Hayden Sonoma Donahue

New Nanny

2012-03-05T20:36:00.002-08:00

This post is a bit delayed because I was on a long trip, but we got a new nanny last week. Her name is Erica and thus far, Hayden seems totally happy with her. I wasn't around for much of the week, but today they played outside (in the great, warm weather), went to the park and the library, and even ran around the playroom playing chase.

Staycation

2012-02-26T15:00:00.001-08:00

Sean's work was closed this week (I know, random) so I took it off as well and we had a little staycation. It actually worked out well because it gave us a chance to deal with Hayden's ear troubles, which the doctor said were getting better on Friday. We didn't do anything too special, just took Hayden to two doctor's appointments, went to her weekly activities, took her to Art Soup (a drop-in art studio for kids) and spent a ton of time at the bookstore. Oh, we trained a new nanny, celebrated Becky's birthday and Hayden chose to go to pre-school one morning too. Overall, it was a nice break and I think Hayden liked having us around. Just a couple pictures from this week...

Art Soup - Making a caterpillar

Art Soup - Painting her name on the glass wall

Art Soup - Posing

Swimming Class - Doctor said it was ok as long as she didn't dive

Celebrating Becky's birthday with a beautiful, delicious chocolate cake

Bye Bye Gaby

2012-02-23T19:05:00.000-08:00

Sadly, we have to find a new nanny again. We really liked Gaby, but she got another (GSA) job offer and what can I say...we don't pay enough to compete with that. It was a really short stint - only two months - but luckily we've been interviewing people and have some good options. Hayden knows and seems ok with it. We'll really see I guess when a new person comes in.

To make the transition, I thought I'd post some of the latest (and final) pictures Gaby has taken and sent to us.

The library/books/storytime:

The park:

Random:

And finally, lots from gymnastics:

Ballet Moves

2012-02-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

Well, after three days of painful shots, we went back to the doctor for our fourth day in a row and she said Hayden is somewhat better. We have another appointment on Friday and are hoping that her progress continues and she actually gets totally better this time. She's still walking funny from the shots, but she is only complaining about the pain a little. And she was fine going back to the doc after we assured her (several times) that she wasn't getting another shot today.

These pictures are pre-shots, but they show a set of t-shirts Sean got Hayden. One says "President Not Princess" and the other says "Doctor Not Diva." It's pretty much what Sean tells Hayden all the time; I can't believe he didn't make them himself. I also think it's sort of ironic that she wore the second one with a frilly skirt, which she used to do "ballet moves" in her room.

Back At The Doctor's Office

2012-02-17T23:06:00.000-08:00

You aren't going to believe this: Hayden finished her third antibiotic this morning. (She also finished the steroid and her cough does seem somewhat better.) She was still complaining about her ear though and still waking up at night crying for more pain medicine. Because she wasn't doing as well as we expected, we decided to take her to the pediatrician again today to check. And guess what. Double ear infection. Again. And major ones too that were interfering with her hearing, so she was asking "What?" all the time.

There was one more oral antibiotic we could try, but they recommended that Hayden take an injectable antibiotic that we have to get at the doctors office for three days in a row. Hayden generally does well with vaccines, but the doctor warned us that this shot was going to be really painful: injected into her leg, which would hurt a lot for 30 mins and then it would continue to be sore all day. And apparently, pain medications wouldn't help much.

I was there with Gaby, who I immediately sent out to buy some treats at the pharmacy. I told Hayden she was going to get a shot and she was ok with it, since they didn't hurt much before. When they gave it to her though, she seemed surprised and cried for a good 10 minutes. Not too bad actually under the circumstances, but still heart-breaking. She calmed down before leaving the doctor's office (which is when I remembered to take a picture), but kept crying on and off afterwards whenever she had to use or move her leg. (So lots of time with Gaby on the couch again.) By dinner time though, she actually seemed ok.

We're dreading tomorrow, when we have to go back, and this time, she'll know what she's in for. I really would do anything to make it easier, but there are just so few options. This better get rid of the infection for good, helped I hope by the constant doses of Sudafed our doctor friend recommended. :(

Urgent Care

2012-02-13T20:35:00.000-08:00

Hayden was still getting over the double ear infection she had last week and actually just took the 10th dose of her (second, in less than a month) antiboitic last night. Eight hours later, at about 3am, Hayden was up, complaining about her ear again. We tried the usual things - Tylenol, water, Kleenexes, bring her to our bed (twice), etc... By about 5:00am, we'd gotten up with her about eight times and she just wouldn't stop crying. So we decided to trust her and find the 24-hour urgent care facility in La Jolla, rather than wait for her pediatrician's office to open for the day. Turned out it was Scripps, which is the same place she was born, and once again, they were great.

We had almost no wait at all and before we were even done with the paperwork, we were in a bed. Turns out, Hayden had a raging ear infection in the left ear. (I still don't understand how it came back so badly while she was already on an antibiotic.) She also had a lung infection on the left side, which was causing her cough. Poor girl was just a mess.

The doctor was pretty good and gave her three new medications. A different, stronger antibiotic, a steroid for her lung and some Tylenol with Codeine for the pain. They actually gave her the steroid and the Codeine right there in the office, so that it would start working right away, which I was impressed with. Of course, the Codeine made her tired, so she slept from 9am-1pm when we got back. It took several more hours on the couch (see below), and some Advil, for her to act more like herself. But by the time she want to bed, she was a happy girl again. Hoping tomorrow is better and that she finally kicks this month-long bout of sickness.

Zoo Fun

2012-02-12T18:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend we arranged to go to the zoo with Hayden's previous nanny, Brittany. Hayden had actually been saying that she missed Brittany and wanted to see her, so we thought this was the perfect opportunity. Hayden was actually a little shy when she first saw Brittany, which was surprising to me because it had only been six weeks or so. But she warmed up right away and then seemed to have fun.

Brittany isn't the tallest girl in the world and it was so funny to see her carrying Hayden because it honestly looked like Hayden was almost her size! She's just getting so big now.

The zoo was great, as always. Hayden hadn't been in awhile, so it was fun for her to see everything again.

Weekend Fun

2012-02-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend was SO warm! In the sun, it was actually really hot, so Hayden played with her water table and we all enjoyed the sun. The water from the hose, in her sink, was actually pretty cold, but she didn't seem to care all that much.

We also did some writing. I read something about how you shouldn't have kids trace your letters, but should instead have them copy what you did. No idea if it's true, but I love that it made me try this, because this is Hayden's first attempt at making letters on her own. Not bad huh? I told her what to do on the paper, but outside, she did it without me even watching. So exciting!

Sick AGAIN

2012-02-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

Well, this morning Hayden woke up with her third cold in about three weeks. The first one happened just before the ear infection, the second one while she was getting over that and the third today. She had a break of one or two days in between, but she's basically been sick non-stop. We started wondering if something else was wrong with her, so I took her to the doctor today and guess what? Double ear infection. They said she probably got over the first one just fine, but that it came back anyway because she kept getting sick. Poor girl. She didn't have much of a fever this morning, but after her nap, she had a 103 fever (on Tylenol) for a couple hours. That's when I took these pictures. She pretty much just wanted to sit still on the couch with her frog and read books. She seemed a bit better before bed tonight though, so I hope that the antibiotic is kicking in.

Winter Video

2012-02-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

This isn't the most exciting video ever, but here is what it includes:

1) Jingle Bells, relatively on key
2) A tiny snapshot of our family Christmas (we did a terrible job with video this year)
3) Some Christmas morning footage (apologies that it's shot in portait, we'll do better next time)
4) Our New Years Day beach trip (we found a big hole!)
5) Swimming footage - diving and a little back stroke (my fav, of course)
6) Small amount of gymnastics footage - she's in gray and blue

Back Stroke

2012-02-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some new swimming pictures - they are of the new push off and back stroke that Hayden is starting to learn. At this point, she is unsure of the mechanics, including the direction her arms are supposed to go. And of course, it's a lot to remember with the arms and the kicking and everything, but it's great that she's learning something new.

Computer Learning

2012-01-29T15:33:00.000-08:00

I have no idea when kids start reading, but Hayden is showing an interest in starting to learn about it. For example, she has been asking us to read various signs to her, in the grocery store or on a bottle. I think it's a result of a couple of things. One: she knows most of her letters now, both small and big. Two: Her flat computer, when it reads books to her, highlights each word, as it's read. So she's starting to understand how a sentence works and how each collection of letters together, makes up a word.

I've taught her "me" and "no," so when we read books and I get to those words, I stop and let her figure out which one it is. We also loaded up this computer game that Sean got for her when she turned three - it teaches rhyming words, letter sounds and I think more too. Anyway, she really likes it and I've been impressed at how well she's doing. She seems to really understand the concept of rhyming and knows a lot of letter sounds too. It's great!

Weekend Visitors

2012-01-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend Sean's Dad came to visit us and we did all kinds of fun things. First thing when he arrived, Hayden had to show him all her new holiday toys. She even made him play a few games. Of course, she also had to teach him a thing or two about her new "flat computer," which she plays just about every day.

Saturday, it rained almost all day, and I was gone, so I'm not completely sure what they did. But I do recall stories of Hayden loving a strawberry purse and making everyone she was with try it out. Apparently she even slung it over her shoulder and talked about how she could put her money in it. :)

Sunday, we went to the Children's Museum in downtown. Hayden did decently well, better than before, though she still didn't want to try everything. They had this little maze that she really liked and she also spent time in their "rain house," where it always sounds like rain is coming down. She also really enjoyed using the clay. Grandpa Pat and her made a variety of things together, but I was most impressed by the elephant. (Wow, right?)

Hayden was quite focused while making things - this is her concentrated face. Tongue out!

We said that before she left, she had to try this climbing wall, and once she started, she did pretty well. She made little scared noises throughout and needed help of course, but she did climb higher than I thought she would.

Gaby Pictures

2012-01-20T22:24:00.000-08:00

Our nanny is so awesome that she sends us lots of pictures, almost every day she's with Hayden. I've been saving some and thought I'd share them. Just normal days, but still fun to see. And especially fun for us to see.

