Happy!!!

Only a mere 10,963 pictures this year!!!

Can you believe today is Hayden's second birthday?!? It is so crazy to me that two entire years have gone by. Does it ever slow down?!? It has been such a great year for Hayden. He went from cruising to running, from not being sure about table food to eating nothing but table food and from saying around 20 words to mimicking every word out of your mouth. Oh, and somewhere along the way he was blessed with his little brother Sawyer! He has gone from 9 month clothes to 24 month clothes and size 3 shoes to size 6 shoes. He has gained around 4 pounds and 5 inches... yes, he's our tiny little guy and he's even gotten his 2 year molars! He is still the sweetest little man you will ever meet and I am pretty sure that is never going to change. He wakes up and goes to bed smiling and puts a smile on your face while he's at it. His Gigi likes to say he is her "medicine". He just has a way of making everything better! Sometime during his day he gives you a glimpse at his "terrible two's", but those times are definitely not the majority. His little brain is so smart he can't help but be "terrible" every once and a while... he just knows without a shout of a doubt exactly what he wants and if he can't figure out how to get it he gets frustrated. Who can blame him?!? You can always see the wheels turning and the brain working. He has learned so much in one short year. He'll be teaching me before long. He's also my little chatterbox. Between the two of us our house is not very quiet during the day! Much of his lingo is exactly that... "HIS lingo", but it won't be long before we will all understand exactly what he is saying all of the time. For now, I still enjoy translating for him!:) He loves his toys, LOVES playing outside and really loves watching his "shows". If he had it his way we would do nothing but watch Toy Story movies and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with a little playing with his toys on the side all.day.long. Typical 2 year old, I know! Here is an updated like/dislike list for you!

What Hayden Likes:
- Puzzles - The boy loves a good puzzle! He likes a few different kinds, but his favorite seems to be the ones that make noise. He has one with all different farm animals and he will make the noise the animal makes before he even puts the puzzle piece in. So cute! He just got a new one for his birthday with all different vehicles that make noise so I'm sure we'll start hearing all those sounds within the week!
- Helping with Laundry - I know this sounds funny, but he really does love helping me with the laundry. I let him sit up on top of the dryer and put the clothes that need to be washed into the washing machine and he thinks he is so cool! It helps me to keep an eye on him while I am doing laundry and he LOVES it! He gets so excited each time he places an item into the washer... cutest thing ever!
- Balls - This is beyond a like, it is most definitely a love. And he is so good at throwing them. I have pretty much had to ban them from inside the house because I just know he is going to destroy something with one of them soon. He doesn't quite understand the difference between the soft and hard balls yet!
- Outside - He simply cannot get enough of it. I have absolutely no idea how we are going to successfully make it through the winter without getting frostbite! We don't even have to be going out to do anything specific. He just wants to go outside. We figure out what we are going to do once we are out there! Most of the time we make something out of nothing!:)
- Mickey Mouse - I almost put TV as a like, but it's not actually the TV that he likes... it is one particular show that comes on the TV that he likes! We don't let him watch an awful lot of TV, but when he does get to watch it he wants it to be Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It is so funny because I have tried all different types of shows, and sometimes they will catch his attention, but for the most part he always goes back to MMC. It is definitely his favorite.
- Milk - Still a huge milk fan. We now have to keep it away until after he eats because otherwise it is hard to get him to eat his food. I guess it is a good thing that he likes the milk so much, but it sure is hard to get him to eat all the food we want him to!:)
- Dogs - He's always liked them and probably always will. He's not quite as affectionate with all dogs as he is with Sydney(he LOVES her!), but he does really enjoy all different types of dogs. He always gets so excited when he sees one, and usually has to go up and pet them. He really loves when they will play fetch with him. Oh, and size doesn't matter to him at all. The bigger the better!!!
- Friends and Family - So, he's a little shy when you first meet him(well very clingy to be exact), but once the initial meeting part is over and you are ready to play he loves you! I love watching his face when he sees someone he knows because he just gets so excited!
- BUZZ - Toy Story 3 came out at the perfect time for us, because he just absolutely loves it. Every time we walk in a store that has the Toy Story stuff up all we hear is "Buuuzzzz, Buuuuzzzzz!" I'm not quite sure why he chose to like Buzz, but he did and that is all we hear about. Buzz, buzz, buzz! He will watch any of the 3 movies in their entirety... yes all 2 hours. Crazy huh?!?
- Jumping - "Yump, yump" is what you hear over and over in our household! If we would let him he would jump off of anything. No fear. It must be a boy thing. Whatever it is, he can't get enough of it!!!
- Running - Walking is not even on Hayden's radar. If he is not sleeping, he is going at full speed at all times, and this means running! Sometimes when I see what his hair looks like in the mornings I am pretty sure he was even running in his sleep! He has more energy than the energizer bunny. I am certain of it!!!
- Books - Loves them. I will soon have to post a video for you of him reading one of his books. So cute. He really gets into them. He especially loves to read them to you!
- Climbing - So under likes I have had jumping and running, and now I am adding climbing. Yep, he's an active little guy. And ALL boy. We do not sit still all.day.long... unless one of our "shows" happen to come on! You can't take your eyes off of him for one little second. I promise you if you do he will be up on top of something you have absolutely no idea how he got up on. Crazy!
- Bath time - Another one of his forever likes. We have such a great time in the bath. Bubbles, toys and lots of splashing!:)
- Slides - "Side, side, side" is what I hear each and every time we pass the playground when entering or leaving the neighborhood. He likes to slide so much we are thinking about getting him one of those fold up slides to play with at the house. He just loves it. And he loves all types... he just wants to slide, slide, slide!
- Juice - Yep, you read that right... I finally gave in and started giving the boy a little juice. A LITTLE being the key word! We put about 3/4 water and then a splash of juice. He was never really a fan of water, but he will drink as much of this concoction as we will give him!

