Small Wonder

The new year so far

Since we've gotten home from spending Christmas and New Year's in New Orleans, we've gotten back into our routine of playing, napping and exploring new parks and places around here.  We went down to Old Towne last week to check out the Tot Lot playground they have there.  Its a small park tucked in between 2 old buildings, right in the middle of Old Towne.  It has a big play area, a sand box and swings and had a lot of kids playing there.  I took Hayden straight to the sand box b/c the play area was too big for him to play on and the other kids were bigger and playing rough.  He didnt' know what to think of the sand, and just stood there looking at it for a second.  He was amazed by the other kids, too.  He still gets really quiet and shy when there are other kids around and doesn't know how to interact with them.  He picked up a couple of the sand toys, then sat down to check them out.  He touched the sand with his fingers, then ATE it and quickly spit it back out, I had to laugh (after taking a picture)

We left pretty quickly after that because there were 2 mean little girls there.  One of them yelled at Hayden when he tried to offer her his toy and the other one yelled at ME for getting too close to the play area and then pushed Hayden.  Her nanny came over and slapped her and told her to apologize, so I stood there awkwardly while the nanny corrected her and tried to get her to say sorry.  Hayden got scared when she cried and I had to pick him up.  That's when we left and just walked a few blocks around Old Towne and checked out the Potomac River. 

Last weekend we took Hayden to Lake Accotink park, a big park about 5 miles from our house.  It was a warm day, so we took his shoes off and let him walk on the beach.  He stood there for a minute, moving his toes and wondering what he was standing on, then took off for the water.  He stuck his foot in and pulled it out quickly b/c the water was really cold, but then he kept wanting to play in it!  He screamed when we picked him up to leave!

We've also decided to start teaching Hayden some baby signs to hopefully alleviate some of his frustration with not being able to tell us what he wants.  We started doing the sign for "eat" and "more."  He picked up the sign for "more" almost immediately, its amazing!  He still doesn't really get that he can ASK for more and he's associated that sign with both more and eat, but he does it every time he hears the word "eat," "hungry," or "more."  Last night, he heard the word "eat" on Nanny McPhee and started signing!  And, we were very excited that yesterday he started to actually say "eat" when he signs it!  So we are counting "eat" as his official first word, other than mama and dada, b/c he says it consistently and knows what it means!  The photo on the left is him signing "more" while eating a banana with Wade this morning.

We've also been visiting a park by our house pretty regularly, the one with the small toddler area.  Its a really large park and has 4 different play areas and tons of squirrels, which Hayden thinks are funny.  He smiles really big when I point them out.  He climbs on everything and has no fear!  One of the play areas is really tall, probably up to the 2nd story of a house.  And he'll climb up (with me holding his hands to help) then when he gets to the top where the slide is, he tries to shake off my hands and go down the slide by himself!  He also climbed unto the bottom rung of a ladder the other day and up onto the park bench!  His favorite thing to do at home is climb onto the sofa, crawl across it and climb back down ... over and over again!

He really amazes me every day with what he knows and understands.  I can ask him where my phone is if he's been playing with it and he'll go back to it and find it, even if its buried under stuff.  He's starting to put his paci's in his bed when we ask him too (we tell him paci's are only for bedtime).  He'll bring me his Spongebob tray when he wants a snack, run to the kitchen if he's thirsty or hungry.  When I say lets go get daddy or go bye bye, he runs to the door and gets very upset if I don't follow him immediately.  He's just getting smarter and more understanding every day! 

We're working on a lot of things, too.  I've been teaching him body parts by singing songs and looking at books him with and when he's in the bath, I'm trying to teach him all of the foam animals he has.  I don't think it will be too much longer before he starts saying more, he's babbling a lot more now and when we try to get him to say things, he'll babble with the same inflection.  For example, if I say something and raise my voice at the end, he'll do the same thing, but with one of his nonsense words.

Hayden's "First" Christmas

Baby's actual first Christmas really shouldn't count.  Its the first Christmas that they can actually participate in that should count as the first, and that's what I'm doing.  This is how Hayden's first Christmas went:

Christmas Eve, we stayed in Virginia and spent a quiet, low-key day at home.  We watched the Saints game together, I baked cookies and let Hayden eat a bunch of them (which he thoroughly enjoyed) then Wade and I sat together and watched A Christmas Story while sharing a drink together.    Before Hayden went to bed, he opened his new Christmas jammies and also his cardboard building blocks. It was nice, quality family time and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.  Wade and I also opened a few of our gifts to each other (more than we usually would because the more wine he drank, the more he wanted to give me heehee).  We set up all of Hayden's toys and went to bed, anxious for the morning.