After Sean and I had a frustrating experience with Hayden not wanted to do a single thing at the park, Gaby has been taking her almost every day and she's doing so much better at trying to do everything.

Fun beach day. A day in the life of a San Diego child.

Making friends at the park

Art Soup - a drop in art studio for kids. She has only been a few times but always comes home with really creative projects.

Happy to be getting up from nap time. At least when she's at home, she still sleeps at least an hour normally. At preschool, we aren't sure, but it doesn't seem like she sleeps at all.

Quick Updates

2012-01-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

No pics, but wanted to let you know that Hayden was promoted from a Level Three Penguin in swimming, to a Level Four Seal today! She needed to be able to:
(1) Swim freestyle 25 yards across the pool, unassisted with <5 sec breaths
(2) Instructor must be at least 10 ft from student while swimming across pool
(3) Streamline push off for Freestyle
(4) Introduce fingers closed

I'm so proud. I'm in the SF Bay Area but wish I were home to celebrate with her!

Also, she's feeling much better by the way and the antiboitics we got for her ear appeared to begin working within hours of her first dose. Yay.

A Mixed Day

2012-01-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

So last night, as Hayden tried to sleep, she twice companied about her ear, which she said hurt on the "inside" (her word, not mine). We gave her Tylenol both times and even let her spend a few mins in our bed. I was pretty sure we would need to take her to the doc the next day (today).

But in the morning, she said it wasn't hurting at all and was all better. I was surprised, but carried on with our plans, which were to see the new Beauty and the Beast 3D movie. She did great in the movie and stayed through the whole thing. (And she didn't even know too much about the storyline.) She loved the popcorn too, but the best part was at the end of the movie, when the beast turns back into the prince, becuase she actually started clapping! It was so adorable. I think she had fun.

As soon as that was over though, she started acting weird again and complaining about the other ear. We struggled a bit to find an open office, but we did and sure enough, she has an ear infection. (She's had a cold, again, but I honestly can't remember the last time she had an ear infection.) It wasn't her usual pediatrician, so the antibiotics don't taste very good and we may struggle with that over the next ten days, but I just can't wait for the meds to kick in. It's hard to feel like there is so little we can do to help.

Trying Gymnastics Again

2012-01-13T21:12:00.000-08:00

Hayden really liked soccer actually, but the class was just a little lame and not very active, so we decided to try something else while we wait for Hayden to get old enough for a better soccer class.

For gymnastics this time, we signed her up for classes at the YMCA, which has an actual gymnastics center. Hayden and I went to check it out last week and she had her first class today. I was expecting her to be fairly timid and want to mainly observe, but I'm delighted to say that wasn't true at all! With a little encouragement, she played in the foam pit while waiting for class to start, and actually enjoyed it.

Then, when the class started, I'm so proud to say that she tried just about everything! She couldn't do it all, but she gave it all her best and she seemed to have fun the whole time. I'm just so impressed that she participated in all of it, so happy. Honestly, that matters so much more than what she actually did.

Sorry, these pictures are a little terrible (and I tossed the really bad ones!), but everything was pretty far away, so they were all dark and needing a lot of cropping! That's why they are so bad, but maybe I'll get some better ones in the future.

Swimming Update

2012-01-11T21:11:00.000-08:00

I know you are probably tired of me talking about Hayden and swimming, but it's still one of my favorite things she does. Lately, she's doing three new things, one of which I don't have a picture of.

1) Hayden is diving in! First she learned it from a kneeling position, but even then, I can't believe she was willing to go in head first.

About a week later, Rebecca had her standing to dive in!! It's really a dive straight down, but it's certainly head first and with her arms at her ears. Video of it later.

2) A couple times, Hayden has used the kick board to focus on her kicking, which is getting better bit by bit. In my opinion, Hayden could use more of this.

3) Today, Hayden learned a little backstroke, including pushing off the wall in a backwards position (so she goes onto her back). Her arms are still moving a little backwards, but it was really the first time she had done it. Practice, practice! (Sorry, no pic.)

Working

2012-01-08T22:42:00.000-08:00

Not much news from this weekend, but I've had these pictures forever and wanted to finally post them. They are of Hayden, playing "work." I know I posted a few before, but don't these look more realistic? You may recognize the set up from the video I posted awhile ago - same day! I love how she moves her fingers like there is a keyboard.

Follow-up Christmas Photos

2012-01-06T20:23:00.000-08:00

My step-sister Erin is a budding photographer and she took some great family photos over Christmas at my Dads. Thought I'd share before they got even more out of date.

We Don't Like Ellie P.

2012-01-05T22:57:00.000-08:00

Today Hayden went to preschool and when she came home, she told us a disturbing story. There is a kid in her class, Ellie P., who apparently put sand in Hayden's eyes and her mouth, even after Hayden asked her to stop. Hayden said she started crying, and then a teacher came to pick her up and get her some water to wash out her mouth. She recalled this situation very clearly and could tell us lots of details, so I'm inclined to believe it.

This is upsetting on a variety of levels. One is that another kid is deliberately being mean to Hayden - that's problem one. The second is that Hayden wasn't successful in defending herself, whether that was telling the teacher, leaving the situation, asking for help or even pushing Ellie P. away. The third is that I can't really figure out how the sand was able to get in her eyes/mouth, but Hayden must have let Ellie P. do it somehow, because she also said Ellie P. didn't just throw the sand.

Needless to say, we are upset, but Sean is particularly angry about it. He has had a bit of experience with bullying and can't help but imagine the road he fears Hayden is beginning. He's adamant that she learn how to stick up for herself, and I agree. So this evening, he did a little role playing with Hayden to help her remember what to do if someone is mean to her again. It included loudly asking them to stop, telling the teacher and if needed, pushing them away from her. She was laughing and giggling the whole time, so it's hard to be intimidated when she looks so cute.

I know we could be overreacting, but she's IS our only kid...

New Years On The Beach

2012-01-03T21:46:00.000-08:00

We spent New Years Day at the beach. It was supposed to be amazingly warm, but was actually a little chilly. We went anyway though, since going to the beach in the winter is sort of a tradition.

Hayden collected rocks, like she always does, but this time she really wanted to make a sand castle too. And by that, apparently, she meant that Sean should make them and she should smash them down.

We also took over playing in a big hole, which Hayden had fun getting "stuck" in and jumping over with Sean's help. That's also where they got the wet sand for the sand castles.

We ended the afternoon with a little relaxation and lunch, although honestly, I think Hayden could have stayed much longer.

Ice Skating Again

2011-12-31T11:27:00.000-08:00

Becky, Sean and I took Hayden ice skating today. Overall, it was pretty successful and we skated for well over an hour. Hayden only wanted to take a couple breaks and once, when I asked if she wanted one, she said no, that she wanted to keep skating!

Before we left though, I wasn't sure how hard she'd try. (Trying has NOT been her strong suit lately.) I showed her pictures from last year, when she went for the first time, but she didn't remember. I recall that we held her up most of the time, though by the end, she was supporting her own weight at least some of the time. Well, the first ten minutes today were just like that. Becky and I pretty much held up all of her weight around the rink. And she also refused to try harder to do it right.

Then we took a break and after that, she was a million times better. She really started trying to hold her own weight, taking little baby steps and then just letting us catch her when she slipped. She even seemed to enjoy herself and it was definitely much easier on the arms.

We also had a lot of success supporting her one at a time. It was slower that way, but it would also force Hayden to support more of her own weight.

By the end, she even did a tiny bit of time holding only one hand! The most important part is that she said she had fun, so maybe we'll have good memories for next year.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

For actual Christmas this year, we went to my Dad's house. Hayden played with my step-sister's kids, Max and Maverick, we all ate great food and Hayden got a very special gift from Santa (whom we emailed to tell him we'd be at Papa's house).

Hayden did great on the plane ride. She got a little bored, but otherwise, she had fun.

This was part of Santa's gift for Hayden - all Little Mermaid stuff. She liked the Ariel doll and the Ariel water cup (not shown), but her real favorite was that seashell necklace because it also plays Ariel's voice when you push the button. (It was actually really, really, really hard to find, but thanks to Gaby, I was able to get it for her.)

She got to play with Max and Maverick a bit before we did Christmas. This is a park near Papa and Zizi's house. It was a bit cold, but sunny too.

Taking a break to have a snack with Max.

There were several little hills at this park, and boys being boys, Max and Mav thought it was fun to climb up and then roll down. They wanted Hayden to do it too, but she wouldn't. Instead, she would climb up and scoot down on her butt.

They had this fabulous climbing structure that you can spin, get inside and climb up. Hayden didn't do any climbing, but she was ok sitting in the middle of it while it was spinning and also helped spin it a little bit too.

This isn't a great pic, but I loved her Christmas outfit and none of the other pictures came out either. I just want to remember it later. Hayden actually loves the skirt because she says it makes her feel like a ballerina and she can spin in it.

Getting ready to open all the gifts.

Another of Hayden's favorite gifts was a Little Mermaid book, which Papa is reading to her.

Sunday Christmas Service at Papa's church. I'm not sure if it's because she saw Papa on stage (and Uncle Brian too), but she wasn't shy at all about walking up to the stage and checking things out. She also helped out during the service by placing two nativity scene figures onto a mantel. She wasn't scared to do that in front of a whole room of people either!

Hayden got a LeapPad for Christmas and though she's a little young for parts of it, others are clearly a big hit. It's her own tablet, that we can load up with learning games, books and more. Right now her favorite is a digital pet that lives in the LeapPad that she can feed, wash and play with.

Family Christmas Day

2011-12-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

Hmm, I think this was our fourth early Christmas, which was just with our little family last Friday before we left on our Christmas trip. It was a fun one because we did stockings and all the presents we had gotten in the mail.

Sean and I were both off, so earlier that day, we made a gingerbread Christmas tree! It was messy, but fun. Maybe we'll try a gingerbread house next year.

This was our gingerbread house this year - featuring all kids of foam stickers. Another Christmas project we did that day.

When it came time to open gifts, we started with the stockings. Hayden had been talking about wands, so I got this one out of the dollar bin at Target, and wouldn't you know, it was one of her very favorite presents. Sean hates it of course, but it honestly could be so much more "princess-y" so this didn't seem so bad in comparison.

