Blah, blah, blah

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. We have been busy over the past couple of weeks with all sorts of things (none of which I can remember right now) and it is amazing how easily time has slipped away from me.

Hayden has suddenly become very chatty! He has been "talking" for some time now, but over the last 2 weeks, he has really been testing out his vocal capabilities. This sometimes manifests as laughing, yelling, cooing or blahing-today has been a yelling day. For those of you who have spent any time at our house, you realize that this creates a problem because our dog, Sage, does not appreciate Hayden's vocalizations. Competition ensues. Hayden yelling and Sage whining and barking. It's enough to drive you insane. Strangely, our cat, Aston, often "yells" which sounds eerily similar to Hayden's chatter. In fact, a long time ago, (in our previous life) we had a party and had to lock Aston in the guest room so he wouldn't escape. This resulted in loud cat-yelling and one of our guests asked me if we had a baby crying in the other room! The only animal who is quiet around here is Alba and that is only because she hates everything and everyone. Because of this, she follows the rule "If you don't have anything nice to
say, don't say anything at all".

So now that we can hear the beginning of language development, another competition has begun. This time it is between Matt and me. When I leave the room, I can hear Matt saying "Dada dada dada..." and I am constantly pointing to myself and telling Hayden "Mama mama mama..." when Matt is away. You may think that I have the competitive advantage since I am with Hayden all day long, but everyone knows that "d" is easier to say than "m", so I actually have to work longer and harder. I think we both have a long way to go!

This video is not really exciting to watch, but it highlights some of Hayden's newest chatter-so turn up the volume! He only performs when he can't see the camera.