Toddler Bed

It's been just over a week since we made the big transition from a crib to a toddler bed. I was so worried Caden would start taking shorter naps or get out of his bed, but so far it hasn't been any different than the crib at all. The night we moved him over I rushed out to Lowes at bedtime to buy some wind chimes to hang on his door... my fear being he would get out of bed and we wouldn't hear him roaming around the house at night. We told Caden the rules and he has followed them completely. We have been blessed with a very easy transition at our house.

A few days before the move we bought a nightlight that changes from a moon (at night) to a sun in the morning (for a set time you program). We wouldn't come get him out of his crib until the sun came out. Caden caught on very quickly and I think that has been a huge help in keeping him in his bed now that we've moved to the toddler bed. He sometimes wakes up early and will just play in his bed with his animals until the sun turns yellow, then he sits on his knees and yells, "It's yellow! It's time to wake up!" and we come get him out of the bed. And his naps haven't changed at all. He's still napping about 3 hours (give or take 30 minutes) every day.

He loves his bed. Of course the first thing he did was jump on it and we quickly intervened and told him that was not allowed. We haven't had any more issues yet, but we are only one week in... He seems to respect the privilege of having a "big boy bed." We have taught him that after he wakes up (both morning and after his nap) we make the bed up. He LOVES to make it up and wants to do it all by himself. He will even crawl back in and tuck the blanket down all around the sides.

We ordered the crib for our little girl two weeks ago and ordered rails for his toddler bed to convert to a full size bed. When her crib arrives we will change him to an even bigger "big boy bed" and give her the crib mattress. I'm looking forward to finally decorating his room. We painted when we moved in, but it turned out too dark and so we are going to redo it, order some bedding and get some curtains/decorations to really make his room special.

Here are a few pictures of Caden's last time in his crib and his first night in his big boy bed:

Caden: 2.5 Year Letter

Bigs,

I cannot believe you are already 2.5 years old! Where has the time gone? You’re no longer a baby, although you still look like one to me sometimes, but instead you’re turning into a little boy. You now have ideas and opinions all your own and can talk to us about almost anything. Life with you right now is so much fun! We’re expecting a little sister for you to play with in a few months, which I’m so excited about, but I often thank God for letting me enjoy this phase with you while you’re still our “only child.” Here are some things that come to mind when I think of you right now:

-You’re still in your crib, complete with crib tent. I know that you’re probably the only child in your class still in their crib BUT you sleep so incredibly well that I’m not willing to risk changing your sleep habits (while I’m tired from pregnancy) just because I want so badly to make your room a big boy room. Most days you take a 3 hour nap, sometimes even four hours long! And most nights you sleep from 7:20-7. I’m not so worried about your night time sleep as I am your naps getting shorter when we move you to your new bed. I figured I’d leave you there till you start napping less on your own. Your night time sleep is much shorter than it was a few months ago. We moved into our new house the same weekend as daylight savings time and it messed up your lengthy nighttime sleep. You were sleeping from 7:20 – 8am everyday until we moved.

-all that sleep is probably due to the fact you are a growing boy! You continue to get taller and taller! You’re one of the tallest kids in your age group!

-you still don’t eat breakfast although I can occasionally get you to eat some dry cereal or raisin bread if I present it to you more as a snack than a meal. You even call it your “snack.” You eat fairly well throughout the rest of the day though. You’re still not a huge fan of veggies, but you don’t hate them as you will take bites of them if we bribe you with fruit. We never put fruit on your plate because if we do it will be the only thing you will eat. We have discovered in the last month that you love raw veggies like cucumbers and carrots (that we cut into strips that you call carrot French fries)

- we haven’t used a bib on you in ages. Even for things like oatmeal, applesauce, and yogurt you just don’t need it. You’re very coordinated with your spoon and fork.

-your favorite snacks include fruit of any kind, ‘eggs’ (yogurt raisins), any variety of goldfish crackers- especially the graham cracker ones, pretzels (pestells as you call them) yogurt with granola, and I can still occasionally sneak in a veggie by giving you frozen peas as a snack, although I think you’ve finally got that one figured out.

-you love to sing and especially love listening to music. You have favorite songs that come on the radio and also favorites on some of Mommy’s CDs (your most requested being “Better is One Day”). We also listen to children’s music often and you have several favorites on those CDs as well. I’ve found that the invention of the repeat button is something I’m very thankful for. You enjoy listening to your own music on your headphones in the backseat, which Mommy and Daddy like b/c that means we get to listen to our favorite music in the front seat.

-you still love Little Einstiens and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but new favorites include Handy Manny and Veggie Tales. Your cousin Cyrus visited a few weeks ago and introduced you to the Cars movie which you like now, too. During the holidays we watched a lot of Veggie Tale Christmas movies as well as “The Very First Noel” which is an excellent retelling of the Christmas story. It will likely be a family favorite for years to come. You recently took an interested in Buzz Lightyear (thanks to some undies you have, but more on that in a bit) and I showed you the movie a few days ago and you watched the entire thing form start to finish, complete with commentary (Mommy, he’s a cowboy! Mommy, he’s sad!). That was the first movie you’ve really watched all the way through.

-speaking of the holidays, this was the first one where actually grasped a little of what’s going on. We often strolled through target, walmart and lowes just to let you see the Santa/snowmen inflatables and all the lights on the trees. You got very excited about seeing Christmas decorations. We drove around to look at Christmas lights and you kept making the “eerk!” (car slaming on it’s breaks) sound to signal to your Dad to stop so you could look closer at the lights. We also started a Jesse Tree this year and you absolutely loved doing the devotional and opening the ornament for the tree each night. Sometimes the ornaments don’t have a story in your chilrens picture Bible so I try to just talk about the ornament instead. But you always insisted on me finding something in your Bible to read. We also started a Christmas Story Book Box and you love having all the books about Baby Jesus in a special box under the tree.

-You’re learning some Bible stories (thanks to the Jesse Tree and we’ve also been reading some before we started the Jesse Tree). You’re favorite is the story of Adam and Eve. You tell it to us all the time pointing to the pictures saying things like “No No apples!” and “Obey God!” It always cute to hear you talk about anything, but to see you talking about the Bible is so heartwarming to me as I want so badly for you to grow up and know your Savior personally!

-We started attending Story Time at Barnes and Noble during December and you finally will sit still (although not really listening to the story, more tolerating it). The story is totally worth the wait for the fun craft you get to do afterwards. You love crafts and I display most of them proudly around the house. The playroom in our house has tons of framed artwork that you did. Some are sentimental, like the first time I let you use crayons when you were 13 or 14 months old! You went through a short phase where you called craft time, “Crack.” It was very funny to hear you say, “Mommy I do crack!?!”

-You are now officially Potty Trained! We potty trained you at the beginning of January and you did an awesome job! Day one was a bit overwhelming for us both. As a matter of fact you had only one accident that morning, but after your nap you had 3 in a row. I was actually crying on your Daddy’s shoulder in the kitchen about how maybe you weren’t ready when you yelled out “I have to go pee pee” and took off running to the potty. That was it! You were trained from that point forward and we never looked back! You are still in a diaper at night and nap time although you keep them dry. After another month or so we will stop using diapers at nap/night. You literally trained in just one day! We are so proud of you!

-You’re talking up a storm these days. You’re talking mostly in sentences now, even if they aren’t always grammatically correct. We’ve spent a lot of time working on your manners and you are very good about saying please and thank you without being prompted. We have also recently started working on having you wait your turn to talk and not interrupt Mommy and Daddy. This one is a bit harder to train, but we’re making progress.