Hayden is loving The Little Mermaid movie right now and so she also loved this little Ariel doll. I was surprised, but her favorite things to do with it is to change Ariel from a mermaid to a human and back. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to do, so it requires our help every time.

I got Hayden her first necklace this year. It's a penguin pendant that also came in this cute penguin box. Hayden seems to like it, though she only wants to wear it for finite periods of time. It's okay though, I knew it might be a little much for her right now.

One of our favorite pictures from this year. We honestly had a lot of lighting issues with taking pictures in front of the tree, but we got it right for this one!

One of the gifts Hayden wanted to play with right away - a drawing book! I certainly hope she develops more skill in that area than either Sean or I have.

Sean has taught Hayden to say is that she is going to Stanford for college. (Yes, we're shoveling money into a college fund for it!) Doesn't she look great in this shirt? I love it.

Family Pictures - Dec 2011

2011-12-21T20:30:00.000-08:00

About a year and a half ago, when Hayden was almost two, we had some pictures done. They turned out pretty good, so I decided to do it again, now that Hayden is almost three and a half. Below are the best ones. I don't like them quite as much as the first ones, but it's still nice to have them. And Hayden tried pretty hard to smile nice throughout the whole thing, for which she got ice cream afterwards. (And by the way, they are all real, no backdrops of any kind. Just the beach and grass at La Jolla Cove.)

First and Second Christmas

2011-12-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

Each year, we have more than one Christmas so that we can celebrate individually with different friends and family. This weekend was the start: first with a Christmas with my mom's larger family in Irvine and next with my mom, step-dad and brother. I was actually surprised Hayden wasn't more excited, at least, not until it was actuality time to open presents. She got lots of fun things, which I'm sure you'll see in the coming weeks. Until there, here are some fun Christmas pictures - the start of many, I'm sure.

Toys For Tots

2011-12-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that Sean has a lot of Marines in his family, and as a result, the Toys For Tots campaign is always close to his heart. We didn't get it together in time last year, but this year, we were determined for Hayden to participate. She obviously doesn't know a lot about the mission, but Sean told her that when Santa doesn't know where kids live, the Marines bring presents instead.

So a few weekends ago, Sean took Hayden to the toy store where she picked out two toys to donate. One was a stuffed dog and the other was a Melissa and Doug ice cream set. Never once did she misunderstand and think the gifts were for her.

This morning, instead of dropping the toys off at a random location, Sean used his connections to arrange for an in-person drop off at the Oceanside Recruiting Station. Hayden was a little shy of course, but these Marines really did the Corps proud. They dressed in uniform, showed off pictures of their own kids and knelt to take a picture - all for Hayden.

We're planning to do this every year in an effort to teach Hayden that Christmas is as much about giving as it is getting. She's probably a little young to truly grasp the concept right now, but we figure it's a good tradition to start.

Elf On The Shelf

2011-12-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

You have probably heard of the Elf On The Shelf. It's a toy elf that comes with a book explaining how he watches little kids and then flies back to the North Pole at night, telling Santa if they are being good or bad. (Just a tad creepy, huh?) Every night, you move him to a different place in the house and the kids get to try to find him everyday when they get up. I had heard stories of it being used very successfully, so when Papa offered to send one, we took him up on it.

Honestly, I wasn't sure it would make much of a difference since Hayden is a pretty good kid. She is getting more rebellious though and now, often says "no" to things we ask her to do. When that happens, we bring up the fact that the elf is watching and more often than not, Hayden follows up her "no" by saying "Yes! I was just teasing/kidding."She actually does that now without us bringing up the elf.

I'd rather she just do what we ask to begin with of course, but it does seem that the elf is helping. And she does enjoy trying to find him in the morning. This was her favorite spot so far - in her stocking, hung by the fire.

New Nanny - Welcome Gaby!

2011-12-09T20:20:00.001-08:00

Over the last few weeks, we've had to find a new nanny. (Brittany had a work opportunity that she decided to take advantage of, but she gave us a ton of notice and helped train too!) You never know how that process is going to be, but it was pretty good this time around. And the best part is that we found someone we love - Gaby. Most importantly, Hayden seems to love her too.

It was Gaby's first week this week, and I was even gone for most of it, but Hayden seemed to have a lot of fun and was ready to play with Gaby from day one. Of course, we prepped her that she'd have a new nanny, but the transition was so much easier than I hoped.

The cutest story from this week that when Gaby gave Hayden a bath and she asked Hayden if we usually dry her hair, Hayden said yes. Gaby had no reason not to believe her, but as soon as she turned on the hair dryer, it was clear that Hayden had never had it done before. She loved it though and requested it again today!

They also made me a really adorable art project while I was gone, that had something like 35 hearts that represented how much Hayden loves me. Hayden mentioned this to me - twice! And it's pretty, to boot.

December Nights At Balboa Park

2011-12-04T13:35:00.001-08:00

This year, like last year, we attended December Nights at Balboa Park. It's a yearly, Christmas, outdoors event held in the park that apparently, hundreds of thousands of people attend. There is a ton of food, lots of trees and light displays to look at, and my favorite, carol singers/choir groups that perform in the amphitheater. It's a really beautiful setting and we usually get dinner there, then sit and listen to the signers while having hot chocolate and cookies.

It was more crowded this year, it seemed, as there were just more people, more lines and less room overall. It was still fun though. Hayden said her favorite part was the signers, which was also her favorite last year. It was busy there too, but we eventually got seats in the front row of one of the sections, so Hayden had more room and was dancing to the music. It was fun to see and I was delighted that she felt comfortable enough to do that. She was happy and maybe even a bit hyper, probably from the cookies.

October-November Video

2011-12-02T23:38:00.001-08:00

Here is a new video, which covers:
-A bit of Hayden's soccer class
-Some Halloween footage
-A pretty long phone conversation with Sammy the dog
-Hayden "working"
-Hayden jumping in the pool (I know it's sort of a repeat, but it's my favorite thing right now!)
-Hayden playing at Thanksgiving, once by herself and once with Avery (also three)

The whole thing is about 3 mins. Hope you like it!

Advent Calendar

2011-12-01T21:46:00.001-08:00

This year I decided to get Hayden an advent calendar, a nice one that she could use for years to come. I thought it would be a fun, visual way to count down to Christmas.

At first, being a big fan of all things candy, I was going to get one that you fill with treats. At the last min, the one I was going to get was sold out and so I got this one instead, thinking we could do ornaments and treats. I mentioned that to Hayden and of course she was excited about the treats, but unfortunately, the little boxes are too small for treats. Hayden was initially bummed, but I'm thrilled that today, when we did our first ornament, she was pretty excited about it and didn't even ask about treats! She even proactively mentioned getting to do it again tomorrow.

California Weather

2011-11-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

I have to brag just a little, that thanks to the wonderful California weather, the same weekend that Hayden decorated our Christmas tree, she also played in the water outside. It does feel a little wrong, that it's so warm at the moment, but I'd rather just enjoy it for the short time it's here.

Christmas Trimming

2011-11-27T21:34:00.001-08:00

This weekend, after celebrating Thanksgiving, we put up the Christmas tree and all the other house decorations. First up was the mini, blue tree that we picked out for Hayden's room. She was actually pretty exited about it and hung all the ornaments/placed the purple star. She now says she wants lights on it (like the big one), but maybe we'll save that for newt year.

Of course, Hayden helped set up the bigger tree too. She liked the breads, just like last year, and Sean helped her put them up. She also liked looking through, and hanging up, all the ornaments she's been given, including the ones Sean gets for her each year. (The first year it was Very Hungry Caterpillar book, the second year it was a puppy jumping through a wreath, then last year it was Curious George sitting on a pile of books while reading one of them.)

We did most of it during the day/before Hayden's nap, but then we did a big reveal, with the lights and all, when it was dark.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T23:13:00.001-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we celebrated with the Counselmans - they are very close family friends of Sean's and they have a daughter/granddaughter who is only four months older than Hayden. Her name is Avery and we thought it would be fun for Hayden to play with her. (Plus, we hadn't done a holiday with them for something like five years.) There were some hiccups though, partly because Hayden isn't used to having to stand up for herself with other kids and partly because Avery can be just a bit bossy. In general, though, it was interesting to see them interact because they are pretty different.

For example, one of the first things Avery wanted to do with Hayden, was play dress up. Hayden had never really played that before, but was game to try it, twice actually. The funny thing was that after she got the dresses on (with my help), she didn't know what to do or why it was fun to be dressed up. (I'm oddly, sorta proud about that.) Avery also helped Hayden put on "lipstick" (lip gloss), which Hayden seemed fine with, but not overly thrilled. (Again, proud.)

They did have a free gum ball machine, which Hayden tried and she actually sorta got the concept of gum this time. She didn't swallow any of it, I don't think. And apparently, it was a hit, because she proactively mentioned that she liked it today. (That's my girl!)

Recent Quotes

2011-11-23T21:31:00.001-08:00

I keep a post-it on the fridge so that we can quickly and easily write down Hayden's best quotes - otherwise we forget. Here are the best ones over the last several months. (I don't think there are repeats from my earlier post, but I apologize in advance if there are.)

"You can't kiss me forever Dad!"

I come downstairs from working all day: "I'm done working!" Hayden: "I'm not done yet. Hold on. I have to make one more phone call."

To Sean: "Do you have your keys, your wallet and your phone?"

Jumping on tramp: "This is my high jump. I seem to reach to the sky. I guess I learned to jump high."

Puts two animals in a box: "They are staying in there till they are married."

"When I'm 22, I'll stop whining."

"I can do it by myself...I know how - I'm three years old!"

"It's complicated."

"Now that they kissed, they are married!"

"When Mom wants to go, she presses the gas petal really hard."

Books

2011-11-18T20:43:00.001-08:00

Just a couple pictures and a reminder that Hayden is still super into books. And is still going to the library for story time on Mondays. Sometimes, she actually wants to read books instead of watching 30-mins of a movie before bed!

