Fall 2009, Halloween, Rocky’s BD ~ 35 & 19 mths

So much to write! Summertime flew by which we had many wonderful walks. The poor blog has been neglected for quite a period of time! I’ve been working on Cristian’s 1st year/Caden becomes a big brother book so the blog was put on the backburner. I’ve used the blog for a lot of the book’s written content and I’m almost done so I’m excited to see the finished product.

We just celebrated Rocky’s 33rd birthday - had Pei Wei for dinner, the boys love this place and Rocky loves pretty much any chinese. When we got home we had his favorite jello cake and did gifts/cards. The boys were very intrigued with the 33 candles! Rocky sure played the part of turning 33 as he was soo tired and even went to bed when Cristian did. It was Wed. night so just Caden and I went on to church together while Rocky kept Cristian.

Rocky’s Birthday. Caden loved GG’s horse card, kept it for himself. :) Caden and I practiced telling daddy happy birthday when we met him at Pei Wei then when we got home he kept calling the cake “happy cake.” Very cute.

 

I was thinking the other day how we are out of the baby phase for the first time in a long time! I miss their baby stages of course but the boys are at such fun ages right now and it’s so much easier to get out and about to do things!

Mr. Cristian is always doing something new. He’s very entertaining and such a happy-going little guy. He’s always talking, screaming-happily, laughing. He’ll  repeat most words back. LOVES trains, tractors, balls, animals. He loves to be sung to, doesn’t sit very still for books yet but enjoys them oh his own time while reading to Caden. He has a good little arm on him he can throw so well and far for his size! He puts the blocks together pretty well on the block train. Will sit and focus on that for a good while. He’s good at putting things away. He loves to play with other little kids-any age and really loves babies.

He wakes up with a smile and we don’t leave any blankets behind when getting out of his crib. A lot of times he tells us all about them too during our walk down the hallway. Then we cuddle for a little bit on the couch, this is my favorite time with him!

He’s a good eater still, doesn’t eat as much as he use to but he still eats a decent amount. At around 18 mths is when Caden became a very difficult eater!! So I’m very thankful we’re not repeating it!! He sleeps well, he goes down for bed about 8-8:15ish and wakes around 9:00am for now. I’m sure sleeping in this long won’t last much longer. He checked out well at his 18 mth appt. and got the regular flu shot.

He is MR. independent! Wants to: feed himself with NO HELP (cleanup is lots of work), brush his own teeth-he use to be so calm & patient while we brushed his teeth, not anymore though, now he wants to put his own shoes on-like it doesn’t already take long enough to get out the door! :) Boy can we pitch a fit too! The fits are famous for when he gets something taken away from him-he’ll do a twirl, then plop himself down on the floor, he would use to throw himself back but he learned quickly that we weren’t always there to catch him and realized it doesn’t feel so good!! It’s tough to keep a straight face during the twirl sometimes. He gets thru the fits fairly quickly and is easily distracted by other things he loves so that’s a plus.

He’s cutting his last two incisors-bottom, 3rd tooth from the middle on both sides. He loves to pull out the cold pack from the freezer to gnaw on or the toothbrush is another fav. His hair just keeps changing color. It was getting blonder again then Grammy J took him to get a barber cut during his week stay in Ulysses in October and it was a light brown underneath. He wears a size 5 diaper so I hope to potty train him around 2.5 if he’s on board too!

Caden, lately I’ve been going thru his newborn picts and fondly remember my first born son’s early days/months so well. He was such a sweet, sweet baby. He’s still sweet but 2 and soon to be 3 year olds have such lovely opinions on everything!!

Caden loves to read, his new set-up goes as: he gives you a book to read, then while your reading to him, he reads another book! He loves trains, big trucks, tractors, airplanes. He’s picked up a new fear of animals. I think it came from the time Cristian was being rough with Grammy J & Grandad’s neighbors little dog and the dog started barking and running in circles. Caden kept saying the dog bit Cristian but he didn’t. Cristian of course wasn’t phased by it and Caden still will not go near them! Who knows maybe the love will return, he used to just love animals! He does like to watch Happy Feet though.

Caden attends preschool once a week at Sonshine school. He loves it this year and acts as if he looks forward to going. Much different experience than last year. He’s slowly warmed up to his peers and teachers now (which it’s more difficult anyways just going once/week) and has started talking more and answering the teacher’s questions during the lessons. He’ll even take a hour nap for them too! Just need to get him to eat better there.

He has a sharp memory. Recently when we met Cristian and Grammy J in Wichita to pick Cristian up from his stay with them, we did some shopping. Caden still remembers the shirts & pjs him and grammy j bought, he’ll pat his clothes/chest then get a big grin and say GG, GG. He also did that when I pulled out his swim shorts from the wash, he was reminiscing on playing in the pool with Grammy J while momma got Cristian down for bed that evening. It was the first time the boys had stayed in a hotel, and they loved the little fridge in the room! He is also very mechanical minded like his dad. He loves to look at how things work! He’s a quiet, mild natured little guy but so very smart!

 

Pumpkin patch picts, painting Cristian’s rm & meeting up in Wichita. (Week-Oct. Cristian spent with Grammy J, Grandad & GG)

 

 

 

 

Caden helping paint Cristian’s room

Happy to see each other!

Shopping-boys watching cartoons

Cristian feeding himself icecream-soo messy! He had fun! At the chocolate store! We all loved this place. ;)

 

Caden cont…During our bedtime prayers, he has started praying along with me, then he says AMEN! I think his favorite bible story is Noah's Ark, usually the first story in his bible that he turns to read. He loves talking about the ark and the animals. Then he tells me how GG (Grandad) and him read that book when he stayed with them.

Every morning he needs to explain that “Daddy’s at work & he took his truck to work.” Then he explains where Grammy J is, “GG at home in U.” He kind of says the town but it’s a tough town to say! He’s very good at putting his gray plastic railroad tracks together, he’d always want us to put it together for him so it’s a milestone for him to put it together himself!! Caden eats well as long as he doesn’t snack much. He loves chocolate milk, drinks water. Doesn’t like juice, bananas sometimes apples are pretty much the only fruits he likes. He does good with vegetables and eats homecooked meals well. Doesn’t usually eat restaurant food too well though.

Pottytime-he’s never been scared of the toilet. He’ll sit on it when he wants but we haven’t taken the “plunge” quite yet! I hear 3 is the standard age for boys these days so I’m just waiting until then to start potty training. With his desire to not talk much, we decided it was best to wait with him. 

 

The boys love to play in the island kitchen cabinets while I’m there cooking, paying bils etc. One gets on each side and they yell back and forth to each other! They have their times when they play really well together then they also don’t always like to share  or one gets in the way of the other. Caden is really bad about taking toys away and running off-I think he likes Cristian to know he can’t run as fast as him-quite anyways. ;) Since it’s gotten cold, we’ve moved the bikes, little tykes 4-wheeler, lawn mowers to the basement and the boys love to run around down there. The cement floor is pretty handy when we can’t go outside, I think we’re going to miss it when we finish the basement. Even though the boys have the brotherly spats, Caden looks after his younger brother very well at home and in public places

 

For Halloween, Cristian was first a puppy then a monkey. He was a bit too big for Caden’s costume from last year! His head definitely didn’t fit the head part!! Caden didn’t want to dress up so Cristian wore the monkey costume trick-or-treating and Caden got to eat Cristian’s M&Ms and other candy neighbors gave him anyways for his “pj boy” costume so it worked out in the end. :)