Poop

I know, I know. At least I'm posting now. And boy do I have a doozy of a post. Check this out:

This is Hayden taking his first official dump in the potty. We are so proud.

Here are a couple of other pics from the summer since I was such a delinquent. At least you know why now.

Hayden also wants to congratulate two of his most favourite people in the world: Ray Ray and Jenny. He can't wait to be your ring boy.

Now I'm pooped so that's all you get.

Fans

Well, I guess those that are reading this are the true Half 'n Half fans. Thanks for hanging in there and staying true and loyal. Props to all of you. As summer approaches, I'd like to think the posts will be more frequent, but I guess that depends entirely on Hayden's ability and motivation to stay out of tomfoolery.

The other day I had to bring Hayden to a "School of Rock" practice at my school. He ended up playing the bongos and danced around with the kids for a bit then he took off to hang with a mom I know. When I went to pick him up she said, "He says 'peas', 'dank ooo', and he counts to 'seben'!" He does count to "seben" and even higher. He goes all the way to "te-yay" (ten-yay!). Last night I slept in Hayden's room so as not to catch Scott's summer flu. In the morning, when he woke up, I pulled him out of his crib and let him play around me as I tried to wake up. He was grabbing my hand, pulling me out of bed, and saying something that sounded like "siwah". Finally I figured it out-cereal. He looked so satisfied when I poured him a big bowl. What else, let's see...he likes to sing. At first I thought it was just muttering but there's a definite lilt to his gibberish when there's a good tune to sing along too. Any other fun tricks will just have to be discovered when you come over and check out our new...

DECK!!

This was Scott's birthday party/present. "Ray Ray" and Miss Jenny came over to help us build a deck. Isn't it a beaut! The boys were troopers as they built in the sweltering heat and dealt with the ineptitude of Rona. We are very thankful to "Ray Ray's" carpentry skills and generosity. Hayden's especially thankful that Miss Jenny comes along to help too. Don't tell her but secretly he loves her more than Ray Ray.

The heat will make people do all sorts of crazy things. Here is Hayden admiring the crazy thing that the heat drove Mama and Daddy to do.

Hang in there folks...hopefully there will be more posts to come soon.

Sorry Grandpa and Jaime

Have you given up on me yet? Here's some good stuff to make up for it.

His vocabulary list is getting quite long. Along with all of those names you just heard (sorry Grandpa and Jaime, I think he just had too much cookie in his mouth-he's said both of your names before, swearsies) he also says:

help please, thank you, husha (as in ring around the rosie), ball, go, no, shoe, socks, juu, duh, ug, awaa, nue-I'm not sure what those last few mean yet but I'm sure they're something because he says them with such conviction.

He's enjoying the better weather and gravitates right for puddles that are filled with sludge and slime from the winter. Another sign that he's a big boy is that he walks himself out of daycare and to the car rather than being carried.

Then Now

Here he is enjoying some snacks and Oprah.
Bye for now...

Deal

Oh I know, it's been a while. So deal with it!

We've been very busy watching our beautiful basement grow. It's almost finished and we can't wait to go downstairs and play.

We hit Winterlude one Friday for a break. Hayden loved listening to the music at the concert. Then we let him run around and look at the ice sculptures. The only problem was that he had so much fun, he refused to get back in the stroller!

Hayden's words are starting to bubble up now. He says Hi, Bye Bye, Cracker, Onomatapoeia, and Existentialism! Sometimes he's in the mood to mimic and will say Hi Dada, Hi Mama, Hi Jessie, and even Hi Papa.

He gives kisses now and even makes the appropriate "mmmwah" kissy noise.

Chatterbox

Poor Hayden has a case of the barfs. On Saturday night we left him with Aunty Jaime to celebrate Uncle Ray's birthday. Jaime got a wonderful treat when he crawled over to her and cuddled with her for a good long while. She loved every second of it until he sat up and yakked all over the place. He was perfectly fine Sunday and all day Monday but upchucked again yesterday when we got home. My thinking is that he ate something funny because he was fine afterwards and hasn't had any other symptoms. Poor little guy. He's certainly feeling better though. Here he is telling me all about it:

Meanwhile, he's picked up a lovely habit of playing with the Swiffer! Lucky me!
This could very well be the culprit behind the puke-fest...yogourt.
Playing in the snow.