Food

2011-11-13T20:30:00.001-08:00

I realize this isn't the most exciting post, but years later, when I've forgotten everything, I'd like to remember what Hayden ate at this age. Honestly, it's mostly raw and pretty healthy at this point. The pic is a collage of some of her recent dinners. Always raw fruits and vegetables (except broccoli, which is cooked and usually with cheese), which make up the majority of her meals. She likes bell pepper and cucumbers the best, but will also eat carrots, snap peas and occasionally, cauliflower and tomatoes. As expected, she likes most fruit, but especially grapes, oranges, berries and pears.

Then she has some protein, either chicken, turkey hot dogs and/or nuts. I'm thrilled that she likes almost all nuts, but especially pistachios, hazel nuts and cashews. She also dips walnuts in peanut butter! Like her mom, she loves cheese and sometimes likes yogurt. Oddly, she doesn't like potatoes of any kind, but does like crackers, bread and rice. She gets crackers for snack at preschool, or as bribes to eat to eat other things, so they aren't usually on her plate to start off with.

Oh, and she loves peanut butter, which she has for breakfast every morning (either with dry bread or in a peanut butter/honey sandwich). That and fruit of course. She does love dessert, also like her mom, and I do let her have some after she eats her other food. Ice cream is a big hit, as are cookies and candy. Actually, there isn't much dessert she doesn't like. :)

Regarding the other pictures: In Julian, we found this "candy basement," which Hayden was scared of at first, but then loved once she figured out what it was and how many different kinds of candy there was down there. It was fun for us both.

Short Swimming Video

2011-11-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

I don't really have a good update as I was gone earlier this week, BUT Brittany shot this video of Hayden in swimming today. She jumps in and then turns around and swims back to the wall ALL BY HERSELF!! I'm so proud of her and it's awesome that she'll know what to do if she ever falls into a pool!

(Sorry, the rotation to portrait makes it pretty small.)

Sleeping Update

2011-11-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

Time for a sleeping update I figure. It's about 50/50 these days, as to whether Hayden wakes us up in the middle of the night or not. When she does wake up, it's generally not more urgent than normal and is usually about something stupid, like getting a drink of water or blowing her nose. She had been asking to keep one of the lights on, so I did get her a nightlight (a Tinkerbell one) and that seems to have helped with some of the fear of the dark that seemed to be developing.

Her next sticker chart will be based on earning a reward, rather than just based on getting stickers for each day. I hope that will help and I hope this is just a phase but we'll see. It wouldn't get better if we moved her to a twin bed, right? (Since she's still in a crib.) If you think it would, let me know!!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

Get ready for a many-pictured post: First, pictures from the weekend, when the warm California weather let us both carve pumpkins and run in the sprinklers, on the same day. We got two pumpkins at the pumpkin patch the other day. One was for Hayden's Mr. Potato Head witch. We didn't have to clean it out, but we did need to poke holes for the pieces, which I started and Hayden finished.

She also helped Sean clean out the pumpkin we carved. (She actually asked to do it!) A couple scoops though and she was done.

After she got bored with pumpkin stuff, it was plenty warn enough for her to play with her sink and run in her sprinkler.

Now on to today - Halloween. You probably don't recall, but last year, Hayden got pretty scared of all the people dressed up. She wouldn't answer the door with me, she didn't want to wear her costume and we had to force her to try three houses before she was totally done.

This year, she did great! I picked a costume where she would wear a lot of her own clothes and we talked up the pretend/dressed-up angle for weeks. Apparently it worked because tonight, she answered the door with me, gave out candy and went trick-or-treating to about a dozen houses. It didn't seem like she was scared at all! (Doesn't she look so big in the pictures below?? It's a little sad, but I'm so proud too.)

Halloween Cookies

2011-10-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

Since Halloween is Monday, we're waiting until tomorrow to crave our pumpkins. Instead, today, we made Halloween cookies! I know some of these aren't the most original pictures, since we do make cookies on a regular basis, but it's still what we did today.

Hayden wanted to help a lot with rolling the cookies out, including doing it by herself. We made a bit of a mess, but she did well. For frosting, she decided on white for ghosts, orange for cats and brown for bats (which was not easy to mix, I promise you). She loved doing the sprinkles of course and liked eating them even more. She was really happy to help with the cleaning up though, cause it meant she got to "play" in the sink.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

Last year we failed, miserable, at taking Hayden to a pumpkin patch. (We took her to a totally lame one and THEN she got sick later that day.) So this year, I wanted to make the effort to take her to the best one I knew of - Bates Nut Farm.

They actually have a pumpkin patch there, where pumpkins actually grow, plus a straw maze, pony rides, and tons of other stands, things to purchase and blow up rides.

Of course, they also had a great selection of pumpkins.

We got there at 11am, but it was already really crowded. And really hot - as in, 90 degrees in the sun. So we skipped the food, random booths selling things and the pony rides. We did do the straw maze, partly because I've never done one before. We mostly had Hayden direct us, until it started getting way too hot and then we helped. I think she had fun.

Sleep Troubles

2011-10-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

First off, the bad news - for three night now, Hayden has been waking up crying. Tuesday night was typical upset level, Wednesday night was really bad with her screaming at the top of her lungs (apparently, I wasn't here) and then last night was more whiny than really upset. In general, she goes back to sleep pretty quickly and honestly doesn't seem to be upset about anything serious or even anything in particular. I wish we knew what it was all about. She has been asking to keep the bathroom light on, so there is a little light going into her cracked door, but she hasn't been saying that she's scared of the dark or anything. Nothing about bad dreams either. Here's hoping it doesn't happen tonight.

As for the pictures - yes, Hayden is still in a crib, though just barely! As you can see, she's getting pretty big for that toddler size mattress, so we've told her that when she turns four, she gets a big girl bed (twin). Assuming she'll fit until then of course. It's kind of amazing that she'll stay in there - you can see that she's easily big enough to climb out, but she hasn't tried it even once. She still sleeps with that baby, Collins, who she got for her first Christmas. Each night, she also picks another stuffed animal to sleep with.

(Sorry for the two yellowish images - I took some without flash, which ended up being ones I wanted to use!)

Apple Picking in Julian

2011-10-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

This year Becky, Steve, Hayden and I went to Julian for apple season, apple pie and to pick apples from some of the orchards. It's quite a drive - over an hour - but it was actually a pretty fun day.

We started out walking through the town - having lunch. I have to say, we got there just before noon and there were a TON of people there. We had to drive down several streets to find parking and many of the country-style lunch places had a wait for lunch. Eventually, we did find a decently good place.

After lunch, we waited an amazing 20 mins for a slice of pie (and we picked the shortest line we could find). I have to say, it was really good though. I got a pie crust cookie for Hayden and she had some of my caramel dutch apple pie with ice cream too. She was a happy camper and maybe just a bit hyper, but also pretty affectionate with Becky and Steve, which was nice.

After lunch and dessert, we walked through several stores before leaving to go somewhere we could actually pick apples. Apparently, the apple season was pretty short this year, so some of the orchards were closed, but we found one that still had apples on the trees.

At this point, all the apples that were left were pretty high up on the tree,

so Hayden needed some help to get them.

They were little, but really good! We'll have to do it again next year.

Fun with Grandma Barb and Grandpa Ken

2011-10-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

The last few days Hayden has been hanging out with Grandma Barb and Grandpa Ken, doing all sorts of fun things. On Monday, she went to Legoland where she rode on all the rides and looked at all the Lego animals, people and cities. We've been before, but weren't able to go on any of the rides, so I'm sure she loved that. She even did a car ride where she drove by herself - pushing the gas petal AND steering. (She was pretty successful, for a three year old.) Fun day for Hayden - thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Then on Wednesday, it was 90 degrees, so they took Hayden to the beach! Specifically, Midnight Beach in Encinitas, which also has a shaded playground in addition to the sand and the surf. She really didn't want to go in the water though. Apparently, our Mexico trip has worn off completely. She did get sand in her eye, poor girl. My mom got it out, but I still felt bad for the her.

I'm off tomorrow, so I get to take Hayden to soccer and swimming. Yay!

Beach Sunset

2011-10-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

The weather was really nice and clear, so we took Hayden to see the sunset on the beach a few days ago. Of course, the light was perfect, so we had to take a few pictures.

It was kinda funny - at first Hayden really didn't want to go. She kept saying that she didn't want the waves to get her. We assured her that we wouldn't go near the water and would only walk around collecting rocks. (She loved that.) She actually didn't want to watch much of the sunset and wanted to do the rock thing the whole time instead. She had a lot of fun in the end, and I think we need to take advantage of being in San Diego and go much more often.

Swimming - Level 3!

2011-10-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

I'm SO proud of everything Hayden has learned in swimming. She is doing so much by herself, things that she would never, in a million years, do with me. Last Friday was her first level three class, same teacher of course, but she basically did a combination of "swimming" and back floating across the short side of the pool. Even to the opposite wall. She still doesn't use her arms hardly at all, but as you can see in the pictures, her teacher barely helped.

Her teacher also did some new things with her, which Hayden has brought up several times since. One was an arm position called streamline, where she squeezes her ears. She did that while kicking on her back and while swimming underwater going forward too.

She doesn't always love it when the class is happening, especially when she's the only one because she has to work so much harder, but she seems happy afterwards and I'm delighted that she's learning so much.

Friday Activities - Part One

2011-10-07T23:20:00.000-07:00

I've been a little short on pics lately, so I decided to post about Hayden's Friday activities. Now, these aren't pics of Hayden's real soccer class, but of us playing outside in the back yard a weekend or two ago. I haven't been able to go in a few weeks, but apparently, Hayden is doing great in her class. She is participating in everything and it was easy to see dribbling progress when we played in the backyard. She does like to use her hands, as well as her feet, but hey - maybe she'll be a goalie. I'm off next Friday, so I'll get to take her to soccer next week! Then I can decide if she should do another session or not.

Swimming pictures (from today) coming in a day or two.

Fall Video 2011

2011-10-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a current video of Hayden - just under five mins. The swimming part is kinda loud, sorry.

