My great apologies for the delay on this post. I had in my head I already covered February, so when I sat down to work on March, I was little surprised! Time to catch up … again!
February was a big month for Mr. Caden for one main reason — he got a Daddy-Caden trip! This was their first overnight trip together, just the two of them. It was a last minute decision when the weekend opened up and Keller was able to take Friday off. They opted to drive down to San Antonio with the intention of visiting Sea World. The drive was a bit longer than they anticipated, but they had a wonderful time all three days. On the way down, they stopped in Salado, Texas. Keller remembered stopping there with Min whenever they passed through the area, so they made a slight detour to visit, and recreate a photo shoot of Keller at the same age. They’re so cute!
Once they got to San Antonio, they found dinner at some food trucks. Caden thought it was so cool they could get food from a school bus!
Saturday they visited the Tower of the Americas in the morning before heading to Sea World. Chilly, wet weather meant the park was absolutely deserted, but that didn’t deter them. Caden loved watching the dolphin shows, the clown acts, and the penguin moving walkway (at least the first three times, for the fourth time brought tears of unknown cause).
Sunday on the way home they stopped in IKEA to get Daddy a standing desk. They got a bit lost in the store, but survived to tell the tale. =) They had a great time together and I am so glad we have made one-on-one trips a priority. Caden still talks about their trip to “sea wearld.”
On the drive, Caden found it absolutely hilarious that the automated directions through google maps calls some roads “business.” As our euphemism, he laughed and laughed whenever he’d hear it. Goofy boy!
Intellectually, Caden has made several significant leaps. He is always trying to keep up with Kamy and is often heard repeating things she says. Now though, he is able to hold his own in a couple of games that they play. He’s won Memory and Hisss, as well as viably attempting to play Connect Four. He’s solidified his recognition of numbers 1-6 from playing Monopoly and has counted accurately up to 29 when counting points at the end of a game. Caden is very much an auditory learner, so using games with visual clues to learn is really starting to hit a critical mass.
Caden will complete 60 piece puzzles by himself — not just Thomas either! I bought him two more 60 piece puzzles that have been getting a lot of attention. He’s getting to the point where he can infer where pieces go and which ones are related, as opposed to just memorizing which piece goes where.
That being said, he struggles with multitasking. He is so focused that everything else fades into the distance. By itself, that’s not a downside, but he is still learning how to select which thing he is focused on. He has a tendency to watch other people’s screens when racing on MarioKart, rather than his own, so he places much better when racing solo.
Caden still loves his gymnastics class! His favorite activity is the foam pit, but the beam and parallel bars are interesting too. He loves the physical outlet and is great at listening to his instructors. I am proud of how hard he tries every class. The two other boys in his class have been doing gymnastics longer, so he’s pushing himself to do whatever they’re doing. It is really helping him to work on turning auditory directions into physical actions … not always easy to do. He’s having so much fun!
Lastly, for all his progress, he’s still my goofy boy! He likes to make up gibberish in place of actual words, just to see my expression and laugh himself silly. Caden mostly does it when asking to be excused from the table, but I’ll hear Kamy and Caden talking in gibberish too. He loves to laugh, to smile, and to play around. Dirt and sand are the best things ever and any bug or creature found outside is fair game. I love my sweet boy!
