooper, Mercedez gave her such a hard time because it was a “boy costume”. Hunter took it all in stride and replied unphased, “Mercedez, when you like boy things, you have more boy friends.” I could hardly believe my ears! My darling, sweet, innocent Hunter… discovering a secret way beyond her years. That one is going to be trouble!!

On our way to church the girls were role playing something or other. Ryan and I were listening to the saga unfold in the back  of the van. It was no surprise that Mercedez was the bad guy and reeking havoc “on everyone everywhere”. Finally, there was a turn in the conversation.

Hunter: “Mercedez, I want to be the bad guy.”
Mercedez: “But I’m always the bad guy.”
Boston: “Yeah, she’s always the bad guy.”

At this point Ryan and I jump into the conversation and voice our opinions on the matter.

Mom: “Mercedez does make a good bad guy. She’s had lots of practice.”
Dad: “She ought to try being the good guy every once in a while.”
Hunter: “Yeah, bad guys are way too scary.”
Mom: “But every story needs a bad guy or it would be boring.”

Neither one of us were prepared for what came next…

Hunter: “Yeah, but in the movies, usually the bad guys die or go to jail or something and there is a happy ending. But when Mercedez is the bad guy: The ending is just terrifying!!”

We couldn’t help but erupt into peels of laughter. The funniest thing about it was Hunter’s serious “just terrifying”.

Aunt Pepper came to visit a weekend ago. We were all excited to see her, but the kids were especially ecstatic to have another person to go against on the WII (specifically Super Mario Party 8). Because the girls know how to play all the mini-games, they weren’t reading the instructions before jumping into them. Hence, Pepper wasn’t much competition. During a brief moment of frustration, Pepper hollered, “Son of a biscuit!”

Several minutes passed as they all continue to play. After Hunter managed a devastating loss, she says, “On the biscuit!” Ryan, Pepper, and I all busted up laughing. It will no longer be “son of a biscuit” for any of us around here…

Hunter has a cute lisp that I believe is a product of her thumb-sucking. Every once in a while we practice S’s with her. We say “ssss” and make sure her teeth are touching and tell her to keep her tongue inside her teeth.

The other day, Ryan and I were talking and out of the blue Hunter starts practicing her S’s. She says “Ssss-nake.” She did it perfectly, I think surprising even herself! Ryan and I gaver her proud smiles and she was proud, too. Then she said with a big grin, in her normal lisp- “I thpeak Thpanith!!” We both broke out into a fit of giggles. It was too funny!

Hunter continues to blossom into this beautiful little girl.

She loves to dress up and play princess something or other everyday. We got her birthday portrait taken in her favorite princess dress. She had such a great time being oo-ed and ah-ed over by the photographers.

• Whenever we ask Hunter were something is, she replies, “I don’t see it.”
• When we tell her something important, or answer one of her million questions, she responds with, “Oh??” in her cute, tiny, Hunter voice.
• The other day, Aunt Pepper sent Mercedez and Hunter letters containing pictures and a little sack full of monies to put in their piggy banks. (They always ask me- “Feed my pig!!”) We all went downstairs and I took Mercedez’s pig off her shelf and put it on her nightstand so she could “feed her pig.” Then Hunter and I went in Hunter’s room to get Hunter’s pig. We were “feeding” Hunter’s pig when we heard Mercedez in the other room saying in a deep, gruff voice, “Oh, thank you, Mercedez. That is very yummy.” Hunter sat quiet for a moment, then let out a very loud, very fake burp. “Excuse me!” she said in the same deep, gruff voice that Mercedez had used. Pretty good for a 2 year old!
• We’ve been reading scriptures at night before family prayers, 10 verses at a time. (We’re actually going strong to 2 solid weeks now!! Yahoo!) Mercedez and Hunter both take turns with us. They seem to enjoy helping read. They also enjoy telling stories, and lately Hunter’s stories have begun with, “And it came to pass. . .”
• So we have talking, burping pigs at our house. And our nighttime ritual is: “Hunter where’s you’re blanket?” Ryan asks before bedtime. “I don’t see it,” says Hunter. “Well we need it so you can go to sleep.” “Oh??” She is very imaginative and such a darling, little terrible 2 year old that I could just eat her up!!

Hunter is 2 years old. She is such a little talker. She has a vocabulary all her own. We love her so much and feel so grateful to have her as part of our family.

She had a great time getting her pictures taken. She is so photogenic!!

Hunter is working the terrible two’s angle. She is emotional and dramatic, but can be an angel at times. She loves to play dress up with her older sister and likes entertaining her little sister. Boston just thinks Hunter is a riot and belly laughs almost every time Hunter talks to her. Hunter is getting a little braver at the swimming pool. She wears her floaties and occasionally takes a dip. She usually stays close to mom or dad in the water and loves to adventure around the pool looking for bugs and flowers. She minds pretty well and is the happiest girl alive when her daddy walks through the door after work. For the most part, she is a lover bear!

Hunter is talking up a storm. She is quite the chatterbox and copies almost everything we say. She loves to watch Dora the Explorer  and yells out all the key words at the appropriate time. She is a smarty pants. She loves both of her sisters very much and gives them hugs and kisses freely. Her appetite seems to have slowed a little (finally). For a while she was eating twice what Mercedez ate. But she still has plenty of energy and can tear this place apart in a matter of minutes. She loves to read with mom and fights bedtime with the best of them. All in all, she is 90% love.

Hunter loves her new baby sister. She likes to hold her periods of 15 seconds or so, but she gives lots of wet kisses. Often I have to rescue Boston from too much “tough love”. She also loves her big sister. Whenever Mercedez enters the room, Hunter’s face lights up. She loves to play with Mercedez. They still wrestle with Dad and Hunter loves to be chased by Mercedez. She laughs so hard she about falls down. She is a fun little girl. She is also getting to be pretty stubborn. She reminds us a lot of Mercedez as this age. It’s amazing how coyly defiant she is becoming.