This last weekend in February has been chock full of family fun for Caden. On Thursday night, Grandma and Grandpa Noe, Aunt Sarah, and Cousin Liz stopped in and shared some time with him and Daddy. According to Greg, Caden was very excited to see all of them, no longer showing any of his past stranger anxiety (thank goodness!). It makes us both really happy that Caden is finally remembering his extended family and loves seeing them.
Friday Caden got to participate in his first "guy's day." He went with Daddy to Mall of America to have lunch with Grandpa, Great Grandpa John, Uncle Mike, and Uncle Tom. I wasn't there so I'm not sure what really happened, except that Caden enjoyed walking through the MoA park area. It was quite a treat since whenever I take him to the mall we seem to forget stopping in at the main attraction!
On Friday night we joined up with everyone and went to one of our favorite local restaurants, Babe's Music Bar. We got a banquet table with Caden sitting at the head. He certainly enjoyed being the center of attention! He was quite happy helping himself to Grandma and Grandpa's plates and stuffing himself full of fries, chips, pickles, and ranch dressing. We all had a lot of fun spending time with family that we don't get to see that often.
Saturday was another exciting day as we went to downtown Minneapolis to explore the Nicollet Mall area. A large group of us toured many of the skywalks. Caden had a blast because Aunt Sarah was zooming him up and down, twirling him in circles, and making sure he had plenty of opportunities to look out on the streets and in lower levels of the mall areas. Every time I saw him he had a huge smile on his face - I'm pretty sure Sarah is one of his favorite people!
It turned out to be some very fun days spent with extended family. Caden was on his best behavior and full of laughs and entertainment. He probably wishes he could have such a large attentive audience all the time! Being home with just me every day must get pretty boring. :)
In other news, on Friday morning Caden really surprised me by doing his first sign! Baby sign language is something I always thought about doing, but never really got into. Once we started Tiny Tots, however, I was really wishing I had put the energy into doing it. I didn't imagine that Caden would reach seventeen months old and still not say a single word. One week after class I tried to show him the sign for "more" because that's the only one I recognized the other kids doing. I gave up after the first day and decided it was pointless. But then on Friday morning we were at breakfast and he was eating some new yogurt cheerios. After his first helping he wildly started making the sign for "more." I was so excited! He did it multiple times throughout the day, so I'm sure he knew what he was saying. I was so thrilled to see that bit of "real" communication come from him that I've reserved some signing books from the library. Hopefully I can at least teach him some pertinent signing vocabulary before the real words start coming in. He's a quick learner, so I think he can do it.
Lately Caden loves to try and put clothes on himself. He also enjoys trying out mine and Greg's clothes. On Saturday morning he pulled out one of my tennis shoes and demanded I help him put it on after many failed attempts on his own. Then he proceeded to walk up and down the hallway with one giant shoe on his foot. Later in the day I laughed so hard because he went into my underwear drawer and started pulling them over his head and wearing them like necklaces. This morning he managed to put my pajamas shirt on correctly. After I took it off he rolled around the floor screaming for ten minutes because he couldn't get it on just right a second time. Then later today he took Greg's belt and walked around with it draped over his shoulders like a scarf. I helped put it on as a belt. The cutest part about all of this is that he's always so proud of himself when he's successful in his dress up play.
One of the weirdest things Caden did today was try tanning. It's always incredibly sunny in our living room and Caden kept insisting on just standing in the radiating heat. His face was pretty flushed so we took his shirt off. Then he laid down on his back and just stayed there perfectly still. After a few minutes he flipped onto his stomach. It was hilarious! But of course by the time I got my camera he decided that it would be more fun to just lean against the window. I don't know if he was just really cold or what, but this was definitely strange. Maybe he's just taking lessons from the cats who lay in the sun every chance they get!
Overall, it's been a pretty good weekend. We got to spend lots of time with family, eat out at a lot of restaurants, and just have some fun at home. The temperature reached 41 today so we were even able to hang outside awhile this afternoon. Weekends with family are always fun and this one has been quite enjoyable for all of us!
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