The Real Hayden

Last Friday, Mommy and Daddy put our best babsitting team to work while we went to see the real Hayden. He played in a beautiful church and while the pews may have been a bit uncomfortable, his songs sounded great. Our brave Daddy even snuck in "backstage" afterwards to tell him our story. We got our picture taken with him so that we can show our Hayden who he is named after. Thank you to Ray and Jenny for taking such good care of our Hayden. No wonder he loves ya so much.The Real Hayden Babysitters for Hire

Meanwhile, we have a new baby: our basement. Uncle Ray and Daddy have been working so hard to make us all a fun new space to hang out. We're so grateful for all of the hours they spend down there. We assume they're working down there based on how dang good it all looks.

Hayden's up to no good as usual. The other day, Laura caught him wagging his finger at Liam and then he slapped him! She gave him a timeout and when it was over, he went straight to Liam and gave him a hug. So, while our son may now purposefully smack to cause pain, he also shows empathy and understanding. I guess that's a good trade off.

He continues to babble incessantly. I guess he's a real comedian at the daycare and keeps all of the kids (and the cleaning ladies) in hysterics as he goes on and on with his stories. If one of us goes somewhere in the house beyond his reach (upstairs, downstairs, behind a closed door), he'll yell to you until you come back. He also used his "more" sign for a non-food item the other day. He used it to have a book read aloud again and again and again. Some more super fun pasttimes include climbing on chairs, tables, and shelves and taking off all of his daipers and clothes. He also likes to go into the food cabinet, get himselves raisins, and sit back to watch "Laverne and Shirley", his new favourite show.

New Year-New Tricks

Happy 2008! What a great holidays Hayden had. Party Baby was definitely in full swing as we had lots of people come over and play. Hayden loved watching Nico open all of her gifts. He didn't really get the concept of getting his own gifts, he loved the boxes more. Even still, he did get spoiled. So many toys, cookies, and clothes. His favourites had to be his rocking horse from Aunty Debbie, the Arrowroot cookies from Yeh Yeh, the mini Santa cellphone from Grandma, the Trustfund from the Godparents, and the Thomas couch from Uncle Ray and Miss Jenny.

Being cooperative for the paparazzi

Uncle Shawn and Aunty Sara came to stay for almost a whole week! Hayden's favourite parts of their visit were crashing on his new couch with Aunty Sara, enjoying Uncle Shawn's golden shorts, and getting his hair cut by Uncle Shawn and Daddy. Stylin.

Just like Al Bundy

Uncle Shawn and the Golden Shorts

Before

During

After

Mommy's favourite parts of their visit were being better than everyone at Guitar Hero, and remembering how much fun it is to have Uncle Shawn and Sara around.

Happy Mama with Sara

Officer Sandwich

Guitar Hero

Guitar Zero

Party Baby came out to play during Mama and Daddy's Boxing Day Party. Even though Hayden didn't really nap that day, he stayed up way past his bedtime, playing on his own or visiting and cuddling with everyone at the party. He danced with new friends, played the piano with Matt, chatted with the ladies, and admired Daddy's new TV with the men. He even let Aunty Sara put him down to bed. What a great Party Animal.

He partied way too hard at New Years too with Aunty Alexis, Uncle Dan, their friends Jamie and Sarah, and Uncle Ray, and Miss Jenny. It's a good thing he has more sense then Uncle Ray and Daddy and decided not to play with power tools at three in the morning.

Dancing with Aunty Alexis

Clownin' with Uncle Dan

Pooped and Partied Out


Hayden's also learned lots of new tricks over the holidays. His first real word that he uses in the right context is...CRACKER. Surprise, surprise, it's a food. He actually says something closer to "ca-ca" and uses it to refer to almost all foods. I first noticed it when I was putting him in the car seat and he spotted some cookies that he had left there for future enjoyment. He excitedly blurt out, "ca-ca, ca-ca, ca-ca!" until I handed one over. Now he'll ask for a ca-ca pretty much 24-7. Hayden's also quite the dancer. He loves to bounce up and down and swing from side to side when he hears a good tune. His favourite tunes to dance to are commercial jingles and television theme show songs. He also loves to rock out to his mini-synthesizer that Grandma found for him. Other than continuing to torment and pamper Jessie, he's pretty much just into running around wild and climbing up onto anything that he can and shouldn't be scaling. What a kid.

Me trying to get Hayden to say "Ca-Ca". He refuses to perform on cue.