Caden has really been pushing for more independence this month. He is able to do more things on his own and wants to make sure that he gets to do them. I hear “I can do it!” many, many times each day. We’ve been working on the correct way to express his desire to do it himself, so while his tone of voice still needs some improvement, at least there is a “please” at the end of his demand. =) He also wants to get himself dressed (at least on the bottom half, he’s not convinced he can put on his own shirt), open doors, and anything else he thinks he can do himself.
Hand in hand with this independence, Caden has been testing to see what happens when he ignores us. I know he can hear me when I ask him a question or tell him to do something, but he’ll often totally ignore me. I’ve gotten tired of telling him over and over again to do something, so I have instituted the “two times” rule for both kids. I’ll ask you or tell you what I need you to do two times. If you don’t respond, I get to decide or you go to your room. This is definitely still a work in progress, but we are making a little headway.
We’re continuing to work on potty training and wearing undies during the day. This has been an uphill battle for one major reason — he doesn’t care if he goes in his undies. As with Kamy, we have been trying a combination of reward and consequences to encourage him to use the potty. Red hot candies are the current reward for successfully taking care of business, while peeing in his undies nets a 15 minute penalty in his room. The problem is, he doesn’t care about the penalty! As soon as he pees in his undies, I hear him say, “Time ta do a penalty!” and will take himself back to his room. The worst is when he pees on the floor while he is in his room for a penalty in the first place! Well. I know we will get it all figured out, but for now I have been backing off and letting him choose when to wear undies and when to have a diaper on.
Caden is forming more and more new thoughts … independent of what we say. He has always been a word-sponge and would soak up everything that was said around him. But now he is starting to really put together his own ideas and descriptions of things. He is very articulate, and while there are still times when I have no idea what he just said, it wasn’t for lack of clarity in his voice and mostly me not having any clue or context to figure it out! He has earned a new nickname this month too — BobEcho. He’s “Bob” because he needed a good, short nickname (Kamy is George), and “Echo” because he says exactly what comes out of our mouths. He is getting really good at capturing the intonation and inflection in our speech and it is too funny to hear phrases come out of his mouth that he picked up from us. At least we know where he got it from!
One of the funniest examples of his thought process and communication happened at the table. We were eating fried rice for dinner and Daddy added sriracha hot sauce to his plate.
Caden: “May I have some spicy please?”
Daddy: “I think you’re good buddy.”
Caden: “May I have some spicy … please?!”
Daddy: “No, I think you’re good. There’s already some spicy on your rice.”
Caden: pauses a minute, then asks again
Daddy: “Caden, if you ask again, your food is going away for a few minutes and you will have to wait before you can eat some more.”
Caden: pauses to think about it, then asks again
Daddy: slides Caden’s plate to the middle of the table. “I’m sorry buddy, I told you if you asked again you’d have to wait before you could keep eating.”
Caden: waits patiently for 2-3 minutes, then asks again. At this point we think he interpreted Daddy’s ultimatum earlier as the condition for getting sriracha put on his rice, not as a consequence. So we let it go and decided to give him some.
Daddy: “Okay Caden, I’ll give you a little bit of spicy on your rice.” Daddy then squirts some on the plate.
Caden: “Put some on my rice and stir it in a circle, please?” while miming stirring up the rice. “Stir it in a circle, please?!” Watches while Daddy mixes it up for him, then passes the plate back.
Caden: “Thank you!”
Afternoon naps have just about gone the way of the Dodo bird. Caden’s discovered that he can just occupy himself playing in his room and watching out the window during nap time instead of actually laying down and taking a nap. Much to my dismay, he’s also figured out how to escape from his room. I often find Caden playing in Kamy’s room during both quiet and nap time … instead of where he should be! I’ve caught Kamy opening his door to let him out several times, but he has also figured out how to open his door even with the “child-proof” door knob cover on it.
While I’m not sure where he came up with it, Caden has been really interested in bonking heads lately. However, his aim and force are not very well controlled and sometimes the head-bonk is rather hard! We’re working on gentle bonks and it is getting better, but I think we have all had lumps on our heads this month.
As I mentioned in Kamy’s last post, we spent an afternoon out in Linden with Oma, Opa, and Regine. Caden loved spending the time outside … especially with Opa! He’s always had a real soft spot for Opa, and getting to ride on the tractor only makes things better! “Go ride on the tractor, please?!”
Caden remains my super-sweet little boy. He has the BEST hugs! He also loves to give unsolicited hugs and kisses, which I will always take! He is such a sweetie, loves to sit in your lap and cuddle, and requires that your arm is around him when you sit to read a book. He has a heart of gold and he melts mine a little more every day. =)
