While the Months Pass

I have yet again fallen behind on Caden’s monthly updates which is primarily due to how busy our little man is!  The last time I did an actual “month” update was when he was a bit over 15 months old and now he is a tad over 17 months old.  The nice part is we have finally taken to saying he is “about one and a half” (which is crazy) and are able to drop the whole months label anyway.  I mean once they are a year old you can see people calculating in their head when you say any “months” over 12.  It appears I have wandered and stepped on a soapbox.

You haven’t been completely uninformed as to what has been going on in our and his life.  There was his first plane ride and trip out of the country, a lot of time in the pool (before it even got too hot for that) another injury that I have yet to share with you and some fun projects.  More notably, Colter and I recently came to terms with the fact that he isn’t so much of a “baby” anymore as he is a “kid”!  We were looking at him and realizing that he really does look like a little boy now and then we tried to figure out exactly how that happened.

What comes with that “little boy” status is toddler-hood which he has fully entered – demands, opinions, fits andmischief have added to his laughter, silliness and sweet cuddles.  It is about time right?   He spends most of the day figuring out what he can get into or what he would like to get out.  Recently, he has had a new found obsession with either mine or Colter’s shoes.  If he can find them, he will wear them.  This does not help with his clumsiness that causes him to fall constantly. CONSTANTLY.  He lets his little feet get going a bit too fast, so when he is wearing size 7 women’s flip flops it gets very interesting.

He is still in love with blocks and building towers, but has transitioned to his legos and mega blocks instead of just foam ones.  You might see him running to his box of legos for you to open them when he gets home from errands and while they end up spread throughout the whole downstairs (which Colter has to now pick-up at night because I can’t forward bend that many times), he is quite productive with them.  If you really want to keep him in one place he will snuggle up to you if you sit and build with him.

You can see it in the first picture, but just like our last update he also still loves to put things on his head.  He is especially happy if you try to put something on his head so he can balance it.  While his noggin is large and easy to point to Caden will tell you where his belly, nose, ears, eyes and feet are as well.  He usually laughs while pointing out the answer to your question and finds the whole process of this game quite silly.

Since I have mentioned silly, he turns into a silly wild man when Colter gets home from work.  Relieved to have someone to rough house with Colter can barely get changed out of his work clothes before Caden is trying to jump on him, over him, through him, up to him etc.  The poor little guy is stuck with a waddling mom who for some reason won’t let him use her big round belly as a trampoline all day.  So, he takes full advantage of a dad who loves to roll around with him and let him be a boy.  Unfortunately for Colter Caden rarely gets tired and quits the game.

While the woes of being a toddler make some days challenging and frustrating for everyone he still has too many redeeming qualities.  He has become a full-fledged helper which I am hoping continues with his brother’s arrival.  He will pick things up that he (or I) drops and hand them to me, loves to close any door or cabinet for you and for the most part understands when you ask him to do something.  He even helped Pop build some shelves in brother’s closet!  Surely he will hand me diapers for his new brother right? (Wishful thinking)  Caden very much enjoys plopping down in my cross-legged lap to read, build blocks or snuggle.  It is funny that sometimes he will stand up and scoot back trying to get closer knowing that I should have more lap to give him.  Alas, that big ol’ belly is taking up all his room!

I wish for him that it wasn’t so hot so we could spend more time outside but I am hopeful to get a little break in the weather here in the next couple months so that his nightly yard time can return. We are loving hearing him sing the ABC tune, make animal noises and mimic us counting to three when he jumps & plays.  He makes our mornings early and our days busy but our hearts are very full.  It is amazing to see how many new things he learns every single day and exactly how much he grew over night to reach those new hidden treasures.  There have already been such fun new developments since he turned 17 months that I am excited to share in the next update.  Until then I am sure we will be plenty busy.