I make a goofy face

Here are some photos and a video of Caiden's ever present "goofy face." It's the face that he gives you when  you tell him to say cheese or smile for a photo. Silly kid. Lots of silly photos.

Waterlogged

We just got back from a great vacation to Puerto Rico- our first vacation just the three of us. We were a little nervous about Caiden's first plane ride, but he did great. He was very excited about going on an airplane, but I think the highlight was seeing all the planes the airport. Once we were actually on the plane it was much less exciting.

We had gotten him some new travel toys- toy story figures. That kept him entertained for a while, then we moved on to movie watching. Not a squawk from this kiddo for the 4 hour flight.

The first day we did a lot of exploring. We stayed at a resort type place on the beach, and there was a lot to explore inside and out. And we explored it all! Up those stairs, down that ramp, around the little pool, over to the big pool, out by the ocean, over to the next door park. And there was lots of pigeon chasing too!

This is what pigeon chasing looks like. Just imagine him yelling "PIGEON!!" while running

We tested out the pool... just a little

 We also explored the Old Town neighborhood of San Juan. Caiden did a lot of walking (well, running really). He kept us moving right along!

Finishing our afternoon in Old Town with Ice Cream!

By the second day, Caiden had gotten the lay of the land and was more comfortable hanging out. We spent a lot of time in and around the pool.

Just checking our email!

And by the end of the trip Caiden was really into vacation mode! Breakfast by the pool, days outside, dinner out... and movie time before bed. What a lucky boy. And what lucky parents we are. He was such a great travel baby and we had a lot of fun with him.

One funny thing- we did a lot of back and forth from our room to various activities, which meant multiple elevator trips a day. Caiden loved elevator trips. It was the first thing he asked to do in the morning. He would hit the necessary buttons, and once inside he would assume his elevator position: back of the center tile, in ready to run pose. When the doors opened he would "JUMP!" over the gap at the door and he'd be off and running. Made us laugh every time.

Our return trip was just as easy- despite having woken up at 3am to catch the plane. We are sad vacation is over but it's always great to come home.

Aunt Margaret Day

Last Friday Caiden got a whole day with his Aunt Margaret. He was very excited. He was a little cranky that morning and it was tough getting him downstairs. It was right around the time Margaret was supposed to come over, so I asked if we should go see if Aunt Markie was here yet. He said "yeah!", headed right downstairs, and wanted to wait for her by the window. He was very excited to see her drive in!

They went to the Boston Children's Museum and had a fun time. It was great that they did that- it's been close to a year since we last went, but it gets so bonkers on the weekends that its not very enjoyable, even for Caiden.

Thanks Aunt Margaret for the fun day! After she left, Caiden kept asking "Where Markie go?"

Walk away, Dad

Dan and Caiden were driving the orange car (one of Dan's RC toys) through the living room window. I caught Caiden on film taking over driving responsibilities. If you listen carefully, you will hear him saying "walk away, dad", followed by "walk... walk backwards"

Caiden likes to point out when things are moving backwards. We were watching Dan snow blow yesterday, and I asked what Dad was doing out there. "walking backwards" was Caiden's response. Fair enough, he was backing up at the time.

Christmas rounds 2 & 3

Shortly after we were done opening presents, family started arriving for Christmas brunch (and more presents!). Grandpa Jack and Grandma Madeline, Great Grandma Esther, Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Margaret and Uncle Doug joined us. Caiden made out like a bandit. By this time though he had turned into the present monster. He just kept wanting more.

Caiden was obsessed with Uncle Doug. Anytime Doug was out of sight, he asked "where Doug go?" or "what Doug doing?" or "Doug, where are you?" They had a great time playing with presents together.

We eventually had Christmas brunch. Caiden wasn't too interested in eating (theme of the weekend), but he sat with us for a little while before taking off to play with toys.

After brunch Dad and Madeline had to take Grandma Esther back to Connecticut. We had a great morning with them! The rest of us played all all afternoon, and Nana Nan joined us too. More presents ensued, and then dinner.

What a great and jam packed day! Thanks to everyone near and far for all the gifts!

Waiting for Santa

Christmas is over! I'd love to say that we had a wonderful weekend, but it was a tough one. Caiden came down with croup the Thursday before Christmas and was put on steroids to reduce thorat/lung swelling and help him breathe easier. The steroids made him a crazy man though. He was very clingy, irritable, violent, manic... just crazy. It was a tough couple of days leading up to Christmas. Our whole family was running on little sleep and it was near impossible to get anything done.

Throughout his sickness he still looked forward to Santa's visit. Such a lucky boy too- he even got an in person visit from Santa on Christmas Eve. He knew the visit was coming and was very excited. He wanted to wait in the front hall. He even asked "Santa, where are you??". Of course he was a little wary of Santa once he got here. Little did he know it was just Poppa Bob! Santa Bob brought a christmas eve present- legos. Dan and Caiden thoroughly enjoyed playing with legos for the rest of the evening.

Caiden seemed to get a new round of sickness on Christmas day. He had a fever and renewed cold symptoms. Luckily there was so much going on that it kept his mind off of it, and we did have a great day. We started the morning with Santa presents, stockings, and gifts mailed to us from family far away. It was a nice low key round of presents. He would open one and run off to play with it. We would usher him back to open the next one. It took a few hours to get through those presents and his stocking.

the long awaited toy story figurines

He didn't have much of an appetite, but we tried getting some breakfast in him. His new toy story friends joined him. 

Stay tuned for the rest of Christmas updates...

Swim lessons

We just finished another round of swim lessons. We did these much closer to home- at the Thoreau club. Maybe one day he'll be on the swim team there like I was :)

The first lesson was rocky. It had been probably 6 months since he had last been in a swim class, and the instructor started out a little aggressively. But after lots of tears that first session, he warmed right up and by the next week he was having a blast. He loved jumping off the edge, crab walking along the side, swimming with a noodle (he would exclaim "NOODOOLE!!!" when the instructor brought them out), and even blowing bubbles. By the last class he could climb out of the pool by himself.

Not his best attempt, but you get the idea.

The highlight of his swim experience though was showing off for Nanna Nan. Nanna works out at the gym at the Thoreau club, and would come down to the pool to watch. Caiden got extra perky whenever he spotted her coming in and would do his best to impress her.

We'll take a break from lessons, but I'd like to keep the momentum going and get him in another session starting in February.