Fifteen to Sixteen Months In...

Dear Hayden,

Dear Lord, son, you just keep growing! You are now a few days past being 16 months old. Every moment with you is just unbelievably amazing! You are so funny – such a perfect mix of your Daddy and me. Seeing things in you that are like me make me love myself more.

• You smile just like me – in lights up your whole face. You smile with your whole body.


• Your personality is JUST like your Daddy’s (and Grandpa Skip). You have never met a stranger. In fact, it took your Daddy an hour to get through Home Depot the other day because you were so busy saying and waving hi & bye to everyone. If someone doesn’t say Hi back to you, you will say it over (and louder)) until they do and then you smile at them.


• However, you don’t like other people to HOLD you if we are around. It takes you a bit to warm up and then you are best buds.


• The past two months have been full of strange weather. Warm one day, snow the next, then rain. The whole April showers thing is not a lie in PA!


• We filled up your sandbox a few weeks ago. You adore it! Every day when we get home from school, you go straight to the backdoor to go outside. Rain, snow, sleet, sun – you love the outdoors! You get very sad when the weather is too yucky to go outside.


• You LOVE – seriously LOVE – basketball. We broke down and got you a little indoor hoop and you literally shoot baskets in it every. single. day.


• We went to the park by our house a couple of weeks ago and you played for a few minutes on the swing and went down the slide (by yourself, I might add). Then we walked over to the basketball court where two precious girls about 8 & 10 were playing. You dropped your bag of goldfish and walked over to them holding out your arms for the REAL basketball. They couldn’t resist your charms. You played basketball with them for almost an hour! You would pass the ball to them so they could shoot it through the hoop.


• Fast forward to this past Saturday. I took you to the park and you went down the slide once, on the swing for about 30 seconds and then you saw the basketball court and made a beeline for it! I had brought your big, red ball with us. We got to the courts and you saw a gross, old Nerf basketball and would have NOTHING to do with the red, CLEAN ball we brought. I can’t fool you – you know what a basketball should look like. I lifted you up to the hoop and you actually threw the ball in and, by the grace of God and your Frohling athleticism, it went in! I never want to forget the look of pure JOY on your face at that moment!


• Your Uncle Jake is LOVING your love of basketball! He coaches it and one day soon will be showing you all of the moves and stuff.


• The Easter Bunny brought you a REAL basketball. You think it’s SO, SO awesome and that you are now a BIG kid.


• We took you to the mall to walk around one day when it was gross outside. We walked by the trains and the Easter Bunny (who you quickly walked AWAY from). We carried you and walked to the escalators. We sat you down and you walked ALL the way back to the other side of the mall to the trains and said “Go, Go!” You wanted to ride it! I roder with you the first time and you tried to push me out. The next ride was all you. Your face absolutely lite up with happiness at riding the train ALL by yourself!


• We joined the SeeSaw Center by our house for this season and next. You and Daddy really enjoyed going on Saturday mornings when Momma had to work some events.


• We took you to Simmons Farm for an Easter Egg hunt. You liked walking in the apple orchard looking for eggs and painting, as well as planting a pepper plant in, a flower pot with Dada. Your VERY favorite part was the petting zoo. The QUACK, QUACKS! There was also a chocolate lab you loved. The baby goats and baby rabbits were okay, but again – there were quack, quacks who you kept chasing and pointing to. LOVED that moment!


• You talk SO much (just like Momma).
  o Quack, quack = duck
  o Uck = truck and yuck
  o Cass Can = Trashcan
  o Momma
  o Dada
  o Ca Ca = car and rooster
  o Les Go = Let’s Go
  o Izzie
  o Addie
  o Dagee = doggy
  o Ga Ga = Grandma and Grandpa
  o Bye (very Texan sounding)
  o Hi (very Texan sounding)
  o Light
  o Peas = Please
  o Ba = Ball
  o Moo = Cow
  o Tea
  o Go Go
  o Ba Ba = Bottle
  o Ni Ni = Night, night


• You are also very good at signing for more, all done, dog and please.


• You understand so much! You will take our finger and lead us to what you want. You will bring us something if we ask you. You know where things are and like to point out our friends and family.


• You really love putting things in the trash can. You are like me in that everything has a place. You’re like your Daddy in your love of shoes. You will bring me your shoes nineteen hundred times a day until I put them on you. Normally this means you want to go outside or go somewhere.


• You will sometimes take my keys and go to the door and say “Les Go!” You also will hit the door and say Dada when you think it is time for your Dada to be home.


• You are now (and I hope I don’t jinx this) sleeping through the night and only getting up once or twice. We are also all done with nursing. Weaning off the bottle will come next, but we’re not rushing. It’ll happen.


• You are still napping SO good at school! YEA!


• You now have TWELVE teeth. All of your molars came in and, let’s just say, that is NOT fun!!


• One of your very favorite things to do right now is still to hug (and open mouth kiss) and I could just eat it up! If we ask you to hug someone or something, you will. It’s adorable! You really love to hug (and kiss!) Izzie. She is so sweet with you and just lays there as your crawl all over her.


