Hayden And The Narwhal

While learning about all the animals that live in the arctic, one animal in particular struck a chord with Hayden and he got a SERIOUS case of 'gotta have it' syndrome.

We checked all of the regular haunts where we go for little plastic critters - no dice.

Problem: nobody has this flippin' narwhal, and we think we figured out why:  It was created in 1997 and supplies are limited.

Anyway, Grandpa and Uncle Drew were driving from Texas to California and taking the Pacific Coast Highway right through Monterey.  I asked if they would be kind enough to check out the aquarium gift shop and see what they have to say about it.  It was at this point that Dad made a classic blunder.  He promised Hayden that Grandpa was going to bring him a Narwhal.

Monterey Bay Aquarium's gift shop was a bust.  But there was a silver lining: Uncle Drew thought Dad was messing with him - sending him on a 'snipe hunt' for a toy that didn't exist of an animal that didn't exist, but the gift shop corroborated Dad's story that the Narwhal is, in fact, a real animal and apologized that the toy version was out of stock...so Dad was off to the Interwebs to find the magic.

Amazon had 2 left.  5 minutes later, they had 1 left.

It was delivered to Grandma and Grandpa's house so Dad wouldn't look like a total chump and when Grandpa finally got it into Hayden's hands he freaked out.  In a good way.

Hayden's Winter Program

Hayden's school has a 'Winter Program' where the kids spend a few weeks learning about things related to winter/arctic/cold stuff and then sing songs about them.  It's quite fun, and Hayden's class had two songs to sing.

Song One - 'It Is Snowing' (to the tune of 'Frere Jacques')

It is snowing,
It is snowing,
On my head...
On my head...
I need a hat,
I need a hat,
On my head.

There are a few more body parts that get snow on them, but the theme is the same.

Song Two - 'Walking In The Arctic' (to the tune of 'Walking In The Arctic')

Walking in the arctic,
Walking in the arctic,
What do we see?
What do we see?
A great big penguin
A great big penguin
And he says Staaaand UP!
Staaaand UP!
Waddle waddle this way...
Waddle waddle this way...
Waddle waddle that way...
Waddle waddle that way...
And sit down.
And sit down.

Hayden using his binoculars in The Arctic

There are a LOT of animals in the arctic, apparently.  And they all seem to want you to stand up, then do something this way then do something that way and then sit down.

Hayden really enjoyed singing to everyone and we were glad to see him participate in something that took this much preparation and practice because he was able to see the result of all of the time they put into getting ready for the program.

Taking 'I've Got Your Nose' to the Next Level

Dad has made a huge mistake.  HUGE.

Several weeks ago, Dad was playing with Hayden and decided to pull the ol' "I've got your nose" trick out of the bag.  You know the one - where your thumb is tucked in between the index and middle finger on your hand and looks like the victim's nose.

Well, Hayden picked up that little torch and became an expert in no time and then added his own particular and peculiar little twist:  he pretends to throw it away.

Hayden does have one slight misconception though.  He tries to actually remove your nose from your face.  He's very strong and very determined and very ruthless.  And once he's content that he has your nose in hand, he does a full Major League windup and throws it as far as his imagination will allow it to go.

We can try to catch it, we can try to block the throw, but all that does is initiate a do-over.  And do-overs are rough because your nose is already hurting from the first attempt.

It's best to just let the monster win.

Hayden, Please Stop Trying to Crush My Skull

We have made a huge mistake.  We watched Kung-Fu Panda.

Not that 'Panda' is a bad movie.  It's actually quite funny, but it's one of those movies that incites violence.

Example: One day when Dad was laying on the floor innocently watching TV, Hayden climbed up on the coffee table and jumped on Dad.  Then he did it again.

Lather...rinse...repeat.

After a while, Hayden realized that Dad was still breathing so he decided to up the ante.  He squirmed his way up to Dad's head and began to sit on it, extend to a sort of crouching position and then fall - bottom first - back to the comfort of Dad's cranium.

The thing Dad dislikes most about this is not so much that it hurts.  It's that it's excruciating!