It includes:
1) Short clip of Hayden making up a song
2) Part of a "Duck Duck Goose"game
3) Outdoor hopscotch
4) Jumping on the trampoline
5) Balance bike
6) Soccer in the back yard
7) Swimming lesson (she got moved up to "level 3" last week - not totally sure what that involves, but I'm very proud!)
8) Learning states with Dad

Movie Day

2011-10-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

Today Hayden and I went to go see our second movie - The Lion King in 3D. She first learned about the main character, Simba, in the Disneyland parade. Not long after, I found the book in the dollar bin at Target, so she learned more about the other characters and story line. When I found out that it was coming back to the theaters, I thought it would be a perfect follow-up to our first movie together.

Hayden was excited, though not so sure about the glasses, even though she has worn them before. In the end, she was fine with them, and happy to be getting the popcorn of course. She was a little louder this time during the film, but mostly because she was excited to see the animals and all the characters she read about in the book. This movie was a little longer than the first one, so when it was almost finished, she said she was done and we went ahead and left a little early. She said she enjoyed herself though, so I was happy about that.

Making Music

2011-09-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Papa and Zizi came to visit this past weekend and we had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, Hayden was a little sick, but she was a trooper all weekend and hung in there pretty good with our "late" schedule for the day. On Saturday we went to an art festival in Carlsbad, which was fun, but one of the booths held people talking about the Museum of Making Music, which was just around the corner. They gave us some free tickets to get in, so we did.

Some of the exhibits were to view only, which was a little hard (and boring) for Hayden, but all the displays had buttons she could push that either played music or played the sound of particular kind of instrument. Occasionally, they also had instruments that people could try, so Hayden did almost all of those. It's hard to say which she liked the best, because she liked to try almost all of them.

Little Cold

2011-09-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

My Dad and Pat came to visit this weekend, but before I post pictures of their visit, I wanted to share that, unfortunately and unsurprisingly, Hayden has her second cold since starting pre-school three weeks ago. The other one was more of a head cold, this one is more of a stuffy cold. Thus far, Sean and I haven't gotten either one - we're trying to be very careful, so I hope it stays that way!

Perhaps this is too much information, but Hayden is sorta getting the hang of blowing her nose. She doesn't quite do it hard enough, but it's still better than nothing. It does mean that I wash my hands about 30 times a day, but it'll be worth it if I escape without getting the cold.

Blocks

2011-09-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

No news really, just wanted to update the blog with a few pictures of Hayden playing with her blocks. She usually has the adult playing with her make a house that she can put the little girl into. Sometimes, she also makes a car for the little girl to ride in and block "animals" to be her friends! Apparently, she needs the little girl to have fun with it. :) Next step - getting Hayden to help build the house, or even do it on her own!

Trying Out Soccer

2011-09-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

You may think I'm crazy, putting Hayden in yet another sport, but I just want her to try a lot of things to see what she might like and which one she'd like to keep up. (Swimming lessons are the exception - she has to do those, at least till she learns how to swim.) This last week, she tried soccer.

Now, Hayden has kicked a soccer ball around before and knows that you use your feet, but this was her first official class. (Without parent/nanny involvement of course.) Each kid had a tiny, cute, little ball to dribble around from corner to corner in a small area on the field. At first Hayden did her typical timid thing and didn't really want to try anything - preferring to watch what was going on. Eventually though, she did try everything out, in a very controlled way of course. She was a bit slower than the other kids, but it WAS her first class and I think she'll get much more used to it in the coming weeks.

I have to say, that she's proactively mentioned ballet class at least three or four times since it ended and says that she'd like to go back. It's a bit ironic, because I mostly just put her in that so she was doing something active, but didn't really expect her to like it. And honestly, I am not sure I want her to do it, but we'll see what happens with soccer. I always said that I didn't care which sport she liked, just that she did one...

Dr. Hayden Donahue

2011-09-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

If you've been around when Sean asks Hayden what she's gonna be when she grows up, she'll say that she's going to be a doctor - an eye doctor to be precise. (And by the way, apparently she's going to Stanford, which Sean prepped her to say and which I'm tasking him with figuring out how to pay for.)

She got a doctor's set for her third birthday so that she can practice. This is her giving her wocket a full check-up. If she ever does this to you, she'll probably give you a multitude of shots and think that makes you better.

First Dentist Appointment

2011-09-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Now that Hayden is three, the doctor said it was time for her first dentist appointment. I thought our dentist would be good with kids and indeed he was!

We had been talking it up for quite awhile, so Hayden didn't seem scared or nervous or anything. I suggested she take a stuffed animal and the staff at the dentist made the whole thing fun for her. We didn't wait long, they let her pick a toothbrush right away and talked up the toy chest if she did a good job. Once the dentist arrived, he said was very kid-friendly, counted her teeth (she has 20) and scratched plaque for only about 30 seconds. Then she was done - he said she did great and told her to pick two toys from the chest. (Which was was thrilled about.) Apparently this early appointment is just to get her used to the whole idea of going and not being scared of it.

I did ask about the thumb-sucking and also about the teeth grinding she's been doing recently (while awake!). He basically said there was nothing we could do about either, so I'll try not to worry about it.

Black Out!

2011-09-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

You might have heard on the news that San Diego had a major black-out yesterday. It went from south of LA into Mexico, and into parts of Arizona and New Mexico, affecting some 3 million people. I was at home when it happened, Sean was in LA and Hayden was at pre-school. Before too long my laptop died and I was forced to quit working and go pick up Hayden.

It wasn't the end of the world of course, more of an inconvenience as we ate dinner by camping lantern and tea lights. We also had to skip out on some of our evening rituals, like watching a movie, taking a bath and opening the fridge.

It was a little weird - things being so quiet and dark. Hayden actually had trouble going to sleep. Not sure if it was the weirdness or because she was getting sick, but after several false starts and some time hanging out with me in my room, she finally did rack out.

She's still sick, just a little cold, so we've been loading up on the Tylenol and taking it easy.

First Pre-school Day Report

2011-09-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here is what I know for sure about Hayden's first day of pre-school:
-She survived.
-When I called the office in the middle of the day, they said she was fine and having fun.
-She was in a good mood when I picked her up.
-She did NOT eat any protein for lunch - including her chicken and her hazelnuts.
-She DID eat cheese, grapes and about half of her veggies. Plus the crackers they gave her for snack.

The teacher was gone when I picked Hayden up around 6pm. (I guess this makes sense because she probably starts early, but it was still a bit of a surprise.) There was someone else with Hayden of course (who was the last kid to be picked up) but I never got any sort of report about what she did during the day or how she did.

Hayden isn't great about telling stories or giving details yet, so here is what she told me of her day:
-She had fun.
-There was another girl there, also wearing orange, and the teacher called them twins.
-No boys pushed her down or took her lunch.
-It was hot at preschool (it was in the 90s today).
-She didn't nap because there was a boy there who was crying for his mom. She did still lay down.

I guess that means it went decently well. I knew Hayden would do great - it's harder on Sean and I honestly. I couldn't wait to go get her all day!

I can get over the protein thing, but I hope she naps next time.

Starting Preschool Tomorrow

2011-09-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've almost been looking forward to Hayden going to preschool - mostly because I'm thinking she'll really like it, plus it'll be good for her to socialize with other kids on a more regular basis. It's also a sign of her growing up, which is such a joy to see. Today though - the last day before Hayden starts preschool - I'm a bit depressed about her going and want nothing more than to keep her at home with me (and Sean) forever. I'm now dreading the sign that she's getting bigger and older.

Sean has always hated the idea of it, even if he knows that it's necessary, especially for an only child, for her social skills development. Of course, we hope she learns all the academic stuff, but we also hope she learns how to stand up for herself a little better. As well as what it means to share consistantly and how to cope with a bit of chaos.

In the picture, in preparation for preschool, Sean is showing Hayden how to widen her stance so that she doesn't get pushed over so easily. He's kind of serious about it too, as he is genuinely concerned about the other kids pushing her around - literally and figuratively. It feels a bit like we're throwing her into the pool and asking her to figure out how to swim. We really want to be there to protect her all the time!

It's only two days a week this year, so it's also a slow warm up for going to kindergarden every day. Not sure if that is mostly for her or for us, but I think it's a good idea either way.

More Hayden and Rylee Pics

2011-09-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Just a few. These are a couple extra pictures from Uncle Ryan's camera that I wanted to post.

Hayden showing Rylee how to do bubbles in the backyard.

At the zoo!

Uncle Ryan's pic of me and Hayden doing the cars at Disneyland - much better than mine. Hayden "drove," but imagine how someone plays with the steering wheel and yep, that how she actually drove.

Last ride of the day - at least for us. It was the Monorail and Hayden was eating and actually saying she was tired. It was about 7pm with no nap!

Hayden adamantly refused to sit in the fire engine with Rylee. She did pose for a little picture though. Sorta.

Disneyland!

2011-09-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was kind of a big day for Hayden - it was the first time she went to Disneyland! I really wasn't sure what to expect because we don't watch Disney movies that often and she really didn't know many of the characters other than Mickey and Minnie. I also wasn't sure how she'd do on some of the rides - whether she'd be scared or not. But she did really great!!

We started off the day in the Finding Nemo, submarine ride. It was a good test because that was one movie she knew and because that ride was a bit of a stretch for her, given that it was dark, and in an enclosed space, with just a little scary part (same as the movie she's seen). We kept telling her how it was all pretend and tried to focus on how fun it all was. She was a little uncomfortable, but managed it without crying or getting too scared, and afterwards, she said she had fun. (And now says it's her fav!) From there we did about 15 other rides and she did great on all of them. She was even just tall enough to go on Star Tours, and she did well on that, plus Pirates of the Caribbean. We just kept talking about how it was all pretend and that seemed to help a lot.

One of the things we said was real, was seeing/meeting, Mickey and Minnie. We actually waited in line to see both and went through both of their houses. Mickey was first and Hayden was a little scared of him. She would only give him a high-five if I was with her and she really wouldn't go too close to him. For Minnie though, Hayden did SO much better. I think Mickey sorta warmed her up, so when we got to Minnie, Hayden gave her a hug, a high-five and even posed for a picture (Which is my fav from our trip.)

(Minnie's house - her bed. Comfy, huh?)

We also happened to see the parade, which Hayden really loved. It was all the traditional Disney characters, plus the princesses and even the characters from the Lion King. Even for the 70% of characters that Hayden didn't know, she was super excited to see them and waved excitedly at everyone.