Christmas morning was great.  We all woke up about 6am and headed into the living room to check out what Santa left.  I had to point Hayden in the right direction, but once he saw all the toys and gifts, he was very excited.  He went first to his Laugh and Learn chair and tried it out a bit, then he saw his Elmo flashlight and made a bee-line for it.  Right after that he noticed his tool bench, which he loved.  He went from toy to toy, checking things out, then we started getting him to open the wrapped gifts.  At first he took every bit of paper off of each toy and then checked it out.  By the 3rd or 4th gift, he was tearing them a little then throwing them aside.

Overall, he had a great time.  He really likes all of his toys and stayed busy playing for quite a while.  We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, then Hayden and Wade took a nap while I tried to finish packing.  When Hayden woke up, I got him dressed and he sat in his Blue's Clues chair through an entire episode of Blue's Clues while eating his cheerios.  I was really surprised he stayed still that long!

About noon we headed to the airport to fly home to New Orleans.   We got home about 3:30 and were picked up from the airport by mom, Kelly, Eleni and Aunt Debbie.  Once we got home, a lot of our family was there waiting for us.  Dad cooked a really yummy and big meal and we all ate.  Lots of gifts were given out and Hayden had a blast riding his new Thomas the Tank.  Eleni would push the button for him and walk him around the track. 

It was a great Christmas for everyone, especially Hayden.  He was completely spoiled and showered with too many gifts, lots of great stuff!  It makes me look forward to next year when not only will be understand a whole lot more, but he'll also have a new little cousin to share the excitement with!  ;-)

Mommy and Hayden's Day Out

Ok, so Hayden and Mommy go out ALL the time, but its not every day that I take pictures of it and we've had such nice weather, that we got to go play at the park!  First we went to McD's and had cheeseburgers.  I just LOVE watching Hayden eat his cheeseburger.  He actually holds it with both hands and eats it the way he's supposed to, he looks like such a big boy!  He also loves to dip his fries in ketchup, now.  When he sees that I have a cup of ketchup, he holds his fry out until I put the cup in front of him.  He dips it really gently, then sucks it all off, then dips it again.  Its so cute!

After McD's, we headed to a nearby park that had a really cute toddler play area.  He was able to climb, explore and slide without me worrying that he was going to fall and hurt himself.  He's also learned not to eat the mulch on the ground, so I don't have to watch that  anymore either.  He slid and climbed, we swung on the swings and just walked around until he was bored.  After the park, we headed to a few shopping places to finish up Christmas shopping and then went to the grocery store.  He was getting a little tired by the time we were in the grocery, so I got him a red sprinkled Santa cookie, which he got EVERYWHERE, but he enjoyed it, so that's all that matters!

This morning, Wade and Hayden shared their morning banana like they do every morning.  Hayden always gets the first bite, and he waits by Wade's knee for his turn to bite again.  After they were done, I told Wade to get something to wipe his face and as if Hayden knew what we were saying, he walked over to a towel on the floor, picked up the corner and wiped his mouth!  Wade and I's jaws dropped, it was the cutest thing!  I don't know if he knew what we were talking about or if it was just a coincidence, but it was so darn cute!

This afternoon, Hayden and I met 2 of my new friends and their kids at Jammin' Java for a Rocknocerus concert.  They were like the country Wiggles, it was fun, though, and so entertaining to watch all the kids jump up and down.  Hayden was kind of overwhelmed and just sat on my lap the entire time.  When I tried to stand him up, he'd start to get upset and sit down again.  I don't know if he was just tired (it was during his nap time) or if he was just scared, but we'll try again after Christmas and see if he starts to warm up to it.  After the concert, we had lunch with Charlene and her 16 month old, Andy and Bonnie with her 15 month old Katherine.  I'm looking forward to getting together with them again after the holidays.

