January 22, 2007

Today Hayes is “two minutes” old, or so he says. Or “two old.” Or, if he’s really up for it, “two old minutes.” What he really means, and I know this because I was there when he was welcomed into this world, is the Hayes is two years old. And what a ride it’s been.

For those of you just joining us for the not-so-frequent posting of the last 6 months or so, you might think that Hayes is an easy kid. He’s easy going. He’s able to express himself, thereby limiting the tantrums caused by the frustration. He’s got a great sense of humor. He loves cars like his dad. He’ll even watch football on occasion.

Truth is, however, that wasn’t always the case.

The first four months were ROUGH. And by rough I mean 3-4 hours of sleep a night and a kid that constantly — constantly cried. And it wasn’t his fault, or an indication of his personality, he just had acid reflux and it took us four months to get it under control. I remember handing Hayes off to one of Jen’s friends so that we could go see a movie around that time. “I can handle him,” she proclaimed, “my kid was a difficult baby.” We returned from the movie to find a broken woman. “I had no idea,” she said. Yup, it was like that.

We could never see having another kid. It was just too hard.

Then, suddenly, we had this Hayes. And he’s AWESOME. To us, he is the ideal kid. And the difficulties we went through to get this Hayes have been worth it. You know what, it’s even gotten us from the “never” to the “maybe” when it comes to “thing number two” (as a coworker puts it).

Most of all, I just want to be a little sappy. I don’t know how I could ever live without Hayes again. I would do anything for him. He’s fun. He’s smart. He loves to sing. He’s a very good boy. Hell, he even makes the Patriots losing easier. Never thought I could say that about anyone.

Happy birthday, Hayes. Your daddy loves you.

January 19, 2007

For the past few months, Hayes has started to be scared of things. Specifically: noise. It started out benignly enough, as he used to get startled and laugh and say ,”again!” Then, suddenly, the same things that made him laugh, made yell “noise!” quickly scan the room for it’s source and scampering to his nearest trusted grownup to be picked up.

It’s weird, this noise thing. My brother, Dave, had it when he was a kid, but he was scared of any loud noise. I vividly remember being at a 4th of July parade and having Dave burst out crying when a fire truck passed by with sirens wailing. For Hayes, it happens for certain types of noise. And even then, it seems rather arbitrary. He’s scared of the furnace going on. He’s not scared of airplanes flying over head. He’s scared of the vacuum, but wants to go see it when it’s on. To me, they’re pretty much the same bass-type sound. To him, it’s the difference between wide eyed “noise” and wide eyed excitement of seeing something he loves.

Either way, it’s nice to know that he’s tentative about some things. It’s kinda been taking the edge off his stunt baby routine. Which is, you know, good.

January 2, 2007

Oh, well, the vacation was nice while it lasted. Short, but nice.

As usual, I have kind of a holiday hangover meloncholy. I get a bit bummed when the holidays and my vacation are over.

But this year, things were different. Hayes is here and he’s really lifted my mood.

After spending a few days with my parents while Jen and I headed to visit my sister and fiance in NYC, and then having guests for New Years eve, Hayes has seen lots of people over the last week. And he’s gotten alot of attention. So, a few hours after my sister, her fiance, and a some friends left yesterday, Hayes put it all in perspective.

“Bye bye, ebreebody!” Hayes said, waving toward the door. “Gonna play with Mama and Dada now!”

Yup. And we’re most thankful about being able to play with you, too, Hayes.