-Your morning routine has only changed slightly. You no longer let us hold you while you drink your “coffee” (warm milk), but instead you sit in your little yellow Monkey Chair that your Nonnie bought you. You stopped letting us hold you back in the Sept/Oct time frame.

-You have such an easy going temperament and play so well with other children. Sure, you have your moments when sharing is an issue (isn’t it for all 2.5 year olds?), but for the most part you understand the concept of taking turns pretty well. You love having other kids around and are super interactive with them now, where before it was more you just played side by side.

- you are generally a very obedient child and we are so proud of you for that!

-You love going to school! On T/Th you attend WEE at a local church and you have such a good time! You talk about things you did at school (like playing Jingle Bells and Hot Potato and you often tell me what your friends ate for lunch) and you talk about your classmates and teachers ALL the time. So far you’ve only been to time out once and it was because you deliberately disobeyed your teacher when she told you not to put the wheely board on the mat. She said you did well and sat still in time out the whole time.

-We do time out at home as well and (thanks to our old Babywise book) we always require a verbal response for instructions. After time out we discuss what you did wrong and require a “yes mam/sir”. You went through a phase where you didn’t want to say it so you would say a jibberish word that sounded similar to yes mam/sir instead. That just got you back in time out so it was a short lived experiment. Every time we give you an instruction we require a response and you no longer have to be prompted to say yes mam/sir, but do it on your own. For example, I’ll tell you something like, “Caden you can walk down the sidewalk without holding Mommy’s hand but you have to stay next to Mommy. Do you understand?” and you will respond, “Yes Mam.” It has been such a blessing b/c it tells us you understand our instruction and it has saved us from a world of battles! We even let you walk through the mall last weekend (yes on a SATURDAY) without holding our hands and you obeyed b/c you understood our instructions to stay close. You are such a good little boy.

-You love playdoh! Thanks to the playdoh kit your Nonnie bought you’re an expert at scissors already!

-On Thanksgiving Day you up and started peddling your bike all on your own. Even up hill! Of course you don’t always pedal as you don’t always have the patience for it, but we’re so proud of your new accomplishment!

-Speaking of hills, you talk about them often when we are in the car…. You’ll say things about us going up the hill, being at the top of the hill, and going down the hill. I wonder where you learn this stuff! You also understand under/over/on top of/beside/etc. On a small side note, you also call all the big tower-type poles that go over the mountain “Eiffel Towers” (thanks to an episode of Little Einstein’s). Just as you understand going up/down hill you also understand abstract words like “afterward.” For example, we will tell you that we are going to do ABC and afterward we will do XYZ… you’ve started using this concept on your own now. You told me the other day that you wanted to go potty and watch Mickey Mouse “after.”

-You love books, but you still won’t let us read the stories. You prefer to talk about the pictures. Mommy often reads the story anyway but sometimes you will tell me to “shh!” You will do the same thing if I start singing a song sometimes, you will say “Mommy! No singing!” (which I make you add a “please” to). Usually it’s because I start singing to try and distract you and you know better than to fall for that trick.

-Daddy puts you to bed most nights (still- has been since you were probably 13 months old). You routine includes a going potty, a bath, a scramble to see who can hit the “all done” button on the tub first, then you brush your teeth, get lotioned/diapered/jammied up, read books, then Daddy pats your back at your crib singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” then Daddy prays with you and you snuggle up with your gigis and animals (bear, rabbit, and horsey).

-You’ve started praying for almost all of our meals. You say the cutest things when you pray and often thank God that you kept your undies dry that day and that you went peepee on the potty. I think this is because one of the few nights you let Daddy pray for our meal was the day you potty trained so of course we thanked God for your success… you think that is just something we pray every day now. When your cousins Izzy and Addie came to visit you learned a prayer song. Although you don’t sing it at dinner we often hear you singing it while you play. You learned about “blessings” from the song and when you pray you thank God for “blessings” as well. It makes our hearts go pitter-patter.

-One of the things we are most proud of lately came about because of something your Daddy heard on the radio. It was a survey about parents who told their children all the time “You are so smart!” compared to those who said, “Way to work Hard!”…. we still tell you that you are smart but we’ve started teaching you the concept of patience and working hard as well and this has paid off in a HUGE way! Most often we use it in the car when you are doing something or want something and can’t do it. Now when you are frustrated and ask for help we tell you, “Work hard at it and you can do it!” and sure enough you almost ALWAYS get it! The other day you even managed to snap a watch on your wrist in the car all by yourself!! It’s been a great lesson in patience for you as well to not get frustrated and give up on things easily. And you are SO proud of yourself when you do accomplish it on your own!

I could go on and on but I think this four page word document is quite enough of an update for now (in 11 point font, lol). We are so proud of you and love you so very much! We pray for you every day and are so thankful that God blessed us with such an amazing little boy to call our own!

Love,

MomMom
(your newest name for me… and Daddy is DadDad and Nonnie is NonNon! We love your creativity!)

A Belly Picture, finally...

So, I found a little space on my hard drive to squeeze in just a few pictures from my completely full 1 GB memory card, lol. Neither of them are great, but here they are none the less. I took this picture during our Potty Training Weekend. I love the M&M smear on his lips and how he was sitting.... the pic is a bit dark, but it still captures his sweetness... he moved about 1 second after I took it so I'm glad I caught this sweet face, all covered in M&Ms and just as happy as can be watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse....

Caden is just such a little boy now. He cracks us up all the time. I've started writing down funny things that he says and I want to start posting them (and just blogging in general again). Blogging was therapy for me at one time and I really miss it! Here are just a few cute sayings that come to mind:

Every night at dinner we pray... over the last year Caden went from eating through the prayer so waiting for us without eating, to shoving in a bite of food while he squinted his eyes and put his hands on his forehead, to eventually asking to pray. These prayers are often precious! The very first time he asked to pray was about a month ago (about 28 months old) and after examining his plate (I had made burritos), he said,

"Dear God, Thank you for Taco Bells.... Amen."

After that night Caden pretty much prays for our meals every time. One morning we got up and cooked a big breakfast together as a family and Caden prayed, thanking Jesus for every item of food on his plate (eggs, toast, jelly, grapes, etc).

Lately Caden's prayer sounds something like this...

"Dear Jesus, thank yous the food..... Thank you Caden's undies dry and go pee pee in the potty.... thank you blessings....... Amen."

Last night Caden was warned and then deliberately disobeyed while I was cooking dinner and so he was given a spanking. During his prayer he threw in something about obeying God and spankings.... I can't remember the exact wording but I remember John and I looking up at each other from across the table and holding back laughs.

Caden knows about things that I have no recollection of teaching him... for example, a month or so ago Caden looked at me and said, " Mom Mom (his new word for me), what happened my trucks? They need batteries." I have no clue how he knows about batteries and what they do...

One of our Monday Morning Outings lately is to go to the Barnes and Noble story time after my gym class. After the story they do a craft. Caden doesn't quite have the pronunciation of that word down yet and yells out often, "Mommy I go to story time and I do crack! I do crack Mommy!" Lovely....

This next story is a little on the "too much information" side of things.... I apologize before hand ........... As we neared time for potty training we started announcing every time we went to the restroom so Caden would come watch and learn.... At first he complimented me for going... "Mommy go pee pee in potty! I so proud of you!!" Then after a few weeks he decided to change up his compliment.... Sticking his head between my legs to look into the potty he said, "Mommy!!! It so beautiful!" What was really great was when he started making these loud announcements/compliments in public restrooms... lol.

