Goodbye "Ginners"

If you know Cayden (our 2 yr old) - then you know he uses G's for F's in all words. For example here's a peak at the typical Cayden vocabulary.

Fridge = Gridge
Freezer = Greezer
Fingers = Ginners
Food = Good

You get the idea. Well he finally started saying F's on vacation this past week. We were driving in heavy traffic, and he said, "Daddy, I want you to go Faster" (instead of Gaster.) My ears perked up, and I asked him "what is Grampy's name?" He immediately answered Grampy Fred. Then, I wiggled my fingers, and said "what are these?" He said "They're fingers, mommy" with a tone that let me know he thought I was a little slow. Matt and I both smiled, though I am glad he can say his F's, I will surely miss "ginners."

My Husband

Yesterday, I was at the grocery store (Publix.) A lady pulled up next to me, and she had a window sticker on her car that said I love my husband. She preceeded to get out of her car, and unload 4 children, the oldest couldn't have been much more than 6, and the youngest probably about 6 months. She piled all of them into two shopping carts, and headed into the store to do her shopping. Having 2 still in diapers myself, I thought, man, you really do love your husband. Well, that got me thinking, about my own very special husband. Having just returned from a long car ride on the way home from Thanksgiving, we had a lot of time to talk. Something we never really get to do anymore. We exchanged some ideas about how important it is to make time for each other, and for life not to be 100% about the kids. Don't get me wrong, they still come first of course, but we should at least squeeze in a little more time for us to be together, to share things about our day, and to make sure we keep our connection as close as it was when we got married 6 years ago. Well, I just want to say that when I look at Matt, all of the reasons I fell in love with him are still there. He is the greatest man on earth to me, gentle, kind, thoughtful, witty, smart, a terrific father, and devestatingly handsome too. I don't hug, kiss, thank, or just spend time thinking about him nearly as much as I should. These 2 little kids that depend on me for everything take up so much space in my heart and mind, that Matt gets squeezed into a tight little corner. Well, this is me telling the world that he is still my: hero, my best friend, and the love of my life. (So much more than just my baby-daddy.) I love you Matt, there's no one else in the world I would want to take this journey with! You are my one and only.

Boo Ya'll

Alas, Halloween has come and gone again! I have always loved halloween, it has been one of my favorite holidays for a long time. Sugar, practical jokes, the ambiguity provided by costume, acceptable begging, what's not to love? This year was another great time, but I must say as the mom of two tots, a lot of work goes into halloween. Trying to keep 2 small kids on focus while trick-or-treating is a feat in itself, not to mention keeping up with pirates hats and swords, butterfly fairy magic wands, treat bags, my sanity... you get the idea. This year we partied with Barb and her family. The food and friends were equally satisfying. The picture is a little banner I made in honor of the party and our hostess with the mostess! Thanks Barb for a great time.

Dinner Out, please!

Now what would make someone think this was an appetizing item to ingest? Surely the "our delight" meat packing company must have laid off its entire marketing department. Yes, you read that right! The producer of this mechanically separated turkey with natural flavoring added is "Our Delight Meat Company." Well, this may be someone's delight, but certainly not mine. Turkey burgers just don't sound the same to me anymore. This is the kind of thing that motivates you to try the vegetarian route! I am still not sure why I actually put this tube of meat back in the freezer! Who buys meat in a tube anyway? I am thinking dinner out sounds good to me.

Pigs, Pitbulls, Lipstick, Gas & the Stock Market!

Hello Internets!

Should a Pig wear lipstick? If so, are they still a pig? What about Pitbulls? How about if some of those lip-stick wearing pigs drive a few tankers filled with "less clean" gas on down to GA, so we can find somehwere to fill up, and stop paying $4+ a gallon. Also, we need to stop allowing the fat CEO pigs, lipstick or not, from jumping ship with the likes of 70 billion dollars while their investment banks crumble behind them. PS - Good luck to all those pigs out there who just like to wear lipstick when you are out clubbing... miss piggy, porky, petunia... don't worry. Go on about your pig wearing lipstick lives. They will leave you alone soon enough.

Confessions of a gas stalker

Okay, so today before my friend could drop her son off at my house, it took her 2 hours to find gas. She was definitely on empty, and not one of those people who panics when her tank is half full. She was on empty, and her husband had 1/4 of a tank. They both have long commutes, so this was not "media -driven" panic. She finally found gas, but it took 40 minutes to pump, costing just over $4 a gallon. Apparently Atlanta and Nashville are the only places experiencing these problems.

