Birthday #5!

Look how he's grown!

Birth Day

 

Birthday #1

Birthday #2 

Birthday #3 

Birthday #4 

Birthday #5

 

 (notice how his once very very blonde hair is getting darker?)

Hayden was excited for his birthday this year.  He saw it written on the calendar, and every morning he would move the magnet marking the day to see how many days were left until his special day. 

We started the morning off right! 

I gave him the choice for his birthday breakfast, and what did he pick?  Freezer waffles.  Alrighty then. 

When I asked him to clear his dishes after breakfast his reply was, "Well, no, because I'm 5 now, so that means I can do whatever I want."  Okayyyyy....... Yes, he certainly is 5, isn't he?

When Dad got home, it was time for his present.  What's out the window? 

A new bike! 

He drives way too fast, and turns way too sharp.

So those were the celebrations for his actual day of birth, since he wanted to invite his preschool friends to  his house for a party.

Dinosaur Train was the chosen theme for his party on Saturday.  Birthday mornings = cake decorating.  I had a tall order this year.  "On my cake, can you put dinosaurs like Buddy and Tiny, and a nest, and the big pond, and a tunnel, and a train, and flowers, and will you put a 5 on it? Do you promise?"

Oh, is that all?  Sure, no problem.  (Ok, so I never did get a tunnel, but a bridge over a waterfall works too!)  My friend Sherrah made the fondant figurines. Aren't they cute?  I'm going to use them as a decoration in his room.

This resulted in a very busy cake, but it was exactly what he wanted!

He of course shut down when his first friend got there.  He was sooo quiet and wouldn't even play his own games!  That's ok, I think he had fun anyway.  We played pin the tail on the brontosaurus, made volcanoes, ...

opened gifts

And then it was cake time.

This is the very first year Hayden has blown out his birthday candle!  He was always too shy before.  It was a proud moment... baby steps.

We tried to do bubbles outside but it was just way too windy.  We played with the birthday presents for a little while.

Then we had a dinosaur egg hunt... sadly these are the only pictures I got.

A few funny facts about Hayden:

He is terrified of power outlets.  This was accidental on my part.  We taught him about the dangers of putting fingers and things in the holes in outlets (or "outlights" as they call them) very matter-of-factly.  He asked questions, and we showed him videos so he could see what sparks were and taught him not to touch them without asking one of us.  I can't help but laugh a little when he comes running to me (with Halle in tow, crying) and says "Mommy, my elbow touched the outlight, am I going to die?"  Oops, I guess we gave a little too much information.  At least I know he'll never stick his fork in it!

He has a freakishly good memory!  It's spooky sometimes the things he remembers.  

Our friends from Indiana came to visit for Christmas, and were going to stop at our house. They kids were so excited and were watching out the window for them to come. Halle saw a car drive by and said "Oh, maybe that's them!" And Hayden said, "No, they drive a blue van."  It was true! I was shocked that he remembered that!

He also came up to Derrick and I one morning asking us about our house with the green carpet.  That was in Logan, and he was barely 2 when we moved!

  If I remember something I need at the store, I ask Hayden to remind me to get it before we leave there, and he always remembers to tell me.  He remembers everything, so it's impossible not to follow through on a promise.

He is feeling really independent lately.  I have woken up to the smell of him cooking toast a few times because he wanted to make his own breakfast instead of waking me up.  He wants to do everything himself, and he wants to learn how to do new things often.

His love language is quality time, so he's always wanting us to come play with him and go on dates with him.

Oh, my little Hayden... What can I say?  I found my first gray hair the other day, and named it Hayden. :)  I guess first borns come with a considerable amount of stress and worry.  (How do I get him to stop back talking? Why does he insist on repeating a made up word over and over and over and over in the car?  How in the world am I going to let my baby get on a bus and go to school without me? Am I doing this right?) But they also introduce to you the kind of love you didn't know was possible!  I so love my cute, funny, intelligent, shy (but certainly not at home), full of questions, energetic, sassy Hayden.