As for thigns Hayden is doing lately, he's getting a lot more stubborn, a little more independant and so much more cuddly!  He'll stand by the tree and pull on the ornaments, while ignoring my "NOs", but the second I get off the couch to pull him away from it, he runs.  He does things like this to get my attention and has completely started to ignore "no."  He doesn't even look at me when I yell at him!  When we are out somewhere and I let him walk around, he gets mad and throws himself down when I try to pull him in a direction he doesnt' want to go.  He'll do this in the house, too.  If he's in our room and I want him to come in the den, he sits down really hard and won't get up.  Sometimes he'll buck when I put him in his car seat so I can't get the straps on him.  He tries to climb out of restaurant high chairs if he doesn't feel like being in them.  But he's still so loveable and cuddly.  He still hugs our necks really tight, gives us kisses, sits our on laps to watch tv and kisses us goodnight.  He's doing great sleeping in his bed at night and pretty much sleeps through the night.  The last few nights he's woken up crying, but its b/c of diaper leaks, so tonight we went up a size and got the overnight ones. 

We can't put presents under the tree, b/c he's already unwrapped several of mine and Wade's to each other. 

He LOVES Blues Clues and Elmo, now, and will pretty much watch them intently when they are on.  We got him lots of Elmo toys for Christmas (Sesame Street Tool Bench, Belt and Drill) and a Blues Clues Thinking Chair. 

He laughs just like I did when I was little.  Its this really funny laugh and he started it out of the blue one day.  Sometimes, we'll laugh back and forth to each other. 

That's about all I can think of right now!  I'm so excited for Christmas, I just can't wait to see him open all of his gifts!

Climbing and sliding!

Yesterday I took Hayden to the little playground by our house.  It just has a few steps and a couple of slides.  Usually I stand right behind him as he climbs up, then put him on my lap to slide down.  Yesterday, once we got to the top, the flipped on his stomach and put his feet first, to slide by himself.  I slid down with him, just to make sure he'd be ok, but when I saw he was fine, I started to let him do it by himself.  He was so cute and proud of himself!  He got faster and faster climbing the stairs and would get the biggest smile on his face as he slid down.  I've got a video of it posted on his website, its the cutest thing!

Hayden had a pretty big day last Saturday - he finally got his first hair cut!  It took a lot of convincing to get Wade to go along and he protested the whole time.  We took Hayden to Cartoon Cuts at the mall on Saturday afternoon.  The whole cut took about 5 minutes.  The first couple of minutes, Hayden just sat there and looked in the mirror, wondering what was going on.  After that, he started to cry and tried to reach for me.  The stylist gave him a dinosaur to play with, which he handed to Wade.  Thankfully, it didn't take too long and afterwards, he was tired and ready for a nap.  His hair is so cute!  Its still long enough to curl, but its a little more manageable now.

We had a pretty busy week last week.  Wade's mom came to visit, so we hit as many shopping areas that we could!  Hayden got his picture taken with Santa Claus and he cried.  They let me sit next to Santa and hold him and they just cropped me out.

We got our Christmas tree and Hayden has been ok with it.  He touches it a couple of times a day, mostly when he wants attention.  He knows he isn't supposed to, but has to just to test us.  He'll walk over and touch it softly, then he'll pull harder and harder on them.  For the most part, though, he leaves it alone. 

Just a quick update

Hayden is 13 1/2 months old now and getting so independent, smart, funny and stubborn.  He plays on his own pretty well now and has started excercising his independance.  He tries to put on shoes, brush his hair, he wants to feed himself and brush his own teeth.  He'll walk up to any shoes he sees and try to put his feet in them.  He's very smart and knows how to do lots of things now.  He'll pick up the remote and point it at that TV then push buttons.  He turns light switches off and on and opens doors.  He can fit pieces of his toys in the correct slots the right way.  He points to his belly, his feet and his nose.  He knows what his books are, his toys and lights.  He knows most people, too, if you ask him where someone is that he knows, he'll look at them.  When we tell him to kiss us goodnight, he'll walk up to us and kiss us.  When the phone rings, he puts his hand up to his ear and says "hello."  Sometimes he'll try to have a conversation holding hte phone.  He's very funny, too.  He gets really goofy sometimes and runs around making funny noises.  If we tell him to get us, he comes at us with his mouth wide open, ready to bite.  If we laugh at him, he does things more.  He climbs onto the couch by himself, if the footrest is up.  He's sleeping through the night in his own room.  He gets angry when we're in the kitchen and tries to push us away from the counter, he likes all of our attention.  He really likes Blues Clues and Elmo.  They're the only things that come on TV that will hold his attention for a few minutes.  He's really loveable and will sometimes snuggle up on my lap to watch TV or read a book.  He'll bring me a book and then hold up his arms to pick him up.  He hates car rides and will moan and yell most of the time we're driving around.  He loves to be outside and has started to really like slides.  He knows what the word "no" means but almost always chooses to ignore it.  If he's really tired and cranky, he'll keep doing something bad over and over again, almost as if to prove a point. 

