Caden is ALL BOY!

It's basically our theme for Caden's life these days. Everything he does is just SO boy! Well, with exception of his love for cooking, his little heart-covered black purse that Nana bought him and his desire to wear a bracelet in his "elbow-pit" whenever he can get his hands on one of Amaya's bracelets.

He's ALL muscle! Chase swears he has a six-pack! When we do have to fight with him - like for example, when we are putting him in his car seat and he doesn't want to be in his carseat - Chase and I both end up sweaty and exhausted. He is one strong kid.

Yesterday was "Meet the Teacher" day at Little Hearts where Caden goes to school and I work as an aide. My job for the day, along with the other aides, was to help watch the teacher's kids while they met their new students. What did I spend the day doing? Keeping Caden in the room, keeping Caden off the tables, making sure Caden didn't eat food off the floor, chasing Caden when he did escape, pulling chairs off of Caden and picking Caden up off the floor. The list could actually go on but you get the idea. When it was our turn to go "meet the teacher" we walked into his classroom where other children are sitting quietly by their mothers and fathers, eating Teddy Grahams and basically being still. NOT MY KID! Nope, I fought him the whole time. He didn't care about the cookies. He wanted to move, run, jump, play! Needless to say Caden is a mess and honestly, he just makes me tired.

Caden is also such a wonderfully cuddly, sweet and happy boy! All of these things make the difficult times easy to endure. He loves to sit in Chase's lap and watch "ball!" (football). He has to give hugs on his own terms. Something that Amaya is having to adjust to. She is so lovable and hug-happy that it's hard for her when Caden does not want to be hugged and kissed. But, when he decides it's time for hug he'll just grab Amaya or hold his hands up for her to pick him up and love on him.

Caden loves books! We are still reinforcing the "we never EVER tear books" rule with him, but he's starting to get it. He is into some TV now. He watches The Wiggles which he calls "Dorrrrrthy!" and Backyardigans which he calls "Pa-bo!" He'll ask for "Dorrrrrthy!" and we'll say, "You want Daddy" to which is replies, "No! Dorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrthy!" He really draws out the 'r' sounds and says it more like a song. It's really cute. Writing it does not do it justice.

He has a lot of words. Some are very clear and some are not. If he gets stumped and isn't sure what to say he will just start going through his words. "Light, Nana, Mommy, Daddy, Duke, My-My (Amaya), Robby, Mamie (Amy)" He always goes through the names first. Let's see...what are some of his other words:

Apple - very clear

Pop tah - Pop tart

EAT! - VERY clear

tea - anything from water to milk to juice to tea

Coke - I know, we're bad parents. He rarely gets a sip, but when he does.....!

cookie - very clear. You notice most of his words are food and eating related.

Up! - clear

Dow - down

TWO! - if you hear him shout this and you're in another room you better start running because he's counting down to jumping off of or into something.

tay too - thank you

Mi Mouse - Mickey Mouse

Ry-ee - Rylie

hi, bye-bye, mommy, daddy, my-my, duke, Robby, Mamie, sit, walk, baby, more, bite, dog, uh-oh!, Gram, light, star, duck, yes, No!,

I'm sure there are more, but that's what I've got for now. He is putting two maybe three words together. Sometimes. He's still using one-word sentences for the most part, though.

Our latest adventure has been figuring out how to keep that boy in his crib. We tried his toddler bed several weeks ago. Of course, while we were setting it up and talking about it with him he was ALL about it. He jumped on it and played on it with Amaya. Then, at bedtime that kid FREAKED out. He was not happy. He was not sleeping in that bed. It was almost like he was terrified without the security of his crib. Five hours after bedtime he was exhausted, Chase and I were exhausted and we gave in and brought his crib back into his room. I just really don't think he was ready. That's fine. Or, it was until he figured out, "Hey, I'm a climber. I've always been a climber! I'm outta here!" He discovered this happiness last week at 5:30 one morning. So, after much thought, prayer, calls to Dad and calls to the Doctor we decided to buy a crib tent. Let me just say that the people who make those things realize that whoever is buying it is exhausted and desperate. They will spend whatever it takes to get some peace of mind. So....



Child leash and harness ..... $14.99

Crib tent ...... $69.99

A full night's sleep, not finding your toddler wandering around the house at 3:00 in the morning....... PRICELESS!










So, Caden has become a very funny, sweet, strong-willed, happy, ACTIVE and strong little boy. We love him so much and he bring so much joy and blessing to our life! He's not a baby anymore and I must confess I'm completely fine with that. We've got three and half months until the baby is born and I'm happy to have a "big boy" in Caden.