Caden is very much into make believe play now. It's really fun to watch him have conversations with his little action figures and dolls and to really make his trucks do an activity (complete with sound effects). He loves to pretend to have meals at his table/kitchen he got for Christmas from Gdaddy and Nonnie, too. Last night he was making me eggs. Caden gave me a spatula to eat my eggs with and I asked him for a fork. He went searching for one and when he couldn't find one he said (and I quote)... "I have a GREAT idea! Here's a spoon!" What drama and where did he learn "i have a great idea?" lol.

In other news with Caden.... as this is turning out to be a "catch up" blog post... we potty trained him a few weeks ago! He did SO great! I'll try to blog more about it later but it was so much easier than I ever thought it would be! We even took a road trip to Nashville just for fun one week after we trained him! That is how well it went.... we had no worries about him holding his bladder at all and he stayed dry all day long.

As for me, this picture is about 1.5 weeks old now and I swear my belly is twice as big, at least it feels that way. I had no belly at all, just a teeny bit of pudge two weeks before this picture.... That one is far from edited (my 17 week picture) and this one (21 weeks) is only partially edited (hence the shadows on the white and splotchy areas)..... but I knew that the chances of me ever going back to FINISH editing this picture were slim to none.. I've pretty much forgotten how to use photoshop and it took me forever to re-learn how to do the few simple things I did do... so here it is... Baby Girl (possibly Kaycie Grace as that is the favorite name these days) at 21 Weeks:

Caden 26 month update

My sweet baby boy,

You are 26 months old right now and are loving life! And we are loving every minute with you. Here are some funny things you do and some of your accomplishments:

- Every morning when we get you out of your crib we immediately change your diaper and then bring you to the living room. You let us rock you in the chair while you watch a TV show and drink “Caden’s Coffee” as you call it. Caden’s coffee is a special treat we still do each morning. We give you a sippy cup full of warm milk. You love it and guzzle it down.

- You sing so many songs now, and sing them well! You know every word to the ABC song, including the “now I know my abcs next time won’t you sing with me” part.

- When you sing Jesus Loves Me you clasp your hands together like you are praying.

- When you sing the Wheels on the bus song, you only sing about the wheels as they do all the actions (The wheels on the bus go swish, swish, swish all through the town- and then shh, waaa, bump, etc).

- When we read your lift the flap books you often pretend they are a jack in the box and pretend that you are turning a knob on top of the flap while you sing “All around the cobb-a-lers bench the monkey chased the WEASEL (emphasis)” and when you sing “Pop!” you open the flap.

- You like to try and read the books to Dad and I now. In one of your books there are pictures on the side panel for you to find on the main page and you like to point to a small picture in the panel (like the dog) and say “Where is it on the page” and you make giant circles over the page with your finger. Obviously the sentence you say above isn't crystal clear, but we can understand enough of it with your hand motions to figure out what you mean. :D

- You never eat breakfast anymore….

- “This?” is a word we hear often! Sometimes it’s used to learn the name of an object (or a speck you see somewhere, lol), but most often it’s used for people. You want to know the name of everyone! On your Praise Baby movies there are images of children playing and you always want to know their names, asking “This?” Also in your books, you often want to know the names of all the characters (and in most toddler books the characters don’t have names).

- Will is your best friend. You adore him and the two of you have so much fun together. It has been fun watching you boys go from just watching each other play or playing side by side, to really playing together and laughing your heads off all the while! You call his mama “Ashley” and his daddy “Mitter Don.” And boy you know exactly how to get to his house, too, often asking us to go there when we pass that part of town.

- Speaking of knowing where Will lives, you also know where Nonnie and G-daddy live. When we drive like we’re going to their house, but make a detour to go somewhere else instead you realize it and start crying and asking for the dogs “lucy and charli.” I’m not talking about us being just one turn from their house either, you really know your way around town! Dad and I often wonder if we dropped you off a few miles away from home if you could find your way back, although we’d obviously never do that.

- You speak in phrases and sentences now. Some of your sentences amaze me! They are growing longer and more complex everyday! And your words, sometimes you say things I had no idea you knew! You’re still such a little sponge!

- This one is just a silly story, but it was just too cute not to document. Last night we took you to open house at your preschool and we were outside walking to the car at 7pm and it was already dark outside. You looked up at the sky and asked Daddy, “Where did the sky go?” You haven’t seen a dark sky since you were a very little baby. It made us laugh so hard.

- Since you’ve turned two you’ve really been testing your limits with us, often being defiant. We have good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks. We love you so much and hope you outgrow this little phase quickly.

- Your favorite snack is now “Chocolate Goldfish”- I love it when you ask for it because it’s such a big phrase and you say it so precisely. You also adore “eggs” (yogurt raisins, you named them yourself and we loved the cute nickname so we’ve adopted it) and fruit snacks are another favorite.

- When your answer to one of our questions is ‘no’ you often say, “no way.”

- You love, love, love to hide something and then ask “Where did the___ go? I don’t know…. There it is!!!” And sometimes you’ll hide behind something and say “I see you!” It’s funny when you talk like this because you sound like such a little grown up!

- You have become a TV watcher. If I leave the tv on when one of your favorite shows is playing, you are glued to it. So now I have to be careful not to leave the tv on too much. Your favorite shows include: Special Agent Oso, Little Einsteins (DeeDines), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Barney. Can you tell we watch a lot of the Disney Channel now? Sprout used to be our chanel of choice, but they changed their morning program line up and you didn’t get in to the Wiggles (thankfully). You’ve also figured out that most of the shows you ask to watch are “On Demand” and you can watch them whenever you ask so I’ve had to start telling you that Mickey Mouse is sleeping when it’s a time of day that I don’t want you watching tv. A few nights ago before bed I did that very thing and the FIRST thing out of your mouth the next morning when you walked into the living room and saw Mickey Mouse on Tv was, “Mickey Mouse no more sleeping!!”

- You are an expert now at eating with a spoon/fork. We hardly ever use a bib anymore, except for when it’s something drippy like yogurt or applesauce, and you usually ask for your bib in those cases (you don’t like to get messy) but still rarely need it even then.

- You love straws. And you are also excellent at drinking out of a cup without a lid/straw/etc… just a plain old “big boy” cup.

- You started Mother’s Morning Out (MMO) at a local church (the preschool program MMO falls under is called WEE- Weekday Early Education). You love school and are the only kid in the class that probably runs from their parents when I come to pick you up! And you run straight in the room in the morning ready to go. You sometimes talk about your lunch and what your friend Will was eating, and I’ve heard you sing a few new songs I’m pretty sure you are learning from school.

- You can now not only throw a ball like a champ, but you can catch them in the air, too! You are so proud when you do!

- You rarely hold onto the railing (or hands unless we insist) when you walk up and down stairs now.

- You’ve been opening and closing (and locking and unlocking) the doors in our house for months now…. It won’t be long and you’ll have those safety knobs figured out, too.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the little glimpse into your life as a 26 month old. You are so much fun and keep us laughing all the time, and you keep us on our toes as well!

Love,

Mom

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

Caden Counts to 11

Caden has been counting on his own, unprompted usually while playing with toys/books. He has been counting to six for about 2 months now. He's still so young so we weren't/aren't in a hurry to hear him count higher but apparently he picked it up on his own! Riding in the car the other day with Nonnie and I Caden starts to count... no big deal, he does this all the time. Well, this particular time he didn't stop at 6.. he kept going, and going, and going and counted all the way to 10! No pauses, no breaks, and it was just as clear as day! I was floored and we oohed and aahed and praised him and he did it again!

