Someone turned three! We had a wonderful time celebrating Caden’s birthday and the little man he is growing up to be. Caden received many generous gifts for his birthday and all are well loved. He loves two new books — Steam Train Dream Train and Locomotive. I’ve read those two at bedtime so much I nearly have them memorized. And Locomotive is NOT a short book!
His favorite toys are a new bicycle and a classic wooden train set. Both see daily use and I have to be careful walking through the kitchen during the day, otherwise there will be a massive train wreck!
Since returning from our trip to Holland, Caden has earned two new responsibilities. First, he is now responsible for setting out napkins before dinner and wiping off the table after dinner each day, in addition to clearing off his space. We’re gradually implementing more individual responsibilities to each kid and now his mirror Kamy’s breakfast duties. The second (and arguably more exciting) is getting to play outside unsupervised. Both kids did so great in Holland playing outside without an adult closely monitoring, we decided to give it a shot here at home. It is working out really well! They have certain boundaries they must stay within, but Caden can play outside to his heart’s content now. He is all boy and loves to be outside and mess around in the dirt, so it is right up his alley. Plus it means he can ride his new bike!
All that additional time playing outside has resulted in many many more scratches and bruises! Caden isn’t always careful and has been really rough on himself lately. Between misjudging jumps to running into things to tripping and falling over stuff, his body says “I play hard.” Poor boy. It is a good thing little bodies are close to the ground and durable!
Caden had a hard time adjusting back to Texas time after our trip. Jet lag was a bugaboo to get over and he never really shifted all the way back. He’s definitely ready for bed around sunset. We start the bedtime routine at 6pm and he’s in bed with the lights off at 6:30. Rarely is he still awake past 7pm. Which is nice because it means I have kid-free time in the evenings, but he’s also ready to get up with the sun at 6:45am. And I’m not.
I love my sweet boy so very much and there’s definitely a soft spot with his name on it. He’s getting SO BIG!
