Caden is 14 Months Old Today!

Caden is 14 months old today.  He is growing and learning new things every day!  A few new accomplishments this past month.  He has mastered the use of a fork and spoon.  It's amazing how "clean" he is when he eats.  He can now feed himself cereal in milk with a spoon.  Yesterday, I sat a bowl of yogurt in front of him and he did great eating it too.  I was so proud.  He can feed himself French Toast and eggs with a fork.  Pretty much anything that we eat and is healthy we'll let him try.  Thanks to my sweet mother-in-law for encouraging us to let him feed himself with utensils.  I think he has picked it up quickly and is doing great!  Caden has also gotten better at not dumping his bowl or plate over.  He also no longer throws his cup on the floor.  If he doesn't want it on his high chair he puts it on the table. 

Caden feeding himself yogurt

He is full of energy and constantly on the go. Caden continues to have a sweet personality and is very friendly. He loves meeting new people and seeing people he knows. His can now "run" but sometimes falls over. Usually he catches himself, which is great. He gets into everything if we're not careful, including the trash. When I was cooking the other day he dug in our kitchen trash in less than a minute and had egg shells on the floor playing with them. Gross! He also has a tendency to want to dig in his diaper trash can too. Nasty! So needless to say, I do a lot of cleaning and cleaning up around the house. Caden keeps his mama busy. Not to mention when he takes his diaper off. Thankfully he has not taken any poopie diapers off yet. He now sometimes will point at his diaper when he needs to be changed. One of the benefits of cloth diapers, I think. Such a helpful young man! Caden also likes to get on his hands and feet and look upside down between his legs.

 

Lately, he is sleeping more and better.  He now sleeps around 12 hours at night and usually takes a 1.5-2 hour nap in the afternoon.  He never slept that long during his first year for a nap, or if he did, it was very rare.  It's nice to finally be able to get some things done around the house.  I'm also able to get him down overall much faster for his naps.  Today I lucked out and got him down in less than 10 minutes!  That's the fastest I've ever been able to get him down except when I used to nurse him to sleep.  One new thing we have done is let him hold a blanket while we read to him and rock him to sleep.  He seems to really like holding a blanket, more so than a stuffed animal. 

A few of Caden's favorite toys and activities are: stacking boxes - he loves to stack boxes and other things; puzzles; his shapes sorting cube; his push popper toy; making music - on our piano, his keyboard, drums, and his xylophone; Caden loves to read books and some days he is very picky about what books he wants read to him; he's getting really good at identifying objects in picture books such as fruits, vegetables, and animals; he likes kicking balls, crawling through tunnels and under the kitchen table; bringing us things; talking; singing; and dancing to music.  Very recently he discovered he can turn off and on the lights with the wall switches.  For months he has enjoyed reaching for the pull cords on the ceiling fans and lights, but now he is tall enough to reach the light switches by himself so he's all over it!  He also likes opening and shutting doors and drawers.

Caden now weighs 24.1 lbs and is a joy to have.  Here are some recent pictures.

I'm pointing at you!

I love clapping and laughing too!

My Dad is the best!

I'm leaning up against my mom because I love her!