Overall, she did really well. Since we had no place for her to nap, I expected to just keep going until she got really cranky or really quiet, then leave to drive the hour home. That actually never happened! She was extremely good and happy all day, so finally, at 7:30pm I decided we had to leave and get home. She was fine with that of course and got a stuffed baby Bambi as her reward for being so good.

Kudos to Peggy, Ryan and Liz for being so patient and so willing to go on little kid rides, like Dumbo, Peter Pan and even the tea cups. (For those of you wondering, Sean had to work, but he isn't the biggest fan of crowds, so it was fine he couldn't come.)

Hayden and Cousin Rylee

2011-08-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

This last week we've had the pleasure of lots of great company - Sean's Mom, Brother, Sister-in-law and Niece, Rylee. Sean and I both had to work, but we had lots of dinners together, and Hayden and Rylee got to play with each other a ton. We have plenty of toys and things to do, but it was interesting to have a 17-month-old in the house again. Especially a curious, active one, which Hayden never was. She is also on the very tall side for her age and Rylee is on her very short side, so they are almost perfect opposites!

It's been a cool summer so far, but was a hot weekend, so we spent a lot of time outside. Hayden and Rylee played in the sink and in the sprinkler, and with chalk, the tricycle and with the T-ball set. Hayden enjoyed helping her little cousin do things and telling her not to do things, even if Rylee didn't always listen. They both had a ton of fun, and I think Grandma Peggy did too.

Expanded Dollhouse

2011-08-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hayden still loves her dollhouse, only now, it's not just for the dolls - it's used by at least 20 other animals, characters and "people". They do all kinds of things, but mainly eat, sleep, bathe, use the bathroom and use the outdoor slide/swings. Mostly very practical activities with a park visit thrown in here and there. The little animals are actually nice because Hayden can pick one to go with us to run errands and I simply put it in my purse when she's tired of carrying it. Some from visiting places like the zoo, others are Littlest Pet Shop brand - she honestly doesn't seem to care either way!

Playing Office

2011-08-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

Hayden has decided to "play office" a few times over the last few weeks. She gets out her computer, and an old phone of mine, and makes herself a desk. It's really cute. And when I come downstairs from work at the end of the day, she'll say "I need to make one more phone call, OK Mom?"

I also noticed the other day, when she was talking about checking her email, she was talking about doing it on her phone. Both Sean and I do that, and I just thought it was interesting that her first thought about checking email was to do it on the phone, rather than on the computer.

Zoo Day

2011-08-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

Sean was gone all weekend, so my mom came to watch and play with Hayden. We hadn't been the zoo for quite awhile, so that's what we did on Saturday. Hayden did great of course, and we saw all sorts of things. She usually says the elephants are her favorite, but this morning she said the zebra. Who really knows. :)

Tea

2011-08-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hayden sees me drink coffee or tea just about every morning. She knows that she's not allowed to have coffee till she's older, but I decided that she could have tea now if she wanted. It's flavored, herbal tea, and since she mostly drinks just plain water and milk, I think it's pretty exciting for her to have!

Usually she drinks a little in the morning, while it's warm. Then we put it in the fridge and she has it cold later in the day sometime. It's a fun little ritual.

Art

2011-08-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

Brittany has been doing art with Hayden pretty frequently and I have to say, Hayden is loving it more and more. The first one you see is a sign they made for Sean's first day at Sony. The second is "recycle" art, made literally with things outside and from the recycle bin. The third is my favorite. Hayden painted the fish all by herself and helped with the rest, including putting little puffy stickers on it.

Girly Girl

2011-08-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hayden could totally be more girly, but she's a typical girl in a lot of ways. Especially in the things she likes to do/doesn't like to do (play with dolls/food, rather than getting dirty doing something outside).

We've been talking about it for another a year, and she used to always say no, but she finally decided that it's fun to have her toes painted. Of course, I only let her have little girl colors and only the quick dry polish, but I think it's fun that she picks one out and we put it on. This was only the second time we did it and this time, she decided that she wanted her fingernails painted too. All I can say, is that it's a good thing the polish we pick out for her is instant dry! Even then, she sits still for it only while watching a movie and so far, no polish on her chair.

Sean hates it, but I kinda love it.

Broom As Paint Brush

2011-08-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

I know I've posted something like a million pictures of Hayden playing with her sink, but she really does love it and when it's warm outside, it's honestly her go-to activity. We did that today because, for the first time all week, it was warm enough. Her new water activities include playing with the plastic animals, her watering can, wet chalk and washing things like rocks and her tricycle. Sean also got her hooked on using the outside broom as a giant paint brush.

Sean also took off the sink/faucet part today, which hasn't worked in at least a year, so it was easier for Hayden to get in it. I can only imagine how cold the hose water is and when I came out to get Hayden for lunch, she was pour it all over fully-dressed Sean.

In The Box

2011-08-12T20:39:00.001-07:00

I don't have much of an update, in part because I was gone all week. But maybe I can share our new eating method, which seems to be working for now. Basically we give Hayden protein and veggies first, and set the timer for 45 minuets. If she eats that food, then she gets other things she likes, like fruit, nuts, cheese and carbs. Either way, food goes away when the timer rings, regardless of whether she is still eating chicken or all the way through for dessert. Ideally, this is less stressful for everyone.

Regarding the pictures - we got a box in the mail the other day, that was big enough for Hayden to hide in, which she loved!

Saturday At Balboa

2011-08-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Hayden and I went with Becky and Steve to Balboa Park. It's really beautiful there, though we rarely go for some reason. They have a fun playground for Hayden too. She tried many of the activities (swings, slides, monkey bars, ladders, swinging bridge, etc...), but didn't do them all of course. I was particulatly impressed that she tried this ladder, as it seems like it might be scary for her. She did it with help several times and then did it just with our supervision. She was pretty proud of herself, I could tell.

There are also lots of things to walk around and see in Balboa Park - including beautiful fountains and many unique buildings/gardens. We also saw some "pet" birds and one even walked on Hayen's arm! She also got her first taste of lemonade, which she loved of course. All-in-all a great day.

A Budding Intellectual

2011-08-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

As you might have guessed, Hayden is playing a special version of chess with Sean. She is learning the names of the pieces, but basically she and Sean take turns knocking pieces off the board. She actually loves it though.

Given this "intellectual" post, I thought I'd share some of Hayden's best quotes. There are many more great ones, but I never remember them and so rarely write them down!

-"Will you get lonely Dad, if Mom and I go upstairs together?"

-"Can I have ten thousand grapes?" (She knew ten thousand was an amount, but obviously has no idea how much it is. One of her TV shows uses the term.)

-"Can I have one more (Skittle/special raisin/etc) because you love me?"

-"I'm sad when you are gone."

-"Is the zipper not cooperating?"

-Dad: "I love you to pieces Creepy." Hayden: "No, you love me whole!"

-"Every time I look at her (me/Mom), she smiles."

-"I could live with Becky and Steve when I'm not a good listener."

-"Don't get me Dad, cause I gotta go shop."

First Movie

2011-08-01T21:19:00.001-07:00

This weekend I took Hayden to her first movie - Disney's Winnie the Pooh. I thought it might be slow enough for her to follow, short, and not too scary. We talked about how it would be a big TV and how she would need to whisper if she needed to talk to me. And of course, she was excited about the popcorn we were going to get.

We went to the earliest showing and indeed, it was mostly kids and parents and not too full, so that was good. Hayden carried the popcorn very carefully and happily, didn't eat too much of it. As we were walking in, I could tell she was getting a little overwhelmed/scared, so I picked her up and talked about how much fun it was going to be. Then she was fine.

We were about 10 mins early and happily, the commercials were geared for kids, so it was pretty entertaining for Hayden. Of course, the previews were focused on kids too, which was fine, but once we got to the actually movie, we had been in there watching for about a half hour. She did great during that time and through about half of the hour-long movie. Then she started getting a little antsy. She never threw a fit or got too loud though - she even whispered most of the time!

Afterward, we completed our outing by going to eat at a nearby restaurant. Hayden ate decently well, but mostly had fun sliding around on the booth seat. I think she was a little wired from the whole experience, but all in all I'd call it a success.

Spring-Summer Video

2011-07-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

I can't claim that this is the most exciting video, but it does show what we've been up to. It's a bit long - at almost five mins - but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

-Mexico (a little bit)

-Hayden's Birthday

-Camping at Yosemite

-Swimming Lesson and more

Ballet

2011-07-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

I'm not at all hoping Hayden will grow up and do ballet, but a 3-5 year old ballet class seemed like it would suit her temperament well. I assumed it would be calm and slow and geared for little ones, so I signed her up. The first interesting thing is that Hayden is one of the shortest in the class - so I assume everyone is older than her. The second interesting thing is that, while I opted not to buy Hayden the whole outfit for five classes, all the other girls are dressed to the ballet nines. (They let Hayden borrow shoes.) The third is that this class is a little more intense than I expected. I thought it would be little girls running around and sorta doing ballet. Instead, it's "serious" fun - they actually show them the feet positions and everything.

In any case, Hayden has only done two classes so far, and she seems to like it, but she's sorta terrible. I guess I should cut her some slack as the youngest AND the newest - she just needs more practice. She said yesterday that she likes it better than swimming, which was pretty fun to hear.

Not a Good Eater

2011-07-27T20:06:00.001-07:00

Lately, Hayden has been a less than stellar eater. That means, she sits and sits, for over an hour sometimes, and eats only her favorites, only occasionally. That also means our threats of taking away things doesn't work and also that she really doesn't care if she sits on the step - see above.

It's really quite frustrating and the only solution I can think is giving her only protein and veggies (her least fav) and setting a timer for her to eat them or she's done. I have to be honest though - we really haven't been tough enough to actually do that. I just hate the idea of her not eating!

Cooking With Brittany

2011-07-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

This week Hayden helped Brittany make yummy banana bread. They even made one for Sean without any nuts! I was at work when they did it, but Hayden got to mash the bananas and help mix things up. She also couldn't wait to show me the bread in the oven when I finally came downstairs.

She wasn't totally sure about eating it though. I think perhaps banana bread is a bit heavier than regular bread and I don't think she's ever had something with nuts baked in, so that was probably an adjustment. She didn't dislike it, but I hope she learns to love it like me.

