July and August were relatively calm months for us this time around — we enjoyed having family out to visit, worked on the house, and officially listed it for sale. It was nice to stay home for a little bit and really be focused on the kids. Caden has been soaking up any attention you can give him. He is thriving and is such a happy little boy.
- Caden’s verbal skills are really hitting their stride right now. It is amazing to watch him piece together words that he knows and figure out how to tell us what he wants, even if we haven’t specifically given him the phrases for his request. He is quite talkative at meals and will happily converse with himself while eating. Most of these sounds can’t be distinguished as words yet, but I’m sure it is only a matter of time. His vocabulary is also expanding by leaps and bounds and he picks up new words nearly every day.
- He is starting to answer my question of “What happened” when he starts crying because he is hurt or Kamy did something he didn’t like. I used to rely on Kamy’s version of events but now Caden can help me understand the whole picture too. It may just be “hit head, kiss too,” but at least I know what he is talking about! It also verifies Kamy’s story. =)
- Caden whispers ALL THE TIME! For whatever reason, he talks very softly and his requests and replies are almost always whispers. I hadn’t really noticed it until Uncle Garin and Aunt Jess came to visit and commented on it. We were just used to him being quiet! We are working on encouraging him to speak a little louder — especially if he is asking for something. Kamy tends to vary the volume of her questions which makes it hard to hear what she is actually asking for. With Caden, sometimes I don’t catch it at all. It is particularly challenging when we are in the car because I can’t hear him over the road noise. Not that I am complaining, for I would probably be the only mother in the history of the world with a boy who is too quiet. Lol! I’m sure his volume button will come with time. =) What he does say loudly is “Buh bye!” whenever someone is leaving. He’s not shy about that!
- If I had to narrow it down to one thing Caden is interested in, it would be motorcycles. He has a special bedtime routine with Daddy. After hugs and kisses, they’ll look at Google Images of motorcycles. They are super exciting! I mostly hear him say “ow bout … bue modocycle peas” and gasp when Keller makes the image bigger. Then he says “away away” and waits for another to pop up. I think it is super cute and it makes me smile every night. Who knows if his attachment to motorcycles will last, but for now it is The Thing. You can also hear Caden whispering in this video, so you may need to turn up your volume to hear him talking.
- Tuesdays are particularly interesting in our home for one very special reason — it’s trash day! If you ask Caden, “When does the trash man come?” He’ll promptly reply “Two days!” and will put his pointer fingers together like he is counting to two. Apparently Tuesdays is a number, not just a day of the week. It is super cute!
- I usually send the kids in to wake Keller up in the morning. Caden chants “Eeek up eeek up!” until Keller responds. Caden also says “Sehee [silly] Daddy” when Keller whispers in his ear. He thinks it is so funny! Caden loves spending time with Daddy.
- Caden’s new idle sound is clicking. He’ll click his tongue off the roof of his mouth over and over again. He experiments with the different sounds he can make by changing his lips and likes to click back and forth with you if you’ll participate.
- We have been working on a few negatives this month. The biggest issue we’re facing right now is listening, or rather, the lack thereof. When I tell him not to do something, he will straight up ignore me and keep right on doing the same thing. I have been taking him directly to his room lately, hoping to nip this in the bud early. He isn’t really a pleaser like Kamy is, so we are having to find new ways to encourage the good behaviors and nix the bad ones. Ignoring adults is a pretty serious breech of the rules though, so he has been in his room quite a bit.
- If he is messing around at the dinner table, he can get sent to his room from there too. Climbing on the table, putting his feet on the table, etc are not allowed. I was surprised the first time we told him to go to his room and close the door … and he did it all by himself! I was very impressed, though unfortunately for him that means our expectations for what he can do just increased. Lol!
- Caden does have an independent streak in him. He chose to skip dinner one night because he wouldn’t pick up his room. It wasn’t a lack of ability, and it sure wasn’t a lack of understanding — he was just testing us to see if we meant what we said. Sure enough, we did! He spent almost three hours in his room after nap time with the door open because he wouldn’t put his clothes back in his drawer. Daddy and I both made several trips back to his room to encourage him to pick up, to no avail. Then when bedtime came, he was super stressed out about “oom pick up!” and he got in a hurry all of a sudden. Unfortunately for him it was still bedtime. I did pick up all of his clothes before I turned off the light though — we want each day to be a new day, so we weren’t going to carry over the mess from the night before. I didn’t see any ill effects from his skipped meal, though he hasn’t tried it again yet. Silly boy.
- While visiting DFW in June, Mrs. Mart gave both kids a beanie baby. Caden received a little dachshund puppy named Weenie. Caden loves Weenie and sleeps with him every night and gets carried around all day. This is the first animal that he has latched on to. His nose has been chewed on a bit and the fur is kind of matted around his face, but they are best buddies. I regularly see Caden giving Weenie hugs and a kiss on each eye. So sweet!
- Lastly, Caden’s attention span has really increased this month. He loves to read books and will happily sit with you on the couch and read book after book for as long as your voice will hold out. The kids get to alternate picking a book to read, and we literally spent an hour and fifteen minutes reading one afternoon. I was really surprised that Caden was interested that long and wanted to sit still to listen. He will sit with us while we read chapter books with Kamy too. Both kids are such bookworms — truly a good thing, even if I get tired of the same books over and over again. =P Thank goodness for used book stores!
As always, I am so proud of my little boy. He has such a sweet disposition and a heart of gold. I love watching him play with Kamy and grow a little each and every day.