Overall, I think he's happy here.  He loves having his own room and being able to roam freely around the house (almost, we keep some of the doors closed to keep him out of trouble). 

I'll really try to keep this updated better, I just find it hard to do all the things I need to do lately.  Right now its way to late for me to be up, but I wanted to finish this!

Settling in!

We've had so many changes happening since Hayden's birthday party just one month ago.  It feels like it was a lifetime ago!

The drive to our new home in Virginia went pretty well, Hayden was pretty much an angel the whole way.  At the last minute, we decided to all ride in the UHaul together, after seeing that we could put the carseat in the front as long as the airbag was turned off.  So we put Hayden rear facing in between us.  He slept the whole way the first night because we left at his bedtime and drove until midnight.  We stopped at a hotel in Montgomery and had a hard time getting Hayden back to sleep because he wanted to explore the hotel room.  The next morning, we got up and had breakfast, then headed to Charlotte.  Again, Hayden slept most of the morning drive and woke up just before we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch.  He got a little antsy towards the end of the meal, but overall was fine.  By the time we got in the truck, he was ready for his afternoon nap and slept until an hour or so before we got to Charlotte, where we spent the night.  The next day we had to wake up at 5am to head to Virginia, so again, Hayden slept most of hte way there.  Once we got to our new apartment, he had a blast exploring the whole place. 

We've now been here 3 weeks and things are going well.  After the first week, we transitioned Hayden to his crib in his own room and as of last night, he completely slept through the night on his own in his room.  He's been doing pretty well for the last 1 1/2 weeks and would only wake up 1-2 times crying, but would immediately go back to sleep.  He's also putting himself to sleep at the beginning of the night.  We rock him and give him a bottle, then lay him down and he settles himself.  Its really nice, especially after a year of sleep issues!

He really loves having his own room.  We have it decorated like his old room, with his tree and giraffe on the wall and Gertie, the Giraffe in teh corner.  His toybox is in there and he has a playmat that he loves to take apart and scatter all over the house.  He plays in his room by himself for a few minutes at a time before he drags one ofthe bigger toys into the living room, fussing the whole way b/c of how heavy it is.  We also have a basket of toys in the living room and some of his other bigger toys, so he has his own space.  His favorite thing to do is sit on the treadmill and read his books.  It took him about a week to figure out how to get off of the treadmill, he'd stand on it and whine until we helped him off. 

He's completely off of formula now and gets a bottle of milk 3 times a day, before naps and bedtime.  After we get back from New Orleans and get settled, I'd like to start working on taking the bottle away completely, then we'll work on the pacifier! 

We've been having a lot of fun going to different parks and play places.  There's a fun play place at the mall, Tyson's Corner, similar to the one we brought him to in Charlotte.  He really liked it but its always kind of crowded, so I have to follow him around and make sure he doesn't get trampled.  We've also been trying to get together with a mommy group, but haven't been able to yet.

Hayden is saying "dada" and "daddy" a lot, but that's about it.  Sometimes he'll point at something and say "dat" so I think he is saying "that" so I'll name whatever it is he's pointing to.  When we pick Wade up from the Metro, he sees him walking from a long ways away and starts smiling really big.  He gets so excited when he gets closer and starts to squeal and make noisdes. 

We slowly settling into our daily routine, though.  Naps, mealtimes, outings, it all fits in somewhere.  Hayden throws a fit when I'm in the kitchen, though.  He puts himself b/t me and the cabinet and tries to push me away.  He's pretty spoiled about getting his way and being picked up a lot, so we're trying to break him of that. 

Overall, he's adjusted really well to the change.  We'll be going  home to visit in just a few days and hopefully it won't throw things off too much!

One year old!

