arigato

 i would never call Hayes "aggressive" in any sense. he is mellow to a fault & so taking him places has never been a problem. we went to dinner this weekend with my little siblings & Hayes felt the need to impress. his hands were into everything, reaching for every loose piece of food, condiment, napkin or drink. i can only compare it to an olympic curler, except not the guy that's actually curling, the two *athletes* that are push-brooming the ice particles out of the disc's path: these guys.

he grabs with fierce determination.

while we're all trying to eat, and hence not focusing 100% of attention on where his paws are going, he grabbed a hold of a ramekin full of honey mustard and flung his arms outward. the ramekin went flying right into the pants of a row of Japanese tourists, that didn't speak English. now, i'm not trying to downplay it, but there were probably three small specks of mustard on this guy's A|X jeans. we said sorry over and over again. we were out of napkins long before this when he put his hands into my pasta, so we couldn't offer them any.
they were not happy. they performed a full on 7 minute long wipe down of his entire outfit and shoes, all the while staring coldly at us & Hayes. i know this is straight out of the embarrassed mother playbook, but it was definitely my first experience, and it was definitely awkward. i wish i would have known how to cross the language barrier & help them out, or at least known what cultural gesture to make them understand -- he's just a baby, with wild helicopter arms.

and seemingly unrelated, but just wait for it...

i'm loooving these ballet flats. i can't/won't take them off.

i came home from said dinner & they too were covered in honey mustard.