Categories
Kids/Parenting

My top Hayden milestone this month

Hayden is reaching new firsts all the time. His vocabulary, or at least the syllables that he repeats, is growing all the time. Among the more useful words: “Ditty” (kitty), “deetee” (TV), and “boopoos” (poopoo).

He’s also getting better with his motor skills. He’s fitting shaped blocks into the right holes, helping put on his clothes (or even putting them on himself) and all kinds of fun things. Here he is wearing my hat. My shoes are another favorite of his.

Hayden in my hat

But my favorite milestone of Hayden’s this month came when we were looking at an alphabet book. On the endpapers, they have the full alphabet printed. I was pointing to the ‘H,’ telling Hayden that “H is for Hayden.”

He looked at me and said, “Hay-dee.”

But now I’m wondering—is he trying to tell me that he prefers his nickname?

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Hayden’s Latest Words

Quick—a toddlerspeak quiz. What is the translation for these Haydenisms?

  1. Baido
  2. Teee
  3. Aaahhh
  4. Nanee
  5. Sss
  6. Nai nai
  7. Nai
  8. Nanoo, nanool or nanle
  9. Toottie (‘oo’ as in book)

They always say that a child’s vocabulary starts to grow exponentially very suddenly. I was a little skeptical for Hayden, mostly because he hasn’t been terribly interested in talking!

Then again, I’m not sure that my perception of the situation is at least partially due to my own inability to recognize his “words” for a long time. Perhaps it’s not just that he’s finally making an effort to use his words. Maybe it’s just that I’m learning to listen better.

Answers:

  1. Bye (possibly baido:bye::hello (haido):hi, or possibly bye-bye)
  2. Cheese
  3. Yes (yeahhh)
  4. Candy
  5. Shoes (or peeing)
  6. Night night—which he has started saying spontaneously, and even started trying to wrap me in blankets for night night!
  7. Light
  8. Candle (he likes fire!)
  9. Cookie

How did you do on our quiz?

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Hayden’s First Word!

It’s been almost two weeks since he said it, but Hayden’s first official “word” (which, I do have to admit, is a bit arbitrary) happened to be one of the ones he was already very good at signing: “More.”

Yes, he said “Daddy” in July (though he refuses to now), and “Mommy” and “Nana” (which quickly became “Nanny”) in August, but aside from “Mommy,” this is really the first word that he’s said that he repeats consistently.

And, within a week, he had a new reason for repeating it: his first television show.

It was an accident, really. I figured I’d switch on a kids’ show. Blue’s Clues was on, according to the television schedule, followed by a show I’d only heard about. Everyone I knew who’d seen this show complained and whined about it being bizarre and scary and annoying.

And when I turned on the TV, it was on. Hayden sat down on the floor and couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.

And then we were hooked.

So in the last week, Hayden has added two new words to his vocabulary: “ha da” or “da da” (hot dog) and “Bah” or “Bah Bah” for our new favorite past time,

Yo Gabba Gabba
Yo Gabba Gabba!

I’ve even gotten Ryan in on the act. He says that the fact that one of the creators of Yo Gabba Gabba is an Aquabat has no bearing on his liking of the show (he’s a fan) (of both, I think). I’ve also been corrupting my currently-childless sister Jaime and sister-in-law Jess.

Possibly the worst part? The other day after Hayden had been in bed for a while, and I realized I hadn’t heard any Yo Gabba Gabba for several hours.

And I missed it.

Thank heavens for YouTube! Of course, that does mean that the computer is now Hayden’s personal Yo Gabba Gabba viewer. He walks up to whoever is on the computer and begins signing and begging, “Moooore!”

Oop, and here he comes now…

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Dancin’ Fool

Hayden loves to dance. Now presenting Hayden’s first music video!

Note that he does, in fact, say, “Kitty” (or “Ditty”) as he’s getting up. And then he makes monkey sounds. What can I say? He’s a talented kid!

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Sign of the times

Hayden has picked up a new trick this week: signing. He learned two signs on Sunday that he’s been using off and on this week. He’s not totally consistent, so I don’t have any video or pictures, but here’s what he’s learned:

  • All gone. Nana Diana was feeding him Easter candy for breakfast (I can’t really say anything, since that’s been my breakfast for two weeks now). She told him he couldn’t have any more until his mouth was empty—until it was all gone. He picked up the standard “all gone” sign (very similar to ASL’s “finished” sign)
  • More. That night I was eating candy and gave Hayden a little bit. I got him to sign more to ask for some more.

Of course, his technique isn’t perfect, but I’m just excited that he’s learning one language

I promise he doesn’t eat as much candy as this makes it sound like he does… really….

Categories
Kids/Parenting

His first sentence!

Yesterday, Hayden started trying out a vocabulary. He managed to ‘say’ “Jesus” (my mom made him two books about Jesus to look at during church) and “Jordan” (twice!). And today, his first sentence.

He was carrying his beloved Marty Monkey around and my mother was teasing him. She said, “Touch my monkey!”

Hayden wouldn’t let that pass. Every person in the room, no matter what they were doing or paying attention to, understood exactly what he said. He sassed her right back: “Touch this,” he said quite distinctly.

Think it counts?