I have lived in ATL for most of my life, and was born here. I have seen people buying up bread and milk at the "threat" of snow, when no actual snow has taken place. I imagine the panic has spread and some are buying gas when they don't need it. Also, our city requires cleaner burning fuel, so it will take a bit longer to restock after the 20% delay of gasoline distro courtesy of Ike.

All that being said, these are still crazy times! We are certainly making some Fat Cats at the oil companies a ton of money. If you need gas today and you live in the Canton/ Woodstock area, good luck finding any!

Quote of the Day

Cayden & Avery say the funniest things, especially Cayden, because he's a natural born cook (like his father.) I've decided to try to at least post a quote of the day on days when I can't take the time to blog, so you all can share in my giggles.

Today's quote of the day comes from Cayden! "Mommy, I took a poop, and its piping hot!"

Piping hot is a term I've always reserved for applying to a meal... I no longer find it an appetizing description.

First Live Rock Concert

The kids attended their first live Rock Conert last night! Well, if you can call Kenny Loggins rock... anyhoo, they loved it! Both kids had a blast. Cayden was up dancing the entire time. You know Kenny has those songs about Christopher Robbin and Pooh... which really caught Cayden's attention. They also had a moon hanging on the stage as part of the light show. Cool Pink Floyd style psychadelic lights would change color, and clouds, and rain would appear on the moon throughout every song. Cayden and Emalee both loved that too. We had lawn seating at the Mable House amphitheatre in Mabelton (about 35 minutes to get there.) We had no idea how it would go, and did not really expect to make it through the entire concert, but we did. The kids were great. Emalee would lie down like she was going to sleep, and then an upbeat song would come on and she would pop up and start dancing. It was very amusing to everyone around us. There was no whining and no crying at all. Both of our children love music, so apparently my tone-deaf singing to them since birth has not squashed their interest in music. You can take your own picnic there, so we dined on chicken nuggets, apple slices, bananas, ginger snaps, grapes, pretzels, fresh figs & strawberries (all of the kids favorites.) The beverage menu offered Bud light, Coke Zero, and Juice Boxes... Of course, Emalee and Cayden were restricted to juice boxes.

Cayden really "got down" on the last song, Footloose, of course... he some lady companions of the older variety (read older than his grammy) come around to dance with him on that one.

A good time was had by all! Encouraged by this stellar evening, I will probably try to take them to another concert that I would truly love to see (not that I didn't enjoy Kenny, cause I did) - but one that would be a really big deal to me, and of course all hell will break loose. Watch this space. (that's london lingo for we'll see!)

Conversations with Cayden

Below is my morning chat with Cayden (our 2 year old.)

Me: Cayden do you want to go sit on the potty
Cayden: No, I don't want to go sit on the potty. I want my diaper off.
Me: Well, we need to try sitting on the potty if, (I am interrupted)
Cayden: Mommy I need to go potty.
(about 3 minutes later)
Cayden: Mommy I'm done. I need a sticker and some jelly beans.
Me: Ok, great job.
Cayden: Where's Uncle Derritts (Derrick) - He wants to see my pee pee in the potty. He's so proud of you (meaning me.)
Me: Great Job, buddy.
Cayden: Where's Uncle Derritts?
Me: With Grampy.
Cayden: Did they go in the Hemi with Daddy?
Me: No, they...
Cayden: Yes, they did go with Daddy
Me: Ok
Cayden: Where's my french fries go? (Note, there have been no fries today, it is still morning.)
Cayden: Let's have chockit milk and mommy cuddles on the couch.... and a booberry bar.
Me: Ok
Cayden: Where's Avery? Is he at work? Why is Pete go to work? Where's Bethy? Where's Grana? Where's Poppy? Where's Tyler and Mollie? When we going to baseball game? How you calling that gone (phone)? How you calling mommy? Where's Emmie? ........................... Where's my blocks? Hey, don't tell me. I wanna go to Walmart. Thomas and his Griends. Mommy, Grampy's Gunny. Let's play Domiboes....

This is about the point where I begin to understand why I can't think straight most of the time.