So, I pulled out the camera this time to see if he would let me video it...and he wouldn't. Everything was "1, 2, 3, 4, booboo!" Silly boy. But toward the end of this clip he does count and this time to what I think is 11... however it wasn't as clear as his first and second performances, but oh well... Here is the clip we got:

21 months

In two weeks Caden will be 22 months old and I've hardly kept up with any of his latest adventures/skills/etc. He is growing and changing so much each day and keeps us all laughing all the time!

He is still a great sleeper for me. He averages between 12 and 13 hours each night (7pm-7 or 8 am) and naps 1.5-3 hours each day (varies from day to day but always at least 1.5 hours). In the evenings we eat dinner as a family around 6pm each night. Afterward Caden gets about 5-10 minutes to "run" as he calls it. We strip him down to his diaper and he expends his last little bit of energy running from the tub to the kitchen and back and forth giggling and laughing all the way. After his bath (which Daddy pretty much always gives him while I lay out his PJs and such) he brushes his teeth and hair. As we leave the bathroom he says "Night Night!" to the baby in the mirror and then asks to turn the light "On?" (pronounced 'own'). He flicks it on and off a few times and then heads to the living room to give everyone their night night kisses.

He used to say night night but somewhere along the way he turned it in to byebye (despite the fact we only refer to it as night night). There is a chorus of "Byebye Nonnie, ByeBye Gaddy, ByeBye Mommy, ByeBye Charli (dog), ByeBye LuLu (Lucy, dog #2)" and then my favorite "Bye Everybody!!" (bye eh-ba-ee). We all love that time of night so much. In his room Daddy dresses him for bed and then they read stories for a while. Yep, that's right! They READ! He finally adores books and loves to point to everything and tell us what it is. He doesn't like the stories so much, but that's okay with us. He actually loves books so much that the only way to get him to leave them for bed is to start saying goodbye to everything on the pages, and then to say goodbye (goodnight) to everything in the room. Daddy's favorite part of the night is right before he places Caden in the crib, Caden rips out his paci and plants a huge kiss right on John's mouth and says "Bye Daddy." He's just so precious.

Caden loves to play outside during the day. He asks for it all the time. He especially loves bubbles and can successfully dip the bubble stick and blow bubbles himself. He also loves to throw the ball for the dogs (and boy does this kid have an arm) and push his lawnmower or wheelbarrow around the yard. The only thing about the yard that causes problems is the brick stairs. I hate those things. Caden is really quite good on stairs and has proven he can go up and down them without any assistance whatsoever, but Mommy doesn't trust him on the brick ones that have no handrail for him to hold onto, so we battle it out most days. Oh, and we keep his little chalkboard easel (I got on Craigslist for $8!!) on the screened porch and we play with the sidewalk chalk on both the easel and the ground. We spend a good bit of our day out back playing.

Caden talks all the time now. He's still not really articulating his sounds, especially beginning consonants, but we understand most of what he says these days. He hasn't really started using two word phrases yet... a little bit but not quite enough to say that he does it consistently. He's still singing songs, counting, and starting to recognize letters and numbers although those are still hit or miss. I also recently noticed that he now studies the shapes and puts them in the correct slot on his shape sorter he's had since he was 6 months old. Not sure how long he's been doing that as that is a toy we don't play with together too often (it's in his room for when he does "roomtime" each morning while I get dressed for the day).

He has a personal greeting for each member of the household, well except for Mommy who is with him pretty much 24/7. When Nonnie walks in the door each evening Caden runs to her, grabs her finger and drags her to either his room or the living room and pats the floor commanding her to sit down and says "Play!" (pay). When Grandaddy (Gaddy) walks in the door he grabs his finger and says "buds" and drags him to the fridge. I know that sounds a little weird, and honestly the explanation is even weirder than grandaddy giving him budlight, haha! He's saying "birds" and wants Gaddy to get the worms out of the fridge to go feed the bluebirds (which are living in the house in the back yard and have three little baby birds in their nest right now). Yep, worms in the fridge, you heard it correctly. But the bluebirds are such pretty little yard guests it's worth it. Next, when Daddy walks in the door he has two greetings. One is either "doot, doot" or "tar" both of which mean guitar b/c he wants John to play the guitar for him. He loves to dance when Daddy sings his (Caden's) favorite song (I'm Yours- by Jason Mraz). The other greeting Daddy gets sometimes is "up, up," which is Caden's request to be thrown in the air.

Some of Caden's favorite snacks right now include whole apples (we don't slice it, just give him the whole thing), Popsicles, and bread strangely enough.

Things for us as a family are going great as John and I are picking out house plans and are looking at lots to build our very first home! We're really excited! I could go on and on, but I feel I touched on some of our favorite things at this current little stage in Caden's life.

Counting and ABC's

One of Caden's latest accomplishments is that he is starting to learn songs (including his ABC's), numbers and letters. When he sees text he starts naming his letters (T is a favorite). He can't recognize them just yet, but we think he's getting close on a few of them. Also, I've noticed that he is showing that he recognizes the direction the text should face. Call me crazy, but I've seen him turn things the correct way too many times (newspapers, magazines, etc..things he's not familiar with).

Also, he can sing the first part of his ABC's and can count!! The video is from April 4, about two weeks ago. I just happened to be filming him waking up from his nap, hoping to get some cute gibberish and out he came with "1-2-3-4!" I was so thrilled to get it on video b/c he'd been doing it for a few days and I thought I'd never be lucky enough to capture it! Today he clearly counted to 6 while looking at his fingers!! It was as clear as DAY! And while I'm bragging he can also say his ABC's up to the D... and he knows other various parts and will sporadically chime in during the song. I swear he knows the whole thing but in segments.

Okay, enough bragging for one day! :) Video follows... and hopefully in the next few days some other updates including our Beach Vacation and Easter.

Caden's Words 19.5 months

Sorry for the boring post... but I started typing and decided this was "blog worthy" to chronicle Caden's development! :)


This is the most comprehensive list of words that Caden currently says at 19.5 months:


sky ball no apple (abble) banana (nana) tractor grass keys dress shoes socks knee nose teeth ear eye belly baby drink milk water moo (he says boo and everything that is not a dog is a cow these days, except for birds and they are all ducks) duck car orange truck daddy mom mama mommy (I am all three of these) Nonnie (my mom) Gaddy (trying to say Grandaddy) wash please thank you movie (vee) book bus fish airplane eat hell0 yeah (says this when talking or pretending to talk into the phone) Yay! paci (gigi) night, night doggie light "all through the town" (from "The Wheels on the Bus" and it sounds like 'aah eww down'- would you consider this his first sentence? haha) down ashes, ashes (ah-ee, ah-ee) more byebye mine no yes (yesh- hilarious- we now make him say this to us when we are talking to him. We ask "do you understand" and wait for him to say "Yesh.") car beep, beep shh (complete with hand motion to the lips) outside slide bath Elmo blocks Amen! Pray Jesus train sweater (a new one from his flash cards, not very clearly pronounced though) pear broccoli bear diaper tree leaf poop (boop) Boo! (as in Peek-A-Boo) go hi Me color Uncle (ungle- and he says it to my brothers)

He is also singing a ton of other songs, but only certain words here and there. Here are a few that I can think off of the top of my head:
Jesus loves the little ones like me, me, me (he says Me, Me, Me and points to himself)
Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down (Ah-ee, Ah-ee...DOWN!)
ABC song- he amazes us with this one! He seriously has sung every part of it at one point or another but never all together. Last night he belted out X and Z!
And he Said Zicheus you come Down! (Caden hits the word Down right on cue every time)
All the verses to wheels on the bus... he says beep, beep, beep, bump, bump, bump, etc and does motions for them all.
Caden knows the word Jesus and hits it on several songs as it is obviously a popular word on his children's bible songs DVD
He definitely recognizes favorite songs and will dance to them, jibberish sing (mumbles as if he were singing it), or shout out the words he knows always on cue

19 Months Old and counting..

My parents home is about twice the size of our apartment in Korea, so it's been harder to blog or find any computer time these days with a little explorer on the loose!

