waving, pointing, and other cuteness

Hayes has a flurry of cuteness going on right now:

• He just started waving to people. It is sometimes random and not always on demand, but he definitely loves doing it.
• He can point now... with much concentration.
• He loves to repeat. If you "da-da", he will "da-da". If you "ba-ba", he will "ba-ba". If you do a strange drawn out gaspy thing, he will do a strange drawn out gaspy thing. If you "mama", he will "da-da". Sigh. I'm working on that one.
• He still hands out his trademark smiles with enthusiasm. It is so adorable to see his smile make the day of a grandma in the grocery store check out line. They just eat him up. And he, of course, loves every second of it.
• He loves the water. The baby pool near us opened this week and we went for the first time yesterday. He's been in the water already, but this was his first baby pool where he can touch the bottom. He was in heaven. So was Adeline.
• Poor thing is way more adventurous than he is coordinated. He goes for it full force... pulling up, climbing, crawling over... you name it. And he has the bumps and bruises to prove it. He even busted his lip yesterday. Poor baby. I can't decide if I think he'll walk early or not. He is trying so hard, but he just doesn't seem as sturdy as Adeline did at this age.

On a not-so-cute note, he is getting ear tubes put in next week. Following in the footsteps of his mom and big sister, he is really susceptible to ear infections. He's already had 4. Three of those required two rounds of antibiotics to get rid of the infection. Even though the 4th infection is gone, he still has fluid in both ears. That, coupled with family history and the fact that he got his first infection while he was only 4 months old, leads us to tubes.

Honestly, after almost 3 weeks of terrible sleep during his latest infection, I'm ready. I'm sure he is, too. Hopefully he will finally get some relief. I am still terrified and dreading the actual surgery. The surgery itself only takes about 5 minutes and he will only be gone from us for 20 minutes, but the thought of handing off my sweet, tiny little boy for a surgery is horrible! I have already cried about it once. I'm sure I'll be a basket case for those 20 minutes!