Caden is my joy! I love this child so much! I was reading him a book the other night watching his legs go ninety miles an hour and decided it was time I documented and shared some of the silly, quirky little things Caden does!Caden's legs are the first thing I have to share! They are always going! When I'm giving him a bottle or nursing him, his legs are swinging and kicking... much like a child sitting on a chair when his feet don't touch the ground. He swings and kicks his legs! When his bottle runs out he kicks he legs out really hard in protest! His legs are also always moving during tummy time. He lies on his tummy and kicks one leg up and then the other, like he is swinging them still. It cracks me up every time!
Caden scratches everything. He likes to scratch material and especially the foam floor in the playroom. It sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard to me when he does it! He will just sit there and scratch the floor over and over and over.
When reading Caden a book, he tries to kick it. He will squirm until he gets his legs between himself and the book and then he kicks it over and over. It makes turning the pages very difficult! He really thinks his feet are a second set of hands....
Well, this isn't so much a quirk but it's still something new that gets me tickled! Caden has started having the "Happy Flappy Baby Arms" (as I call them). You know what I'm talking about. When baby gets so excited that he flaps his arms up and down and squeals! It's so cute! Often the legs go with the arms. How he does that without falling over I do not know!
I have been waiting for Caden to become a giggler since he was about 3 or 4 months old and all the other babies his age were doing it... and then I realized that Caden's laugh or giggle is unique in itself! He has more of a croaking sound when he's happy about something, and when he giggles he squeals! He CAN giggle the normal way too, but it takes some work to get it from him and it doesn't just come naturally the way his screams and squeals do!
He wants to bounce or jump all the time. I think that may be the reason behind the constant leg kicking. If you stand him up, more than likely he will try to jump.
He has a fascination with looking up! I don't know why this new discovery is so exciting to him! He looks at the ceiling just about everywhere we go! Unless of course he's on Daddy's hip. If he's on John's hip then he looks down at the ground. It is so awkward and funny! I must remember to get a picture of this next time we are out and about!
Caden hates to be on his tummy or his back. He wants to sit all day, every day! He reaches for anything and everything he can and occasionally topples over in the process... which makes him cry until I sit him upright again!
He prefers things like necklaces, cell phones, TV remote controls, and water bottles to the coolest and most expensive baby toys. Why do we think we need all the cool toys for our kids when trash is just as entertaining! Caden has also shown an interest in Charli's dog toys, reaching for them over his baby toys. It's almost like baby's prefer to have things they know aren't for them!!
Caden will not take his bottle or nurse if he is distracted, but if you offer him solid foods (such as carrots or applesauce) then he will eat them anytime, anywhere. The boy loves food... except sweet peas. He's been eating sweet peas for a month or more. He will eat them without protest, but you can tell he doesn't prefer them. A few nights ago he was eating peas at dinner and suddenly he started gagging and then ALL of the peas came back up... somehow, amazingly the squash he'd had before the peas stayed down! The gag reflex acted up again with the peas today (after 1/4 of the jar)! I would think he would prefer the taste of those peas because that is probably the green veggie I ate the most while pregnant! (Well, or zucchini during my intense cravings for Chocolate Zucchini Bread!!)
Caden talks to himself as he is waking up. Instead of crying when he wakes up, he lays there (all swaddled and wrapped up) and says, "brrrrrrrrr. brrr. brrr. brrrrrrrrr." Just lately he has started using other sounds. He's REALLY gotten the "mmmmmmm" sound lately with a little "ah" at the end! Of course he's not saying "mmmmmaaaahhhh, mmmmmaaaahhh"
AT me yet, but it makes me get SO excited for the day when he calls for me by name!!!You can't play pat-a-cake with Caden. If you take his arms and try to clap his hands or show him how to wave bye-bye, he gets tense and tries to stand up. He thinks that when we take his hands we are offering support to help him stand! I don't know how to get him to relax and let me show him how to clap!!
Caden is very observant. He looks around for and at everything! If a TV is on somewhere he will find it! You would think I let him watch TV all day the way he glues to a TV set in a store or at the food court.... but honestly he watches about 30 minutes of TV a day (either a Praise Baby DVD, Baby Einstein, or Signing Time). Lately he refuses to sit in his swing to watch the DVDs. I have always put him in his swing for TV time, but just in the last week he cries and wants to sit on the floor instead! Oh, they grow up too fast!!!
Caden has my feet!! LOL! I can pick things up with my toes and all kinds of other crazy stuff. If you put your finger under Caden's toes, he will curl them to try and grab your finger! That's my boy!!! He has my feet and eyelashes (which curl up naturally).
And the last little quirky thing for now is that Caden ONLY sleeps in his car seat and he's almost 7 months old!!! In my most recent album in Our Photos there is a series of pictures documenting how Caden sleeps each night!
Those are all the things I love most about Caden!!
