Hayden at 2 1/2

At two and a half, I think Hayden now embodies all that is wonderful and terrible about two year olds. He is such a precocious little guy, drawing conclusions that surprise us, using new phrases all the time, being endlessly sweet and difficult and emotional.

Hayden has such a sweet heart. He is very affectionate with everyone around him, often giving hugs and kisses out of nowhere. He is very aware of who his immediate circle is, asking for people we haven't seen in a few days. He knows what they do, such as going to work or the store, and remembers seemingly trivial things, like the name of a little girl we met in the checkout line a couple weeks back. We are seeing the affects of his peers as he tries to use different expressions or pronunciations. He has told me "You say ok. I say K. K? K." As if that settles it. Although he uses words I consider pretty advanced like obnoxious and disgusting, he is also experimenting with baby talk like calling his stuffed frog Baby Rawa instead of Baby Robby. He crawls sometimes when playing, but makes it a point to tell me he is being a baby, asking for a baby cup or a baby spoon.The other sign of regression is his spontaneous bawling. It is exactly like Logan's when we tell him no, and there is absolutely no reasoning or talking with him when he melts down this way. So, he has to go to his room until he calms down. This is really obnoxious! This weekend the phrase of choice seemed to be "Should I…?" As in "Should I come out now?" "Should I eat my breakfast now?" "Should I hit my brother?" All said in the same impish voice, with a little smile and twinkle in his eye, like if he says it cute enough, we will always say yes, no matter what he is asking.

Hayden adores Logan, playing with him, bowling him over with hugs and kisses, bowling him over because he can, taking his toys, waking him up, and as of this weekend, getting him out of the swing! "I woke Logan. I got him out." What?! And, here comes Logan down the hall, still looking like he isn't quite awake. We are often telling Hayden to get off his brother, leave him alone, stop touching him, give that toy back, mind his own business, etc…. He reports everything Logan is doing, and mimics our encouragement and discipline of Logan, whether it is in walking or not touching the cat's water. Logan is his best audience and Hayden loves to get his brother giggling. In the car, we are already hearing "Stop! Logan's touching me!" We will look back to see that Logan barely has one tiny fingertip on Hayden's arm, or just the carseat, looking at him like "What? I'm not doing anything." And so it begins.

The question Why? is apparantly punctuation, as it is asked after EVERYTHING we say. He now sometimes answers himself. "Why? Because that is the way it is." "Why? Because I asked for that." I've started teaching him the game Candyland, and although he doesn't quite understand the progression around the board, he does like drawing the cards and finding the picture spots. Double yellow! Candy cane! We play after Logan goes to bed so there isn't interference and Hayden gets some one on one time. He went to bed one night and told me "Mommy, I schooled you in Candyland." Sure did.

He is getting mostly good school reports, telling us he is nice to his friends. As the older Two's class transitioned last week Hayden was more aggressive again, but seemed to stop much quicker this time, maybe realizing life is better when he is nice. He talks about things he does at school and will often remember what he had for lunch and what songs or art they did that day. He seems to really enjoy the art projects and I am interested to see if that develops as he does.

Hayden is still a good eater, but doesn't eat big dinners. He tends to play until we are mostly done, and just when we are ready to wrap it up, he will start to eat. We now tell him he has just a few minutes left, or set a timer. When that beeps, the meal is over. When he is eating the whole time, he can take as long as he wants. Often on weekends, breakfast takes a really long time because he eats so much. This is fine, and we wait patiently until he is full. Eggs are no longer on the menu for him, but he does love French Toast. Sausage remains the favorite, along with fruit.

He seems to be daytime potty trained. He wore "underwears" all weekend and stayed completely clean and dry. When we went out, I would have him go before we left and there was never a problem. He is comfortable using public restrooms, so being at a restaurant is fine. He always asks to go and I think it is as much to see more of the restaurant and alleviate boredom, as a strong need to use the bathroom. He is such a chatterbox, having complete conversations all on his own, especially in the bathroom.
"I go pee pee? No, I don’t. I go poopy? Yeah, I did. I sit on the potty, go poopy. I wear underwears. I no go pee pee in my underwears. I no wear pullups. K? K."

On Friday, his 2 1/2 year birthday, he had a low fever and threw up all afternoon. At Shabbat dinner, he lay in the towel covered couch with a cool cloth on his head so he could be near us, got to say the prayer over the wine, but was asleep by the time we had dessert. So sweet and pitiful, poor little guy. By Saturday night he had the same rash as Logan, which would be Roseola. Weird that they both threw up, but it was consistent.

He will tell anyone who asks, and many people who don't "I'm two and a half!" I don't know who taught him that, but it is cute. He is so independent, needing to do everything himself in a certain order. There is absolutely no trying to rush him or it just takes longer. Getting in and out of the car is a whole process, as is getting dressed or undressed, washing hands, etc… If we even try to help we hear an ear splitting "NOOOO!!! I DOOOO IIITTTTT!!!" Ok. Geez. We have taught him to sneak down the hall as he usually stomps everywhere he goes and those floors really reverberate, waking Logan all the time. He likes wearing shoes, but we did catch him barefoot last week, sneaking on his tip toes. It was so cute.

He remains obsessed with opening and closing the garage. Pushing the button ourselves for any reason, causes him to immediately meltdown. We are well aware of the indulgence of this, yet figure it's a battle we aren't willing to tackle. He enjoys getting to push the button, and we enjoy the peace. My car has a button built into the rearview mirror, not a remote. When Fillip drives my car, he lets Hayden come to the front seat to push that button and "drive" into the garage. It is so cute to see his delighted smile at getting to do this, proud and happy on Daddy's lap.

He is still so absolutely gorgeous with big green eyes and an easy, friendly smile and quick giggle. He loves to be tickled and wrestled, but also loves to sit and listen to a story. He is such a sweetheart, and I can't believe how lucky I am to have him.