Caden – January

January was such a fun month for Caden.  We got home from our trip to Colorado early in the month and then WE STAYED AT HOME!  It was totally strange and weird to spend so much consecutive time at home, and a nice change of pace.  We have a busy couple of months coming up later this spring and a big trip this summer, so we are taking advantage of the slower pace and being at home. We have been enjoying the beautiful weather — taking the bikes down to the park to play, working in the garden, and messing around outside.  Caden loves his new sandbox he got for Christmas!  We’ve already gone through three 50 pound bags of sand, but the loss seems to be diminishing.

As promised, Caden now gets to do his “fun fing” before bed.  Caden gets dedicated one-on-one time where I will sit with him and read books or play games or work puzzles.  We instituted “fun thing” with Kamy as a way to stagger their bedtimes when they started sleeping in the same room.  However, they’ve been doing really well going to bed, so Caden can stay up and watch Kamy’s fun thing too.  On occasion they will choose the same thing (like MarioKart), so we’ll play together, but otherwise whoever is watching is not allowed to participate and can’t interfere.  Fun fing time is sacred and an important part of the bedtime routine now.

Speaking of puzzles, Caden is getting much more interested and more intuitive about putting them together.  He used to brute force his way through it and the solution to a piece not fitting was to “push harder.”  Hehe!  Now he is paying more attention to the clues on each piece, pulling out pieces that go together, and doing specific sections at a time.  He received a 60 piece Thomas the Train puzzle from Oma and Opa at his birthday that he can now do by himself.  He was so proud the first time he did it!  Kamy’s always been great at puzzles and they are more of a challenge for Caden, but he is persistent and making great progress.  The kids often do “puzzle races” to see who can complete their puzzle first.  Kamy usually wins, but Caden’s getting closer!

Mr Caden loves to sing.  He sings all time time — in his bed, at the table, and on the potty.  =)  We are discouraging the singing at the table since he should be eating, but otherwise he is good to go.  I won’t say he is a musical prodigy, but I really like hearing his little voice and his interpretation of the words.  We listen to a lot of Disney music in the car, so most of his songs come from Disney movies.  Frozen is still his favorite and he knows most of the songs by now.

Closely related to singing, Caden listens to everything that is going on around him.  He listens to the words in songs and conversations going on in the other side of the room.  You may think that he is absorbed in whatever he is working on, but I have been surprised so many times by his comments after he over hears something.  We’ve got to be careful!  <wink>

Caden is doing fabulous with undies.  I see the light at the end of the diaper tunnel!  Hooray!  He is in briefs full time — on errands to town and even all day trips to Longview.  The concept of “holding it” is still a work in progress, especially since he interprets the directions very literally.  Lol!  He can’t WAIT to get tall enough to use the urinal in the men’s bathroom and every time I take him he asks to go to the men’s room instead.  Something about it is just fascinating.  He is a boy after all!  I have also picked up a new phrase that is oft-repeated, “Take your hands out of your pants!”  <rolls eyes>  Again, he’s all boy.  At least they’re usually down his backside, right?

Speaking of Longview, Caden started taking gymnastics classes once a week.  The local gym offers a class just for young boys.  It is a very small class, with just two other boys in it.  He LOVES it.  He couldn’t be happier running around, jumping on the trampoline, and walking on the balance beam.  They’re doing a little work on the uneven and parallel bars too.  Gym has been great for Caden — he is in a class with other boys but it’s not so chaotic that he is overwhelmed.  There are just the three kids and two coaches, so he gets a lot of attention.  The other two boys have been in gymnastics for a while, so he is working hard to “catch up,” but it is challenging him.  He is happy as a clam when it’s time for class.  He’s trying hard and listening, though sometimes he has a hard time listening to what the coaches are telling him to do and translating that into a specific movement or task.  He’ll get the hang of it though and he’s having a ball!  His favorite thing at gymnastics class is playing in the foam pit at the end of class.  Surprise surprise!

Lastly, both kids picked up the charming habit of calling me, “Heyma.”  Apparently that’s my name these days!  It’s all one syllable, all one breath and has devolved from, “hey Momma.”  I’ve about knocked it out now, but it was SO constant for our trip to Colorado and the first few weeks back at home.  “My name is not Heyma,” became my standard reply.  I’m happy to say we’re back to “Momma” the majority of the time.