Three Year Check-Up

2011-07-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

We've been fortunate that Hayden hasn't been sick much lately, so it's been about six months since she had a check up. I always love the well visits because it's so interesting to see how she compares to all the other girls her age. We assumed she'd still be tall, and she is!

Height: 40 inches, which is 96 percent

Weight: 32 pounds, which is 62 percent

Everything else was fine and the appointment was totally uneventful. No shots even! I did ask about the thumb-sucking, because she still does it (only in bed), and the doctor basically said there wasn't much she/we could do. It would just mean that Hayden will need orthodontics later in life. Add that to glasses. Oh well.

Bouncing

2011-07-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

I don't have a great update, but here are some cute pictures of Hayden on her trampoline, which she jumps on everyday. She is getting really good at jumping with two feet, when she's holding on to the bar at least. She can also do it while holding on with one hand, so that's improvement. Not so good when she's not holding on, but all things in time I guess. She's also learned that her crib can be used as a trampoline too! (Luckily, she's not using this to bounce out as yet.)

One other nighttime update is that Hayden hasn't been wearing pull-ups to bed for about three weeks and she's doing great! No accidents yet.

Swimming Lessons

2011-07-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

We signed Hayden up for some special swimming lessons this year. In the past, we've done city classes, which are OK, but this time we opted for semi-private lessons in an indoor, heated pool much closer to our house.

Hayden had her first lesson on Wednesday - which these are NOT pictures of, because it was terrible. It was guy named Brook and he was WAY too aggressive. Now, the lessons are only 20 mins, but she was crying within the first five because he kept making her go under water and was just pushing too hard for a newbie three-year-old. Now, I'm all for someone pushing Hayden and also all for someone making her go underwater, but not so much, not on her first day and not without someone making her feel comfortable first. (I wasn't there, Brittany was, but she told me right away.) I called to complain an hour later and we got a make-up first class with a new teacher that was hand-picked by the manager there.

So that's what I have pictures of - Hayden's make up class with her new teacher named Rebecca. Hayden didn't want to go at first, but we talked her into it, partly because we got her goggles like the other kids. Overall, it was SO much better. (And happily, I was able to attend.) Rebecca had her pushing off the wall, doing the back float and kicking. Hayden didn't quite get it at first (see her horrible back float above), but by the end of the 20 min class, she was doing a lot better (see her much better back float above).

You'll notice that there are two kids in the semi-private class, so when it was the other kid's turn, Hayden did a great job holding onto Rebecca's back. In fact, when Hayden got out, she asked if she could go underwater next time! So we're sticking with Rebecca and Hayden will have class every Friday.

Sleeping In Yosemite

2011-07-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite pictures from the Yosemite trip. My Dad took it and doesn't Hayden look peaceful?

She was mostly fine at night, but her naps were just horrendous while we were there. She did her normal thing of talking for two hours, THEN going to sleep. But one day, she was crying about brushing her teeth (which we never do at nap) and basically didn't stop for 45 mins. I was so embarressed! She was getting up and walking around in the tent (and so over tired at that point), Sean actually went in there and made her stay in her bed. She did fall asleep after that, but boy, was that a bratty moment. Luckily, that only happened one day.

Camping in Yosemite

2011-07-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

Last week we took Hayden camping for the first time in an amazing spot - Yosemite. My Dad and family spend a week there almost every year and though I would never claim that Sean and I are campers, we thought it would be fun for Hayden. One of the reasons was that my step-sister Erin was bringing her kids, Max and Maverick, who I knew Hayden would love playing with.

The car ride was quite long - eight hours each way. And though Hayden required much more interaction on the way back, she really wasn't too bad. Bathrooms weren't an issue, though we did have to stop a few times as we got into the mountains because Hayden was getting a little car sick. We didn't know that she would, so I think we're lucky to have caught it "in time." On the way home, we made her watch the road and she seemed to do much better.

One of our stops on the way in was at a rather famous view, so we took a picture or two.

I had this idea that because our trip was so close to Hayden's birthday and because Hayden wouldn't really be able to celebrate with other kids, that we could have a mini party for her at Yosemite. I brought a pinata and cookies, and Hayden was lucky enough to get three gifts. One, from Papa and Zizi, was a "balance bike." I guess it's the new thing in kids bikes - no petals, so they never get stuck on training wheels and just learn to balance by walking the bike, then running, etc...

Hayden was a little unsure about the bike at first, but seemed to get the idea after a day or two. I'd say she rode it just about every day we were there and since we got back too. She is still a wobbly walker on it for now, but hopefully that changes over time, with more practice.

The first day, we took a group bike ride to Yosemite Falls. On the "hike" there was a stream that the kids wanted to play in and throw rocks into.

Luckily, Hayden had her crocs on, so she could go in, despite the rocks.

The view of the waterfall is actually really windy and misty. Sean took her to see it a few times and she hid behind him from the splash. She liked it though, and asked to go back several times.

Of course, Hayden wasn't quite ready to ride her bike or anything, so Erin brought her bike trailer, which is what Hayden was transported in.

We didn't have time to do the pinata the first night, but did it the afternoon of our second day. I hope to have video later, but for now - Hayden did hit it with the bat, about three times, then she was done. Max and Maverick also had a turn and although they hit the pinata much harder, they didn't break it. So we opened it up to adults and Erin delivered the final blow. We had prepped Hayden, so she knew that once it opened, she should go after the candy. Indeed, all the kids did, and even some of the adults!

We borrowed Erin's huge tent, which had a little divider for Hayden's "room." She did pretty well, considering she has never slept with covers before. The first night, she was sliding out and truth be told, she did wake up in the middle of the night almost every night, but it wasn't a problem to get her back to sleep and she seemed to like her little bed. I was proud of her in any case.

One of my favorite things was that Hayden really opened up and enjoyed the company of Papa and Zizi right away. She clearly loved to interact with them and really didn't have a warm up at all. I loved seeing her with my Dad - two of the nights my Dad played with her right before bed and she was enjoying it SO much and laughing SO hard. Even Sean and I were laughing from the sheer happiness of it all.

One of my other favorite things was seeing Hayden with Max and Maverick. They played together SO well, I can't even tell you. Lots of playing with toys, blocks, dirt, chase, baseball, etc... It was so fun to see. It was interesting too because the last time she saw them - last August - she clearly related more to Max. Maverick wasn't really speaking much then, but now he really was, and he's close to Hayden's age. This time, I'd say that Hayden really related to both equally, or even Maverick more. They talked a lot, including through all of their meals, which they ate together on a little kids picnic table.

One of my other favorite moments was my Dad singing Little Red Caboose with the kids. I had been teaching it to Hayden, so that she would be able to sing along and I'm so glad they had a chance to do it. I think the kids really loved it - including Hayden.

Both my Dad and Erin are great photographers and both took pictures/video of the week. I hope to get some of that and share it with you a bit later. Stay tuned.

Happy Fourth!

2011-07-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

Although this isn't Hayden's first fourth of July, it was the first time we kept her up late enough to see fireworks. I really wasn't sure where to go, as our city didn't host a fireworks session, but then we found out that most of our neighbors go to the hill behind our house where you can see some fireworks going on a couple miles away. Brilliant!

Hayden had seen fireworks once in Mexico, so she knew what they were, though of course, she'd never seen a display like this. I wish I could say that she loved it, but she was pretty hyper from it being so late and just a bit impatient. She did like them, for sure. But I think she could have watched 4 or 5 and been done.

Other than that, we had another fun day at home. It was warm again today, so we played outside a lot. Hayden has been learning how to use her tricycle and although she doesn't often like to petal, she figured out a couple days ago that she could make the bike move on her own, so that's been a little interesting to her. And by interesting, I mean she does it two or three times. :)

I wish these pics were better, but you'll just have to use your imagination.

Flower Sprinkler

2011-07-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

It's been nice and hot the last few days, so this afternoon we broke out one of Hayden's birthday presents - a fun flower sprinkler. Hayden had tons of fun running around and through it, and Sean would make things more interesting by also spraying her occasionally with the other hose. You might notice in the pictures that Hayden brought along her shark. She got into this funny routine, where she would run to and away from Sean's hose, into her sprinkler. Well, she started putting her shark into the stream of Sean's hose, and THEN she started asking first if the shark could "have a go." Seriously. Kipper's British accent strikes again.

Three Years Old

2011-06-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

Today is Hayden's actual birthday and now she's three. I don't know whether to cheer or cry.

Since Sean and I both had to work we asked Brittany to take Hayden somewhere special and "Art Soup" was it! It's a drop-in kids art studio. They make all kinds of creative projects, paint walls/cars and more. So after lunch today, I changed Hayden into some messy clothes, told her that she should get dirty and off they went. I wish I could have gone, but Brittany took a bunch of pictures and Hayden seemed to have a lot of fun. She came home with four art projects and they actually ran into a play date friend of Hayden's while they were there! Good place - I know Hayden would love to go back.

The birthday fun isn't quite over yet. When we go camping next week, Hayden's little cousins, Max and Maverick, will be there, so we're bringing birthday cookies and a Hello Kitty pinata!

Hayden's Third Birthday Party

2011-06-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here come a lot of pictures, but this WAS Hayden's birthday party. It was last Sunday, so she was still two, but she knew it was her party for turning three.

Of course, she had a bunch of presents. I actually made an effort this time to have bigger things picked out for her too, so she didn't have so much small stuff.

In addition to my friend Gina, who was in town visiting, Becky and Steve came to celebrate with us.

Hayden did pretty well on unwrapping her gifts this year. She pretty much only needed help getting the ribbon off and finding a place she could start to tear it. She picked out the wrapping paper - stripes and polka dots!

I have to say, this year, unwrapping each present was finally less exciting than the actual gift inside. She honestly loved everything she got and played with most of it right away. The sleeping bag is a less traditional "toy," but it didn't matter, Hayden played with it anyway!

One of her bigger presents was a 5x5 foot playhouse/tent. It took almost no time at all to put up and was an immediate hit. It's quite cute actually, has doors and windows that open, plus a "dog door." And although Hayden is tall for her age, she can stand up in there no problem.

