Hayley and Kate Minter

Holly noted tonight that I’ve been slack about updating the BabyBlog lately, which is true. So let’s catch up on things.

Hayley turned 16 months old on Saturday - 1/3 of the way through her second year!

Her hair is getting long - it’s pretty funny to see her crew-cut from 2-3 months old, and compare it with the curly mop she’s got now. Her bangs are even almost down to her eyebrows.

Hayley had a nice visit with the neighbors on Saturday as Mommy and Daddy went out for our anniversary.

She likes being pulled around in the clothes basket. So much so that we’ve attached a rope to the basket. Now we can pull her around without breaking our backs.

Her stye is gone. Yay!

The Grandparents Estes and Aunt Jenny came down last night and spent the night. Hayley, for some reason, seemed to think it was Grandma’s job to follow her around as she walked through the downstairs. Over and over. And she wouldn’t let anyone else be the walker - it had to be Grandma.

When I came through the door this evening, Hayley was in the other room but started saying “Da Da! Da Da!” We then played for a while before dinner. It was cute.

Monday evening, Hayley and I were playing outside when we saw a frog (or a toad, I can never get them straight. If it hops and says “ribbit” it’s the same thing to me) under the bay window. Since one of Hayley’s childrens’ books (The Pokey Little Puppy) mentions a “hop-toad,” I said “Hayley, look at the hop-toad!” And she responded with “Ha-toe! Ha-toe!”

Yesterday, we went outside and played in the front yard. Hayley wanted to go around back, so we went around the house and, when we came to the bay window, she stopped, pointed under it, and said “Ha-toe! Ha-toe!”

That’s right, Hayley! That is where the hop-toad was yesterday. It’s not there today, but that’s where it was. You remembered!

We notced that Hayley’s left eye was looking a little red last night, and when she got up this morning, it had turned into a full-blown stye. Ew.

Holly took her to the doctor to confirm, and that’s what it is. Hayley was rubbing her eyes a lot on her long trip home Sunday night, so the doctor says that’s probably what happened - she irritated her eye and got some bacteria in it, causing the infection.

We’ve got some drops to put in her eye, and it should probably be better in a few days. She must get that from me - there was a period of about nine months when I was in Junior High or so that I swear I got a stye about once a month. Hopefully she’s not that bad, and this is a rare occurance.

Hayley learned a new word in Boston. They rode around on Boston’s “T” subway to get around town this weekend, and so on the trains the folks taught Hayley “Choo Choo”. So if she sees a train, she says “Choo choo!”

Of course, she also says it when she sees a bus, for some reason. But it’s still cute.

Just got a call from Holly in Boston. She and Hayley arrived safely for Jenny’s graduation. And, what’s even better, apparently Hayley’s first plane trip went extremely well!

Holly said that she was pretty fidgety in the airport, so the two of them just ran around until time for the plane to leave. It was a small plane, so they had a one-seat row to themselves. She said that Hayley looked out the window for a bit, then they read some stories and Hayley colored in her coloring book. She had a snack when the “snack” service came by, and then fell asleep.

By that time, they were only 30 minutes out of Boston, so Hayley didn’t get to nap too long. After that, they were on the ground with Jenny and the Estes Grandparents waiting for them.

Holly said there were two other babies on the flight, both of whom screamed the entire time, so Hayley looked angelic by comparison. I hope she has a good time at the graduation tomorrow, and then on the flight back tomorrow night!

Update - I just got to have a nice iChat with my little girl.

It’s been a while since I wrote, so here are a few brief Hayley updates.

• We went up to Virginia for Mother’s Day. Hayley had a nice time visiting with everyone. She especially enjoyed feeding the chickens at the Estes house. She’d take a handful of corn and toss it through the fence, and laugh as the chickens dove for it. And if you ask her what the chickens say, she’ll tell you “buck buck buck”.

• New pictures are up from the weekend - there are some very cute ones in this batch.

• Holly was working in the garden the other evening, replanting some stringbeans. Hayley came over, got between Holly and the plants, and said something like “Hop! Hop!” It turns out that she wanted to “Help”! Holly let her do some of the planting, and everything was fine. She wants to help - so cute.

• On the stressful side, Hayley picked up a cold that started on Saturday, so she’s been dealing with that. Of course, a cold means that the Nose Bulb Of Doom comes out of hiding, and Hayley doesn’t like that one bit. You’d think we were removing her soul via her nose the way she wails.

