15 Months

Here's what is going on with Caiden now that he is 1.25!

-He really likes being in the basement. A lot. If it were up to him we would spend all day down there

-He loves being outside. He also loves looking out the window

-He is getting pretty good at using utensils to eat, thanks to daycare. Sometimes I really, really love daycare- they teach him all kinds of things. He is pretty good using a spoon, but with forks he uses his hand to try stick food on the end, and usually gives up and just puts the food right in his mouth

-He has started grabbing us by the hand and pulling us to where he wants us to be

-Anything with wheels, wings, or propellers are a big hit

 -He just started saying "wuh wuh wuh" when asked what a dog says. Every other animal growls, especially sheep.

-He is becoming a bit of a daredevil. He is fearless at times. Keeps us on our toes! 

 -His language hasn't improved much, but he understands so much of what we say. Clever kiddo.

New Years

Happy New Year! We made a trip to Burlington VT for New Years. We stopped in Hanover on our way up for a visit with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Hank. A few hours later we hit the road again and met up with Dave Mak, Grace, Tony, and Ian in Burlington. We had an early NYE dinner, put the kiddos to bed, and then the adults had fun catching up.

The next day we had a great breakfast and a fun trip to the local aquarium. They don't have tons of fish there, but it's a great place for kids. 

Despite all the fish, turtles, and water tables, I think Caiden's favorite part of the aquarium was this interactive computer screen. He was cracking up.

We had a great time, but went home a day earlier than planned. Caiden must have caught party fever- he was up all night, likely keeping half the hotel up as well. We wanted to prevent a repeat performance (and get some sleep ourselves...)

Post Christmas

We've really been enjoying a little time off around these holidays. Here are a few pictures from the past week.

Snuggling with his new monkey

learning how to drive his own race car

Driving the race car on his own!

Ho Ho Ho!

What a great Christmas!! On the morning of Christmas Eve Caiden and I spent some time with Nana Nan. Dan was in New Hampshire the previous night to attend a friend's engagement party, and he returned later on Christmas Eve with his parents, who stayed with us for a few nights. We had a nice evening at home with them. Caiden loved playing with his new chair, a gift from his grandparents!

On Christmas morning, we did presents.Santa didn't visit this year, but Caiden got lots of wonderful gifts from our families. We tried to entice him to come over and open a present, but he just came over to grab the bow off of the gift and then ran back to his toys. He still doesn't get the gift thing (which is fine by us!!). We even got away with leaving a few toys in their boxes.We'll bring them out later when he needs a change of scenery.

He mostly did this while we opened his presents

We hosted an afternoon Christmas dinner at our house with Grandma Judy, Grandpa Hank, Grandpa Jack, Grandma Madeline, Great Grandma Esther, Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Margaret & Doug. It was a delicious meal! We were hoping that Caiden would be napping while we ate, but just this weekend he stopped taking two naps at home. He now takes one midday nap and of course woke up just as we were sitting down to eat. He did very well though, he ate a little bit and spent the rest of the time playing with his new toys and running around the table giving out hugs and  interacting with everyone.

These stacking boxes from Grandpa Jack were a big hit, he loves knocking them down.

What a great day!! We all hit the sack early... in our new matching PJs!!

Check out this great movie that Aunt Elizabeth made. She did such a fabulous job... it was my favorite gift!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLDGjev4IIQ&feature=youtu.be

What does a fish say?

If you ask Caiden that question, here is what you get!

What goes in

When I said that Caiden was making up for lost time  in the food department, I wasn't kidding. This kid is eating us out of house and home. And since what goes in must go out, well... you get what I'm saying.

We have found that Caiden really enjoys eating food whole these days. We used to give him food all chopped up, but now he prefers to take the bites himself. And as long as we give it to him whole, he will power down all kinds of stuff that we couldn't get him to eat before. Very handy for vegetables.

14 months

It took a while to think up what is new with Caiden this month because it seems like the dominant theme was sickness. On top of croup and pneumonia over the last 3 weeks, Caiden caught a stomach bug. Poor kiddo. His cough is clearing up, but he is still occasionally wheezy. We give him the nebulizer when that happens and it clears right up.

Soaking up Barney time while being nebulized

Other than that, Caiden loves to be outside. He will point out the window or to the door if he wants to go out. Sometimes he even brings us one of his shoes to get us moving. He is big on putting things in containers and taking them out (and repeat...). He also likes to see what happens when he throws things up and down the stairs, an activity that always results in an "Uh, oh". He loves dancing and has apparently been showing his moves off at daycare. He is practicing animal sounds, however most animals apparently sound like lions.

Helping mom clean up

Keeping Caiden hydrated was a concern while he was sick. He is not really big on fluids to begin with, so we had to use a few tricks. The one that works best is switching up the drinking vessel- we switched between my water bottle, sippy cups with straws, sippy cups with handls, and regular cups.

 He his appetite was off and on depending on how he was feeling this month, and so he lost a little bit of weight. He is making up for lost time now though.

Now where did I put that piece of pear?

I am not sure if it is related to feeling icky a lot, but Caiden has been somewhat clingy and shy recently. The upside to this is that he is snuggly and gives lots of hugs. The downside is that it can be pretty hard to make dinner with him clinging to my legs! It can take him a while to warm up when we are in new places too. Caiden insisted on being carried the first half of a trip to Drumlin Farms last weekend, even though we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Sleep is good. He gets off track easily (sickness or teething), but we know how to get him back on track now. He sometimes "talks" in his sleep which is funny. Caiden has now spent a couple of nights over at Nanna's house, which is great!!