We had a great trip to Wyoming for Thanksgiving. The food was wonderful, the air was crisp, the football watching was plentiful, and the relaxing family atmosphere was serene.
Many thanks to the both the McNierney family and Bob and Susan for their wonderful hospitality.
It is hard to believe that Hayden is now a full year and a half. She is progressing quickly. After dinner she grabs a broom and "sweeps" the kitchen floor. When it is time for bed we tell her to put her toys away and she does. We will try and remember this time when she is older as we're sure it won't last.
One of her main traits at this point is that she loves being around us. It has good and bad points. It is great when she runs up to us and says, "Dada!" or, "Mama!" and gives us a big hug. She'll sit on our laps and follow us everywhere. It is more difficult when we put her to bed and she cries since she misses us.
We had a couple of birthdays for friends' kids since our last post, and both were a lot of fun. These kids are growing up fast.
Halloween has come and gone and it was great in the Wolach household. First, the weather here has cooled off and we can now drive with our windows and moonroofs open. Yipee!
For Halloween, Hayden was a Ladybug and was adorable - yes, we are biased. After seeing what all the comotion was about, she picked up the whole trick or treat thing quite well. "You mean I just go up to these people and they give me candy???"
3 yr old friend Alden Coy was a good role model as the 2 went around the neighborhood with the parents. Hayden even decided she liked it so much that she would invite herself into the houses when people opened the door. She would walk right in before we could hold her back. She held up pretty well but got tired at the end. The best part was that she is too young for candy so Mommy and Daddy reaped her treasure.
We have also been going to the park a lot as she has a newfound love for slides. She can go up the stairs and down the slide by herself, though we still make sure we are near her so that we don't have a panic attack.
She is very adventurous as she loves to climb everywhere. The other day we turned our heads for 2 seconds and she was standing on top of the kitchen table. Nice parenting that was.
Anyway, enjoy the photos and the videos. Thanks for the comments.
Today is Hayden's 17 month birthday. She is starting to get into the tantrum phase and the "Terrible Two's" (which is a misnomer since it actually starts at around a year and a half - they don't tell you of that in advance). Every now and then she'll want something and when we don't give it to her, she'll fall down and start crying. Fortunately, she typically only does this at home. When we are out she is so into people watching she doesn't thin of the tantrum (that there is known as a jinx).
When she is not throwing a tantrum, she is a joy. She loves to read, and play on her horse, and throw a ball around. She now understands most of what we say and can say about 15-20 words herself and she picks up more all the time. If you say something to her you can see her looking at you and she repeats it (or tries to) and says it over and over practicing her new word.
We had a great trip to Denver this past weekend. It was a family reunion, football fest, and food extravaganza all rolled in one. The Buffs and Broncos both won (amazingly) and lots of good times were had. It was great to see everyone but special thanks to Grandpa Bob for the amazing BBQ on Saturday (sponsored by the Forbidden Pig, have some next time you're in Laramie), Uncle Tim for the tailgate grub, and Grandpa Dave for the football, dinner, and just plain making the entire weekend happen.
In the pictures you will see Hayden pre-haircut, and post haircut as the pics span a few weeks. Looking back, her hair was craziness.
In other news, Hayden now says about 15 words (or semi words) including wa-wa (referring to water, not the Philadelphia convenience store), ball, more (of course, she's a Wolach after all), yeah, and no. It's getting nice because now we are starting to be able to understand what she wants which makes both our lives easier.
Also, due to the many ear infections she has had, she had tubes put in her ears on Friday. While it is technically surgery, it is very quick and easy. The ear tubes look like this and they let fluid drain out preventing infection. They fall out on their own after a year or so. They cleaned out a lot of gunk behind her ear drum and now the ear infections will be very rare and she'll be able to hear much better which will aide the growth of her vocabulary.
After some initial groggyness and whininess, we noticed an immediate difference as she was much happier and back to her old Hayden self.
1) She plays around and talks into a paper towel roll. Why we buy toys I have no idea.
2) She plays one of her favorite games: peek-a-boo. This time with the curtains.
3) She loves the Backyardigans, a cartoon. When they are done with the episode, she always says "Bye-bye" to the characters as they exit the screen. She then dances to the closing titles music.
4) Hayden passed her swimming survival class. This is one of her final exams. The instructor would literally drop her in the water from different angles and areas of the pool and the ledges.
The words of Five for Fighting may be talking about 15 years, but Hayden is 15 months old today so we'll apply them here. We just returned from a wonderful vacation in Rochester, NY with our friends from school and their kids: Vincent Lecce and Chadwick Carmody. It was wonderful to see everyone and to see the kids and how they've grown.
