Caden's 2nd Birthday

July 5, 2009

My Dearest Caden,

Today you are two. I can hardly believe it. It is 6:45pm right now and I’m sitting at my computer watching and listening to you play in the other room. You have your new conductors hat on, and are watching “Dee Dines” (Little Einstein’s- a DVD from your Grammy), and playing with your new motorized Thomas the Train. Watching you play, so intently, makes my eyes fill with tears and I think back to this time two years ago. At this very moment your Daddy and I were preparing to welcome you into the world. In exactly 40 minutes you will officially be two years old!

I remember seeing you for the first time… so small, so perfect. You were, and are still, the most wonderful gift I’ve ever received in my life. I thank the Lord for you today and every day. There is nothing I love more than to watch you, play with you, hold you, and care for you. I am so proud of you and am so blessed to have you in my life.

Here are some little snippets about your life as a two year old:

- You love trains. Are obsessed with them actually. It is one of your favorite toys to play with (and ½ of your birthday gifts were based around trains in some way today), it’s your favorite place to go (to play with train tables at the book store), and it is by far your favorite part of bedtime. Every night we read you books as part of your bedtime routine and you always pick the books that have trains in them (even if it’s in the background) and you scour the book until you find the train and then yell “Train!” in utter delight.

- You love to jump. You’ve been pretty athletic from the moment you became mobile and the jumping is an old trick. But a few months ago, maybe 3 or 4, you put “air” in your jumps and lately you jump UP and then off of things like steps. You are so proud of yourself and we must say we are proud of you, too because from what we’ve read most 2 year olds aren’t even getting air when the jump yet and you’ve already graduated to jumping off of things and landing on your own two feet not holding on to a thing (and you jump up and off, not just step off). You’re a little athlete in the making my son… it’s in your genes!

- You love water, but don’t all toddlers. I don’t know a single toddler who isn’t obsessed with all things water. J True to toddler form you will find any little drop of water to play in, even in the little holes in the sidewalk where pebbles have fallen out… you can’t walk by one without sticking your finger in it to see if there is water (and of course you try to drink it or at least lick it off your finger as well). One day last week I found you had taken the lid off of your uncle’s cooler and discovered the ice had melted overnight and left you a bucket of water to play with. You decided to crawl in and stand in it. It was too cute.

- You’re very curious about the world around you. You have a name for just about everything these days, but if you don’t know what something is you point and ask, “This?” And if the object of interest is moving away quickly you put the word “this” on repeat, frantically pointing to make sure we tell you what it is before if goes away.

- Like I just mentioned you have a word for pretty much everything you come into contact with these days. You’ve also started using phrases and short sentences (although mostly still 2 and 3 word phrases). The other day you ran into the kitchen and said “I want my snack!” It blew me away. Mostly though you ask for things in phrases with gestures. You know how to communicate your needs and desires, that’s for sure! And for added effect you will put the word on repeat, just in case we didn’t hear you the first time.

- A favorite phrase is “here you go, Mommy.” Or sometimes as you play with your toys you’ll say, “there you go, train.”

- You love to sing and we love listening to you even more. There is no sweeter voice in the world than the voice of your child. Some of your favorite songs are the ABC song, Twinkle Twinkles Little Star (with emphasis on the word at the end of each phrase and mumbles in between), The Barney Theme Song (mostly just the tune and you make up your own words to it), Random nonsense songs to a tune of your choice about whatever is on your mind, and if we play a CD or song you know you’ll sing along hitting certain words along the way. If we play a song you don’t know, you still sing along, but about a half note/word behind. We hope you continue singing for us for years to come.

- Your new favorite show is Little Einstein’s (you pronounce it Dee Dines). You will pat your legs and play along with the show and you get SO excited and dance and smile when you hear the intro music to it.

- You are and have been for some time an amazing sleeper . Your naps these days do vary some, but are always at least an hour and half, and can be up to 3+ hours long. You go down for your nap somewhere around 12pm . You go to bed shortly after 7pm, but usually before 7:30, and always sleep until at least 6:30, sometimes 7:30 and everywhere in between. You are the easiest baby to put down, ever! For your nap you go straight from your booster (from lunch) into your room, usually signing and saying “sleep” all the way to your room. We do a quick diaper change and I put you in bed and you go right to sleep, no fuss. At night we do a bath, read books for 15 minutes or so, and then put you in bed.

