14 Months

My favorite age yet! Hayden has been so much fun in the last few weeks. Even with all of our traveling, he's been happy and full of joy (okay, flying on an airplane isn't so full of joy, for me at least. . . he doesn't scream or cry, he just wants to move everywhere, which is not possible in an 18" x 18" airline seat!). What amazes me the most, though, is his communication. Each day he seems to learn a new sign or word. And he understands so much of what I say, pointing to his nose or teeth or head when I ask or waving on request.

And he's getting much better about saying words when I tell him what an object is, like a book or ball or car or bib. It's so fun to watch him notice something then try to say the word for it or make the sign. He pauses for a brief second, spits out the word or sign, then looks up at me and smiles, so proud of himself for getting it right.

Here's his current vocabulary:

ball ("ba")

book ("bu")

up ("puh")

mama

dada

papa (for Grandpa. . . so cute to hear him start saying that in Florida last week!)

water ("wawa")

moo

baa

neigh

And he signs these words:

baby

ball

eat

water

milk

more

all done

shoes

hat

book

sleep

bird

dog

cat

airplane

car

fish

bath

wash your hands

Maybe being able to communicate so well is making him so happy. It seems like he's always giggling. And he's so friendly with people and loves getting laughs. . . he's definitely a flirt and a ham.

A final data point for 14 months is that he now outweighs our fat cats! I haven't had Hayden on an official scale, but I picked up fat cat #1 (Newman) today and thought that he felt light. At 21 1/2 pounds (each cat weighs that) the word "light" should never cross my lips when discussing one of our felines. I've been lugging Hayden around alot lately and I can say with confidence that he is definitely heavier than Newman was today!

A day of magic

A day after the Cobb's had headed home, we headed to the Magic Kingdom with Grandma and Grandpa and with no expectations. Doing Disney with kids (and especially with a toddler), during spring break (one of Disney’s busiest times) is much different than how we used to do Disney—running from ride to ride to get in as many as possible, practically closing the park down. Walking through the turnstile with no expectation other than enjoying the day (despite paying $71 for a ticket!) made dealing with lines and crowds much more bearable.

We stopped for a look at Cinderella's lovely castle on our way back to Fantasy Land. One area that I used to speed right through (pre-kid) was now our first destination and where we spent the majority of the day.

We hopped in a 15-minute line for the Tea Cups. By the time we were off the ride, the line was over twice that long and growing. We tried to beat the crowds by being early, but we only made it early enough to enjoy a short line for one ride!

On the ride Hayden decided he wanted to keep on eye on things. He kept a firm grip on the edge of the cup as we whirled around. No big smiles, but no screams of terror, either. I called it a success!

Next, we headed over to Dumbo. 40 minute wait for a 60 second ride. . . Once I got over my germ phobia and decided it was okay for Hayden to get on the ground, the waiting was much more bearable. Holding a squirmy, 22 pound toddler for 40 minutes is a workout nearly as tough as any of the marathon training I've been doing!

Hayden really loved this one and the smiles started sneaking out!

Our next stop was the Whinnie-the-Pooh play area. This was Hayden's favorite spot of the day, crawling through giant honey pots and laughing with the other kiddos. The big grins were abundance now!

If only we could have kept his shoes on!

He exhausted himself enough to promptly fall asleep as soon as we put him in the stroller!

We pushed our way through several traffic jams and decided to bypass the 50 minute wait for It's a Small World and the 70 minute wait for the Haunted Mansion. Grandma and Grandpa volunteered to babysit for the rest of Hayden's catnap so Rich and I could redeem the fast passes he picked up when we entered the park for Space Mountain. The regular line snaked about 50 yards past the sign that declared a 100 minute wait. We were happy to get on after a 10 minute wait with our fast passes. I think that's one of Disney's best ideas yet!