What Hayden Dislikes:
- Time Out - Not that I think any toddler likes time out, but I just cannot get over how much Hayden dislikes it. He gets so upset when you just mention the phrase. I truly think he is just upset with himself for upsetting us, but who knows. I guess it would be pretty awful to be stuck in a corner with nothing to do for a whole 1-2 minutes!
- Being told what to do - Dislikes it so much it lands him in time out most of the time. This is why the tantrums always start. He just can't stand for anyone to tell him what to do. We are working on this, but it may be a while before he gets it!

What Hayden is not sure about:
- His Potty - OK, so we got a potty at around 15-18 months when the pediatrician told us to go ahead and get one and put in the the bathroom where ours was just so he got used to it. Well, he is more than used to it. He knows exactly what to do with it and most of the time chooses not to. There are days he will go and sit right on it and go potty, but then there are days he will have nothing to do with it. It may be a LONG while before he is potty trained! I know I just need to take off the diaper and make him do it, but I am just not there yet. Soon enough I suppose!:)
- The Telephone - Sometimes he will chat away on it and other times he just wants to take it and press buttons. I still don't think he exactly gets it. It always seems like he is looking for the person to show up in the room or something. I explain it to him each and every time that we are just "talking", but I still think he is not fully understanding. It is super cute when he does talk on it though!:)
- Characters - Like Mickey Mouse, Elmo, Buzz, Santa Claus, etc. Sometimes he is okay with them and actually very interested. But, for the most part he is petrified. As soon as I think he has come around and is not scared of them anymore we go and see one and he freaks out. I'm sure it won't be long before he is dying to see them!
- Grocery shopping - I know this seems like a funny thing to put on here, but it is so true. OK, well the Kroger down the street from our house is somewhere I can always go because they have the TV Kart's, but that place doesn't count as grocery shopping. Hayden just thinks he is going to watch a show! Publix on the other hand where all they have to entertain him is a little wheel on the cart is another story. There are times he gets into it and loves it(especially the meat, cheese and cookie part!), but there are other times he starts fussing as soon as he sees the sign. I guess he is thinking he has better things to do!!!

Now that you know all about 2 year old Hayden, here's a few 2 year old pictures for you!

Our little cutie pie!

Who knew one little boy could have so many different expressions?!?

I get a kick out of those boots every time I put them on him!

Sweet boy!

Can you tell we had ourselves some fun?!?

In between eating rocks we got this picture!

Gotta love the tie...

And I can just hear Hayden's "Yay!" right now!!!

We threw some leaves...

And some rocks!!!

And this was in the middle of playing a game of "Where did it go?!?" Fun times!

Barefoot and lovin' it!

Once again, our good friend Kahlia helped us capture these great pics of Hayden. Thank you so much for getting it all on camera Kahlia. You did a great job! This past weekend we had Hayden a birthday party and today we celebrated by taking him to Chuck-E-Cheeses and Build-A-Bear. He has had a great time celebrating his big day. Hopefully I will have time to get all the pictures uploaded and share them with you next week. All the celebrating was SO much fun! We hope you had the greatest 2nd birthday ever big boy! We love getting to watch you grow each day and figure new things out! We can't wait to see what next year holds for you. You have a huge heart, full of love, and you are so good about sharing a little piece of that with everyone. We hope that is something that never changes about you. You can put a smile on someones face who hasn't seen one in weeks and that is a gift we hope you always carry with you. You are such a special little guy and we are so proud to have you as a son. We love you Hayden!