Hayden is growing like a weed! He has jumped 2 shoe sizes to a 7 1/2 and he looks so handsome and toddler-like these days. He is SO tall now. He drapes completely down my entire front when I cuddle with him. His legs dangle down to my knees, which amazes me everytime I realize it.

He is talking so much more now too. He copies EVERYTHING! We really need to be careful what we say now. He loves to talk about the color of things; green truck, white flower, red bug, etc. It is a running commentary, especially during car rides. He loves dogs, bugs, balls, ducks, frogs, dinosaurs, trains, and roosters, just to name a few things. Not so sure what's up with the last one there, but he sure does love them. He also loves grass, rocks, leaves, the wind, and anything outdoors. Somersalts in the grass are his new trick. As of today, he was saying, "Baby Roll" and doing a flip in the grass. He always closes his eyes when he is laying in the grass. I think it just feels weird to have the grass touching him, so it is a survival mechanism until he can scramble to his feet again. Which reminds me of two other things...

One: He calls himself "Baby". You say, "What's your name?", he says, "Baby". he refers to himself that way and it is so cute. He runs down the list of favorite people...Dada, Mama, Sydney, Baby, Poppy. We do this little thing where we shake his hand and introduce ourslves to him and say, "Hi, my name is Mama, what's your name". To which he replies, "Baby". It's funny.

Two: His other survival mechanism is to close his eyes when he is around people he isn't quite comfortable with. He will just sit there (whether he is in our lap or in his seat eating) with his eyes squeezed shut. He can do this for minutes on end and even eat his meal with them shut if he has to. It is really strange. But, I guess that is how he has learned to deal with situations that aren't comfortable for him.

Speaking of liking dogs, we are dog sitting for a friend this week. She has a french bull dog and he is a character to say the least. Hayden loves the dog and is having a blast chasing him around and playing with him. He has however picked up a few new phrases since he's been here. (The dog's name is Gus...pronounced "Goose"). So now he says, "Goose, off!" and "Silly Goose" and "Black Doggie" , "Doggie poo poo" and his very first 3 word sentence that was uttered today was, "Black Doggie Snorting". I am so proud.

He is funny too. Like I said, he immitates everything. Cameron and I had a good ole belly laugh this morning while he was squatting in the living room mimicking the doggie going to the bathroom (sound effects and shaking booty and all). Very hysterical.

He is pretty good about using his manners, saying "please" on his own most of the time, and "thank you" when reminded. He is a good boy, although he is fairly quick to get frustrated. He can be happy one second and screaming in annoyance the next. It usually only lasts a few seconds, but a few times he has been hard to calm down. But, that's typically when he is tired or hungry. I think we have had good luck avoiding temper tantrums up until now mostly because we follow a pretty similar schedule day to day. He knows what to expect and we know how to read his cues very easily just depending on what time it is. It makes it easier for all of us. That doesn't mean that all meltdowns are avoided though. He has his share and that's to be expected at this age.

He is getting better with his gross motor skills too. He is still working on his jumping skills (he has only gotten both feet off the ground together a handful of times so far). He is becoming more of a climber lately which is a little unnerving at times. Today he stood on the ottoman and then looked at me like, "Well, what are you going to do about this?". Silly boy.

He loves the new deck too. He can go straight out onto it from the sliding glass door and play out there while I cook or work inside. He loves to "mow" the deck with his little kiddie lawnmower and play with his new sand table. He just loves being outside.

He is making more friends with the kids in the mom's group. He has 2 girlfriends now, Gwen and Alyssa. He talks about them and likes to see them when we all get together. Typically though, he tends to gravitate towards men more than woman. Although at the last family get together he was very friendly to both of Cameron's sisters and their kids, so I was very happy about that. He gave out hugs and kisses to everyone!

He is becoming a little more social and not so tied to me all the time. He still wants me to "follow him" and take his hand, but that is getting a little better. Mostly because I refuse to do it most of the time. It tends to get annoying when you hear that a few thousand times a day..."Hand, hand, hand...follow me" and then he gets upset when you don't. So, I have been stopping him and asking him to tell me what he wants to show me. He will either try to explain it, or give up and move on to something else. It isn't that I don't want to hang out with him or have him show my things, we do that all the time. It is just the times when he wants to do something but doesn't want to go alone (follow the dog, go get a toy in the other room, etc), that I want him to know he can go and do that all by himself and his world won't fall apart. He is getting better slowly.

There really is so much to say these days since he is gaining new words and skills everyday. But, that's enough for now. Gotta save something for next month! I think I only have one more month left counting in months, before you actually answer...yeah, he's 2 when someone asks, rather than, "--" months. Our boy is getting older. It's unbelievably exciting and sad at the same time. -- mam