April 27, 2006

I admit it. For a while I was concerned Hayes wasn’t going to like tractors, trucks and cars. Really concerned. I know, I know, I’m an ass for being concerned about something so petty. But here’s the thing: I LOVE tractors, trucks and cars. I’m even kinda a savant about car models, horsepower, 1/4 mile specs, 0-60 (and 0-62, gotta read those pubs that report in KM). I was hoping I would have that in common with Hayes.

I mean, I still need a good reason to buy my Lotus, and if Hayes were excited about it, how can we deprive him?

Ok, that’s not fair. Jen is entirely supportive of my Lotus dream. She loves cars too. In fact, one of the first conversations we had was about cars. She knew what my WRX was, and I fell in love.

Enough of that sappy stuff. The point is, Hayes LOVES tractors, trucks and cars. According to my mom, I should have already know this, since he’s been making “Rmmm” noises for several months while dragging and pushing his toys about. No doubt copying me, since I’m laible to race about the house carrying him and making engine and shifting noises.

This, I am told, is much different than my younger brother who could have cared less about cars unless I was playing with them. He was more excited about baseball and numbers. He memorized the baseball encyclopedia when he was about 8. The whole thing. Yes, all of it.

So, no moment that finally punched me in the gut with Hayes was last weekend. We were out trying to buy slate for a path from our porch to the lawn. We were walking down a hill toward a parked tractor, and Hayes missed it entirely. I was dissapointed. We moved onto a path so we could no longer see the tractor and I put Hayes down. Then, the tractor started up.

Holy shit. I’ve never seen Hayes run so fast. He made a fastbreak down the path, whipped around the corner and tore through 6 inches of mud toward the tractor, finger pointing and screaming, “Whassdat? Whassdat?”

It was AWESOME. Yes, I’m now sure. Like father, like son! Vrmmm-Vrrrmmm!

April 24, 2006

Probably the biggest impedement to Hayes’ overall safety is our stairs and doors. He can’t get enough of them. The biggest problem is that he’s figure out how to open doors to get to the stairs. It used to be just pinched fingers in the door as he slammed them shut. Now, with this door opening epiphany, we have to deal with him possibly tumbling down the stairs.

Here’s how it normally plays out. Hayes is in the kitchen, which, along with the family room (better known these days as Hayes’ toy room) can be closed off from the rest of the house. We close it off. He runs around, pulls the pots and pans and other stuff out of the cabinets, plays with his toys and makes a lot of noise.

Yesterday, this scenario changed. He opened the door and headed for the stairs. I intercepted him before he could start the climbing… but now the rules have changed. We’ve got to figure out how to how to keep him away from the stair, and our kinda ornate banister is not condusive to gating. Oh well… our last bit of Hayes roaming control has been breeched. Let the games begin.

April 20, 2006

So, you know, I keep saying I suck when I don’t have new pictures for a while — a long while — then suddenly try to play catch up. I think it’s been too long for catch up. Fortunately I’m the creative director for WHERE, a site that, among other things, allows me to send pix from my camera phone that then appear directly in that photo widget you see in my left sidebar. Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, now that I’ve got a spiffy new camera phone, and we’ve just released the small widget to the left, I’m gonna just take pix of Hayes — and some other people and things in my life — and they’ll magically appear here. Excellent. I no longer suck.

Ok, so he’s definitely saying two now. He even knows how to count to two, should you have it in your heart to forgive the fact that he can not yet say “one.” You say, “one,” he says, “two.” Words are fun.

April 18, 2006

The words, these days, are free flowing. “Shoes” is the newest. He’s got “hi” down. Today — actually his newest was this — he started with “bye.” I guess yesterday he was also saying “two.” Though, I’m a bit suspicious, as his “two” sounds exactly like “shoe.” Anyway, this word explosion thing is awesome. Now if only he could figure out how to tell us what he wants to eat.

April 12, 2006

In the list of marketer contrived Days, National Licorice Day has to be among my favorites. I mean, who needs a reason to eat licorice? Not me. Ok, so maybe I do. I mean, there’s thousands of candy choices out there. So, what am I to do? Today, licorice. After all, if we don’t support National Licorice Day, maybe some marketer will come along and replace it with National Nuclear Proliferation Day or National Eat Only Dirt Day — you know, those dirt farmers need a Day.

Anyway, grap yourself a Red Vines and enjoy National Licorice Day.