• You still love your puzzles. You will sit down at your picnic table or stand up at the coffee table to do them every night.


• You are SUCH a great walker and are starting to run a little bit.


• You are eating better although getting you to eat veggies in the natural form (as opposed to baby food form) is not the easiest. We don’t make it a battle though because you do love to feed yourself with a spoon.


• At your 15 month appointment, they said that you are in the 33rd percentile for weight (a bit over 24 lbs.) and 66th percentile for height (31 ¾ inches). Your head is in the 50th percentile at 18 inches. You now weigh a little over 26 pounds.


• You still wear a size 5.0M shoe, size 4 diapers and 12-18 month one piece outfits and shirts. You are now tall enough for 12-18 month pants.


• You still love the color orange and balls!


• We are going on a family cruise to the Eastern Caribbean with Grandma and Grandpa Texas, Aunt Elesha, Uncle Chad and Nathan & Oliver. It will be so fun!


• You are very vocal about what you want or DON'T want. You love for us to read to you and are constantly bringing us books to read. It makes my heart VERY happy since I love to read.


• Every day is so much fun and we love it! You are truly our gift from God!!
  

Love,
Momma

Fourteen Months In...

Dear Hayden,

FOURTEEN MONTHS! Actually, as I write this, you are one week away from being fifteen months. I blame it on the fact that I am just enjoying every single second with you. Your little personality is just so amazing! Every day is a new adventure and full of blessings. Seeing the world through your eyes is so wonderful!

• This month, we had a lot of fun adventures as a family! Now that Spring is getting closer, we are trying to venture out more and explore.


• We went to Cabela’s in West Virginia. You LOVED the fish and people watching!


• We went to Kidapalooza at the convention center. You really liked the blow up slide and all of the characters. The Teddy Graham bear was your favorite – other than the yellow balloon your friend Owen gave you.


• You also went to your first basketball game! You LOVED watching. There’s something about that orange ball…


• We also went to visit the SeeSaw Center. It was a blast! You loved everything – there was so much to see, we will definitely have to go back. You loved the slides (one was even orange!) and the basketball hoop.


• You went to your first party at a play center. We went to Giggles & Smiles and you rode this little train thing. It made you laugh, as did the tunnels you crawled through. And again…you went straight to the basketball hoop…


• You are now in the toddler room! OH DEAR! You love it. You get to play outside with your friends, do LOTS of fun artwork and you even sit at a little table to eat with your friends.


• We got you a really cute nap mat (camp with your name in orange, of course) and you now sleep for two hours on your cot at school. I’m not sure if it’s luck or the mat, but the first day you tried it, you started sleeping through at nap time (you were only sleeping 30 minutes before).


• Speaking of sleeping, you now sleep through the night and only nurse first thing in the morning. YEA! We had a bit of regression due to you being sick and getting a molar, but we’re getting back on track. The key is Dada getting up to soothe you, not the milk bar Momma.


• You just got your NINTH tooth. It’s a molar and it hurt you when it was breaking through. Thank goodness for teething gel and Motrin.


• I have now been “baptized” by you. Last week, I was running a little late and, when I got to school, you had just gotten sick all over one of your teachers. I rushed you to urgent care and Dada met us. We were in the exam room and Dada got up to through away a tissue. At that moment, you got sick all over me and the chair that Dada had just vacated. You had a really high temperature that luckily broke by 3 a.m. that night. We cuddled the next day. I am very thankful it was a short-lived virus. I do NOT like seeing you sick!


• Your very favorite thing to do right now is hug and I could just eat it up! If we ask you to hug someone or something, you will. It’s adorable! You really love to hug (and kiss!) Izzie. She is so sweet with you and just lays there as your crawl all over her.


• You also are SO smart! If you find something on the floor or I give you something and ask you to take it to the trash, you take it right to the trash can and put it in! It’s very helpful!


• You also like to wipe your face and nose and clean your tray.


• Puzzles are a new love of yours. You know where each piece goes. You like the animal and vehicle ones best.


• You are walking better and better each day. You LOVE the ball popper and the Toy Story push toy that your friend, Owen, let us borrow. You like to stand on the Toy Story push toy. It’s pretty cute!


• You are entering the toddler phase of not eating as much and being pretty picky about what you will eat sometimes. Dada and I don’t make it a battle. You are good about trying new things, but if you don’t like it, you won’t eat it. We have our go-to foods, so we know you will NORMALLY eat those things. They are: chicken, bananas, applesauce, yogurt, cheese, goldfish, waffles, grilled cheese, French toast, sweet potatoes, squash and mac & cheese. I will sneak in veggies in what you are eating and you don’t mind.


• You are talking and pointing so much more now! You know what you want and will definitely let us know. You know so much and are so incredible.


• You now wear a size 5.0M shoe (as of today!), size 4 diapers and 12-18 month one piece outfits and shirts. You are starting to get tall enough for 12-18 month pants.


• You still love the color orange and balls!


• You are very vocal about what you want or DON'T want. You love for us to read to you and are constantly bringing us books to read. It makes my heart VERY happy since I love to read.


• Every single day is an adventure and we could not be more blessed.
  

Love,
Momma