Caden turned 19 months old on Feb 5th. His vocabulary is increasing everyday, mostly because he tries to copy everything we say...but a special toddler dictionary is required to decipher most of what he says! He apparently really likes the letter/sound "g" (hard g as in dog) because he uses it a LOT! Some, but not all, of his recent words include: apple (ahble), banana (pronounced na at first and now nana), wash, yes (yesh), doggie, nonnie (my mom), just to name a few... He also has some new things he recognizes and points to but doesn't say... just points to the correct thing if we ask him where it is including sky, grass, garden, etc.... Those are just a few!

One of our favorite new things is that Caden has started praying with us a dinner, and at some point during each meal he decides we need to pray again, so we all do. It's so cute! When we're finished praying he yells out "Amen!"

His favorite activities these days include walking down the sidewalk with Nonnie and/or Grandaddy, playing with the dogs, going outside and playing in the yard, watching Grandaddy in his garden and begging to get in it, eating blueberries, giving kisses, asking for movies (vee), singing and dancing, playing with telephones, playing in his room (which now houses ALL of his toys and is baby proofed), scolding the dogs (pointing and wagging his finger saying "no, no, no") and getting in to everything! :)

He's cutting his one year molars (the ones on top first, and now the ones on the bottom). He loves to climb... and will climb on anything. On the furniture, the fireplace, stairs, the little hills in the back yard... anything that can be climbed on he will try to conquer.

We've always noticed that Caden is very "mechanically minded," but it is becoming more and more apparent that this fascination with how things work is not going away. There are certain things that after a little intervention and discipline he will leave alone, but the things with buttons or that control something (telephones, remote controls, computers, etc) he never gives up on. It has become quite a battle actually because as soon as we are out of the room or our backs are turned he is always trying to get them. We've always felt that those things are not developmentally appropriate for him and that a time will come when we will teach him to use them the proper way, but for now they are off limits. So, for now we fight the daily battle of "put that back" or "give the phone to Mommy, please"... Usually we don't have to tell him. As soon as he sees us he runs up to us and hands it to us and says "This" as if he's helping us out by bringing it to us.

He is such a joy and is so much fun to watch. My dad (Grandaddy to Caden) says that Caden is more entertaining than anything on TV. :)

17 Months

Well, actually we at the 17.5 month point, but that's not too far off! Besides, if I'd written this at exactly 17 months then it would have been before the 'big' changes happened!

Let's see... Caden is still his happy, adventurous self. More adventurous everyday it seems. My father (Grandaddy) joked on the phone today that Caden would be safer on a rickety old boat with no life jacket than he would with me... this comment stems from the fear all my blog posts have placed in my dad. And now that I think about it I do seem to post a lot of photos and videos of Caden standing on furniture!

Caden loves to climb. He really loves to climb on the things he's not supposed to climb on, too! This month he has learned to do a lot of new things that we aren't so thrilled about. He's learned to open the bedroom doors, pull down the baby gates, and take the lid off the trash can (and throw EVERYTHING away).

He's also learning some new behaviors that we're not to excited about either! Everything is "Mine!" to Caden and boy oh boy does he throw a fit if you take it away from him. His grip on things is abnormally strong because I can't get anything out of his hands anymore without some serious prying. If we go to take something away from him he does the whole limp body thing and throws himself down, kicking and screaming. Which leads me to the next behavior he's started: temper tantrums. Not just the little protests that are expected when toddlers don't get their way, but full out tantrums. Stomping his legs if he's standing, kicking his legs if he's laying down. Arching his back, throwing his head back to a degree which seems impossible, pushing away and swatting at me (often pulling my hair) if I have to pick him up (public tantrums are the worst), and basically anything else he can do to make it difficult for me to get to him. We typically ignore them at home, other than removing the object from his death grip. It seems that overnight, my baby grew up.

Caden has also started using the word 'no,' but not in the typical way most babies his age (or younger) use it... he says 'no' when he hears another mommy telling her toddler not to do something. He thinks he's so cute, well, and he is but we just can't let him know it's cute!

Other accomplishments this month include his ever growing vocabulary. He repeats most of what we say these days, although is usually doesn't sound anything like what we said. One of his cutest new words is diaper (babo), and this is one he does without a sign! A lot of his words started as signs, but I've noticed him signing less and less and using the words more often. At 16 months he was signing almost 20 words consistently. Now he is saying all of those words with the sign (and is now dropping the sign on some of them), except for a select few words which are still strictly signing only (sleep and coat are the only two I can think of). It all happened very quickly. at 16 months he was mainly signing, and by 16.5 he was talking AND signing, and by 17 he was starting to drop the signs.

Now, although he IS talking, it's still not frequent, I mean he IS a boy! He mostly uses his words to get what he wants or needs, but doesn't talk my ear off all day long.

Sometimes he plays around with pronunciations and one word can be said two entirely different ways. For example, he knows there is an "mmm" sound and the terrible tricky "rrr" sound but he can't seem to do them together. Sometimes when he wants "more" he'll focus on the beginning consonant and say "Mmmmaa" for more... and then other times the focus shifts to the end of the word and he focuses on the "r" sound and says "gore" (saying it very slowly).

He's definitely (finally) started pointing, although he still doesn't use it much. He loves to point at dogs (gog, duck, or guck... why he forgot how to say dog I do not know, but he was saying it 2 months ago) and he loves to point at the DVD player in our car and say "maybe" (he's trying to say movie). He points away from his body and says Mommy and points to his chest and says "Daddy." We thought he was pointing AT Mommy, but since we've discovered he just thinks it means to point away. He calls me Mama, Mommy, and MeMe.... depends on the moment which name he uses for me.

Caden's favorite games and toys right now include trucks, trains, and planes and all the noises they make and things they can do! He also LOVES the "Wheels on the Bus" song and recognizes it and does all the hand motions for it! The only verse he doesn't do a hand motion for is the driver. That's a lot of verses for a little one to remember and know! He also loves (still) the falling down part of "Ring around the Rosies."

Another little thing Caden has started doing is counting. When we stack blocks or when Elmo is on TV counting or anything else he will count along all the way up to 4! The words aren't completely clear, but they are close by toddler standards! Sometimes when he is playing he will count things, too (always up to 'four' clearly and after that he just makes up sounds/numbers). Caden has also been singing his ABC's for a while now, again, NOT clearly, but to the beat and some letters make similar sounds. He usually sticks with the beat and somewhat with the letter sounds all the way to "L M N O P," and we lose him after that.

Caden is definitely going through a phase of knowing what he wants, and doing whatever it takes to get it/keep it. It's definitely been more of a challenge to parent him, but we're trucking on along... I just wish he'd waited to enter this new phase until AFTER the 13.5 hour plane ride home! Oh well! :)

16 Months

I can't believe my baby boy is 16 months already. This last month flew by particularly fast! Maybe it's because we've just been so busy!

