Hayden is pretty interested in the girls in his life right now. He got invited to one of his best friend’s birthday party the other day. (Hayden will tell you he has two best friends – Oliver and Olivia) He was so excited about going to Olivia’s party. I figured she had invited the whole preschool class, but only Hayden and one other girl from the class seemed to get invited. I wondered how the day would work out, because he was so excited about his “best friend’s” party, and I wondered if since it was her big day if she would be as interested in playing with Hayden since she would have all her favorite people there. But it was very cute, because she was just as excited to see and play with Hayden as he was her. They were running around together, thick as thieves. the b&w picture posted here is them as he was leaving. That is happiness! 🙂
He also had a friend from the neighborhood over a few weeks ago named Lainey. We had been to a neighborhood party, and in the beginning Hayden was very tired, his allergies were bothering him, and he was not enjoying himself. But Lainey showed up after a while and they had a ball playing together. He wanted her to come over to his house to play, so a few days later we had her over for a playdate. It was really cute, as he had a great time doing everything she wanted to do! He wanted to eat everything she was eating at the same time she was eating it. He was interested in everything she wanted to play with… until they went upstairs where his Geotrax train was set up. Then, he got pretty distracted by the train and lost interest in her. 🙂 It was funny watching Layla while Lainey was over. She was very dubious about another girl being around and getting attention off of Hayden and trying to play with her toys. She would just stand there watching, taking it all in, trying to decide how she felt. She did a pretty good job sharing and controlling her emotions considering she is only 2, but I had to intervene a few times.
And finally, Hayden has been interested in playing with another little girl in his life – his sister! He likes to follow Layla around and play with her. It goes in waves really – he’ll be really interested in her for a few days, then it will subside, then he’ll start paying attention to her again. It’s like one day he woke up and realized there was another kid in the house he could play with. I love watching them play and laugh together. They do get up to mischief, though. Today I had gone upstairs to get some laundry. John was already up there but the kids were playing downstairs. Suddenly we heard music. He went downstairs and they were playing on the computer! They do things like that, and Hayden will laugh and laugh, knowing that he’s not supposed to be doing it but thinking he won’t get in trouble because it’s technically Layla who is doing it. He will also encourage her to run away from me when we are trying to go somewhere and I am trying to get shoes on her or change her diaper, and he’ll just laugh and laugh as she gives me chase. They are little turkeys!!!
Already Layla can’t be told not to do something without asking Why? I must get asked Why? 100 times a day right now. I’m sure it took Hayden much longer to get to the Why? stage.
It’s been a hot summer so far, with very little (FAR TOO little) rain. Whenever we get a drink for us or the kids, it’s with ice. Hayden and Layla would get excited about the ice at first, when we first started adding it and it was a novelty, and when they’d ask for ice John would start singing Ice, Ice Baby. Now, whenever drinks are being served the subject of ice always comes up (usually by one of them), and they will start singing either, “Ice, Ice Baby,” or “Ice, Ice Big Boy,” which his Hayden’s variation and makes them both laugh. I’m sorry if this post has put that song in your head, but now you can sympathize with what it might be like to have that song in your head pretty much all day for the whole of the summer so far! I guess it’s only not in my head when the songs from Layla’s Elmo book have taken over (see previous post)!
Layla has been loving being read to lately. She’ll grab a book and come snuggle into one of our laps to be read to. She does NOT appreciate any attempts to multitask! In the morning, I will take her downstairs with me and she will play while I log in to start work. When she comes to sit in my lap to read, usually I will spend most of the time reading, but I might click on a new email when it comes in to stay on top of work. All I have to do is move my hand in the general direction of my computer, and she will grab my finger, say, “Mommy, no,” and point my finger onto the book and ask, “Mommy what’s this?” She’ll keep hold of my finger and keep pointing it to different things in the book asking what they are (even when she knows perfectly well what they are). It is very funny! It does not help me to the goal I share with all working mothers of growing children – to do everything at once all the time – but it does make me laugh. John and I say it all the time: The girl knows what she wants, that is for sure! 🙂
We’ve definitely noticed a change in Hayden’s level of adventureness this year. He has always been really cautious, but this year he finally seems to want to play a little harder. He loves going to Monkey Joes now and totally owns all the bouncy apparatuses – even the tallest slides he will climb up himself and have a blast flying down. He’ll climb on anything and everything at the playground, whereas at the beginning of summer last year he didn’t even like crossing the low wobbly bridges.
Layla has her own version of things not being fair. If we make her do something she doesn’t like for example wash her hair, go take a nap, etc. then first she will try to deflect and have Haddy go first, otherwise after she has complained she will then start getting start pointing and go “Haddy wash now, Haddy wash now” for example. If she has to do, then Hayden has to do it!
Hayden and Layla's Place 