We went to Canada to see Niagara Falls which made Hayden an official international traveler. It was amazing to see the falls and even though it was hot and muggy, we had a great outing.
The adults also went on a wine tour to visit wineries up and down Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region. It was a fantastic day and a lot of good wine was had by all.
Unfortunately Hayden cut a molar midway through the trip which gave her a fever, a rash, and a nasty bout of screaming all night. She kept the whole house up as her tooth sliced into her mouth. The poor little girl was so sad and lethargic the second half of the trip but she seems to be over it now.
She did enjoy fun times like her first wagon ride and bike ride and her show "The Backyardigans" which had many viewings. She also enjoyed spending time with her lifelong friend, Vincent. They shared a chair together, a wagon, and a bath. All of which gave us great pictures which you can enjoy below.
It was a great July. The 4th was fun, Aunt Sheila came out to visit, and Grandma and Grandpa Wolach came to visit as well.
New developments include the fact that Hayden now knows what we are saying much of the time. When we tell her it's dinner time, she gets really excited and runs over to her high chair. If we ask her if she needs to be changed, she runs into her room where the changing table is. When we tell her, "Let's go play," she runs into her play room. It's a lot of fun seeing her understand and react to what we say.
Also, her swim lessons have gone great as she is in her last week. At this point, if she were to fall in a pool, she would be able to float for several minutes.
It was a great month. Hayden has been learning new things almost daily and it is fun to watch her grow. She now says words like "Hi" and "Ba-Bye" complete with waving. She also blows kisses, and even (as you will see from the video below) just starting giving us real kisses. The video below shows her on her first day of giving kisses, yesterday.
She has the open mouthed thing working - reminds me a bit of my teen years.
She is also in swim survival class and she is doing well. It will give us great peace of mind when she is completed with those in a few weeks. Enjoy the pics and the video.
Hayden had 2 birthday parties: one in Phoenix and one in Wyoming. Both were well attended and were a hit. Plus both involved her smashing cake all over herself.
For milestones, she now says "hi" and "uh-oh" regularly and she waves to everyone. She is also lauging a lot more now (see the video below). Thanks for the comments.
We had a fabulous Mother's Day Weekend with Great Grandpa Jerry and Great Grandma Mary. They met Hayden for the first time and enjoyed their visit to the desert.
For Mother's Day, Savannah was given a Heritage Makers book from Daddy and Hayden for the first time ever after gifting out dozens of Heritage Makers items. She was very happy to receive the book which highlights her first year of being a mom.
We had a fun and relaxing weekend and there were several hours spent outside in the pool.
Two videos below: one is the moment when Savannah receives her Mother's day book from Hayden; the other video below shows Hayden playing Peek-a-Boo, one of her favorites.
Today Hayden turned 11 months old (first one to name the movie that the title of this post comes from wins 10 points). It is weird to think that in 1 short month she will be 1.
She is now quite astute at this walking thing. She still trips every now and then but now she prefers to walk wherever she goes, as opposed to preferring to crawl and only walking when she wants to show off. She will typically make it to wherever she is going without falling, unless of course there is some object in her path. She ignores anything that might be in her way on the ground and continues on a straight line towards her destination. If there is a toy or something on the ground, she'll fall. If not, she gets there without incident. I didn't think that stepping over things was something we had to learn.
For other developments, she drinks out of her sippy cup regularly and she is eating most of the things that we eat. We ususally share what we have with her at dinner and at school they have a variety of offerings for her. She has gained another tooth, on the bottom of her right side (total of 3 now). But she still has nothing on the top row. Nonetheless, it doesn't seem to hinder her from chewing.
One thing she is doing recently is hissing. Yes, you read it correctly. Instead of laughing (she never has taken to giggling or laughing, only on rare occasions) she hisses. She makes this really cute face and squinches her eyes and hisses when she is happy. Daddy thought it was rather peculiar and unique, but then apparently she got it from her Mommy who did the same thing when she was Hayden's age according to Grandma Coleen.
Below is a video which shows her walking a bit more than the first video. This was taken last week and looking back at it, we find it hard to believe how much better she gets every day. Just like many of you have said, she'll be running soon, which is scary.
We're looking forward to her first birthday and thanks for all the great comments.
Hayden took her first steps last night as she played with Mommy. The first time it happened, Savannah almost missed it as she was cleaning dishes but Hayden took about 6 or 7 steps. Then she kissed her and put her down and she took 5 or 6 more.
