13 months old

I can't believe Caden is 13 months old already! He is so much fun and I enjoy him so much everyday! He keeps me laughing and on my toes! There are so many cute things that he does each day that it's impossible to keep up with them all.

One of the funniest things about having a toddler is finding stuff in weird places. Like you will open your desk drawer and find a three day old sippy cup he stashed in there! I'm just waiting for the day when he hides my car keys. They are a favorite item of his that I don't really let him play with... but he somehow finds them all the time. One day, I won't realize he has them and they will disappear in our house somewhere. I'll be sure to write a blog about it when it happens!

Caden boycotted baby food a few weeks ago. He absolutely refuses to eat it. He actually hates eating anything on a spoon, but last night I made Baked Ziti and I knew he would like it, but it was just one of those things that was easier to feed him on a spoon once it was all chopped up. So I had to literally force the spoon full of ziti in to his mouth because I knew once he realized it wasn't baby food he would eat it. And, he did. I basically feed Caden whatever I am eating now. It amazes me what those gums are capable of chewing! He still only has his two bottom, front teeth. That's it, two teeth! I even fed him a Mexican Chicken Crock Pot dish last week and he devoured every bite of it (and it was made with spicy salsa!). His favorites are grilled cheese sandwiches (no butter, wheat bread, and real cheese... I make it as healthy as I can) and bananas.

We are fully on the sippy cup now, too. He has a sippy in the morning right out of bed when I used to give him his bottle. I let him drink about 8 ounces of milk while I change his diaper each morning. The child can put down some liquid. He's usually finished with all 8 ounces before the diaper is even changed. Then he gets about 6 ounce of milk after his morning nap, and then juice/water with iron drops for his anemia the rest of the day.

Ah, naps. Yes, we are still on two naps a day. Caden still takes (and needs) two, two hour naps each day. He naps from 9-11 and again from 1-3. Then goes to bed at 7 and sleeps until 7 (or at least 6:30). He is just a sleeper. He can skip the morning nap if we are out and about and he is busy/entertained, but if we are just at home... he is so ready for that nap.

I love putting him down for naps/bed. We sit in the big rocker in his bedroom and read a few books, or try to if he's going through one of his 'boycott books' phases. Then I sit him in his crib with a paci in his mouth. He reaches out and grabs the spare paci we keep in his crib and then lays down with it in his hands and waits for his blanket. He loves his paci, but surprisingly is not attached to them. I don't know how he would do if he had to sleep without them, but we leave them in his crib when he wakes up and he never asks for them or cries. He's such a good baby! Can I still say that? Is he still a baby?? Well, he always will be to me!

His favorite activities these days include walking, walking, and more walking. I have no idea what he's doing or where he's going, he sometimes just walks laps around the house. He will stop at different things along the way to investigate though. He prefers to walk and drink out of his sippy cup at the same time, which is a skill he had mastered about three weeks after he started walking.

He loves his shape sorter, gear toy with spinning removable gears, push lawn mower, and Leap Frog Fridge Phonics set the most these days. Non-toy favorite items include car keys, anything he can manage to grab out of my diaper bag before I take it away (wallets, cell phones, diapers, etc), and he loves Tupperware. He likes to take the lids on and off and put stuff in them. He still loves to push things around the house, big or small. He will push the little toy train just as happily as he will his high chair. He also loves to open and close drawers, cabinets, and doors. This is not so much fun for Mommy. We decided that was/is off limits (we decided this when he became mobile). There is one "That's a YES!" cabinet and the rest are off limits. So what does a toddler do with his time?? He tests those limits just to see if maybe I will change my mind. When I tell him "That's a no," he will walk off (well, almost stomp off) abruptly. He will do one of a few things at this point:

1) Clap his hands (even if I didn't prompt him for it). I think he started this because sometimes to get his attention I will sharply clap my hands as I say "That's a no."

2) Wave his arm up and down as if he's saying "bye, bye"- I think that came from the few times I've tried swatting him on his hand for taking the bottle of Clorox out of our kitchen cabinet. Don't worry, I finally found some baby locks compatible with our cabinets that I can actually buy in Korea: link-a-doos! :)

3) Or (as he stomps off) say "Ney, Ney, Ney, Ney, Ney" - which I think means 'no.

4) Or finally, he will scrunch up his face and yell in protest.

Yes, these are all the ways Caden tries to protest being told, "that's a no" but in the end he always walks away. Now, that doesn't mean he isn't right back at it 2 minutes later...

This age is so much fun, but the real work of parenting is really just beginning. This is where I will close with one of the best pieces of parenting advice I've been given. I had our MOPS coordinator over two weeks ago to discuss my new role on the steering team and she shared some of her great wisdom with me. Yes, it's common sense, but still so profound. She said:

All day long your children are asking the question, "Who is in charge here?"

So, what happens when we don't answer that question? Oh boy, I sure hope I never find out! I love my son so much more than I thought possible. He makes me laugh every day and all of his cute activity keeps me entertained and busy, but I can really see now that he is asking me that same question everyday.