This Guy...
Brad and I find ourselves saying that a lot these days. We usually don't finish the statement, mostly in part because we're at a lack of words on what to say: "He's Hysterical!" "Gawh! He's SO STUBBORN!" "He's Incredibly Smart!" but probably more times than not, "He's a MESS!!!!" It's a roller coaster of emotions. We laugh, and
we I cry, and we laugh so we don't cry.
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| Pretty sure this is no coincidence, those tufts of hair are devil horns poking through! |
Here are a few Caden stories to share...
It all started last fall when he was first stringing words together (before he was 2!). There was one day in particular that really opened my eyes to our future... He was delaying nap-time by "washing dishes". He climbs up in my kitchen sink and plays in the running water, transferring dishes from one side to the other. It was nap time, I kept saying, "Caden it's time to upstairs for a nap." He kept washing dishes, and sort of ignoring me. Then finally he said, "Hold on second!" in his strongest voice. "Washing Dishes!". Hmmm, made me think, how many times have I told HIM that?!?
We like to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I cut Caden's into 4 triangles so that he will eat as much around the crust as possible. One day when he was helping me make sandwiches (he made mine and I made his), he wanted to cut mine. I said, "No Thank you, Moma likes her sandwich whole." I finish making his sandwich, then turn and look at mine and there were all these thumb prints in it. I said, did you make HOLES in Moma's sandwich? He nodded and said, Hole Sandwich!
Back in the prime of me going to the doctor for a baby-check, he would pretend to get an ultrasound himself. He would use the scanner from his cash register, hold to his tummy and say that he was listening for the baby's heart beat. ADORABLE!!!
A few weeks back, Brad went upstairs to shower, and surprised us all when he came back down sin-beard. I had to do a double take, before I realized what was different. Caden did a double take too, then he said, "Daddy no neck hair". HA! Brad realized shaving the beard was a good judgment call since Caden mostly remembered it being on his neck! ;)
He's been fighting sleep lately, he will do anything and everything to stay awake when laying in his bed. A few weeks back, he was really fighting it one day, and he had layed there for 1 hour and 15 minutes when I decided to finally go get him up. I went into his room and he had his hand pressed up against his ear. He said, Minnie. I said, are you calling Minnie (as in Minnie Mouse). He said, yes. I said, are you ready to go downstairs? He took his hand off his ear, turned his palm upward, then with his other hand pushed an imaginary button and said off. Then he was ready to go down!
One day recently he was calling me into the playroom. "Moma!" "Moma! Come to playroom!" I was busy with Carsten, and was going to get there as fast as I could. Then I hear him muttering something that didn't sound familiar to me. I was trying to understand what he was saying. Sounded like Danna. And he kept repeating it. "Danna!" "Danna!" "Danna Hopkins!" Yep, he figured it out! Mommy has another name, if she won't respond to Moma, maybe she'll respond to this!?!
And a story from just today... We were having a picnic on the back porch and had Carsten laying out in the sun to help the continued fight with jaundice. He was so cozy in the warm sun, he fell fast asleep. Brad said, "look at him eating up that sun!". Caden said, "No daddy. No eat sun. Babies eat only milk." ;)
His favorite color is yellow, mostly because it was his first recognized color and he's stuck with it. But when we ask him what he wants to eat, it's yellow this or yellow that. He loves to be outside and LOVES to dig. He is a digging machine, we should just call him excavator - for real! Sand, dirt, snow, you name it, we dig it! He's been into working-out lately. He watches daddy when he works out, and actually mimics many of the moves, jumping jacks, pull-ups, abs, etc. Now that I have started jogging again, he likes to jog with me. Yesterday he jogged close to a mile! CRAZY!!! And yes, he did sleep good!!! When he does get to watch tv, it's always MICKEY MOUSE! He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and everything Mickey!!!
These days he is also totally into snakes! He loves snakes! He wants to pretend that there are snakes coming to get us. He likes for us to pretend that our food is snakes when he eats them. And he wants to "talk snakes" every night before bed. But since we are going to bed, I don't want them to be scary snake stories, so we talk about City Snake and Country Snake, and about the Snake that builds sandcastles!
Our 2.25 year old is so damn
responsible (I have to throw the word damn in there because it can be frustrating!). I almost feel bad for him and want him to relax more, but it's just part of his personality, it's what makes him tick. There are things that he is in tune with, that I know some moms can't get their teenagers to care about. He is always HELPING us out, whether we want it or not. As dangerous as it is, he unplugs things when they are not in use (even though we have told him not to and punished him umpteen times for this) - including alarm clocks and baby monitors that we have to plug back in before they function. He sweeps up his crumbs off the table, even though they all end up being flung across the kitchen. He folds laundry, where he actually shakes out the wrinkles, only to wad them back up in a pile that he calls "folded". He unloads the dishwasher and tells me where everything goes. He scolds the kitties when they get on the furniture. He tells Moma to be safe every time she is using scissors. We had a collection of plastic sacks that we wanted to take upstairs to line all the trash cans with. Brad had put them on the steps as a reminder for the next time he went up. 3 days passed and we didn't think anything of it. I went to one of the trashcans that is seldom used, and found all the plastic sacks. I asked Brad, did you do this? He said no. It was Caden, he was doing us a favor! Bless his responsible little heart!!!! God love him!
He's definitely catching on to things. He can count to 15, if you don't mind him skipping 11. He'll rattle off the ABCs, but not quite in order. We are working on recognizing letters, and he knows A, B and C to date. He also knows circle, triangles and crescents. He's pretty much got the colors down. He's working on words to certain songs, like Ball Game, Pat a Cake, and Baa Baa Black Sheep. He has most recently learned to undress/dress himself, that can be interesting at times!
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| Snake shaped pancakes! Ewww... Gross!!!! |
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| Dressed himself, don't mind the one arm being twisted, it's a new fashion statement. |
