Caden at 27/28 Months!!

The other day I was browsing blogs and I came across a blog where the author/Mommy of the blog said the following, "I am NOT going to be one of those moms who documents the month by month birthdays after my kids turn one!" I chuckled to myself when I read this BECAUSE... I AM SO ONE OF THOSE MOMS she was making fun of!! YEP!! I am a "Month'er Mom!!" and I am proud of it... I just can't help myself!

I missed April 1st last month and didn't put up ANYTHING, but I decided to cut myself a little slack and do a combo post come May 1st... and that's today... when did that happen?! It's already May?! WOAH! And I must admit being a "Month 'er Mom" is not as easy as it looks... I mean... the math can get pretty intense. In my head it goes something like this... 24 months, plus May... which is the 5th month of the year, so 24 plus 5 is 29, but then we subtract one because we are actually at the beginning of the month not the end, so that would be 28?! And actually, after I have done all of that computing I ask Justin, "how old is Caden, again?!" Just to double-check my calculations...

SO... I guess to be fair to that Mommy blogger who made fun of moms like me... it IS a little silly! :) BUT when your blog is your scrapbook every month is important! My lil man is still changing each and every day!

Like for instance... Caden and I are now in full-blown conversation mode. It is no longer, a few words here and there and me scrapping to try to figure out what he is trying to say. Now... we talk, we reason, we bargain, we sing... and I love it! I have always heard that once they start talking you sometimes wish they couldn't or perhaps wouldn't and recently I have understood that a little better...like when I am on the phone and Caden SHOUTS, "Bye, bye KK, I love you too! Bye, bye KK!" Translated: Get off the phone now Mommy it is time to play!

Or when I am talking to him in the car and he says, "Shhhhh Mommy Shhhhhh!" I guess I can be a bit chatty at times myself! :) They way he entertains words off of his tongue is quite unique and sometimes darn right surprising. The other day we were driving and we saw a school and he said very matter of factly, "Yook Mommy, school. That not Taden's school. Taden's no go to school over there!" I mean now that is a sentence!

I think his improvement in vocab is no doubt directly related to the serious conversations that he and Justin have on their dude dates. They have been having "dude dates" for a while now, but lately they've stepped it up to REAL restaurants and have been dude dating at Chili's or "Chibi's"as Caden calls it! AND they ALWAYS get chips and queso... per Caden's request of course!

So I'll give Daddy the vocab improvements, but the sweet angelic sounds that squeak out of his tender vocal chords are a direct result of ME! :) I mean I AM the singer of the fam... clearly! :) His favorite songs to sing are his ABC's, the Wheels on the Bus (go yound and yound), Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (a childhood favorite of mine), Jesus Loves Me, Hosanna (MY FAVORITE song to sing with him) and the theme song from Elmo's World! He is really trying to sing along with MOST songs, especially the songs on the CD from the Sesame Street live show we went to last year... Riding in the car is so much fun when he's in the mood to sing, sometimes I make an extra lap around the neighborhood just so we can finish BUSTING OUT our favorite song!

Toys have never been a HUGE interest to Caden until the last month or so. He is REALLY starting to PLAY with his toys and playing with them in fresh new ways, which has led to our house being a disaster zone on any given day, BUT I'll take it. It is really exciting to see his little mind working in such creative ways... he always has a plan in mind. The bulk of his play revolves around his "character friends..." we have about 11 friends (little characters from both Toy Story and Sesame Street) that he carries everywhere. He puts them inside the trains on his train table, inside his airplanes, cars, etc. AND we have even starting bringing our friends into the GREAT OUTDOORS...

Recently, in one BRILLIANT (rare) Mommy moment I decided to put dish soap into his water table and suddenly... it was a SUPER FUN bubble bath for our friends to play in! So we are out at the water table daily... with my bottle of Joy and my water hose, creating a fantasy world for all of our friends! AND it allows Mommy to pop up her Zero Gravity chair and hang out while he plays and tells me all of the exciting tales of life in the bubbles...

Caden is getting taller by the day it seems like... and sadly he is losing more and more of that baby look (or the baby chub) BUT he's still holding on to some of it... God Bless those thighs... I CANNOT get enough of them. Kaki's rolls will come just in time... at least we hope she's got some chub... HARD to imagine she wouldn't if she is anything like her big bro! :)

This spring we had our backyard re-sodded (FINALLY) and have since REALLY enjoyed playing in the backyard. Having a mud pit for a backyard didn't stop us from playing out there before but I must say it is a much more pleasant experience when there is grass in the mix! AND it makes it much more practical to use things involving water like our SUPER COOL new ball that Nana and Bop gotta Caden for Easter! We finally got Justin to blow it up last night and we had a blast!! I think Max and I enjoyed it the most... we are both the BIGGEST and HOTTEST of the group! :)
Caden is REALLY starting to soak in more and more of Jesus... and understanding to the best of his ability the importance of prayer, church and our Bibles. One of my favorite times is spent praying with Caden. He makes sure we cover EVERYONE and many times we never have a chance to even turn on the radio on our way to school because he has SO many people he wants to pray for! These are seeds... little tiny seeds...

And we all know that where there is a toddler there is also a bit of trouble... and a tired parent at the end of the day. There are some days when it absolutely whips me, but then as God's mercies start afresh each morning so do a Mommy's and we go at it again. We work for those light bulb moments and we rejoice in times of obedience and press on when the story is not quite so!! And know that this is only a season... just a season... (right?!!) :)

Each morning when I wake up, I get excited to go in and and hear my sweet boy say, "G moanin' Mommy!" And I am refreshed every time he responds to an "I love you, Caden!" with an "I yuv you too, Mommy!" What can top that?! It's these things that make the yucky parent stuff not seem so bad!

It's hard to believe that my little baby is going to be a big brother soon! He is becoming increasingly more excited about Kaki and has recently been asking for Kaki to come "OUT!" So now we're counting down the weeks with him. Telling him that in "9 more weeks!" she can come out... to which he replies, "No 1 week, Kaki play!" Gosh, we hope he doesn't know something we don't know! :) As Justin tells Caden, "Only God knows when Kaki's really going to come..." But to a toddler NOW is always the best! Especially Caden... he is ALWAYS "Yeady..." for whatever is next, even if he is thoroughly enjoying the moment... he is always one step ahead! We've got to teach him to stop and smell the roses, huh?! We'll work on it...

We are abundantly thankful for each and every month of life we get to celebrate with Caden... it's hard to imagine that just 28 months ago we had never met... and now he is undoubtedly our favorite little person on this earth!! Happy 27/28 Months Sweet Caden!! WE love you!!