Get Me Out of Here!!

Collin has been at a conference all week which is 1.5 hours away.  He has been leaving before we get up and on a couple of evenings returns after Caden is asleep for the night.  For the most part Caden and I are spoiled because we get to see Collin a lot of times for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  So when he's gone like this it makes things a little hard on both of us.

To keep us busy we try and have an outing everyday, usually involving an errand or two I need to run along with something fun for Caden.  The other day we went to the library.  After the library I took him to the big park next to it.  We played for a long time.  He loves the park.  I needed to go to the grocery store on my way home and it was lunch time.  I have learned, don't ever take a hungry child to the grocery store if you want to keep things sane.  So I decided to take him to Burger King since it was right next to the park.  I'm not a huge fast food fan and normally don't eat at places like Burger King but I knew it would be quick and cheap.  Sometimes that's a good combo for a busy mom. 

This is the first time I've gone to eat somewhere with just the two of us.  Usually I meet up with a friend or Collin eats with us.  Of course there was a long line and toddlers are not big fans of lines (but who is?).  We are working on self-control and staying with Mommy.  He is doing very well and I was happy to get our food ordered without a major fit or a little boy wanting to run away. 

After we get our food we went to sit down.  He is a pretty good eater.  Sadly after one of his friends offered him a french fry that is all he asks to eat if he sees them.  But he ate a few chicken nuggets as we bargain with eat a bite of this and you can have a bite of that.  When he was all done, he looked at me and said, "get me out of here!!"  He was sitting in a high chair and I looked at him and said, "where did you learn that phrase?"  He smiled and said it again.  That night I was laying in bed and thinking about some of the things he says.  He doesn't watch tv shows and then it hit me where he got it.  He learned it from the book, Are you My Mother? about the bird who falls from the tree and looks for his mother.  At the end of the book the Snort (crane) carries him back to his tree and the little bird says, "get me out of here!"  I love how much he learns from books, which by the way, it had been over a day since we had read that book.  But he remembered that the bird was up high and wanted down and he was up high and wanted down. 

On the Cusp of 2 Years! 1 month to go!

In just one month our little boy will be 2. Time does seem to pass faster as we're getting older. He continues to be a joy to have and I can see why the Bible says in Psalm 127:3: "Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him." It is very rewarding having a child and the more time we spend around Caden the more we would like to have more.

Some new fun things he is doing!

Language! One of Collin's favorite things to watch (and mine) is seeing how Caden puts words and sentences together. Collin is passionate about languages and speaks several so it is fun to see first hand how a young child learns a language. Caden is talking in more complete short sentences. His has a great memory and remembers things quickly and is always willing to repeat things as he's learning more.

It's manners time!  Caden has great manners. I'm a stickler for manners. I was so happy when I picked him up from the childcare at MOPS the other day and one of the lady's told me she was impressed with his manners. I don't let him have juice unless we are out and it's 100%, so still mostly milk and water. He eats plenty of fruit which is why he doesn't need juice. Anyway, the other kids were drinking it and so before I left him I said I brought water but if he seems to really want some then it would be fine. She said that he went to each childcare worker and said, "Juice, please. Juice please." As they were passing out the juice. He's also getting good about saying "thank you." We are still working on using an inside quieter voice when needed.

Reading and spelling! He still loves books but doesn't want to sit still as long as he used to. So we mostly read twice a day. 15-20 minutes after lunch and 15-20 minutes before bed. I think his vocabulary has increased significantly because of all the reading we do. We like to read for at least 20-30 minutes a day. For the most part we achieve this but sometimes we're out during the day or he falls asleep too fast at night. He learned to spell his name a month or so ago and we are working on more words. Now he's confident that when almost anyone asks him how to spell his name he proudly says, "C-A-D-E-N, Caden!" I bought this neat letter/word puzzle around Christmas and have been saving it for a rainy day and for when he was a little older. Well, we've been working on Phonics and occassionally I'll bring it out. He enjoys "spelling" words. If you haven't noticed I love teaching and am a fan of educational toys. I (Marisa) worked in an educational toy store my junior year of high school.

Numbers and more numbers! He loves counting and numbers. He can count to 10 in German. He picked it up so quickly that Collin and I were both very impressed. He can now count to 20 in English. He goes back and forth between counting in English and German. He loves to count things and is pretty good at it.  We might have a math guy on our hands.I'll ask him how many crackers does he have, how many blueberries, how many cars, etc. He points and counts.



