Thursday, May 6, 2010

Keeping Busy


Sorry I haven't written in awhile - time for an update!


Last week we found this piece of furniture on the curb so we picked it up and I made it into a toy storage shelf. I wanted to convert our whole downstairs into more of a play area for Caden. I think it was a good decision because he loves it! He was having enough fun just taking the bins in and out of the shelves that I haven't even put toys in most of them yet. Caden has been enjoying the huge open space on the floor too. He's really been into playing with cars and trucks lately and they travel much more smoothly on the wooden floor than on the carpet upstairs. Last night Greg moved the basketball hoop downstairs too so this is their new nighttime play area.


On Tuesday night Greg went to the Twins game so I gave Caden his bath - something that almost never happens. I was surprised to see him "swimming" from side to side. He was having a great time doing it! I hope this means he's getting more used to water. I can have a little hope that we might be able to do some swimming/splashing activities outside this summer.


Greg has been teaching Caden all his body parts and he's getting really good at it. For some reason his nipples seem to be the most interesting to him.

Sign language has been going well, though we've been improvising motions more than looking up the correct terms for things. Caden has been acting out a lot of things without me even teaching them to him. For example, when he notices that it's windy outside he rubs his hand through his hair. Or when he wants to wear my watch he makes one hand into a circle and drags it up his other arm. In the car today he even got my attention and made the correct sign for ball when he noticed there was a basketball on the floor. He's still not saying anything, though he now tries to say "moo." He does it with closed lips, though it still sounds like a moo most of the time. At least that's a small step in the right direction!


Caden loves sitting on his potty. Yesterday morning he thought he was pretty hot stuff sitting on it while brushing his teeth while wearing sunglasses. He is just too cool. :)


Our latest weekly activity is going to garage sales on Thursdays and Fridays. Caden actually seems to really enjoy it. He likes looking at all the toys that are usually in the driveways while I dig through clothes and household things. Today we hit the jackpot and found this lovely pink doll stroller. Caden immediately ran to it and was pushing it everywhere while I looked through books. Then he came over and handed me the price tag and turned around and ran with the stroller to the car. I had no choice but to buy it! He loves it, though - he's been pushing Lenny (Greg's name for the doll...) in it ALL afternoon.


We also found Caden a booster chair for the kitchen and a tricycle to use outside. He's always wanting to go to Crea's whether they're outside or not, so hopefully if he has his own trike he might be a little happier staying at home some days.

Bedtime has been going better than I ever thought possible in the last week or so. One day Caden decided he wanted a blanket in his crib. So I found a small one and now every night we read, then I lay him down with his glow worm right next to him, his tiny blanket square in one hand, a plastic ball in the other, and a blanket pulled up to his armpits. And every night he falls asleep without a peep. It's just so hard to believe that after 19 months of having so many bedtime/sleeping problems it's finally working out so well! Most nights he sleeps through too. Now our only problem is naptime! We're up to maybe four days a week of naps. And on the other days he gets an hour in his crib and he's almost always content to just look at books and play with his stuffed animals. It sure would be nice if he'd nap consistently, though!

We went to the zoo the other day and Caden was still scared of the goats. He loved watching the piglets, though! He definitely has a fascination with dogs too. Though he's pretty hesitant to actually go near them. He just likes to watch them. It's probably good that he seems to have a bit of fear of them right now. He's so mean to the cats, I'd hate to see him act that way with random dogs he sees.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. We're looking forward to the weekend - Crea is going to babysit him on Saturday and then Sunday is Mother's Day! I'm looking forward to it. :)

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