On the talking front we've made a LOT of progress this month. Caden is picking up signs and words everyday! Here is my best attempt to remember them...

Signs: help, eat, sleep, more, milk, water, all done, dog, bird, fish, ball, all done, up, shoe, please, thank you, bath (well, actually he signs clothes but he says bath when he does it... he's confused).
Words: eat (deet), bath (bap or bapbap), baby (beebee), help (bop- we know it's help because he does it with the sign), dog (gog sometimes dog), hello (ah oh), hi (hi), uhoh (uhoh), ears (eyes), nose (nnnna), no (also nnnna, but more of a command- not our favorite word for obvious reasons), ball (baawl- what a southern accent!), water (wawawawa -does this while attempting to sign water), and a few others that we haven't quite deciphered yet but we think might be truck, more, book, and thank you. He tries to copy a lot of what we say, but these are the words he uses without us having to say it first.

Caden started the baby jargoning this month. It's so funny to watch him try and have a conversation in complete gibberish. Here is a video of him talking to me in the tub.



Caden is understanding more of what we say these days, too! For example, we taught him the word and sign for 'sit.' He doesn't sign it to us yet, but when we sign it or say it, he complies (most of the time). We had to teach this one when he learned to climb up on the couch. He loves to climb on stuff so we really have to watch him now!

He has a lot of favorite toys right now. I would have to say his first love would be things that 'go' such as trucks, trains, and cars. Next would be his toy cell phones (we even gave him a real cell phone that we don't use anymore). He will walk around talking into those for a long time. Those are especially useful for long stroller outings as well! He also loves any kind of object that he can take out of or put into a container. He's become quite fond of his books again and loves to read them to himself. Sometimes he will sit still long enough for us to read them to him... it depends on his mood at the time! He still loves blocks, although they don't hold his attention for quite as long these days. He's still obsessed with his gear toy, especially since we put all the gears in a little container. He likes to take them out one by one and put them on the gear toy, watch them spin, and then put them back in the box one by one. Caden's also become a big fan of arts and crafts. He loves to color, but we still have major issues with eating the crayons!

His favorite toys of all though are the things he's not supposed to have that he manages to get his hands on. He loves to turn over the diaper bag or purse and find my keys, wallet, and cell phone. And he knows exactly what to do with each of them. He takes all the cards out of the wallet and then puts them all back in, he takes my keys to the front door and tries to figure out where they go and what they do, and he puts the cell phone to his head and pretends to talk to some one.

Recently I lost my wallet. I was about to call and report it missing when I found it stashed in the storage compartment on Caden's Tonka Truck (...again Grammy, this toy is killing me! It has so many uses!).

Caden is starting to love music. Sometimes he tries to sing in a really high pitched sweet voice. Usually he does this when he is pretending to read a book. He also tries to sing along to the ABC song (with the magnetic fridge letters). He also sings some of the Wheels on the Bus song with his DVD. He goes Bump, Bump, Bump... Beep, Beep, Beep... and Whaa, Whaa, Whaa with the people, horn, and babies on the bus!

Caden is learning how to play like a boy thanks to Daddy. John's been wrestling and rough housing with him. When Caden see's Dad he starts running around like a maniac child that has been trapped in a stroller all day (which is has not, but he acts like it)! He loves to play chase, or to run circles around the house.

As far as discipline goes, he's really testing his limits these days. He wants what he can't have and needs to check in every few hours just to see if it's still off-limits. When we tell him no, he's usually obedient, but we have to catch him and say "that's a no" before he gets to the item. Once his hand is on it, it's hard for him to let go.

Caden still sleeps 11-12 hours at night. We've started having very short 1 hour naps though. Not every day, but several days a week he just won't nap more than an hour. It's not long enough because even out of the crib he cries and cries and cries. It seems putting him in the stroller and walking to the store or just walking to walk are the best ways to calm him down. If he takes a good nap, he wakes up happy and ready to play. I'm sure you all read the post from last week when I decided to let him cry to see if he'd nap longer and he jumped/fell/climbed/etc out of the crib. Not so fun!

I know I say it every time I type one of these, but he is SO MUCH FUN right now. I love being his Mommy more than anything else I do! And speaking of.... he's up from his nap now so it's time for me to go do just that: be his Mommy!

Head, Ears, and Nose

Caden knows some body parts!

A few things about my son...

I have a few updates to my recent post about all Caden's 15 month milestones and words. But in recent days I've come to notice one thing about my son that is worthy of documenting. I have a feeling this particular trait will play itself out in one way or another many, many times over the years.

I'm not quite sure what to call this trait, but it's a combination of several things. For example, Caden hates, but also loves the shape sorter. He starts crying and squealing as he's attempting to sort shapes because he can't get them lined up correctly but yet he knows they somehow are supposed to go in the hole. It drives him crazy. He doesn't give up, he just fusses and whines until I take the toy away because it's causing a problem.

Today he was coloring and somehow managed to stand the orange crayon upright.... I don't know how he did it. But, he spent the remaining time I allowed the crayons to stay out fussing and fussing trying to figure out how to get ALL the crayons to stand up. He was unsuccessful and was very unhappy about it. In the picture below the orange crayon is standing up and he's trying to stand the blue one up (with the point down.... not gonna happen).


I'm not sure if the trait I'm trying to describe is determination, hardheadedness, or perfectionism... or maybe a combination of all three... but one thing is for sure, he does not like to give up but gets so darn mad trying sometimes. Sigh...

(This is a 're-enactment'... i stood the orange crayon back up once it got knocked over to get a better angle... in the above picture HE stood that crayon up)

Now, for the recent words. We've heard him not only sign, but also say the word "eat" (deet) to us. Also, doggie is no longer doggie, it is simply dog. Hi is no longer hiya, it's just hi. And ball (ba) is a new favorite word to say. He is also now officially kicking the ball... yes, intentionally kicking the soccer ball down the hallway... it's hilarious.

Well, right now I have one frustrated/determined/etc little boy trying to learn how to take the lid off of my bottled water. I'd best run before he figures it out.

(smile)

15 Months Update

I know I've been absent for a bit here lately, but we've just been really busy. I went away last weekend to a Women's Retreat and left John and Caden to fend for themselves. They both survived.

First off, let me apologize for the length of this for those of you who are casual browsers. This blog is first and foremost a way for me to journal our lives, and secondly a way to keep in touch with family and friends all over the world. So read on if interested, or if not, stop by another day! :)

So Caden is fast approaching 16 months and I've yet to write about all the wonderful and amazing things he is doing since last month. He's just now 15.5 so I'm not too far behind!

Eating

Caden eats anything and everything we do (minus lettuce and things of that nature that you really have to have molars to eat). His favorite food is still grilled cheese and his new favorite snack is raisins, however they don't fill him up so I usually give him a rice cake or something to go with them. He also loves ice cream and milk shakes. He recognizes the Baskin Robins counter at the BX and if I get ice cream and don't get any for him then, well... let's just say everyone in the store will know.

He rarely lets us feed him so we've handed over the spoon and bowl and amazingly he's doing quite well with feeding himself. Last night we gave him corn chowder with a spoon and tonight chili and he ate both really well and thoroughly cleaned his plate. I think in another month the mess that comes with self-feeding will begin to diminish, although I know it will be a long time before it disappears completely.