We reunited with Hayden and the grandparents and made our way over to the Tiki Bird Show. That was all for Hayden. . . I could do without ever seeing it again in my life, but he LOVES birds. And this day was all about Hayden having fun (and us having fun watching him having fun). Luckily, we had only a 10 minute wait, with barely any crowd (I guess I'm not the only one who could do without ever seeing it. . .). And Hayden was delighted with the colorful, singing birds.

After 5 rides and lots of lines, we headed for the exit. And we all still had smiles on our faces. . .

and Mickey in our hearts!

A day of adventure

Finally back at home, I'm getting around to sifting through the 5+ GIGAbytes of pictures. Yeah, I went a little crazy. Needless to say, you're going to get a glimpse of our trip in much-smaller-than gigabyte size pieces.

Our trip had two main purposes: visit Grandpa & Grandma (who live in Orlando) and reunite with the Cobb's. We also landed a few more bonuses throughout the week: visiting 4 more grandparents, life-long family friends, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Oh, and we can't forget Disney World!

I fee like you already know about our day at Animal Kingdom if you read Erin's blog, but here's the Shertzer viewpoint. . .

In addition to the Cobb's, Hayden's Aunt Laura and her boyfriend, Chad, joined us for the day of adventure. We had to pose for the obligatory photo in front of the tree of life!



And then the camera's were out for the rest of the day! (check out the view from Erin's camera here)

I grew up in Orlando and have been to Disney World countless times. I know the Magic Kingdom and Epcot by heart. I had never been to the Animal Kingdom before (well, except for a quick run through it around mile 16 of the Disney Marathon), but that isn't what made this trip to Disney different than any other. In our entire day there, we went on 1 ride. Yep, 1 ride. We walked through several animal-viewing areas but only made it on 1 ride. It's quite a different pace when you have kids along!

Hayden had a great time, rides or not, just watching the people and soaking in the atmosphere.

He was especially exited to see some colorful fish, waving his hand to sign "fish" and peering over for a better look.

Then, we set off on our safari. The ladies took in the sights while little Ephraim took in a nap!

Hayden saw some birds,

some gators,

and a giraffe,

and then had to take in a nap himself!

He was feeling the rhythm on the drums. . .

Erin and Sarah took a little spin on a dinosaur:

We found a few more animals. . .

Then headed to the boneyard for some toddler fun.

And Hayden caught one more nap before we headed back to Grandma & Grandpa's.

The Magic

M-I-C-see you real soon-K-E-Y-why, because we love you-M-O-U-S-E. . .

On the road again!

This time, we're in Florida, visiting my family. Not just my family, though. The Cobb's came down for the long weekend to visit as well. Disney World, family, and friends. . . sounds like a good trip to me!

I've already taken over 300 pictures, so I'll be working on them for a while. I just couldn't keep you waiting an entire week with nothing new around here! On Friday, Erin and I headed out with our cameras for some photoshoot action.

With some tips from the master (thank you, Erin!) I managed to get a few good shots. This is one of my favorites:

More to come. . .

60 seconds in the life of a daper young toddler

I'll be honest. . . yesterday I was just looking for a reason to take pictures of my handsome little man. And this is what I got in the span of a minute. . . boy is he busy! Anyway, Samantha, who is expecting her first boy in about a week and who has a very girly-girl (read, pink-loving) 2 1/2 year old daughter, and who is a lover of pink herself, just recently commented that all those little blue clothes she's preparing are actually starting to grow on her. I think just about every mom, at some point, fancies having a daughter to outfit in beautiful little dresses. But I have found (and I think my friend J.J. will find, who just welcomed a son to her family yesterday!) that dressing a boy can be just as fun. I mean, can it get an more adorable than this:

Within a second he was off to the toy basket:


And then over to his block car. . . gotta check under the hood:

Oh imagine that, a block! A block that is round, resembling a ball. And when Hayden sees a ball he starts saying "ba, ba, ba" and signing "ball".

Then, the obligatory "what? who, me?" look over at mom:

And finally, a little cheer for the daper dude himself. . . yay!

DING! 60 seconds is up!