Give Peace a Chance

So, this is the picture of the first thing I've ever made using a sewing machine. (Hint, it isn't the baby.) I made Miss Em this peace sign T-shirt Tuesday night. I decided it was time to use my 2004 Christmas present from Jeannine... guess she knew I would get around to it at some point.

It's taken so long because my thoughts & ideas are like a college dorm room closet... a bunch of stuff crammed into a small space, some very nice stuff, some random junk, and, perhaps a few skeletons, by some standards -everyone has a past, you know!

I suppose it could be said that I start a lot of projects and finish few. They used to joke my mother (Rebecca) that I was the only thing she ever "finished." I guess it runs in my blood.

Getting back to the point, I tie-dyed this T-shirt in a circular pattern (in February), and then I sewed on a peace symbol using 3 different fabrics. Lastly, I trimmed the bottom in a grosgrain polka dot ribbon. 7 months in the making, now, it looks cute, but my sewing is not so good... I will have to work on that. Rome was not built in day.

Have a great Thursday!

Wordle.net

For those of you who read precarious tomato blog, you will know how I found out about this. For others, Wordle.net is a website that takes the words you write and turns them into art. The more a word is used, the bigger it appears, etc. I thought it would be a cool way to make a greeting card, or create something meaningful about a particular memory. Anyway, here is the art that was made from my blog about my grandmother's passing. Click the link below to see it.

http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/115932/Mama_Doris_Memorial

The River Wild

Hello Internets!

We shot the hooch (that's going down the Chattahoochee on a river raft for all you yanks that don't live here.) ;) It was fun, but they were very disorganized today. The river company took us to the wrong put-in point, so we took a 4 hour trip with a 2 yr old instead of a 1.5 hour trip. I've gotta say, Cayden was a trooper. Emmie stayed home with Grammy & Grampy, and we took Cayden and our nephew Tyler, who's 14. It was a good time. Tyler cocked me in the the back of the dome (that's head if you don't speak Cayden) with a metal oar going about 90 miles an hour. Thought I was gonna pass out, but we ended up laughing about it. I also got stung by a wasp on the foot Saturday at the pool. It is all red and swollen, but dragging it in the 53 degree hooch water helped a bit. All in all it was a fun day! It was a family trip, so we had a little more whining and a lot less beer than most rafters. While the breeze was nice, the current was working against us for the last 2 hours of the trip (what should have been the last 30 minutes) and the rowing was pretty tough, but the exercise was great. Tyler and Matt were in disagreement about how many bridges we went under. Ty was right, there were only 2 bridges (400 & Roswell Rd.) It just feels like 18 bridges when it takes 2 hours to get under them. Most of the people on innertubes were begging for help getting down the river. I will post the pics sometime soon. Have a great week everyone! And remember, no matter what your job is, Monday is a smack in the face to everybody.

Farewell Mama Doris

My Grandmother passed away this past week at the age of 88. She lived a good long life, and though her passing is sad, it is also met with a sense of relief that she will no longer suffer the trials of this life, but only reap the rewards of the next. Below is an exerpt from her obituary in the NTH (that's the Newnan Times-Herald for all you non-Newnanites out there.)

Mrs. Ellen Doris Baxley Hammett (Mama Doris), age 88, of Sharpsburg, passed away on Wednesday, July 30, 2008. She was born to the late Sam and Kate Baxley on May 24, 1920 in Carroll County, GA. She retired from Playtex and was a member of Hope Memorial Baptist Church. She is survived by 6 children, 19 grandchildren, 28 great granchildren, and 6 great great grandchildren. What a legacy Mama Doris leaves behind!

