As of two days ago our little boy is 13 months old. It is amazing how fast they grow and change. He is full of energy and constantly on the go. You would think with all the energy he has and is burning walking, kicking the soccer ball, and exploring anything and everything that he would have no problem taking a nap or sleeping through the night. Sadly that is not the case. Our weather in Germany has been extremely hot, in the upper 90s. We do not have air conditioning here. Okay, we have two floor units, one in our bedroom and one in the living room. We wanted to buy another one for Caden's room but they ran out of the smaller, less expensive units. We could not justify spending 500 Euros for a/c for one room when we're going to be moving back to the States soon and only need it for 4 months out of the year. Therefore we have to deal with night wakings in which most of the time Caden ends up in our room. Sometimes he sleeps in bed with us, sometimes in his pack n play which we moved back to our room. Occasionally he'll sleep through the night in his crib in his room. Or one of us will sit with him for 20 minutes in his room if it's not too hot until he goes back to sleep.
As for the naps, it has been extremely frustrating. I don't know why he doesn't seem to want to take a nap. We had a great schedule then the weaning process started and his naps are all messed up and he doesn't want to sleep. The only time he'll fall asleep for a nap is in the car and that doesn't always happen. Most of the time he just stares out the window admiring everything we pass. It's like he's learning the direction and way to and from home. I'd love to hear any tips to help with the naps. Today I read to him for 15 minutes, rocked him for another 5, put him in his crib, he immediately got upset, so I put a few toys in there. He was happy for about 5 minutes and then started crying. I told him I was going to let him try and nap and take a break for 15 minutes. I'm just tired. It's hard being away from family and all my friends have little ones of their own and all of us need a break. I enrolled him with hourly childcare yesterday. I hate the thought of him going to a daycare but I thought for a few hours every week or every other week would do us both some good. He won't think so but I know I need it. We're also going to start doing Mom and Tots gymnastics.
Tonight he fell asleep in the middle of me feeding him his dinner at 5:30pm. I feel like such a horrible mom that my child would get so tired he fell asleep while I was feeding him. He ate all of the food I put on his plate while I was feeding him green beans and rice. After 3 spoons of the green bean and rice mixture he was out. So I wiped his hands and mouth. Took his shirt off (it's too hot in his room for him to sleep in clothes) and took him to his crib. 45 minutes he woke up crying. I went in there. His eyes were shut and he was crying. I tried just patting him on his belly to get him back to sleep but he didn't stop. So I picked him up, rocked him, and after about 15 minutes put him back in his bed. I don't think he ever actually fully woke up. It's been 5.5 hours since he fell asleep. I hope when I go to bed he doesn't wake up and want to play. In fact, I don't know why I'm still awake!
His newest word is "duck." He knows several animals, cat, dog, alligator, and bunny. He has stuffed animals and will bring us the correct one when we ask him for it. As far as ducks go he actually pointed at the ducks (geese) at the park the other day and said "duck, duck." It's amazing how smart kids are.
A few new things he enjoys:
- Eating French Toast with a fork. He has gotten really good at this.
- He prefers to feed himself. He now likes holding a spoon or fork even if he doesn't use them while he eats.
- He loves to stack boxes (the higher he stacks them I have to hold the other boxes from falling but he's pretty good at it)
- He loves bringing us different toys and stuffed animals when we ask him things like "where's your dog? or Where's your alligator?"
- Caden is very social. He loves being around other people and it really doesn't matter their age. Although if there are other kids around he tends to want to hang out with them.
- He loves playing hide and seek. He goes behind a wall or door and pops out to surprise you.
- He loves laughing and smiling.
- He's getting a lot more comfortable walking around and wandering away from us when we're out in public. Thankfully for the most part he still hangs close to us. That or we make sure he wonder too far away.
- He loves going to the piano and playing the keys. He has even learned how to open the piano cover to "play notes".
- He can kick a soccer ball around the room and likes to play ball with us.
- He can roll his toy cars straight back to me...and makes a cute "vrrooom, vrrooom" sound.
- He loves playing with his toy cars, balls, and boxes.
- He is getting a lot more verbal. His phonemes are getting more varied and his newest sound is "naaa, naaa".
Here are a few recent pictures. Some from his friends Aanya and Leia's birthday party and a few of him at the park.
Caden with his good friend David - they are so cute together
Yes, we are at a McCafe, my friend, Helena, and I met for coffee and couldn't resist taking a picture of our cute babies
One of the few pictures I have of just Caden
- these next pictures were taken at Leia and Aanya's birthday party
Caden with his friends Ava and Leia
Caden showing Aanya something very interesting
Geneva did a great job on the birthday cakes. They were celebrating Phil's birthday too along with their daughters. I'm sad because they are moving to Italy.
Caden and his friend
I love my boy!
Collin and Caden at Luisenpark
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