These past few weeks, Hayden’s been mimicking a lot of our behaviours. I know that he’s been watching us for months, but I’m still surprised the first time he performs a sequence of actions just the same way that I do them.

This Carnaval season I was able to cross off item number 99 on my “to do” list, and join my first parade, rather than simply standing on the sidelines. Hayden and I joined our local childrens’ cortège (procession), filled with all the locals from our neighbourhood dressed up in bright colours. We started at the Town Hall and danced our way down the main streets, accompanied by a marching band and the Clowns Sans Frontières.

The air was thick with confetti, and the street cleaners and their mechanical gluttons followed behind us, trying to clean up the mess as best they could. Despite their efforts, I could still spot little circles of colour between many of the cobblestones for the next few weeks.

Little Hayden is not in the best of spirits today, not even a special Love Cupcake could cheer him up.