Sleeping

Caden is still sleeping through the night really well, but no longer from 7-7. Now he sleeps from about 7pm until about 6 or 6:30am. He has also figured out that if he cries we just give up and come get him so now he no longer wakes up sweetly babbling to himself, instead the first noise you hear is a cry/yell. He has us so figured out. So, needless to say we are going to have to fix this problem because every day he seems to wake earlier and earlier. 5:45 is NOT wake up time for a 15 months old! We have a few different options we are going to experiment around with until we get it figured out.

He is still on just one nap a day, and it still varies widely in it's length. He usually goes down between 11:30 and 12:30 (I haven't discovered his "window of opportunity" yet, but we're working on it). He will sleep anywhere between 1.5 and 3.5 hours. Like I said, I haven't found the "window" that will lead to the longer naps every day.... but the good news is that even on less sleep Caden is a very easy going and happy baby.

Playing

Caden loves to play, although he still prefers non-toy play items. What is it about household items that babies love so much? His favorite toys right now are trucks. He loves to drive them around the floor, couches, tables, etc and make 'vroom' type noises. It's adorable. If it's a helicopter or airplane toy he makes it fly while making noises.

He is still obsessed with phones. We have on occasion put the phone up to his ear while one of his grandparents was on the other line and he tries to talk back. He will say "hi" or "hello" (see below for what those words really sound like coming from Caden) and then he will bark commands at them like he's talking about something serious... but not too many syllables... just the occasional "Baa" or "Naa."

He loves blocks...the kind he can stack and knock over and the kind he can piece together (mega blocks). Once I saw him make something (about four blocks put together) and then carry it around the house, holding it above his head making "shhhhh" noises. I'm thinking it was a helicopter or airplane, but I'm not certain. He also loves coloring. He is still learning not to eat the crayons.

He plays like a big kid at the playground, running around with the two and three year olds like he is one of them. He loves the playground so we go pretty much daily. It's good for him. He climbs up stairs (sometimes walking up other times crawling) and down stairs (walking or crawling) and goes down the slide sitting and on his belly (feet first). He's starting to think about hanging on bars and letting his feet dangle, although this skill has a ways to go. His favorite part of the playground though is the other Mom's strollers, the other kid's toys, and the other kid's sippy cups and snacks. He keeps me busy.

Signing

Words Caden Signs: milk, more, eat, water, all done, up, shoe, bird, fish, ball and he copies his signing videos a lot but these are the ones he will do on his own without our prompting or reminding him how to sign it.

Caden is using his signs really well and communicates to us with them instead of melting down. Although when I tell him no more snack (all done) he will sometimes cry but not out of frustration for lack of being able to communicate.

Talking

Caden still isn't talking a whole lot but just this last week he has surprised us with some new words! So, the words he is saying and their pronunciations or stories are:

Hi DaDa! (Sounds exactly like that hi dada) - says this every time he sees John come in from work, or when he sees another man in uniform.


Doggie (Doggie, just like it sounds but the "d" is not very strong) says this when he sees dogs

Hi (hiya) he pronounces this funny because I hold it out when I say it so it sounds like a two syllable word.

Hell0 (eh oh) says this in to the phone or anything he is pretending is a phone

UhOh (ah ohhh) he always holds out the "oh" part and says this when something is dropped

Ears (pronounces eyes). Yes, we know 100% without a doubt he is trying to say ears because we have not taught him the body part "eyes" yet. If you think about it, his pronunciation makes sense... "r" is a hard sound to make. We try and correct it and Caden really thinks he is saying 'ears' so our conversations sound like this: ears, eyes, ears, eyes, ears, eyes.... for now we will just have to accept 'eyes' as the word for ears! :)

N0 (Nnnnna) He says this like he is barking a command, it's very sharp, precise, and dramatic, and he usually says it after we've told him 'no' to something.

Nose (Nnnnna) Not to be confused with "no" because this one is not in a command tone and he does it while pointing to his nose (or sticking his finger up it). He also likes to touch our noses and say it.

Baby (beebee)- He says this when he sees either a picture of himself or himself in a mirror...

Beep, Beep, Beep (pronouced as it should be)- the wheels on the bus song (see below)


He has several different things he calls me including MaMa, MaMe (mommy), and MeMe. He doesn't call out for me much but when he gets fussy he'll reach for me or claw at my pants trying to get me to pick him up saying one variation of MaMa.

He is copy words we say like crazy the last few days. He's only 15 months so it's hardly discernible but none the less we can tell what he's saying. Words he's tried to copy (that I can remember) include cracker, eat, Caden, and belly (beebee).

Although the following don't count as talking, they are part of language development which falls under the talking category. There are several things that Caden understands. For example when we say "no" to something or tell him "Danger!" because he's about to get hurt he will stop. "Stop" is a word we are working on but he's not quite there yet! It's one we NEED to get down though b/c he's getting fast!

Pointing to his ears

When we ask him where his ears, nose, and head are he will point to them (or pat his head). He's learning his belly, but today pointed to his neck instead... oops! :) He's a little sponge right now just soaking everything up! If he sees a big kid do something at the playground, he will try it. This can be somewhat dangerous at times so I really have to watch him closely when he (for example) tries to jump off the 5 foot high ledge on the play equipment because he say an older kid do it. Fun times! He's still giving kisses, head butts, fives, and dancing when we ask him to.

I've also noticed that when I give simple commands like "go get the ball" or "press the button" Caden will respond appropriately. And he knows that shoes mean we go bye bye so he loves when he's told to "come put your shoes on!" And if we say we are going bye bye he will walk to the door and try and open it until we get there. Fortunately our doors are heavy but he has the concept of how to open it down. Another favorite part of his "bye bye" routine is he also loves to press the button at the elevator.

Discovering

This age is so amazing! Caden is really starting to recognize and remember items and their function/purpose. I don't even know how he knows but he will pick things up and use them or try and use them in the proper way. For example, if he gets my cell phone, he flips it open, puts it up to his ear and walks around saying hell0. If he gets my hair brush he bangs it on his head trying to brush his hair. If he finds a bowl and spoon he will pretend to eat. Everyday he does something that amazes me. Although none of it is all that amazing, I'm his Mama so it's all amazing to me! :) Today, for example, he found some ear plugs (the ones we tried to put in his ear for the air show a few weeks ago... that lasted less than 2 minutes)... well, he walked around holding them to his ears! It's something like that everyday. He doesn't have a little baby brain that doesn't remember things anymore....

One of his favorite things to do right now is to put lids on things and take them back off. He will spend LARGE amounts of time with this activity.

He's discovered he can use his Ride-On-Tonka-Truck to climb up on things like the coffee table. He's not climbing on the couch yet, but it's coming. We use the couch to hide things like the phone and remote control... that little secret will be coming to an end soon. Tonight he climbed up on the rocking ottoman in his nursery and sat there making it rock side to side for several minutes. I couldn't find the camera at the time or else I'd have video or pictures to share of that!

He has a new dance move... he doesn't just bounce up and down anymore, he will sway side to side and sometimes rock his head side to side (kind of like nodding).

He knows two of the sounds on the wheels on the bus song (thanks to his favorite video). He will go Beep, Beep, Beep and Waa, Waa, Waa with the horns and babies on the bus. The other day he was fussing and walking around saying "beep, beep." I wondered if he was wanting his video, so I put it on and he sang along with his favorite song!

His other favorite song is "If You're Happy and You Know It." He still claps his hands enthusiastically with the song, but he's also learned now to stomp his feet... not a real stomp, but he lifts his leg up and puts it back down. It's adorable!

He still is loving balls. Still throwing them exceptionally well. He's been tossing balls around since he was just sitting up and throwing them overhand since maybe 9 or 10 months?? Daddy's been working with him on catching balls and he's actually manged to catch a few. One day he caught three in a row so Daddy was very excited that we might have a future athlete on our hands!