- You sleep with three ‘gigi’s’ (pacifiers) and a bunny and a bear. You use the animals as pillows and hold your gig’s one in each hand and one in your mouth. When you wake up you throw your gigi’s down and then ask to get “up” or “out” of your crib. Sometimes you want some one on one time with your gigi’s after waking up and then we’ll leave you in your crib until you call for us to come get you.

- You love to brush your own teeth and are actually quite good at it.

- You hate having things on your hands and often ask for a napkin at dinner or ask me to clean them if you’re outside playing and suddenly realize they are dirty.

- You say cheese for the camera now, but refuse to look at it. And now that you’ve discovered the LCD screen on the back when we pull out the camera you think you have to look at it. Makes taking pictures of you rather difficult.

- We’ve been doing time out with you (in the corner) for a few months now, maybe 3? The first time I tried it I didn’t expect you to stay, but you did. You sit there for two whole minutes staring at the wall, rarely crying because you’re too proud. When the timer goes off you wait for us to come get you, you apologize and then go on your way.

- You obey Daddy better than you do Mommy…

- You adore your Daddy and get so excited when he walks in the door every night. You grab his hand and ask to be thrown up (up, up), then ask to wrestle (which lasts about 3 seconds and you sign all done and say “all done wrestle,” and then take him to an activity of your choosing (usually the train, and sometimes to your bedroom to pick out a new toy).

- You love books, but hate being read to. You will only sit in our lap and read if it’s on your terms and as long as we let you lead the way you’ll read for a long, long time. You like to flip through the pages, pointing to the pictures, talking about the pictures, or if it’s a book you know and love you’ll find your favorite page/thing and keep coming back to it over and over. If we try to read, you throw the book to the side and go pick out another.

- We let you pick out your books every night and I love how you study the shelf looking for the perfect book… I honestly think you have one in mind and are looking to locate it.

- When you read the “I Spy” book you say “I spy ____”

- You love the dogs and love to pretend you’re a dog, barking, crawling on all fours, pretending to drink their water, and then actually eating their food (yuck!)

- When the dogs come in from going outside you ask to give them their treats and you make them perform tricks for you (down, roll over) before you give it to them.

- You recognize a good bit of your numbers and letters. I’d say you pretty much recognize the numbers 1-8 (and you can can’t to 11) and lots of the letters, but not in order yet.

- You love the pool and jump in to us already (jump UP and in, not just step off the side), and you kick and try to blow bubbles but for some reason you’re hesitant to put your face in for the blowing part.

- You stopped eating bananas, and are on a strawberry/blueberry kick lately.

- You love Grandaddy’s garden and recognize most all the veggies and your favorites are the cucumbers. You love to pick the tomatoes and eat them straight off the vine.

- You don’t care for vegetables anymore. Not sure why you suddenly dislike them, but we can sometimes convince you to eat them if we offer fruit in between… bribery.

- You can open every door in the house, AND know how to work the locks (and can lock and unlock the doors).

- You get confused about pooping and tooting… but love to announce it to us all!

- You, briefly, took an interest in the potty… that was short lived, but we’re not rushing the potty training thing anyway.

- You fold your hands (and often squint up your face and mumble along) as we thank Jesus for our meal every night.

- You recognize places around town… the other day we turned on a street that we usually take to visit your friend Will, and you immediately started asking for him. You also point out Nonnie’s School, the mall with the splashing fountain, any store that has a train table, your “school” (Mommy’s gym), etc…

- You love dill pickles.

- You are often particular about who sits in the chair in the morning and holds you while you drink your milk. You will tell the person in it to get out (pulling your fingers to remove you from the chair).

- You adore your shoes and ask to change them many times a day.

- You sometimes like to get back in your crib to get your gigi fix in between sleep times.

- You are particular about who you want to hand things to. For example, at the dinner table you may wad up your napkin and say “here you go Nonnie.” Heaven forbid if anyone else but Nonnie try to take the napkin from you.

- You love tractors, too along with every other kind of vehicle. You especially love to ride the tractor (the big lawnmower) down the street with your Grandaddy.

- You will find the tiniest speck of nothing on the floor and bring it to us to throw away.

- You love to wake Nonnie up in the morning and jump all over her, often pulling the covers back while saying, “Get up!”

- After dinner every night you strip down to your diaper and “run” around the house until we put you in the bath.

- You love your family and know them all by name, even the relatives that don’t live in Huntsville. You’ll see pictures of them and call them by name and even associate them with each other (A mention of Uncle Josh usually has him talking about Addie and Izzy).

- You are an amazing little man and this insanely long list is just a small summary of all the things you’re doing now.

I love you dearly, Caden!

Mommy