This is the inside, from one of the windows. As you can see, plenty of room for Hayden's bean bag. We actually ended up bringing her kitchen in there too and there is still plenty of room!

For her birthday, Hayden decided she wanted cupcakes, rather than cookies or a cake. From this delicious book (all based off of box recipes!), she picked out strawberries and cream cupcakes. I added a strawberry to the top of each and Hayden added these pink balls as decoration. We finished it off with pink frosting stars and some candles for Hayden's of course. Everyone, including Hayden, loved them.

While I set up a special game inside the house, Hayden played outside with bubble, chalk, her sandbox and her tricycle. Isn't this a great picture?

My special game was a life-sized Candyland game! It's one of the only games Hayden knows and, since she doesn't really understand the concept of winning yet, it's all about eating fun things along the path. So, that's what we did! We used cards from the game and construction paper to bring the game to life.

Hayden's favorite part was eating the candy of course - of which we had about six different kinds. My kinda game!

As a surprise to me, Sean got Hayden her own guitar! Steve actually knows how to play, so he spent some time teaching Hayden (and Sean) some basics. Hayden is actually a bit possessive over it if someone else tries to play it. She also knows that Papa plays and has suggested multiple times that when we go camping next week, she and Papa can play guitar together.

One of the few presents Hayden couldn't play with until after her late nap was this trampoline! I think I've mentioned that Hayden is a terrible jumper, and doesn't totally understand the concept. Well, I think this is the solution and Hayden just loves it. She actually giggled when she first jumped on it, and now, less than a week later, I see a lot of improvement. The tramp is actually pretty big, so I think it'll be a part of her life for awhile.

It was a really fun day and I think Hayden enjoyed it as well.

Pre-Birthday Celebration

2011-06-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome weekend. My friend Gina came and we celebrated Hayden's birthday on Sunday. I have pictures, but have to leave on a trip at 5am tomorrow morning, so I don't have time to finish going through them unfortunately. I'll post when I get home and until then... These pictures are from this weekend, Saturday I think. It was super nice outside, sunny and warm, so we spent a lot of time in the back yard. Hayden even got to use her sink.

Writing the ABCs

2011-06-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

I've got to hand it to our nanny Brittany - she started an ABC book where Hayden draws one letter a day, lower case and upper case, and two items that start with that letter. Isn't that an amazing idea? And most of the time, Hayden does really well. Brittany draws the letters, word and pictures first, in pencil, and then Hayden traces it with a crayon. If she does it slow enough, she's pretty close on Brittany's pencil marks. And she enjoys doing it. It's especially nice because although Hayden knows a lot of her upper case letters, she doesn't know many lower case letters at all. What a great way of reinforcing that lesson.

Booster Seat

2011-06-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

A day or two ago Hayden was in her highchair complaining about something being uncomfortable. I had gotten her a booster seat, in part for our coming camping trip, and when I asked her if she wanted to try it, I got an enthusiastic yes. She ate dinner that night on it, but I wasn't sure if it was going to stick. Sure enough, the next day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Hayden chose to sit in her booster, rather than her highchair. I think we might be done with the highchair. She looks so grown-up in it, so big. Downsides though are that it's easier for her to make a mess on the floor and I guess that means we have to stop piling junk on the table!

Sunny Saturday

2011-06-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend we met Becky and Steve in La Jolla, as well as their visiting friends Matt, Michelle and 3-year-old Madison. Of course, Hayden was fairly shy at first, but she warmed up. We went to lunch (which meant Hayden got one of her beloved lunchables) and then down to the newly re-opened children's beach by the seal wall. It has nice shallow water and there were actually a lot of kids there.

I think because of the Mexico trip, Hayden wasn't scared to get in the water, at least get her legs in the water. It was much colder though, of course, and towards the end, she didn't want to get in. Not sure why, but I hope she'll want to get in again next time we're at the beach. She spent most of the time building things in the sand with Madison and sometimes playing by herself too. She seemed happy and did quite well with her really late nap that day.

Picking Up Kipper

2011-06-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

I think I may have mentioned before that Hayden is currently loving the show Kipper. It's about a dog who stars in a very slow moving plot and speaks in an english accent. I noticed a few days ago that Hayden has started picking up the accent. She's not really pronouncing things differently, but the intonation of how she says things or ask questions is completely mimicking the show. It's really funny. Let's see if I can make you hear it: Do YOU want to watch the movie Mom? (But without the sentence pitch going up at the end, instead it goes down like an English person would say) Get it?

Sunny Weekends

2011-06-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

Although we've had the typical cloudy June, we have had some nice sunny days too - several of which have been over the weekend, so we took Hayden strawberry picking. I have to say that the bees sorta freaked me out, but they were much more interested in the strawberry flowers, than in any of us. And there were a ton of ripe strawberries.

Hayden had fun I think. We tried to make it last as long as possible, so she did most of the picking. She did most of the eating too, but I think they were all gone within a couple days. Yum!

By the way, I recently added and tested the link on the right, to be notified of new posts via email. You just put in your email address, prove that you're a real person and then you get an email with the info within a few hours of me posting something. Just in case that's easier for any of you.

Hide And Seek

2011-06-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

Lately one of Hayden's favorite things to do is hide with one parent, while the other looks for her. She still thinks that if she can't see you, you can't see her though, so she tries to hide in plain sight or by sticking her head in a drawer. (Seriously, it's really funny.) Sean suggested she hide on the couch, in the pillows, and this is what happened!

Physical Skills

2011-06-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hayden is doing better at her physical skills. She's probably still behind average, but I'm still proud of her. I think her solo gymnastics class has really helped. It's the first place I saw her jump off a fairly high (for her) mat and they also did the balance-beam-step-over-the-stuffed-animal game. She's still tentative, but it's all steps in the right direction.

Above Hayden is jumping off the beam and then walking on it - stepping over her animals. She usually falls off, but sometimes she makes it over the animal and stays on.

Loving The Beach

2011-06-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Brittany takes Hayden to the beach and takes pictures! Apparently, they were burying her feet in the sand and Hayden said that they would be at the beach forever. :) They also collected and cleaned rocks of course, build a sand castle and then showered off their feet (which Hayden always loves).

Sean's Birthday Card

2011-06-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

It was Sean's birthday on Monday and although we kept it pretty low key, I did work with Hayden to make a "card" for him. She picked out both the paper color and the monkeys - don't ask me why she thought monkeys were appropriate for Sean. :) I helped with the letters of course.

Other than that we made some cookies and got Sean some root beer to sample (his latest obsession). I wish I had pictures of Sean and Hayden, but we were just too lazy!

Mexico

2011-05-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

For the last week, Hayden has been with me, Becky, my mom and my stepdad in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We had a really wonderful time swimming everyday, eating by the pool and relaxing. I have lots of pictures and think it's probably easiest if I just narrate them, so see below.

I had quite a dilemma about a car seat for Hayden. Becky and I decided to carry on our luggage, and it was going to be quite hard to bring her huge car seat with us, in addition to the bags and keeping an eye on my little almost-three-year-old. I'm not real proud of this, but in the end we decided not to bring it with us, since we wouldn't be traveling much anyway.

This is her in the little airplane to LAX. She decided to bring a lunch box, which was SO helpful for keeping her entertained. She filled it with all sorts of toys the whole trip. As for the actual travel, it was sorta horrible. I'll spare you the long stories by saying that our trip there took two planes and three buses, while our trip home took 14 hours and included one cancelled flight/road trip with Sean picking us up at LAX.

Sean was really sweet and purchased an iPad a few days before our trip, which was SO (SO!) helpful with Hayden. We downloaded games for her and episodes of her favorite TV shows too. She watched a little most nights.

We also got Wifi for it and did some video chatting with Sean while we were gone.

This is the special bed we made for Hayden. It was really the perfect set up actually - a two bedroom suite, so we made this entrance into a little bed for Hayden. We could close it off, so that it was dark, and amazingly, she never did get up and out of bed on her own. She talked and sang, till she went to sleep and then stayed there until someone got her up in the morning. Only the first night she woke up crying in the middle of the night, the rest of the time, she did pretty great.

We had lunch at the pool just about each day. It really was quite good and there was even a veggie plate for Hayden!

They had a really great water park for kids. Becky finally got Hayden to go into this mushroom and after that we did it just about every day.

There was a wave pool there and even before Hayden learned how to ride it with a tube, she was brave enough to walk down the slanted slope to her neck! Her arms got just a little pink one day, so once again, the long sleeve swim shirt comes in handy.

After a couple days, Hayden totally got the hang of moving around in her tube independently. She was finally holding her head up enough so that she wasn't getting a mouth full of water every time she tried to talk (which as you know, is all the time).

They had a lazy river at this place, which was SO much more fun when Hayden could do it by herself. In about one day's time, she learned to kick/swim directionally, as well as how to spin in her ring!

Slightly fancy dinner!

Here is the first tube Hayden learned on. It wasn't quite big enough, but gave her the right idea. Then we got the yellow one, which worked better.

The resort is in the background here. All sorts of amazing pools!

A few weeks ago, Hayden played in the pool with some other kids' animals, so we got her some to play with at the resort. They were a big hit, as she picked a couple out to bring to the pool every day. I'm not ashamed to say that they were also a great manipulation tool for getting her to try new things. Luckily, they also floated so we could keep track of them pretty easily.

One of my favorites from this trip.

Along with this one. We didn't actually go to the beach that much, as it was only OK compared to most San Diego beaches. (Though the pools were another story of course.)

More beach.

This is in the wave pool, but I was really so proud that she learned to manage the tube by herself.

Even in the waves - not a problem!

Of course, I loved all the cute outfits Hayden got to wear in that humid weather, but here is one we got there and brought home.

Quick shot of the water park they had for kids. The whole thing was no more than two feet deep and full of slides, sprinklers and water mushrooms.

I think Hayden had a good time, I really do. But I also think she missed Sean and though it took forever, she was pretty happy to see him when we finally did. Me too.

We're Gone!

2011-05-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

We're in Mexico, but I thought I'd still share a few warm weather pictures. These are from several weeks ago, but they are Hayden playing outside in the sink. She still loves it!