hayesie today

Hayes has been slaying me with his cuteness lately. while i realize i just did a pretty in depth post about Hayes for his second birthday, in the last 2 weeks this kid has just taken off! and even though this blog's content has been drifting a bit from it's purpose, i can't help but reel it in and get some things down to remember for later. there is absolutely nothing terrible about 2 so far. (i can hear the echoes of mothers everywhere saying "wait until he's three." moms sure know how to bust some chops!) besides navigating the occasional emotional fall-apart, he is a delight.

✩ as stated in Cal's 8 month letter - Hayes is incredibly tender.
he wells up with tears when Kala starts singing "you'll be in my heart" to Tarzan - every.time. but then it's over and he signs "more" and "mama oo-oos" (animals can be called by their name or the sound they make interchangeably, try to keep up guys.) i feel bad that he keeps watching it and feeling so overcome, but he asks for "Tas" (Tarzan) daily.


✩ his verbalized trains of thought have been getting longer and longer. "Gigi's howss? Otay! Wess go! Baby Tao, too? wess go!"


✩ he loves to talk about who will be where. he'll list all his cousins, or our whole family (Mama, Daddy, Hayes, Baby Tao.) and if i forget someone he'll add them to the list - "daddy too?"


✩ he loves when i sing songs and let him fill in blanks, and is asking for "G!" whenever we're in the car. I sing AB_DEF_HIJK_____QR_TUV____. and he fills in those letters with a loud and energetic "C! G! emnoP!" it's proven a good way to teach him letters and numbers.


✩ the kid counts to 13. not even kidding. i could not for the life of me figure out how this happened until we were walking down stairs and i realized i always count the stairs out loud when we go up or down. sure enough... he started counting with me. 


✩ his insistence on clothing himself is still rampant. although i can usually choose what he wears again. except for shoes. he lists his shoes (boots? geen shoes? yeh-yow shoes? wha-ite shoes? fee-fops?) and then picks. 


✩ the kid loves to try and hit kids. but his wind up is so slow and obvious that i see it from yards away and can divert him before he ever lands a blow. it's usually kids that are smaller then him too- what is with that? with that being said, what kid gets timeout for almost hitting a kid? this guy.

✩ his obsession with animals now includes animal's mamas. he loves to find the bigger animal and the smaller animal and say "mama jaff (giraffe) baby jaff." 


✩ the guy would color all day and night if i let him. throw in the occasional play-doh session, a couple shots at the basketball hoop, and running around with seemingly no end destination in sight at the park, eating adult size portions of pasta, whole cans of pears, and round after round of apple juice sippy cups that would put Colin Farrell under the table.


✩ he loves to specify "a yittle" or "a yot" of something. his current go-to food is kosher dill pickles. he calls them "peek-co" and then "a yot of peek-cos" and my poor tired ovaries do a little dance every time.  


✩ if i could have someone else do the pregnancy thing and i do the delivery and baby raising thing i would have 10 more. seriously, nothing is better (or harder, or more tiring, or more frustrating, or blissful.)

if you're interested, here's a quick list of where we get Hayes' clothes. 

(i'm hoping this will save me time in the future as it's definitely a FAQ.)

occasionally i'll pick up random tops elsewhere, but the majority are thrifted or from American Apparel. their soft tees, cardigans, and hoodies are unbeatable. 


jeans are either (girls') BabyGap or boys' H&M. church pants are thrifted or the super cheap twill from H&M. i make all of Hayes' shorts myself from jeans that get too short but still fit in the waist - if they are a really awesome fit i'll leave them for Cal to grow into. i do this by either cutting them and letting them fray or i'll hem them if they aren't denim.


shoes are my weakness and i will happily spend more on his shoes now that i have Cal coming up the size ranks to wear them as well. CPW baby. CPW. 
Hunter wellies, Chucks, H&M, Freshly Picked moccs, Old Navy flip-flops & Minnetonka moccasins are heavy in the rotation. i recently picked up some Superga sneakers for him (on sale) and they look like the sturdiest little things. once he grows into them they should last forever. 


the way we dress Hayes isn't "sweet" or classic (try as i may i can't do saltwaters, i just can't!) or label-heavy. we dress him like we dress ourselves. one day he'll want to dress himself and if we don't have anything we deem "ugly" to offer him, we should be good, yes?