Walking into Hope Memorial for the funeral was like stepping back in time. Nothing had changed. The Baptistry was still decorated with a landscape backdrop, the same wood paneling that has been there since the 70's adorned the walls, the pink and yellow swirl stained glass windows providing filtered light, and the orange crushed velvet on the pews sticking to the back of your legs in the summer heat. I immediately remembered sitting there next to Mama Doris the times that I had spent the night and gone to church with her the following morning, after a breakfast of oatmeal and biscuits... and when I didn't like oatmeal, all the lucky charms I could eat. Mama Doris always had butterscotch, or mints, or something in her black leather purse that provided just enough incentive for a young child's behavior in church. I can't remember ever getting reprimanded by her... her house was the kind of place that you could have so much fun, we all behaved so that we would get to return. My cousin Jennifer and I were talking about how she let us play dress up in all her clothes, and make mud-pies in the bath tub. Nothing was off limits to her grandchildren. (I am number 8 out of the 19, which is pretty tall on the order considering my father is the youngest child.) The thing I remember most about Mama Doris is that whenever you would show up at her house, she made you feel like a celebrity just for coming by. She would see my face round the corner, and say "Oh Christy, God love your little soul. How are you?" And like lightening she would have jumped off the couch and met me half way across the room with a big hug. The other thing that sticks out in my mind, was this picture she had of her, my aunt marion, my cousin cathy, and her daughter Amanda. She was so proud of that picture, and would always tell me how that was four generations of women. About four years ago, Amanda had her first baby and made it five generations. I imagine that must have tickled Mama Doris so. She was so proud of her family, and she knew us all, and everything about us. She kept everyone informed on the family scoop right up into her 80's. You might say she was a large part of the glue that kept everyone around.... but even in her passing, she'll still be the glue, for she has created future generations of "family glue." There will still be Hammett Family Christmas at Aunt Marion's house. And even though things will never be the same without her, look at what she's left us, and you can't help but feel her around you. So thank you Mama Doris! Thank you for oatmeal, hot buttered biscuits, chocolate pies that Uncle Phillip was so fond of, spaghetti and meatballs, cheese toast made in the broiler, mashed potatoes in the big yellow bowl, and the list goes on and on... but most of all, thank you for the never ending love you've always given your family. It was evident on everyone's face as we celebrated your wonderful life over the weekend. Good bye Mama Doris, God love your special soul!

The Return of Willis

In order to allow Emalee any quality time with the new doll that Ann (aka Grana) gave her for her birthday, we had to get a doll for Cayden.... because this is what big brothers do, they take whatever they want from their little sisters... but just wait, one day little sister will fight back. She's pretty scrappy! Instead of buying Cayden a doll, I went tooling around the garage and found the cabbage patch kid that Matt had as a child. His name was Willis... let me tell you something, Willis was pretty dirty after spending the last 20 years in a card board box. I checked to make sure the accidental destruction of Willis would not do any long term harm to his previous owner (Matt) and having been assured he no longer needed Willis, I gave Willis a bath in the washing machine and scrubbed his head with a brillo pad. (I am much more gentle with Cayden and Emalee... ) Willis survived his cleaning, and has been revamped with a new outfit. All those years of living in a box collecting a little dirt made for a nice tan, he looks great! Cayden likes him. We gave him the option of naming him whatever he wanted, he toyed around with calling him Diego for a few minutes, and then buddy, but he decide he likes Willis the best, so there will be no future legal cost involved in changing his name. Cayden calls him "Wiwiss!"

The first picture is Cayden showing off his haircut, the next is Cayden and Willis on the couch having chocolate milk. Yes, I had to bring a cup for Willis....

Mother's Day/ Father's Day

Hi There,

So I am dreadfully late in posting this update. For Mother's Day, Matt and the kids took me to brunch on the Marietta Square and the kids enjoyed riding the trolley and playing. For Father's Day, we took Matt to see Kenny Rogers at the Fred Amphitheatre in Ptree City.... above are the pics.

Hello Internets!

I haven't fallen off the face of God's good earth or anything.... just been kinda busy. Anywho, we just got back from Disney World, which Cayden affectionately refers to as the Magic Kingdom (no matter where in D World you are.) Below is a video of Cayden on It's a Small World... crank up the volume so you too can hear this lovely music... (at least its lovely music when you are small.) He had a blast at MK. His favorites were its a small world, the flying Dumbo ride, and Goofy's barnstormer, which if I must say, is a pretty quick coaster for a 2 year old. We rode it 3 times with Cayden waving his hands in the air and shouting ooh, ooh, ooh, like the sixth graders behind us. He hung tough at the park from about 9:30 am till 1:00 am in the morning... no crying, and such a big boy. It was a small miracle. LOL. This was definitely our favorite day of the week. In my opinion, Sea World did not have enough stuff for his age group. He got bored, tired, grouchy, and downright rude, of course that is just my opinion... and opinions are like butts, everybody's got one, and sometimes you share it. LOL.