Hayden is now a year old!  We had his party on Saturday and I just spent 30 minutes typing about it and then my post disappeared when my internet crapped out, soooo, I'll have to redo it another day.

For now, I'll post about what Hayden's been doing lately!

Most importantly, he's walking!  He started walking a couple of weeks ago while we were in Charlotte.  It started off as just a few steps to Wade or I and slowly, he started letting go of things and going further and further.  Now, just a few weeks later, he's almost a pro!  He can even get up now when he falls instead of crawling over to something to pull up again. 

Some other things he's done this month:

• Imitates us almost all the time now
• Can follow short instructions
• Places objects in containers
• Plays pattycake
• Pats his belly when asked
• Raises arms for "all done"
• Raises arms when I'm taking his shirt off - "arms up" or "touchdown"

Just quickly before I go to bed ...

Hayden took a few steps to me today and last night he slept through the night in his co-sleeper!  Woohoo!  Our baby is growing up so fast!

We also started Gym Rompers again today.  Hayden and Abigail were the only kids there, but they had fun.  The teacher was amazed at how attentive they were for all the songs and Hayden really enjoyed playing in the ball pit today!  He was launching himself all over the place!

We're in trouble now!

Although Hayden seemed to still be unsure about standing on his own and still doesn't do it often, today he actually let go of the couch and took two steps towards me!  I absolutely couldn't believe it!  I put him back by the sofa and he did it again, so I called Wade to come with the video camera and then he wouldn't cooperate.  Its only a matter of time before he is standing and walking, which is so unbelievable to me!  Not only that, but he learned to climb into and onto things today.  First I had to pull him out of the toy basket in our room.  He climbed into it with the intention of getting to our TV, which we block with the toy basket.   I also had to stop him from trying to climb into his toybox.  Then to top it off, we put this wodden rocking chair in front of the bookcase to keep him from getting the books.  Well, today, he learned how to climb UP ONTO the bookcase, stand up and reach the books on the top shelf!  When the heck did my baby turn into a mischievious little boy??

Also in the last week he's tried some new foods ... Wade has shared strawberries and cantelope, both of which Hayden loved.  He especially loved when we gave him his own piece of cantelope, except he kept trying to eat the rind!  And although he's had grits before several times, we let him feed himself grits and toast the other day, which he really enjoyed! 

I think we also have our "official" first word!  The other day when Wade got home from the grocery, Hayden lit up and got so excited and screeched "dada!"  It was so cute and he continues to say it all the time!

11 Months Old tomorrow!

Only 30 more days until my little baby is one year old!  Its so unbelievable and it went by so quickly!  In the last 2 days, he's finally started to stand a little on his own, though he's still pretty unsure of himself.  I managed to get a photo of him standing when I was taking his 11 mth portraits. They came out pretty cute and I used one of them to design his birthday invitations. 

Birthday plans are coming along well.  We've got a banner ordered and all the favors, the cake is being designed by Samantha and I can't wait to see what she comes up with.  I sent off the deposit for the space walk today.  We're getting a special toddler one that is made for kids 3 and under so Hayden will be able to enjoy it too.  We've got two outfits for him to wear and I'm going to get a Tshirt made for him to wear while he's eating cake.  THe invites are done and will be sent out in a week or two.  Lots more to do, but its getting done!

The last month, Hayden has started to clap again and now shakes his head "no" all the time.  He stands unassisted, but is still pretty unsure about it.  He's finally started saying dada and mama again, too, but it still doesn't seem like he's saying it to us or about us.  He's eating more and more table food and can eat most things on his own.  We've started giving him raviolis and other things that he can pick up and eat for dinner.  The other day he ate a grilled cheese while we were out at a restaurant.  I can't remember if he learned to suck from a straw last month or not, but that's a new thing as well.  He knows where his belly is and if you ask, sometimes he'll look down at it or touch it.  He'll play peek a boo if he's in a good mood.  He's also developed an interest in books and loves to look at them by himself.  He doesn't like things put away, he likes everything all over the place and will pull things out of baskets and boxes if we put them away.

By the end of this month, I think he'll be pretty close to walking, but who knows.  He's not really showing much interest in learning.  He should also start to call us "mama" and "dada."  Wade works on him every day with that.  He may be imitating our activities and putting objects into a container.  He may also learn to obey some instructions.  Lots to look forward to!