Early birthday gift.  Caden loves his log cabin!



All I want to do is play!  Caden enjoys playing with his friends and is enjoying more independent play at home. He will pretend to cook, drive his car, build houses, etc. and has a great imagination. He also loves playdates and playing with other kids of all ages. Of course playing with Mom and Dad is lots of fun too!  He loves having a house his own size.  All of his friends love it too!

I know that song!  Caden loves singing and has memorized more songs. His favorites are "I'm in the Lord's Army" and "ABCs." But he'll also sing, "Jesus Loves Me," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Row, Row, Row, Your Boat," and pieces from other songs. It's cute, we'll be driving along and he'll start singing. Or he'll be playing and start singing.



The 2s are coming and some people refer to the 2s as terrible. I like to look at these challenges as growth opportunties. Not just for me but for my child. After reading Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim Fay and Charles Fay, I have become more confident in how I react and discipline Caden. A few new things we've been experiencing over the past few months are tantrums. I stay calm, sometimes pick him up and talk softly to him. Other times I let him have his space as he cries because he doesn't get something he wants.



New car bed.  He loves it!

Sleep baby sleep!  Sleeping is going better. Caden now falls asleep in his bed unless Collin falls asleep while holding him for a few minutes then they may both fall asleep in the chair. Nap time is rare, maybe once or twice a week but he sleeps 11-12 hours at night. When he takes a nap he only sleeps 9-10 hours. It's a tiring trade-off but it's working for us. It seems like he mostly needs 11-12 hours of sleep a day with some quiet down time in the afternoon.  Below is a picture of him taking a nap in his car bed.  He asks to sleep in his car bed at night sometimes but we're not quite ready to move him over.



We really love Caden.  He is such a wonderful and happy child.  Everyday he is learning new things and exploring the world around him.

Holiday Park

We took Caden to his first amusement park last Saturday called Holiday Park.  I grew up going to amusement parks and love roller coasters.  This park is only about 30 minutes away and was our first German amuseument park experience.  There was a little area for younger kids that had about 4 rides that Caden could ride by himself.  He was not sure what to think when he road his first ride, but as he continued riding them he didn't want to get down once it was over.  We had a great time and look forward to taking him to more amusement parks. 

On a side note, we made the mistake of going inside a building of what we thought would be a boat ride.  We were thinking of the ride at Disney World where they play "It's a Small World."  Well, this was not a boat ride but a haunted seat ride.  It went through the dungeons of castles, providing us a visual history of various ways of torturing and killing people, think of a "live" torture museum.  There were also robotic people dressed up as prostitutes, drunks, etc.  We had no idea that it would be like this.  It was truly a very different cultural experience.  It was quite scary and I kept trying to cover Caden's eyes because the ride and sites freaked me out.  Needless to say, we will not be going in the dungeon again if we go back.  Collin and I both felt horrible for taking him on that ride.  Thankfully, he made it out and didn't seem to be too scared. After the ride was over, Collin and I said to each other, that there would be no way a ride like that would be in the States, especially geared toward small children. 

Here are a few pictures from our day at Holiday Park, not including the scary ride.  I thought I had pictures from all the little rides Caden road but I guess they got deleted.  Anyway, this can give you an idea what a German theme park looks like.

Caden's first ride - he road the boat all by himself

I got to ride this one with him.  He loved spinning around.

Collin teaching Caden to pump water.  Caden just wanted to drink it.

He loved the carousel and kept asking later to ride the horse.

Caden pushed the gas pedal while Collin steered. 
It looks like someone was a little too big for this ride.

I'm going on the big swing. 
Caden said to me after I got off this ride, "Mommy goes way up high."

Collin coming down one of the roller coasters.

Caden playing at one of the playgrounds in the park.

Creative Wrapping Paper

Does your child like to draw?  If so, you probably have coloring books and pages of beautiful art work to show for it.  As I was getting my parents' birthday gifts together to mail today, I realized I didn't have any wrapping paper.  So rather than spend the time and gas to go to the store, I looked around my house and saw Caden's Melissa and Doug Jumbo Coloring Pad (which is really great, by the way).  He has colored several pages and so I decided to wrap his grandparent's gifts in that.  They looked really cute and it made them more personal since their grandson colored the pictures.