A bird in the hand beats two in the bush...

a poop in the hand beats all hell. Twice in one week we had poop incidents. The first time it happened, Cayden, who is potty training screams "Mommy, I have to go potty right now." I was standing at the kitchen sink with Emmie in one arm and making her bottle with the free hand. I tell Cayden to head to the potty and I will meet him there. About that time, I notice him run by with no pants and no diaper on. He had decided to remove his clothing himself before reaching the bathroom. That's the thing about the "first time for everything" - you never know when the first time is coming. I put Emmie in her highchair with her bottle and turned to head for the bathroom with Cayden. About that time, Avery strolls into the kitchen with one hand fully extended, as far away from his body as possible... saying "EWWW, EWWW!" I realize that he is carrying what is most likely Cayden's poop in his right hand. Scrubbing follows, Avery's hands, his arms, anything he might have touched along the way. Cayden finished the job and dropped the second log into the potty. They both were thrilled to say "bye, bye poopy" as the toilet flushed.

The next pooping incident occured later in the week. Typically when Ave poops he will come and find you holding his diaper saying "EWW, EWW!" Apparently he had done a poop and I had not yet discovered it. Ave also has itchy skin and is always scratching at himself, reaching his hands into his diaper to scratch. I am always telling him to keep his hands out of his pants b/c one day he will find poop. This was the one day. Perhaps, it is my fault for the poop prediction. He walks up to me with a fist full of crumbly poop, all underneath his finger nails... saying Eww, Eww! Yuck, I kind of threw up in my mouth and we headed to the tub to clean him up. Free Bath for Avery today.

Poop stories are not for the faint of heart, but neither is anything about toddlers, so I apologize if anyone is totally grossed out.

"The Movie Show"

So we decided to be brave, courageous, or just plaim dumb (depending on how you look at it) and take Cayden to his first movie. He's been mentioning Dr. Suess a lot lately, and everytime we see a commercial for Horton hears a Who, he gets excited. We decided to go on Friday night. We took Emalee to stay with her grammy and grampy. The movies started at 7:00 pm and 9:15pm. We figured earlier was better, but we also needed to feed him dinner before the movie started. Matt gets home at 6:15 from work. We quickly went to dinner and then headed to the movie. It was late, about 7:45 pm when we got our tickets, but we didn't care because we figured he wouldn't last through a 2 hour movie anyway. This turned out to be a good plan. He had fun, but he was definitely bored within 30 minutes. He wasn't heavy enough to keep the seat down, and it kept folding up him if he moved a certain way. We would hear this muffled, "help, help." I imagine Cayden's thoughts were something like this:

Oh Wow. I love the big screen. Wow cool. I like the dark. The movie is loud so I can be loud too. Everyone keeps laughing when I shout back at the characters. I am drinking mommy's real coke to help entertain me, and she doesn't seem to care. This is great! I am eating gummy bears and drinking coke. I like this place. Let's see if I can take handfuls of daddy's popcorn and shove them into mommy's mouth. This is fun... the popcorn is going everywhere... I am making a hell of a mess and nobody cares. Everyone just throws their junk of the floor, and you can be loud inside, and eat a ton of sugar... The "Movie Show" rocks!

The "movie show" is what Cayden calls the movies. Not sure why, but that is his term for the big screen. All in all, it was a fun night for all of us... kind of nice to have a special night with just Cayden. We'll make sure Emalee gets her share of special nights too.

Mac and Cheese Good

This pic is from Easter week, but its just too cute, Avery is always a big fan of Mac and Cheese, apparently so much so, that it takes 4 fingers to shove in more when you already have a mouth full. He would eat that and hot dogs every day if allowed.

Extra Fussy with a Side Order of Grouch

Did someone order a bad day for Mommy? Both of my children were so cranky before nap. Good thing Avery is so good natured. He has been a doll yesterday and today. Cayden is just getting over an ear infection (been on his antibiotic drops for 4 days) so he's fine, but he is also cutting his first 2 year molar. Princess Pea (Emmie) is cutting both of her top front teeth. The bumps are big and swollen. She's a doll 24-7, so she's allowed to be cranky from time to time. They are all 3 snoozing at the moment, so I am catching up on a little laundry, having my second cup of coffee, and taking time for a few more postings to catch you all up. I said I was going to do a better job of keeping current, but you know, promises, promises. I would rather be watching some mindless TV and drinking a starbucks chai tea... but laundry beckons as it is waist high in the laundry room, and CAFE FOLGERS is much easier on the wallet.

