...Hayden for Hire!

February 9, 2008

My son loves to clean....
I have a little tear in my eye....
He has graduated from the Swiffer
to the vacuum, and he actually gets mad
if you don't let him help.
I haven't trained him to do the whole floor yet...
we're still working on "aim for the fuzzies!"

It seems the tree was a bit dusty as well.

Vacuuming....check.
Windex-ing the windows....check.
Light dusting....check.
Toilets......not yet.....I DO hate those the most,
but I won't make him do those 'till he's older
and he's learning how to "aim!"

4 days and counting......

February 4, 2008

Introducing the 'new and improved' Nemo #4!!
I'm very glad Hayden is still
too little to notice that the
new fishie is bright blue, and the
last one was a purpley color!!

And this is kermit the froggie!
He's pretty fun to watch, and I especially
enjoy when he floats around
all spread-eagle-like!

Let's hope all of the solutions
and cleansers and water treatments
we have purchased
keep these little critters alive
for longer than a month!!

Bad Froggie!!

January 31, 2008

Apparently, fish come to our house to die!

Called Petland this morning.
Both frogs have died. And are fuzzy.
Now, Nemo the Beta fish is not looking so good.
He's not very active.
He's kinda fuzzy too.
Oh wait, I think he's dead.

Mr. Petland says that the last batch of frogs were "bad."
Guess the "bad" frogs gave the beta fish
whatever fungus they had.
Awesome.
Poor Nemo.

This whole process has been
totally traumatic!!
How are we not suitable parents for FISH!@#?

Off to Petland to get Nemo #4.
.....and Kermit #3 and #4.
Good grief.

Do not adjust your screen.....

January 30, 2008

I took what I thought was a great
picture of Hayden....

I guess I should leave the photo-taking

to the professionals...
or get myself a pair of glasses!

Quiet ALWAYS = trouble!

January 27, 2008

Mommy is washing dishes in the kitchen.
Hayden is supposed to be watching Dora.
It's too quiet.

I come around the corner to see Hayden
digging in the plant with
the watering can.
Dirt everywhere.

Before I can say anything,
those blue eyes look up at me,
he wags his finger, and says;
"Ee-dah, bad."
("Ee-dah" is his version of Hayden)

He just disciplined himself.
I was speachless.....
....and tried really hard not to laugh.

Apparently, gold fish are not easy.....

January 26, 2008

Nemo II was not well this week.
(Maybe he is mourning the passing of his fish buddy, Nemo I,
who was flushed last week.)
Last night I wanted to cry as I was putting Hayden to bed.
Hayden looks at me with wide eyes, tilts his head,
and says "Nemo, sick."
To which I responded, "yes baby, he is."
Good grief.
How do you explain death to a not-quite-2 year old??
I guess you don't, really.
You just go and get him a new fish.
A very cool beta fish.
And 2 frogs.

Can fish be cute?
He kind of has an underbite.....

Not sure whether the name "Nemo" will stick.....
keep you posted!

Hayden is a Lil' Dipper!!

January 23, 2008

This is footage of Hayden's 3rd swimming "lesson,"
and he LOVES every minute of it!!
(I am so happy that he didn't inherit
my fear of the water!)

Even say the word "swimming" and he goes crazy.
Actually, it's a great "gotta be a good boy or else" bribe.....
He'll 1-2-3 jump! off the side of the pool,
dunk his head, blow bubbles (or drink 1/2 the pool?)
splash around and he's a wild man on the slide!!

I'm 21 Months Old!!

January 21, 2008

It is impossible for me to list all
of the cute things Hayden
is doing these days so,
I will write a 'greatest hits'
list instead....

Hayden is VERY busy.
I know that he is exploring in
an effort to figure everything out,
and so much of what he is doing doesn't
exactly mean to be bad.....
but I could do without
him operating the DVD player
all on his own!

Lately, he has had an obsession
with sitting in the sink!?
It's a good thing Mommy always(?)
has the dishes done....

.....not sure what tall-tales he is
telling the faucet, but he
was chatting away in there for
at least 15 minutes.

He is also quite fascinated
by the whole ritual of hand-washing.
So, we wash our hands
4-6 times a day.
No germs in our house.

I love that he is now better able
to tell me what he wants.
(And he certainly lets me know
what he doesn't want!)
He doesn't fight me anymore when it's time to nap.
He has been trying to convince me
that our day should begin at 6:30 AM.
He will go to the pantry and say "snack,"
or he will go to the fridge
and say "juice."

He loves to take Zeus
for a walk so he can "poop and pee."
And you wouldn't believe
the talking he does as we walk down the street.
It's like he practices every word he knows,
in no particular order,
the minute we get outside.
Hilarious.

He is putting words together.
"push door" "key open" "hot coffee"
"daddy car" "mommy juice"
"more please" "see you"
"light on......"

And, some new Dutch words are in the vocab too:
"mand" (bed) "snoepje" (candy)
"lekker" (yummy) and "los" (let go.)

