I need to start this entry off with a little letter to my blog. Excuse us while we have a candid moment:

Dear Little Blog, I have a confession. I've been a bad blogger. I've neglected you for oh say.... 37 days, 8 hours, and 42 minutes. But who is counting...However, I do I love you little blog and I'm sorry. Life gets busy, but that's no excuse. I must make time in my life for the blogs that I love. I will no longer let "busy", "tired" and "hyperactive hysterical baby" get in the way of our relationship. I promise. Love always, Me.

Ok, that apology out of the way, let's move on. We have a baby here to talk about.

And oh boy has Hayden been up to quite a bit.

Quite a bit #1: Expanding his vocabulary

Hayden is at an age where he learns a new word every week. This weeks word: Truck. Now, being a Texan and a girl who drives a truck, I happen to like this word. The only problem with my son is that now everything that has wheels and moves is indeed, a truck. Even that in itself really isn't too much of a problem considering if you ask him to find a bike, he can point it out. Still, he will call it a "truck". The issue with his new found vocabulary came one day last week when we went to the park. Hayden became mesmerized by a shiny fire red sport car parked on the side of the playground, away from the mommy mini vans and fuel efficient compact cars. It wasn't enough that I was already nervous that he was "hovering" in the general area of the car, they built the park awfully close to the parking lot. We had two hissy fits and a distraction sippy cup to lure him back to the swings. It was then that my child of budding eloquent speech decides to bust out with his fancy new word yelling "TRUCK! TRUCK!!", all the while his arm was straight out repeatedly pointing at the car. The owner of said shiny fire red sports car looked at me horrified. His eyes read, "Lady, your child did not just call my $60,000 luxury sports car a truck..."

But oh, he just did.

I cracked a joke about being from the country and when the man didn't flinch, I scooped up my child and shuffled off to prevent further humiliation.

Maybe next weeks word will be "Get-over-yourself". Hey, a girl can dream....

Quite a bit #2: Learning to use a spoon

Hayden is also learning to use his mealtime utensils, which is a process that includes a cute little spoon shaped like broccoli and a fork shaped like a carrot.

Why Hello, Broccoli. And Good Day to you, Carrot.

It also is a process that requires a lot of patience. I spend over an hour cooking a meal that takes all of twenty seconds to end up being used as shampoo rather than consumed as dinner. It gets messy fast. I have however learned that tomato sauce can make ones hair very shiny and tomato-y smooth. Seriously, quit buying your expensive hair products. Tomato sauce is so 2011….

But we cheer when food gets on the fork and pull out the confetti when it actually makes the commute to his mouth. Occasionally Hayden swells up in pride and claps for himself, big toothy grin and all. I really am proud of him.

Quite a bit #3: Identifying objects

We are having so much fun with picture books right now. He can identify about 75% of the pictures in each of his books when he is asked to find them. He can even tell you on select words what the picture is. Let me tell you, it's amazing. I am floating on a cloud of mommy pride. He can recognize all sorts of foods, animals, and automobiles. If we are outside and a plane passes by, he stops in his tracks to find it in the sky, stretched out on tippy toes, pointing as high as his little baby legs will propel him. Go Go Haybaby legs. I've even caught him "flying" his Fisher Price airplane around the living room making plane noises. He also makes several animal noises. His current favorite is a cow, which he has appropriately added a B sound on the front of.

Bbbmmmoooo. Bbbmmoooo.

So, we took a trip to the zoo and one to Cabellas to see all of God's animal creations, both alive and well....taxidermied. He spent the whole time at both locations pointing out animals and making the corresponding animal noise. I could take him to the zoo everyday and never get tired of it. Ever.

Oh yes, that's a monkey butt....

Dad teaching Hayden about the Cabella's animals.

I love this stage in his development. He is soaking up life like a sponge and painting every inch of his life canvas with the most vibrant of colors. Simply put, he is a piece of art to treasure. It is a pleasure as a parent to watch.

So needless to say through all this, my little boy is being...well, a little boy. He's your regular dirt collecting, rock digging, park playing, free spirited little 18 month old. He reminds me every single day to take a step back from my frustrations and just be. At the end of the day if there's a stain on my shirt and a crooked pony tail hair-do, it's a "badge of achievement" rather than a something to stress over.

I love love love this kid. And I love being his mommy. Happy Monday. Bbbmmooo.