Hayden has started to do some "pretend play". Yesterday, I looked over and he was feeding "Bitty" (his littlest duck) some cheese. He would pick up the cheese piece, put it to the ducks' mouth and then eat it himself and say, "MMmmm". It was so funny. I had never seen him do this before...interact with his toys in that way.

He has also started making everything clap. Grover claps, Cooper claps, Bear claps, Giraffe claps, Mommy claps...Unfortunately, his collection of ducks are armless and cannot clap, which frustrates him to no end. His obsession with this water fowl continues, although they may be ousted and replaced by armed things since he has acquired this new love of clapping.

He has also started hiding when he doesn't want to do something. When we tell him to come and get his diaper changed, he has a favorite spot next to his toy chest in the living room. He also tends to retreat when he is going "poo poo" as he calls it (and we do too - call it poo poo that is, not retreat :-) We are tying to get him to comply with following directions, rather than chasing him everywhere when he doesn't want to do something. When he hides before diaper changes, we encourage him with words to come to us...and typically he does, after a lot of stalling. When he is upstairs and it is time to go down, I wait on the stairs and tell him that I am waiting for him so that we can go downstairs. He fiddles around a bit, but then comes to me ready to oblige. I like this better than saying, "Hayden, get over here"...followed by a round of chase and hide and go seek, which would probably end with me picking him up and him screaming about it (and maybe even hitting me again!). I would rather he understand that he has to follow directions when we give them to him. It is all a learning process for sure...for all of us. Better to start early. A friend told me that it is easier to grant freedoms, rather than take them away after the fact....I totally agree. -- mam