Hayden is officially out of the teenage months! SO much is happening lately; I am really having a hard time pinning down things that happened specifically in the last month. In general, he is talking (and talking back) more, full out running, "cracking" jokes, showing love and favorites, enjoying the outdoors, becoming more daring (and mischevious), and developing fine motor skills before our very eyes!

On the talking front, he is starting to put together more two word phrases. He does this all the time (and has for quite some time) when he says "Bye, bye _", or "Blue Ball!", etc. But, the other day he started to add more phrases to his repertoire. He said, "No try...Mama try" when I wanted him to do something he didn't like. His vocabulary of single words has exlpoded too. He repeats things all the time and says WAY too many words to list. They are mostly incomprehensible to most people still, but we know exactly what he is saying. Typically, he gets the syllables and tone RIGHT on, but a lot of his words still start with an "n" sound (fire truck is: "na na na" and tunnel is: "nunnel"...so yeah, he's got a ways to go)

He has started to throw his authority around these day too. He definitely has an opinion about what he does and does not want to do. He is strong-willed and stubborn, but we haved vowed to be consistent with things from the get-go and that has proven to be effective so far. He knows that he can't get away with throwing toys (they will be taken away) or screaming to get what he wants (he will be reminded to ask politely).

One thing that I decided not to do (even before Hayden was born), was to chase him around in order to get him to come to me (for whatever reason). I don't want to make a game out of that. When I ask him to come to me, I want him to come...not run away giggling trying to get me to catch him. For some reason, that just annoys me to no end. So...a good test of this skill that happens, oh 5 times a day still, is coming for a diaper change. We started out something like this a few months ago, give him a warning that he is going to have his diaper changed in a minute or two (so he can mentally prepare), then wait in the diaper changing spot (in front of the ottoman in the family room) for him to come over. In this minute or two, he thinks...hmmm, do I really want to go over there...uh no...I think I will hide over here in the corner and see if she really needs to change my diaper afterall....I wait, he smirks, etc...I say, "Hayden come here please, it is time to change your diaper"...he dilly dallies...then finally concedes. Then next step was that he would want a bargaining chip...a toy that he was allowed to bring with him for entertainment during the diaper change. He would wind up walking over with an armload of various little trinkets...but, hey, he came to me...that's fine...hold all the trains and ducks you want. Now, just in the past week, he can be told from across the room that it is time for a diaper change, and he will go lay down and wait for you to come over...no fussing at all. Just yesterday and today there have been two new developments. Cameron decided to test the limits...he told Hayden it was time for a change and asked him to get a diaper out of the basket and go lay down...done. And today...I was tooling around the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast, and Hayden came to ME and said..."All done...Hand(as he grabbed my hand)...poo poo...diaper" and lead ME to the diaper changing spot!....UH YEAH! He's a genius!

OK, why all the talk about diaper changing?...We're damn proud of the little things...that's why.

His gross motor skills have soared too. He loves to run around (especially on the aggregate patio out back which gives us a heart attack everytime he does it - I fear that he is going to have another face plant!). He is trying to jump, but hasn't gotten both feet off the ground yet. He is turning into more of a climber (although he is still pretty cautious, which is fine with us!). He also loves to dance.

He does laugh a lot more now and has his token fake laugh (which is obnoxious sounding and always comes with a gapping wide mouth). He knows when he is being funny and knows when the joke's on him too. The things he does make us laugh all the time. He has a love-hate relationship with being tickled. We still have a "Tickle Tuesday" policy that is upheld (although we often have "Tickle Thursday", or "Tickle Monday" even). When I say, "It's Tickle Tuesday" in a funny voice that should NOT be heard by the general public, he either runs away laughing or rolls to the floor and waits to be tortured. I tickle...he says.."All done!" and I stop....then he waits with a smirk for me to continue...and screams "ALL DONE!" even louder than before...and gets up...then comes back for more. It's good game.

He shows us love now too, which is wonderful. He says "Love you" which really sounds like "Aaah new", and puts his head on our shoulders giving a hug. Although this new found phrase comes in handy for various things. When he is 'getting a talking to', he says "aah new, aah new" and tries to give you a hug. You can't help but stop the stern talk after that. True manipulation at it's best! But, we'll take it! He says that he loves all his favorite animals (usually just the stuffed ones that he can hug and cuddle), but I have seen him snuggling up a metal Thomas the Train onto his neck to show his love and appreciation for having it in his life. So sweet. Before bed he says goodnight to SO many things..."night night ball, night night door, night night birds, night night tv"...etc...etc...last night he even said "night night beep beep" to acknowledge the timer that was used as the last minute warning before he had to finally part with his trains for the ENTIRE night! How cruel we are!

His favorite toys now are his ducks (he has way too many), his trains, his frogs, and his boucing balls in all sizes (from itty bitty pink ball to big blue).

He loves being outside. We had to institute the timer idea for getting him to come in from outside. We would ask him to come in and a fit would ensue. So, I decided to tell him that I had set the timer for 5 minutes, and when he heard the 'beep beep', it was time to come inside. I kept reminding him every minute to listen for the beep and when it did finally happen, he was satisfied and came right inside...no questions asked, no fit had...perfect! Now I do that all the time for coming inside and he usually beats the timer to it! What a guy! It will be nice when we have our deck this summer. Then he can wander in and out a little more freely and I won't have to worry that he is going to fall down the 2 stairs that are a foot outside our sliding glass door. We have also had our first swim in his kiddie pool for 2006. We took advantage of the first day of spring and he jumped right in!

He is starting to want to walk down the stairs now (rather than slide down on his belly). He needs a helping hand of course, but he is trying out more and more gross motor skills like this all the time and becoming more daring as the days go on. He even jumped off a curb at the park the other day and made it! It was onto grass so I wasn't worried.

He loves working with the shape sorters and is pretty proficient at getting the shapes to cooperate and make it in the right holes. He also loves puzzles and is learning his colors and numbers. He knows: blue, green, purple, white, brown, black, pink, yellow and red and can correctly name them when you reference a particular object in that color. He seems to really prefer green and purple and blue for most everything. Purple may be the favorite of the moment. He also loves the number 2 for whatever reason. Which we will most definitely use to our advantage as summer approaches and people ask how old he is going to be at his next birthday!

He is learning to eat by himself now too (which we can stuff in the fine motor skill development category). For the longest time he had NO interest and was perfectly fine with me feeding him and playing with toys or watching a DVD while I did all the work. Well, about a week ago, I got fed up with this. While the distraction makes for a quick and quiet meal, it does nothing to help him learn to actually operate a utensil (which many kids his age have been doing for oh 6 months now!). So..I went cold turkey. NO tv on, No toys at the table...period. Which didn't go over well the first day AT ALL! Fits ensued...loud ones. But, now he knows and he sets his toy down (usually one of his trains) next to his seat on the floor and they wait for him to be finished. We went out and bought him a new purple (and yellow and green) spoon with a loop on it so it is easy for him to handle...and now...poof...he likes to feed himself. The first day I tried it, he said, "No try...Mama try" (which is where the new two-word phrase from earlier in the post came from)...and now he says..."Baby try". It's so cute! And...satisfying.

Phew...that was a long one...I told you lots of stuff was happening. I am sure I forgot something too! Can't wait to see what this next month ahead of us holds. -- mam