And one last note, this month has brought a few new teeth! All that's left are eye teeth and molars, which I hear are all the hardest ones! Fun!

Well, that was insanely long, but also long over due! I can't wait to see all the exciting things that the next month will bring!

Walking Up Stairs 15 mo

Caden shows off his stair walking abilities...

Doodles 14.5 months

Here is Caden's very first coloring experience without mom showing him what to do! Usually when we attempt to color I show him what the crayon does and he then tries to do it, too...but usually ends up eating the crayons and we don't get very far.

This is his first masterpiece...100% his! I'm so proud! That Magna-Doodle really helped to fine tune this skill quickly!

Pretty scribbles.

Notice how he's holding the crayon. It makes me chuckle!

And here we go. . .

at least we got a few doodles in this time before he decided to eat the crayon. After several attempts at telling him not to eat the crayon (and many more attempts on his part to prove to me that he CAN indeed eat crayons) I took the yellow crayon away...

Obviously that didn't go over to well.

The Finished Product!

Caden Stands Alone (10 months)

You can imagine the shock and joy I felt when I looked up yesterday to see Caden standing BY his chair using both hands to try and get his pacifier in to his mouth! A few hours later I went to sit him on the floor after his lunch and he straightened his legs to stand, so I stood him and let go... and he stayed... held it for a few seconds, and then slowly squatted to a sitting position and took off crawling! I was so excited by this second attempt at standing that I decided to try and recreate it and capture it on camera! AND I DID!!!

But, let me warn you that 1) I thought I was going to take a photograph and when I pressed the big button I realized I was recording video instead so it's sideways and I've tried all I know to do to turn it the right direction! So, tilt your head to the side and enjoy!! AND 2) Caden does fall in the end and hits his head pretty hard on the coffee table...but it looks worse than it is... he literally cried one time, for all of 2 seconds, and wanted down to start crawling again...





AND one more funny video... Caden thinks his Sippy Cup is a giant pacifier!

10 Months Old Today

Where does the time go? Seriously, I must start every post about Caden's recent milestones with this same sentence, but it seems like just yesterday I laid eyes on my precious little boy for the first time. My eyes just fill with tears remembering that moment. There is nothing more magical than welcoming a new life in to the world!


These past 10 months seem like a blur. It's often very hard to see how much Caden is changing and growing from our vantage point because we see him every day.... but when we look back at pictures of him we hardly recognize the baby in them!! He's still a baby, but he's getting to be a boy much to soon! I cherish those rare moments when he will lay his head on my chest and let me rock or hold him. You see, he is much too busy for cuddles and hugs. He likes to laugh, babble, and move!

The last time I wrote a post like this Caden was just 7.5 months old and so much has changed! Back then, he was just starting to really get his walker figured out. Now, he is crawling all over the house, standing up on everything, and even cruising a little here and there. He loves to be on the move. He crawls around on one knee and uses the other foot to push himself along! It's so funny to watch. When he is really excited about something, he throws his arms up so high over his head with each "step" he makes. Sometimes he gets to going so fast with those arms swinging up so high that they don't get back down in time to catch him and he goes face first on to the hard floors... that is one pitiful little cry when that happens. It's funny how quickly babies figure out how to "show off." Caden knows when he is doing something cute!

One of his favorite games right now is playing 'chase' with Daddy. Daddy will get behind Caden as he crawls and say "I'm gonna get you!!" Caden responds with squeals and giggles and that 'show off' type crawl I just described where his arms swing up toward the ceiling as he tries to get away from Daddy before he is 'captured.' He also loves his Lion Toy (as we call it, but it's a push walker that looks like a lion). He figured out how to walk behind it on his own when he was around 9 months old. He hasn't quite mastered the art of turning it when he gets stuck!

Caden has also figured out that showing off for people in public is great fun! I think I mentioned in my post about our trip to Seoul that Caden saw all the people on the VERY silent subway looking at him and decided he needed to make some noise and entertain the people! Well, that love of being in the spotlight has continued and is getting worse! Caden loves to get people's attention with smiles and squeals. When we go out to eat he wants to command the attention of the entire room with his squeals and yells. So, we have pretty much banned ourselves from eating out with Caden from now on, or at least until we outgrow this phase. We've found no amount of food, attention, toys, discipline, etc can get him to stop screaming and that most of those things actually make it worse because we respond to him. Once he gets tired of hearing his voice we'll hopefully be able to dine in public (as a family) again!

Caden is always on the move. There are very few toys that can keep his attention these days, but one sure-fire way to get him to sit still is to give him something round. He loves balls, wheels, and anything else that is round. He still loves his Moo Toy (the little truck with a cow that goes 'mooo' when you press the cow) and spends a lot of time playing with the wheels on it. Just recently he has learned to roll it around on the floor! Boys are just born knowing how to do this stuff aren't they!?!

I've been reading books to Caden since he was in my belly, but only recently has he (finally) taken an interest in them. He is still not so interested in the story/words, but is fascinated with turning the pages. It's a start and I'll take it! I want so much for Caden to love to read! He will gladly turn the pages to any book, but his favorite one right now is "That's Not My Puppy!" (Thanks Mel!!) That particular book has really neat things to feel on all the pages.. not your typical "touchy feely" book!

His daily routine hasn't changed much since the 7.5 month point. He still eats breakfast at 7, lunch at 11, a snack at 3, and dinner at 6. Bedtime is 7pm and he still sleeps through the night. The big difference is that he is now sleeping in his crib, unswaddled! He has been waking up closer to 6am ever day instead of his usual 7am, but who can complain about 11 hours of sleep! I think it has more to do with it becoming light outside around 5:30am than anything else. I still try to maintain a normal wake time of around 7am though and leave him in his crib to talk and play until 6:45 or 7:00.

Just in the last month (started around 9 months) Caden's naps have been inconsistent. He used to take two, two hour naps ever day (9-11 and 1-3), but lately they have been shorter than two full hours. I'm trying to figure out what to do next still because I think this may be his gradual transition to just one nap a day. I hope it doesn't happen to soon, though!

Caden still doesn't have his first tooth! The doctor thinks it will poke through sometime before his first birthday though. I'm anxious to increase the solids he can eat, but right now I've just about introduced everything I can (or feel comfortable with) that he can eat without teeth! He loves his finger foods! He gets really excited when he knows he is about to get something to eat! He has been introduced to all the Stage 3 meals now and his favorite is probably the Lasagna with Meat Sauce.

Caden isn't saying any words yet, but soon enough. He babbles all kinds of different sounds and my favorite is his new "whisper" sound when he will go "Gee, gee, gee" really loudly, and then a softer version of the same word like he is whispering it! I love it! He is making several consonant and vowel sounds (the "gee" above is a soft G like a 'j'- wasn't sure if I should spell it gee or gi). He says dee dee, baa baa, bye bye (though he doesn't know this is an actual word yet), mmm, duh duh (almost dada, but more of a uh sound), buh, buh, and a "thuh" sound. He really likes to do the "th" sound which I find very unusual... He says several others I can't think of right now! Caden has never liked to mimic our sounds like some babies do, but he sure lights up in a smile when we try to babble with him!

I've noticed a surge in energy with Caden lately. It seems that as he gets older the more energy he surprises me with every day! He will literally crawl around the house in circles just to be moving. He will be panting and out of breath, but still going. He is so much fun at this age and we enjoy every moment we have with him! He's our little "Caden Boy."