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.

Christmas Prep

We've been pretty busy trying to get ready for Christmas around here. Last weekend, Nico came into town for a pre-Christmas visit. We had some Christmas parties so Aunty Heidi and Uncle David babysat Hayden at Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh's house. We returned the favour the next night while Aunty Heidi and Uncle David went to their own Christmas party. That was quite the adventure. It's a darn good thing the hotel had such a fun playroom!

Today, with all of the snow, we hunkered down and decorated our beautifully, gawdy, white, Christmas tree. Hayden especially loved the strings of red beads.

Nothing much else is new. We're too busy becoming Guitar Heroes to notice anything else.

Transitions

Just these past two days, I'd say Hayden has really transitioned from a crawler to a walker. He's walking way more than he is crawling. It's been neat to see the change.

The only problem is that now things have taken on a whole new level of dangerous...

Movie Star

Sorry it's been a while. Report card season...you know how it is...or maybe you don't. Here's a video that Aunty Heidi made this summer for Yeh Yeh's birthday. Hayden has a starring role and he does quite well if you ask me. Enjoy!

Baby Steps

Hayden hasn't done too much walking since his first big steps. He's just so darn efficient with his crawling. We got him some funny squeaky shoes to motivate him. Thank goodness you can take the squeakers out. Hayden does keep practicing. He loves the walker that Aunty Jaime bought him for his birthday. It's super fun.

Hayden's been sick this week with a bit of a fever. The doctor says he has a mild ear infection. Daddy has stayed home for the past two days to take care of him. Hayden says that he can't wait until he's sick again. Mama's staying home tomorrow just in case.

One Step Beyond...It's Madness!

Just this afternoon, Scott and I were trying to get Hayden to walk back and forth between us. We were sitting very close to each other and all Hayden could manage was a step or two as he fell forward towards us. Then, he was standing by the TV stand. He turned around and took the slowest steps forward. He ended up walking about 2.5 metres. I actually had the camera in my hand but I was so scared to miss anything that I only caught his last steps. He did try again and managed a few more steps that I was able to catch on film. Next step...skating!

Boo!

Elvis has left the building but Mike Holmes is here to fix it. Here is our little Mike Holmes, here to help Daddy with the basement reno so that it can be done right. Hayden was also a little cowboy because he's just that diverse. Thank you Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh for the costume. He had a great Halloween: made a bunch of crafts, gave out some candy, and played with some pumpkin guck. Here he is doing what he does every evening: getting into the food cupboard to snack and feed Jessie.

Come on

No words necessary...

No Time

Wow! There really isn't time for anything these days...including blogs. Here are some pictures to catch you up:

Hayden's new tricks are snapping his fingers, waving bye bye, protecting Mama or Daddy when one of them is being attacked by the tickle monster, solving global warming, and making even bigger and stinkier poops. Oh yeah, and playing the piano.

This week, Hayden is looking forward to a night alone with Daddy while Mommy is taking her students on an overnight to the Museum of Aviation. Have fun Daddy and Hayden!

Lord Love a Duck

Last week, Hayden and his peeps went to Valleyview farm to see some animals and pick a pumpkin. Before he went, Hayden told me he was really excited. I guess that was because he didn't know what he was getting himself into. Unfortunately, Hayden and the animals didn't quite mix well. One look at the ducks and he started to wail. He wasn't too fond of the goats either. I guess he's not destined for veterinary medicine or arc ownership.

Bad Boy

Hayden got his first reprimand at daycare today. When I picked him up, Laura had left to run an errand. I read his daily log to see how his day had gone. On it, Laura had said that Hayden had bitten Meghan. She told him, "No" and "That's not nice" and asked him to play with something else. He's been extra chatty all night and seems to be saying how sorry he is. He feels really bad that he hurt his friend. He may not seem so empathetic in this video though...it was taken before the big bite.

Thankful

What a great Thanksgiving. Lots of first, lots of mess, and lots of fun.

First, we'll start with the firsts. Hayden had his first trip out of the country. Aunty Heidi and I took him shopping at Target in Watertown. What a wonderful place Target is! Hayden also had his first night away from Mama and Daddy. We went out to celebrate Miss Jenny's birthday. We had lots of fun eating, drinking, and dancing at the piano bar.

Meanwhile, Hayden got a kick out of sleeping in the same bed as Aunty Heidi and Nico. Thank you for playing with me Nico and Aunty Heidi!

Next up, messes. Hayden gave Yeh Yeh the gift of some warm peepee all over his clothes. He is so generous. Then, a really funny mess. Aunty Heidi, Nico, and Mama went into Loblaws for about 30 minutes. Nai Nai and Hayden stayed in the car because Nai Nai thought Hayden would sleep. As soon as everybody left the car to go into the store however, Hayden decided to have a poop. It was such a stinky poop that Nai Nai decided she had to step out of the car. Unfortunately, Aunty Heidi's car alarm started to go off so Nai Nai had to get back into the car with stinky Hayden. She started to tell him how stinky he was in Chinese. This made him laugh and kick in delight. Kicking made the stink spread. Nai Nai couldn't stand the stink but had to stay with Hayden for the entire half hour. Hee hee hee.

We also went to Smiths Falls for Grandma's yummy turkey. Grandpa had fun chasing Hayden up and down the stairs.

Hayden is very thankful for all of the firsts that have yet to come, all of the messes he gets to make, and all of the fun people in his life.