March Comes to an End

It is the last day of a wonderful month! It was the perfect day too, with lots of sun, a temperature in the 70's, and no heavy winds. We were able to spend about three hours outside today - time in the morning playing sports, a walk to the park in the afternoon, a brief visit with the daycare kids digging rocks, and then playtime with Daddy. It was so warm today that we even had to make a trip to Kohls to buy Caden a few pairs of shorts! I bought him two cute outfits for now, but I think he's going to be needing more very soon! It seems he's been going through quite a growth spurt in the last few weeks.

Yesterday we began the second to last step in our weaning process - taking away the nap time nursing. I expected it to be horrible and assumed we'd go days if not weeks before he would learn to fall asleep on his own. I was pleasantly surprised that this does not seem to be the case! Yesterday Caden cried and whined in his crib for the first 45 minutes. I eventually went back in to remind him it was nap time and he should be sleeping. A few minutes later he was sound asleep and took a solid two hour nap! Today went even better. He was flipping through books before I even left the room and twenty minutes later with very little fuss he fell asleep and took an hour and a half nap. I'm really happy because I truly wanted him to self-wean which is why we've taken this so slowly. With these little pushes from me it seems like it's actually happening. I'm very proud of him!

In other news, Caden officially has eleven teeth with a twelfth (finally the fourth bottom front tooth) making progress. We know the tooth (possible more than one) is on its way because his pooping has been crazy the last few days. That's been our warning call with all the other teeth too. Fortunately he seems to finally be getting used to the pain and it doesn't bother him as much.

Also, Caden has consistently been using the "hungry" and "thirsty" signs in the last couple of days. It's so gratifying to be playing and then have him suddenly tell me he's thirsty. I can give him a drink and he goes on happy as can be without that usual communication struggle we used to have. After being around other kids his age more recently, though, I'm getting pretty worried about his lack of verbal communication. Hopefully we'll figure out a coarse of action when we go to the doctor on Monday for his 18 month checkup.

Well, this month just flew by! It was great, though. It looks like spring is finally here and we have some very busy months ahead of us!