• She’s growing more confident with the words she’s learned - she’s starting to use them in the right context.

She called me Da-Da.

This rules.

Hayley’s enjoying her new words. “Hello” is her new favorite. She’ll just walk around the house waving, saying “Hello…..ha-loo….Hello….” It’s very adorable. We’ll have entire conversations just saying hello to each other.

She’s trying to get the hang of words and sentences. Her babbling is becoming a lot more complex. She’ll babble in real-sounding sentences. Well, real except for the lack of “words.” Then she’ll look up at us with an expression that says “Got that? Now, go do what I told you to do.”

Holly took her to the store today. The were in the toy section buying gifts for the upcoming birthdays, and Holly said that Hayley saw a stuffed Elmo and said, without prompting, “Elmo!”

It’s very weird to think that one day she’s going to be talking to us with real words.

We had a very busy day on Sunday, and Hayley was extremely good all day!

We started off by driving to Durham (she slept the whole way up) to see Holly’s friends Kyle & Christine, and their two-week-old daughter Olivia. Hayley was fine while we were all lavishing attention on the new baby. She chased the cats, played with these exercise balls, and sat in the baby swing while we held Olivia. She started to get a little fussy right before we left, mostly because I wouldn’t let her climb the stairs or eat cat food out of the bowl on the floor. I know. Daddy’s so unreasonable.

From there, it was on to another spot in Durham, as Ross and Heidi were having a cookout at their house. I don’t think either of them had seen Hayley in over a year. They were both suitably praiseful of how big, adorable, and/or smart Hayley was, which parents love to hear. This was also my first time in Ross’ new house. It’s a very nice house, but is not set up for toddlers in the least. There are lots of very beautiful, very breakable things in low shelves, books, CDs, and comic books in easy reach, and an open down-staircase off the living room. So we had to herd Hayley around to keep her from destroying. She kept herself safely occupied playing with Kirk and Miss Kitty, coloring, or otherwise exploring toys.

We arrived early, so it was just us and Ross & Heidi for a while. Then her brother and his 16-month-old daughter Ellie arrived. Hayley was very nice around the other toddler. She was sharing toys like a champ, with only minimal prompting, and generally being friendly to this new person.

Once the big crowd of improv people started to arrive, we made our exit. It was close to dinner time, so we drove up the road to Southpoint Mall and “Ted’s Montana Grill” - Ted Turner’s buffalo-meat outfit. We were concerned, because Hayley hasn’t been a fan of eating out lately. She’ll sit in the high chair for five minutes or so and then fuss to get out and run around. But this time, she spent a good 20 minutes just playing with a straw and a glass of water. I kept waiting for her to start fussing, but she never did. She was just quietly playing at the table.

She got a little fussy during the meal - we think she may have bitten her lip or had something go down the wrong pipe, but once she was in Holly’s lap and calmed down, she was good for the rest of the meal. She just sat their eating Holly’s “bison pot roast” and mashed potatos.

She was fairly good on the ride back to Fuquay, as Holly was reading to her and singing. She even fell dead asleep as we pulled up to the last stoplight before our house. She was so far gone that we couldn’t wake her up until we went to change her into her pajamas. She stayed up for about another hour, and went to sleep.

She was a very good girl! We’re so proud of her!

Daddy-Daughter day was a rousing success. Mommy came home to find both of us alive and happy. I think she had some doubts when she left.

Holly left around quarter to nine, as I distracted Hayley so she could slip out of the door without a scene. Then it was just the two of us, and eight-plus hours before that would change. Nudging the difficulty up slightly was the incessant rain outside, ranging from a drizzle to a downpour but always something. That meant that Pullen Park was out, as was even going into the back yard to blow bubbles.

But we found ways to amuse ourselves. We played with her stuffed bears. We tackled the cat. Threw the ball. Batted a balloon. Played hide-and seek. Ate lunch.

I took her up for a nap around 12:30, and she fell asleep pretty quickly. I then took the advice I’ve been giving Holly for 15 months and took a nap myself, sleeping until Hayley woke up at 2pm.

We then repeated the morning routine until 5:30pm, when Mommy came through the door, to Hayley’s delight.

She was very good with me, though. We had a great time. She only went around the house calling “Mama?” a few times during the day, and seemed to enjoy playing with me. And she wasn’t fussy, either, until the last half-hour or so.

Chalk up today as a success in the halls of daddy-daughter relationships.