Then Savannah set up the camera and caught her taking steps across the living room. Sadly, Daddy was at a charity meeting and missed the event. Oh well.
Today we went to see the Rockies for Hayden's first ever baseball game. We took part in a great Arizona tradition: Spring Training.
March is the best time to be in Arizona - the weather is perfect, the people are happy, and the baseball teams and their fans are in town with a happy and positive outlook for the season. The atmosphere in the Valley is amazing and you can feel it.
We watched the Rockies smash Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers, always a fun time, on a perfect day. We sat in the grass so that Hayden could roam and play during the game. Grandpa Bob is in town so it was great to have him experience Hayden's first baseball game as well.
Afterwards we had dinner with the Curds, Aunt Diane, Uncle Brian, and Kacie so it was really good to see them.
In other news, Hayden has hit some recent milestones: she now waves hello and bye-bye (to both friends and strangers alike), and she also slaps high five on cue. She stands up on her own and can walk with Mommy and Daddy while holding onto us with one hand. However, she has yet to take that first step on her own. That's when we'll know we're really in trouble.
Just a quick video for you: Grandma Coleen and Grandpa Mark gave Hayden a rocking horse and she loves it. She likes to try and rock the horse by bobbing her head up and down and it's adorable. Enjoy.
Last week Hayden turned 9 months old. It is hard to believe that she has now been breathing air longer than she was in Mommy's belly.
She is now eating solid foods 3 times per day and she sleeps through the night (about 12-13 hours) regularly so Mommy and Daddy are happy. However, she still has no new teeth, only 2 on the bottom.
But the big news is that she has reached a major milestone recently: she can stand all by herself. She will be holding onto something, then she'll let go and stand unsupported for 10- 20 seconds before falling back onto her butt or grabbing what she was holding onto before.
Now, people see something like this differently and it really depends on how you know this kid:
A Friend of the Parents: Cool. The kid is growing up.
A Grandparent or Aunt/Uncle: Wonderful, she is progressing nicely. I want to see her more so I don't miss this stuff.
Parents: OMG! OMG! OMG! MY KID IS THE MOST ADVANCED KID IN THE WORLD! EVERYBODY LISTEN AND LET ME TELL YOU ALL ABOUT MY KID!
For the over 35 crowd "OMG" means "Oh My God" (or "Oh My Gosh" if you live in Utah or some counties in Kentucky).
So anyway we were pretty excited.
In other news, we were visited by Grandma Coleen, Grandpa Mark, Grandma Sarah, and Grandpa Dave all at the same time so it was good for them to see Hayden again.
Hayden is now 8 months old and she is officially a wild child. Everything piques her curiosity and she has to touch and taste whatever she sees. She crawls and cruises all over the house to explore her world.
She is more interactive with us every day as she now craves our attention. She has also learned to clap! Thanks to Grandma Sarah for helping with that one.
Enjoy the pictures and the videos below. In one Hayden claps, practicing her new found ability. In another, she attacks the camera like a charging bull. Careful, this footage is dramatic and should not be seen by younger viewers.
Last Saturday we took Hayden to her first football game, a playoff game between the Atlanta Falcons and the hometown Arizona Cardinals. We didn't plan on this but we couldn't find a sitter so we brought her along.
Precedence had been set. Daddy attended his first playoff game when he was 3 months old, in 1977. That day the hometown Denver Broncos who had historically been terrible, won. On this day, the Arizona Cardinals, who had historically been terrible, won. Hmmm.
The place was crazy loud, the loudest we have ever heard it. A few times little one grabbed her ears so we had to give her "earmuffs" with our hands. I think somebody called child protective services on us but they didn't have any tickets to the sold out contest so they couldn't get in.
Anyway, Hayden was great the entire game and even though she didn't sleep all day, she created absolutely zero fuss during the game. It just proves that she is a social girl and loves being around people. She was very interested in all the people around us, the lights, the sounds - all of it.
In the 4th quarter, fatigue caught up with her and she was out cold. Even though the stadium was as loud as ever, it didn't wake her from her slumber. She was adorable and it is a great memory.
Hayden's first Christmas has come and gone. It was a great season for the Wolach family and we hope it was for you too. After Grandma Coleen and Great Grandma Shirley visited just before Christmas, Grandma Sarah, Grandpa Dave, and Great Grandpa Mike came down to visit on Christmas.
Santa came and brought gifts for all, but mostly for the little princess. She loved her new toys and played with them most of the day. She was very excited for some new things that piqued her curiosity.
Thanks to all who sent holiday cards and pictures of your family. It was great to hear from you. Happy New Year!
