Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving is always my favorite holiday and this year didn't disappoint! Delicious food and great company, how can you go wrong? Great Grandma Ruth (GG) came up from Pennsylvania and we spent Thanksgiving at the Keery household in Weston. We had a great time! Unfortunately Caiden had come down with croup the night before, and we had spent the night at the hospital (he had been doing a lot of wheezing and had trouble breathing during coughing fits). So we were all a little tired, but it was still a great day.

Aquarium!

On Saturday Dan had plans in the city, so Caiden and I dropped him off and spent the afternoon at the aquarium! Lucky for us Aunt Margaret was able to meet us there. Caiden loves fish (or "fffff" as he calls them), and gets very excited when he sees fish tanks, so I thought the aquarium would be a hit. He seemed to like it, but I think he was a little overwhelmed with all of the people and wanted to be held most of the time. My arms are still sore!

We saw lots of fish, jellyfish, sting rays, turtles, and even sharks in all of the tanks

Caiden is not quite tall enough for the touch tanks, but they lent us a hermit crab to check out

We went outside to check out the seals, but he just wanted to climb!

After the aquarium we were all hungry so we went to Bertucci's nearby. It was the first time I have taken Caiden out to a restaurant in months, and I was quickly reminded why. Let's just say that we had the fastest lunch ever! Caiden did love his meal though... chicken and eggplant! Margaret and I were both at work cutting up food for him and we couldn't keep up.

By the end of lunch Caiden was ready to blow off some steam so we let him loose in Faneuil Hall. He was very intrigued by these balloons, which he of course thought were balls.

He was thoroughly worn out and was asleep in his car seat before we even got out of the parking garage. Fun day! Caiden got to spend that night with Nanna Nan. What a treat!

The next day was so nice, we spent lots of time outside!

Silly guy has discovered how much fun it is to put things on his head. Bowls, buckets, and tupperware all work!

13 months

Another month in the books! I wrote this post a few days ago, but we are lacking in photos this month. We took a bunch tonight though!

The past several months were about movement, and although Caiden continues to improve in that area, this month seemed to be all about learning. He can turn on all of his toys that have buttons and do cool things. He can usually operate a light switch. He knows what door knobs do, he just can't reach them yet. I can ask him where's my (nose, ear, etc) and he will point to it. He is learning rules and is usually patient with them (shoes are put on to go outside, hands are washed before/after eating, etc). He is such a fun little guy and makes us laugh constantly. He even cracks himself up! He has a stubborn streak for sure though, and let's us know when he is upset!

Turning on his twilight turtle

Reading books

Activities: Caiden loves chasing games, hide and seek, and jumping on people who are lying on the floor. He also likes to help out. If he gets mad about something, all I need to do is ask for him to help. For example: he might be upset about coming inside after playing in the yard, but as soon as I ask "can you close the door?" he snaps out of it and happily obliges.

Skills: More of the same in the movement department- walking, kicking/bouncing balls. He is adding climbing in though... he has been attempting to climb more things which is a little scary! His vocabulary is starting to expand, a sample of the new words we have heard: book (boo), truck (tuc), tree (tee), duck. He tries to say fish but all that comes out is 'ffffff'. Very cute.

New discovery: splashing water. He loves bath time so much more now that he knows how to splash!!

Ignore my nose rub in the background!

Food: Some days Caiden is a rockstar and eats everything we give him down to the last pea. Some days he even wants seconds (and thirds). Other days, he will throw everything on the floor without even trying it- even if it is the same stuff that he gobbled up the day before. We tried introducing him to regular milk this month, but he is just not interested. We have tried everything, but he just pushes it away.

Sleep: Two steps forward, one step back. We did a pretty serious round of sleep training this month. It was TOUGH, but as a result sleep has been going really well save for a few days this week. Some new teeth coming in made for crummy sleep those nights!

Sleepy day

Caiden has a couple of teeth coming in, and hasn't slept well all weekend. Today, after a less than ideal night's sleep, he only got an hour's worth of napping in. He was a tired guy all day!

Towards the end of lunch he was struggling to stay awake. He started out just being quiet and a little goofy

Then he started nodding off in between bites

By the end of the meal he was seconds away from passing out

After we paused to take a few photos, it was straight to the crib for him.

Later in the day... it was dinner time. What do you get when you cross a tired, teething baby with marinara sauce?

This:

He was already a mess,why not throw in some green drink?

And, after this meal it was straight into the bath tub.

Learning lessons

This morning I got a call from daycare.. yet another incident report. They wanted to let me know that Caiden had been sticking his fingers in his friend's mouths all morning, and eventually one of them bit down. Dan and I got a chuckle out of that (Caiden is fine, by the way). Hope he learned his lesson and will keep those fingers to himself from now on!

Graduated!

It's official, Caiden has graduated from the infant room at daycare. Last week he spent increasing amounts of time visiting the toddler room, and this week he was a full time toddler "friend". So far, so good. I'm still not thrilled with the one nap situation, but other than that it's been a good transition. Caiden loves his new friends and being reunited with his old friends who graduated from infants before him. He loves doing everything they do- and in fact they have made him eat better at mealtime and are showing him how to use his sippy cup (something we've been struggling with). His new teacher, Tasha, reports that he is super easy at naptime, even putting himself to sleep on his mat when he sees it! We haven't had any tears at drop off either. I bring him into the room full of friends... and he is off! See ya, Ma! There are such fun toys for him to play with, friends to interact with, and fun activities all day long. We get emails at the end of most days with a few photos and descriptions from what his classroom was up to.

Legos with my friends!

Playing the drums!

We do have a few kinks to work out- it is always an adjustment when someone new is taking care of your child. It's also a slightly new routine to our mornings which of course means I haven't been on time to work all week! We'll figure everything out though and I am sure it will be smooth sailing again soon.

Funny guy

 Here are a few of the things about life with Caiden that make us laugh!

1) A few weeks ago, in an effort to encourage Caiden to eat food that he doesn't like, I would pick a piece of the food off his tray and eat it myself, exclaiming how yummy it was. As he started reaching for the food I thought I was successful... until he leaned over and put it in my mouth instead of his own. He still enjoys trying to feed me parts of his dinner. Sometimes he fakes me out though- pretends like he is going to give me food but at the last minute throws it in his mouth. He thinks that is pretty funny.

2) Recently, this has been happening:

Time to get some bigger pants?

3) If there is anything soft on the ground (a blanket, pillow, stuffed animal), he'll collapse on it and snuggle with it for a few seconds.

4) He waits outside the bathroom for whoever is in there