A Very Busy July

Your day now consists of playing with/eating your toes, playing with some new toys like the dinasaur that spits out balls that you can try to catch by crawling, eating rice and oatmeal cereal, and napping.

You are not the best daytime napper my love and Momma is trying new strategies to ensure that you get enough daytime sleep. You sleep wonderfully during the night from around 9P until 6A with an occasional wake up that only requires a touch of comfort to put you back to sleep.

You and Momma and Daddy spent the day with friends. You tried a different water float that was supposed to protect you from the sun. It looks like you enjoyed it for awhile but picture above seems to say "Momma" get me out of this thing.

Grandma went to Delaware to visit with Great Granma and Pappy and your great uncles, aunts and cousins. We had a nice dinner at the Cottage Cafe and somehow managed to get everyone in the picture. The next night Grandma did her traditional visit to Bingo at the Elks which is one of Great Grandma's favorite activities. Here she is with her Bingo buddies Pauline and Wilma.

Great Grandma and Pappy also love to volunteer at the hospital at least two days a week.

When I left Delaware, I came to Burke to visit with you all. We went to Gymboree for some fun activities. The pictures above were after the class and you were so ready for a nap. You seem to like the clown at Gymboree but Momma and I both think he came from a scary movie! With most of the activities you spend most of your time looking at your friend Logan.

Grandma had a wonderful time visiting with you and remains fascinated at how flexible you are as you try to eat those wonderful toes.

You think you are quite the bees knees now that you can sit by yourself! Momma stays close to make sure that your "lean to the right" doesn't result in a "header into the wood of your toy box". We are all blessed to have such a happy baby.
You enjoy your walker but tend to jump up and down expecting it to bounce you like your jumperoo.
You and Momma came to Richmond to visit with Aunt Meg's new baby, Owen Brock and so that Momma could get her hair cut. Katie's Grandma came to visit and brought you a wonderful toy that is designed to help you with crawling. You did as you usually do--studied it with fierce intensity and then fell in love with it. Grandma apologizes for the blurry picture but you were moving a bunch when you were playing with your new object of fascination. Thank you so much Pat!
I love you Hayden Joseph and look forward to my visit with you next weekend.

Grandma

Happy First Fourth of July Hayden!

You and Momma have been enjoying her summer vacation and doing new things together. Here you all are in the big pool at home. The twins supplied your safety float. It took you a while to adjust to the water because it was not the same temperature as your bath water but you seemed to have a good time.

Along came your First Father's day and we took Daddy out to Famous Daves for his ribs and other fixins. Your Daddy's gift for Father's Day was a crossbow and all thatGrandma knows about it is that it will add additional time to hunting season.

Grandma so enjoyed her final scheduled babysitting with you as we awaited Momma's last day of school. I really miss being with you and it is bittersweet that you are experiencing so many firsts and before you know it you will be heading off to school and other life adventures.

Grandma took you to meet Momma's class and they came out to the hall area in small groups to meet you. One of Momma's students was so excited by your visit that he wrote a note to you and drew art on the card too! That was so sweet.

You still love those toes!!

And you are really more happy about that rice cereal. I was talking with Momma the other night around dinner time and you were raising a ruckus in the background. I asked if you were laughing or crying and Momma said that you had discovered "just yelling". Turns out you were in the kitchen when dinner was being fixed and I wondered if you realized that Momma and Daddy's dinner was coming and that yours would come after that. The next night Momma called and said that you were in the bouncy chair in the kitchen and as soon as you heard the chicken hit the pan, you started squealing and yelling again. Has something to do with a dude named Pavlov but you will learn about that later in life. It may be that you just may need an additional meal since you are so enthusiastic about dinner.

You are sitting up more and more on your own. You have also moved into your new digs and are sleeping in your crib. You slept from 9pm until 5am the first night in the crib!

These are just some additional pictures of your last visit to Richmond. You enchanted and entertained Momma's good friends Meg, Kika and Meghann. Meg's son is due to arrive anytime now and you and Momma are planning a visit to Richmond next week in anticipation of the baby's arrival.

I hope to see you next weekend on my way back home from Delaware where I will see all of your Santmyer relatives and will spend time with Greatgrandma and Pappy.

You are enjoying new activities with Momma and seemed to like (and get wiped out) by a visit to Gymboree and are going there again this week.

I hope that you fun in your 4th of July swimsuit and I can't wait to the pictures of the day at Joe's.

Have fun my love

Love always

Grandma Gammon

Firsts for Hayden (FOOD at last) Part 4

"I love my toes!"

"Yummo! Food"

Dear Hayden you have experienced many Firsts in just a couple of months and one of those was getting your own seat at the "big people's table". Prior to that you had sat in your bouncy seat in the dining room and watched everyone else eat. You would watch all of us closely and were imitating us as we chewed and you were definitely interested in the food being consumed. And then came along probably your biggest First-the introduction of rice cereal this past week. You must have known something was up because there were cameras and videos on the ready. Momma had milked it down as instructed so it was pretty thin. The pictures above capture your response. Momma gives the cereal and it looks like you are opening up for more but in reality you were trying to toss the stuff out of your mouth---a very normal reaction. The third picture sort of reflects what may have been going through your head--I know this is not what they have been eating and happy with! Daddy held your hand to encourage you in the new endeavor.

You did pretty well for your first time but your smiles indicated that you were glad that feeding time was done for the first day. On Friday night you really did well with the rice cereal and we all saw this as a great step forward. We keep telling you that you have to get through the rice cereal before the good stuff like sweet potatoes come!

Grandma decided to get a light weight stroller for our walks. At first you didn't know what to do about your little red deuce coupe and even cried when I went to put you in it. We sat on the porch stairs for a while and you checked it out as I showed you how it rolled etc and then you were ready to give it a try. You had decided that this week, sunglasses were not going to be an accessory, so we opted for your cute ball cap and used the sunshade on the stroller to protect your eyes. We did our usual walk and saw many beautiful blooming flowers--when I pointed them out to you, you gave me a look that said "Grandma when you've seen one, you've seem them all". Thank you Stephen and Sidney for giving Grandma a toybox full of toys for you. I brought some of them with me on this trip and you loved the sassy ferris wheel, the crinkly bright colored fabric ball, the Pooh rattle, and the red kangaroo that hung from the visor of the stroller. You have also been enjoying the books that Alison, Pat and Katie had given Grandma to share with you. We are surrounded by very generous and loving friends and family.

You have discovered your toes my handsome grandson and you now spend a great deal of time trying to get them into your mouth (and sometimes you succeed). You love your toes so much that Grandma put you in the playmat and before I knew it you had taken off your socks and your pants! in order to get to those piggies on your feet. You have given Grandma some gorgeous views this past week and have become quite the wiggle worm when diaper changing time comes. Sometimes I feel like I am trying to put a diaper on an octopus as you demonstrate your turning skills and flexibility.

Fun with my toes and Momma!

Well, some would say that having an indoor pool might be over the top but it was a great place to hang out awhile yesterday. Daddy blew it up (by hand) indoors and eventually it was moved out to the deck area. It is Pretty Big! I know you will have fun in the water this summer.

Grandma has to go back to Richmond on Tuesday and I will miss you more than words can describe. But you are with me in my heart each second of each day.

I love you so very much and look forward to more of your Firsts

Grandma