After the third episode of this behavior in a week, Dad decided to do a little investigating to figure out why Hayden needed to pulverize Dad's already softened melon.  It turns out it's because that's what happened in the movie.  Panda is kung fu-ing the Leopard and they fall down some stairs.  While falling, Leopard lands on a stair and Panda lands on the Leopard's head.

When Dad asked Hayden why he was crushing Dad's head, Hayden said "you're Leopard - I'm Panda!"

Everything came rushing back at that point...the exact scene and everything - apparently Hayden hadn't jumped on the lobe that deals with long-term memory.

So the moral of the story, if there is one, is never lay on your floor watching TV when your 3-year old son is in the room after having just watched Kung Fu Panda.  You might end up with severe brain trauma.

Mini Vans are Cool!

A long time ago, before there was a Mom and Dad, Mom bought a truck.  A little red truck.  She liked it a lot.  Go truck go.

When Dad came along, the truck was still useful because it held two people.

When Hayden came along, the truck's days were numbered...but it was kept around because 1) it could haul dirt a few times a year and 2) it was paid for.

Dad and Hayden went to visit some friends who live several miles away and on the way home drove by a used car lot/mechanic that sold a particular type of minivan that Mom had coveted and which Dad had resisted for at least two years.

Long story short, we now have a minivan.  It's got leather seats and a DVD.  Tons of space for dog and luggage and it's pretty comfortable.  The day we picked it up, we told Hayden the truck was going bye-bye and he said 'Bye Truck!' and went off to school.

We picked him up in the minivan and he nearly freaked out.  He got inside and was able to run around (there's literally that much room) and he figured out the DVD player in about 10 minutes.  He was so excited, in fact, that when the adrenaline wore off during his first ride in the van he fell asleep...it took about 5 minutes.

Hayden is now a van man...and if this van's a rockin', please open the door because it means Hayden has probably been jumping on Dad for some time and Mom is either in a store shopping or too busy laughing to be much help.

Happy HalloweenThanksgivingChristmastime!

Hayden has been learning all about major holidays at school this fall.  This is great because it means we can enjoy October, November and December that much more.  There is, however, one very interesting thing that we hadn't noticed until Hayden pointed it out to us.

We all feel, at times, that from Halloween to New Year's it's all one big blur.  Hayden feels it too...and he lets us all know when he wishes us the tidings of the season.

In October:  Happy Halloween!

In November:  Happy HalloweenThanksgiving!

In December: Happy HalloweenChristmas!  or the more formal Happy MerryChristmastime!

Our boy drives us crazy a lot of the time because in most ways he's a normal rambunctious psychotic little 3-year old bundle of energy.  But little things like this really make our boy unique and quirky and that makes us love him just that much more.

It also probably helps save his bacon a time or two when he's being a normal rambunctious psychotic little 3-year old bundle of energy.

Santa, Bring Me Presents Please!

This year, Hayden was VERY excited for Christmas for the first time.  This is, in large part, due to his teacher Kim and the rest of the folks at his school.  At his old day care facility, they weren't allowed to have any Christmas decorations - they weren't technically supposed to even say the word 'Christmas'.  The school he's at now is not bound by the same rules.

Kim has been incorporating Christmas themes throughout Hayden's lessons and play activities and this year he's been on board from the get go.

We did a lot of Santa activities this year.  We phoned him a couple of times, visited him at the shopping mall, made lists, made cookies, made sure he had a clear entry/exit path in the chimney.  We were ready.

Hayden asking Santa to bring him presents...MANY presents!

When Hayden had his face-to-face with Santa, he kind of froze up and just said he'd like many presents.  When he had regained his composure we discovered that Hayden's Christmas list included a horse - Santa brought him a new tricycle, and a Toy Story 'Jessie the Cowgirl' doll.  Santa also put some nice things in Hayden's stocking.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and helped Hayden celebrate and have a lot of fun.  And Hayden learned a new trick:

He learned that you have to be nice or Santa won't bring you presents.  He learned it so well, in fact, that when Mom was driving around and wouldn't let Hayden out of his booster seat to have a better look at something, Hayden declared: "That is NOT nice.  I want phone.  I want call Santa."

It's a behavior modification tool that we can hopefully use to encourage Hayden to be nicer when we need it, but we didn't expect the worm to turn on us as fast as it did…and all thanks to Kim and Santa!