He loves to "talk" on the phone.
When he is pretending, he chats up a storm.
The minute Grandma or Grandpa
are on the other end,
he just listens and smiles!

We have been working on counting.....
"one, two, six, seven, nine, ten."
Too cute.

I guess it was bound to happen.
My baby is becoming a little boy.

Oh, my little man....

January 14, 2008
Every day is an adventure.
Every day Hayden learns something new.
He always challenges me,
(like a "typical" 2 year old?!)
but no matter what,
he melts my heart.

I'm just goin' for a stroll
with my hand in my pocket!

A little game of Peek-a-boo
with mommy.
He has the face of an angel....

I'll just save the peanut butter
on my lip and
the cheerio stuck to my nose
as a light snack for later!

"....he'll be coming around the island...."

January 1st, 2008
My child is a maniac with his new lawnmower.
He squeals and laughs (I apologize that there is no sound)
as he runs around, and around,
and around.......
and he just drags it along if he is losing speed!
Now you see why
I am tired at the end of the day!!

Happy New Year!

We had our traditional New Year's Day dinner
at Oma & Opa Deters' house.
After dinner, we watched Hayden & Brody
entertain themselves
with a wagon...
meant for the MegaBlocks!

First, Hayden pulled Brody around....

Oma had to help pull Hayden 'cause
Brody's not quite strong enough....yet.
(We have no doubt that these two are going to
get into all kinds of trouble together!!)

Then Oma pulled them around together....
Hayden didn't like being on the bottom.
(We later found out that there were a few
renegade MegaBlocks under his bum!)

Oma and her boys!!

Merry HoHo!!

Here are some precious moments from
Christmas morning....

As soon as Hayden saw his stocking he knew
that something about this morning
was different!

Don't look too closely.....
it's Mommy without makeup!

Grandma & Grandpa Gould
got Hayden a Home Depot tool bench.
Grandpa had it all set up so Hayden didn't have
to wait....what a smart guy!

No matter how many toys are opened,
boxes and paper are always the most fun!!

Hayden really loved ripping
into his presents this year.....the only
downfall was that he also loved
ripping into everyone else's!

Nice.....

......or a bit naughty?!
(Looks like OptimashPrime beat out DarthTater)

Our annual Deters family Christmas photo.

Hayden sure loved Grandma's Santa.
He would run over to give him kisses,
then say "cheese" and
wait for us to take a picture!

My Superheroes....
Spiderman has added a new piece to his uniform.....
his Home Depot safety goggles.

I'm 20 Months Old!!

Is this not the face of a true boy??
A bruise on his forehead, rosy cheeks from
running around like a banshee,
a very dirty face and crumbs
all over his shirt!!

......did I mention we now have a
parrot in the house.....
Hayden's vocabulary is growing
daily so I made a list
of all of the new words he has
learned this month.

Deep breath and here goes;
water, push, one, two, please, hippo, cow,
diaper, door, apple, sauce, house, song,
pool, swim, hug, bye, fishy, plane,
mouse, coat, arm, supper, see you, soon,
peek-a-boo, close, sit, hanger, open, mow, book
sleep, mouth, out, chair, toast, mess, kick, star,
windy, peep, up, down, tickle, sharp, bark, go,
hammer, clean, key, purple, green, back
Whew!

He will repeat everything we say so
Ralph and I are being very careful
about the words we use!!

Don't we look crisp and clean?!

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!
May your Christmas
be filled with wonderful memories,
and your New Year
full of love and happiness!!

Thank goodness we have

a fabulous photographer on call
at all times....
(Love you Nick!!)

Sinterklaas with the Deters/Gales

For all of you non-Dutchies.....
Sinterklaas is a Dutch tradition not
far off from our very own Santa Claus.
Except instead of elves, Sinterklaas has a little
black dude (white guy covered in soot)
following him around instead of an elf.
And he fills wooden shoes instead of stockings.
And he throws candy at kids.
And if you are bad,
he takes you back to Spain in his bag....
Any questions? Ask Ralph.

On December 5th, we have a
secret gift exchange.
The unique and fabulous part about this
custom, is that you have to make something.
You write a rhyme about the person you have
picked, and you craft a 'surprise.'
You only spend $25 on the gift itself, which
can be hidden in the surprise,
or you can leave a clue as to its location.
So fun!!

Henk got his gift first...
a stick of dynamite for his short fuse...
filled with new PJ's!

Tessa got a Wonder Woman "barbie" doll....
'cause she does way too much.
Some slippers and bath stuff were inside
to help her relax!

I got my very own, custom made,
Louis Vuitton purse....
and inside were "Channel" earrings!

Eveline got a cast because she
had broken her foot,
and there was a mirror and a
garlic press inside!

Ralph got a whole wheel of Gouda cheese,
and inside were messy cheese buns
filled with clues.....
to find his new underwear!

Scott had a gooey, chocolatey, pizza delivery
that he had to dig through
for his clues....
to find his crisp white t-shirts!

You may be thinking that we are crazy....
but it really is a blast.
We need new recruits for next year
if anyone is interested....