"The Show"

Tonight turned out to be such a fun night for all 3 of us!!! It started out on a high note, just because Jason was home on time for the first time in a few weeks...it was even still light out!!! As soon as he walked in the door Hayden asked him to paint, so the two of them sat down to create their masterpieces while I finished preparing dinner. We had a nice dinner (minus a fit or two), and afterwards went right to playing. After playing for awhile, the boys cleaned up dinner (Hayden told me that he had, "a lot of work to do") while I picked up the house and folded some laundry. After that excitement (seriously, we all were having fun!), Jason and I shared the task of putting laundry away and Jason got packed for our trip to Iowa while I started to get a few things organized and Hayden just ran around and..."helped".

We all finished up our "jobs", and decided that we'd go to Hayden's room for a rousing game of Flippy Over (memory). However, the game was over before it even started...Hayden decided that instead of flippy over, he wanted to hide...on his bed under blankets, under the laundry basket that we had just emptied, under his bed...and he wanted Jason and I to join in. Eventually the game turned in to "basket monster", where we each took turns wearing the basket on our heads and chasing each other around. This went on for quite awhile, when suddenly Hayden decided he wanted to "watch a show". Jason and I immediately said no-no shows tonight-we were playing. But he insisted, and finally got us to understand that he wanted us to both sit on his floor at the foot of his bed to watch the show. Hmm...this was new. We played along, both curious to see where it was going. At first Hayden was the show...he danced around humming to himself and just being goofy, while Jason and I kept making comments about how cool the show was and how much we loved it. Hayden was beaming. His next idea was that Jason and I needed tickets for his show...which he gave us and told us to hold on to...and then we each needed a balloon. He must have thought Jason was hungry, because after he handed him his balloon he repremanded him and told not to eat his balloon...then went and got him another one and told him to hang on tight. Needless to say, Jason and I both about in tears by this point. Following the Hayden Show, we were treated to both Race Cars and Madagascar, which were both shown on his footboard. Not only were we treated to additional shows, but we even got popcorn and a drink!!!
The part that amazed us both about this the most was the creativity. We've never done any kind of role playing like this before...never had pretend shows, and while we HAVE watched a few movies with him (obviously Cars and Madagascar are his favorites), we have no idea where he came up with performing his own show. This child shocks us every single day with his intelligence, his imagination, and his sense of humor. We are both so unbelievably proud of this little man, and it's hard for US not to start using OUR imaginations on a night like this...and to think about where our "baby genius" will be in 20 years!!!!
Hayden-Mommy and Daddy love you SO very much...and we are SO very, very proud of you!!!