Santa Claus December 20, 2009

I’m having to get used to using that term having grown up with Father Christmas… but I have to admit it’s easier for Hayden to say and understand.  Last year when Hayden met Santa Claus it was quite an event (to be fair to Santa he had the same reaction to the Easter bunny!)  Can’t resist showing the picture again:

This year was very different.  We had “Cookies With Santa” within our neighbourhood at the local primary school.   When Santa turned up Hayden was really excited and rounnign around in circles. Then like a really good boy he lined up behind the other kids and waited his turn to sit on Santa.  Once up there he sat up on Santa’s knee and even told him what he wanted!  (an Orange race car apparently!!)  I was really impressed because often he just goes quite in situations like this.  He even managed a Dr Evil impression for the picture!!

When Santa was leaving Hayden was in the perfect place in the room and got an extra high five from Santa.  He face lit up like a proverbial Christmas tree!  It was very sweet!

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Nanny

Nanny Mad come to stay with us for a couple of weeks over Thanksgiving.  Hayden was obviously really excited to have her hear as he loves her to bits and because she doesn’t see him that often, when she does see him she comes loaded with booty!!  Everyday Hayden was getting a new train, or a new car, or a new t-shirt, or candy, or books, or…..   I’m surprised he doesn’t call her Nanny Claus!!

One of the funniest stories is Nanny was sitting on the Love Seat we have. Hayden told her to go sit over on the other couch, presuming he wanted to sit with her over there or something. Once she had made her move, he just got all his toys and started to play with them right where she had been sitting!  Poor Nanny!

Every night after I had washed Hayden and got his Pajamas on he would run to the top of the stairs and shout “Nanny Come Here!”. He knew that most nights he was getting a new book!!  He would then trick Nanny into reading books to him for the next 30 minutes or so. Poor Nanny didn’t always have her glasses so there was a lot of improvising!!  As usual I know who was the most tired every evening!

Bedtime Routine December 19, 2009

We’ve always tried out best with to keep Hayden in as many routines as possible with things like nap time, bed time, eating etc. Of course we don’t like exciting things get in the way of those routines (this is a boy who’s already been to three or four NFL games and two NBA games already) but none the less the routines have served as well.

Well my point on this post is more focused on how Hayden has been developing and expanding his bed time routine!  The routine started pretty simple.  Bath, Get Dressed, Bed.  Then we introduced a book before bed time.  Hayden pretty quickly developed this into 2 books and then 3 and then …. I think we’ve curbed it now back at 2 books.  However his count of 2 books doesn’t always equal the same as mine!!

Once the books are read he now insists on a game we play the “Where is Grumpy Gorilla” (Copyright Goodwin 2009) game.  (basically I just ask him to find things in his room starting initially with Grumpy Gorilla).  Then it’s finally bed time which means song time.  For months just having Twinkle Twinke was fine.  Every couple of weeks we seemed to have developed a new song into the melody.  We now start with ABCs, move on to Twinkle Twinkle, followed by Row Row Boat and closed out with Baa Baa Black Sheep.  These have to be sung in exact order, and any pause between songs will result in Hayden prompting the first line of the next song.  He sings along and it’s really cute.  Last week somehow as I’m walking out Hayden is shouting at me to sing Wheels on the Bus.  So he got a chorus of Wheels on the Bus go round and round and he seemed content.  Next night we had to expand to Wheels on the Bus, Mummies on the Bus and Daddies on the Bus before I was allowed to leave.  This worked for another two nights until we then had to finish with the Driver on the Bus.  Last night, just as I thought we were settled Hayden added the Girl on the Bus!!    This rate by the end of the year we’ll have a full CD length melody of bedtime tunes!

As Kara said – I think he has me wrapped about his little finger!  At least he goes straight to bed after all these songs – typically don’t hear a peep so I don’t dare break the routine!

Hummus and Chips!!! December 16, 2009

Only Hayden would get excited about Hummus and Chips!!  This was a few months back now but Kara had some Hummus and Chips and Hayden is shouting out “Hummus Chips!!” and stuffing them into his mouth like it’s chocolate!

Recently he asked me for a green bean off his plate (he did want some ketchup with it – but you can’t ask for everything).

Today I asked him would he rather have a carrot or a cupcake – he answered Carrot!!! (OK so 5 seconds later he realized his mistake and shouted “Cupcake Cupcake Cupcake” at full volume!  but none the less!!!)

I Want Mummy, I Want Mummy

I’ve talked before about how Hayden could change on a daily basis around who was his favorite for the given day. Recently he has definitely become a mummy’s boy. In the morning if I walk into his room he’ll get upset and shout “I want mummy, I want mummy”. There are times when if I even look at Hayden he’ll break into a fit and started shouting “i want mummy, i want mummy”. I’ve told him he’s mean – he just says “I want mummy”…..

Still likes having bath time with daddy and going in daddy’s car – so i guess it’s not all bad 🙂

Mittens December 8, 2009

Hayden loves his mittens so much that when we come in from outside he won’t let us take them off!  He’ll play for ages with them on.  I mentioned they’re mittens, right?  So he actually can’t use all his individual fingers, just the four fingers as one and the thumb.

Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving holiday!  Hayden’s Grandma Goodwin (Nanny) was here with her friend Dave, and we did our usual routine of going to Grandpaman and Grandma G’s on Thanksgiving Day and Grandma and Grandpa’s on the following day.  Hayden was a pretty well behaved boy during both events, although he did find it hard to sit at the table for too long at Grandpaman’s house.  He was starving by the time we sat down to eat, so in order to keep him from going crazy we were feeding him as the dishes were still going around.  There were 19 people there (!), and by the time everyone’s plates had food piled high and we’d said our thanks and cheers, he was just about done eating.  Luckily, the way the room was arranged he could not get out of the dining room because people were blocking the exits, so he stayed near enough that we didn’t have to run after him too much.  My cousin Mandy and her parents, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Bill, came down from Chicago as well as Grandma G’s brother and his family and her aunt and uncle.  Add to that the five of us and Grandma G’s parents, and it was certainly a full house!

Grandma’s was fun, too, and Hayden had a great time as always playing with his cousins.  There was a kid’s table set up, so he got to sit off with his cousins for dinner.  He did a good job with that.  Jesse and Robby actually finished their food much faster than Hayden, so John sat with him for a while as he felt badly he was sitting by himself. 😉