As usual Hayden continues to crack us up on a daily basis so I also needed to go a quick aggregation of some of his new adventures.
When he’s eating he’ll demand that I watch him eat something. Daddy watch me eat this cracker, daddy watch me eat this apple, etc. No idea why, but it’s kind of funny.
Hayden is getting very expressive with his facial features and his hand gestures when he talks. He does this changing the light blub like gesture (vs. Coldplay dancing) with his hand when he’s saying stuff. It feel very philosophical!
He loves going on bike rides right now, even though it’s cold. The other day he even chose a bike ride over playing video games! He still has his training wheels but we’ll work on that in the spring. He likes going really fast and is starting to get a good sense of balance but the use of the brake is still very optional but at least he normally takes his foot off the pedal so when he crashes it had less impact. He has also worked out to head towards the grass if he loses control. He doesn’t really care if he crashes so that also help.
He is getting over apologetic! He’ll say “Oh sorry” about 50 times a day right now and I’ve spotted a couple of themes. Firstly nothing is his fault! If he knocks something over then “oh sorry it wasn’t my fault it just did it all on its own”. Secondly he never meant it. So if we are just correcting him, something simple like can you hand me the yellow pen and he gives me an orange one, “oh sorry, I didn’t mean to.” It’s funny.
The other thing that is new with Hayden is that everything is cool or silly or funny Daddy. I’ll try to give an example conversations. “Daddy I want to eat my cupcake with my eyes closed as wouldn’t that be silly daddy. It would be so funny. And if I did that I might drop it and it would break on the floor and that would be super silly daddy. And maybe the cupcake would have green on it and that would be really cool wouldn’t it daddy.”
I’ve noticed recently that Hayden also has three running styles. One which is full out running. Used for example at a bounce place where he is really excited. Two is the skip. He does this when he is really not that interested inn what he’s doing and generally in la-la land. Three is the shuffle. When he kind of glides across the floor like he is ice skating on tip toes. Generally reserved for when he is really excited about something and is generally accompanied by a giddy expression.
competitive. For example when we played football (soccer) this year he loved playing when he had the ball and we were doing training drills etc, but when we played games he had no interest in tackling other players, and hated it if someone took the ball from him. When he plays basketball it’s generally just running around with no real concept of trying to take the ball away from others. However when it comes to Layla he is the most competitive kid you’ll ever see. He wants to do everything before her, or better than her, or if she’s doing it then he wants to take over and do it.
I have slacked a lot with my blog writing of late and thought its time I just rambled a bunch of stuff in one blog to try and catch up so this is going to be a bit of a hodgepodge of stuff primary on Layla (because the few blogs I have done have generally been on Hayden).
them around most of the time (not one, but at least two, and a blanket, and some bottles for them). It’s funny sometimes when you come into her bedroom when she’s waking up, and she’ll already have all her babies accumulated up and be carrying them waiting for us to lift her out of the crib. But she just loves babies, for Christ,mas she got a stroller and also a toy crib and high chair and she also makes sure her babies get full use of her baby accessories! If her babies are out of reach though we hear about it, she will screech ” BABEEE” over and over again until we do something about it!
Layla loves the dogs (and Abbey to be fair.) Whenever she is close to any of the animals she will lower her head and give them a kiss, or a cuddle, or try to go for a ride (dogs don’t always appreciate the last one, and often get straight up which sends her flying!). She is forever just laying down with them, and generally loving on them. It’s nice to see. Especially Stella (which is Larry and Gretchen’s new puppy). Layla and Stella are just best friends and are always running around together and following each other.
It’s funny that we spend all this time blogging and we never go back and look at those blogs, but it just feels like she is so different to him in personality. Once she gets warmed up (she can start very shy, especially if her mum is around) she is very confident and likes to own the room. She knows what she wants and is very assertive to take it. If someone messes with her, or takes something away from her, she will make her feelings know (whether it’s a bite, push, verbal assault – whatever it takes!). But she does share some attributes of Hayden. She understands jokes, and loves being funny. She is very loving to us. Love her bed toys. Is a pretty good eater and an excellent sleeper.
Hayden has started to realize that he and I talk differently. There be certain word that he will already say with an American accent and I’ll tell him that that I say it like this “fill in stylish English accent” and then he’ll tell me how he says it. Well this was kind of funny a few nights back when I was reading with him… The word in case was envelope. It was a sesame street ABC book and we were on the letter E. He goes “on-vel-lope”. I tell him it’s “end vel lope”. He then corrects me that it must be “on-vel-lope” because that starts with an E and “end vel lope” starts with an N! Getting corrected by a four year old – ouch!
It is funny seeing how four year olds develop humour and sarcasm. Some times Hayden hits it right on the head. Sometimes he will get all stressed out when we try to joke with him. Generally though if we say something that’s a little off he will just respond with the “are you kidding me?” in a jovial tone. You’ll notice the tone of this post was McEnroe….. Well that’s more because if we say something that is something he is completely not expecting…. For example imagine its a Saturday and we told him that he was going to daycare he would just give us a look of disdain and respond cue McEnroe tone of “are you serious!” Hayden would say “are you kidding me!” you can’t be serious, you’re kidding me right?”. He is a little munchkin!
When Hayden is telling Layla something he loves to get right In her face. He will lower himself to her level and inform her things like “this is my toy Layla” or “it’s my turn not yours”. He really likes to rub it in – how does Layla react to this?… she just pushes him or bites him! Then he will just fall down like he has been hit by a sniper and start crying and Layla just gets on with her business.
I have talked many times about Hayden and how he is a big daddy’s boy. Well recently out of nowhere he will just say “I really really like daddy” or “I love daddy a lot”. I am just making this note because in a few years time I bet I won’t be able to get him to say a nice word about me! I have to make the most of this!
Hayden has a best friend! It’s a boy at preschool called Oliver, who he has gone to day care with since they were both in the infant room. It’s very cute that he has someone who he likes to play with and he talks about when he’s home, because he doesn’t very often take an interest in his peers. It’s cool too because Oliver is a really sweet boy. When they were babies Oliver’s mom and I had them in the same Mommy & me swim class, so I have gotten to know her over the years, too. One morning when I was dropping him off, Oliver was also getting dropped off at the same time and I heard him tell his dad that Hayden is his best friend. 🙂
