Growing, growing...

My new favorite thing is to watch Hayden eat. He has developed this amazing independence which will not allow me to feed him anything other than yogurt or the occasional apple sauce for breakfast. All other meals are nearly impossible to get through without a spoon in his wee little hand. Meal times are now mess times and require more constant bathing, but I love it! He has gone from this a baby to this assertive, confident little boy who wants to do things for himself. He loves the spoon, and requires it for all food, even bread. However, when eating rice he holds the spoon in one hand and eats his rice with the other hand. I love this developmental stage and I love watching him be so proud of himself when he can do it all on his own.

He is also starting to enjoy coloring. He does pretend to eat the crayon about every 30 seconds so that I'll say excitedly, "Don't do it!". Then he giggles, colors a little more and then repeats the process. I love watching his little hands move, and the fascination on his face when he's created something. I'm not one of those parents that sees his first drawing and declares him Picasso, but I gotta tell ya...it melts my heart to see little scribbles on a piece of paper courtesy of my very own probably-left-handed baby boy.

He is also terrible smitten with his dog as of late. He wants to hug him and hold him and lay on him, none of which are much fun for Oscar. He takes it in stride, but I find myself having to separate them at least once a day by putting Oscar on the other side of the baby gate to get a break. Hayden means well but sometimes Oscar can't take all the poking, prodding and pulling. He's a good sport.