It's mine, and I have proof!

So yesterday, Emalee found a binky on the floor - it was Avery's nap time binky (he only gets them for napping.) She took to it and cried when I took it from her. She hasn't wanted a binky since she was about 4 days old, she sucks her two first fingers on her right hand. She is now almost 10 months. I washed it off, and gave it back to her. She used it like a teether. After about 10 minutes of pure delight, her brother came into the room and took it from her. Cayden said, mine. I told him it was not his, that he is a big boy and binks are for babies. He smiled and gave it back to her. (stupid me, I thought this was the end of it. Cayden hasn't had a bink in about 7 months.)

About 30 minutes later we are hanging out down stairs, Emmie was in her bouncer with the binky and Cayden was watching Handy Manny while I went into the kitchen to make their breakfast. This is when Cayden comes strolling into the kitchen with the binky in his mouth. I said, "Cayden that is not yours." He takes my hand and leads me over to the fridge where there is a picture of him with a binky in his mouth as a baby, he points to the picture, and says "see Mommy, I told you it was mine."

Beach Trip

So we had our first family of four beach trip week before last. The amount of stuff you have to pack when you have a baby and a 2 year old to leave home for a week is unreal. Good thing we sucumbed to the "2 child van pressure" and purchased a mini van a few months back. I always swore I would never own a mini van... but now that I have one, I don't recall how we functioned without one. The main thing that made us bite the bullet and get one, is that I am now keeping Avery five days a week. 3 car seats would not fit in either car, so I went ahead and bought the van to keep from being trapped within these four walls. With 3 kids under 3, there are just somtimes you need 2 ride 4 fries. Sanity baby, its all about getting a little sanity. French fries and a 9 inch video screen that drops from the ceiling will get you about twenty minutes of peace and quiet when you need it. Hubby says we definitely could not have fit all that beach garb into one of the other cars, so I guess the Toyota Sienna was a great purchase after all.

The beach was good. The kids had a good time together (we went with my brother, his wife, and his 2 kids - who are 5 and almost 3.) There were a few funny things that happened, on Thursday night about 1:30 in the morning, I hear "mommy, mommy" followed by a sound that could only be projectile vomiting. I opened my eyes to see the orange spray shooting across my face... I was on my feet before I knew where I was or what my name is... Cayden had gotten out of his bed and come to get me... apparently he wasn't feeling so well. You can't fault him for puking on me since he's only 2... he has no idea just how rude that is. Anyway, I used to do the same thing. I remember being like 10 and going to get Dana because I was sick, I puked a little trail from my bedroom all the way to hers... and managed to puke in her bedroom slippers at the foot of her bed on my way. She didn't realize the slippers were puked in until she slid her feet in to them to come and get me. After everything was cleaned up and I was feeling better, she told me how much better it would be if I could head to the bathroom when I was sick, and she would hear me puking and come take care of me there. Cayden's evening of puking was only the ending of a crazy turn of events... earlier that day my brother, Channa, and I had sunburned ourselves at the beach... having had to bring our sheets to the rental house, I only had one set for the bed in my room. Once Cayden had puked on them, I had to strip the bed and go back to bed on beach towels... not so comfortable on sunburned skin... I might as well have been trying to sleep on sand paper! Not that I got much sleep anyway as Cayden puked off and on until 5 AM. Earlier that day I had also broken my toe on the coffee table. I reinjured it while jumping out of bed to avoid the spray of puke that night. We ended up laughing about it all... and everyone had fun anyway.

Don't pass out, its a new post!

Well, sorry it has taken me two months to finally catch up. I am sure you have been waiting with baited breath. (Insert dramatic eye roll.) I will keep this posting short, but it is with great pleasure that I announce my plans to do a better job of keeping the blog up to date this year.

Emalee just before Christmas, donning her much-to-tight Santa Hat. At her 6 month well check, she is 25% in everything except head size, that is 75%. No suprise there... I suppose we just have big-headed children. I blame their uncles. ; ) Emalee's head dosesn't look big though, it looks small to us... but that could be because her brother's head is always 95% on the charts... he will be 2 years old in 2 weeks, and a size 4T hat just fits his head... suppose that could be why he was crying in all of his Halloween pictures. His cowboy hat was a 3T.