January-March 2014

....And once again, I start off by saying I'm trying to end the long break away from blogging. It's spring break and I have high hopes to write a few posts to catch up. However, a lot has happened since December and our boy is growing, developing, and learning like crazy! 

So... Let's get started where I left off. I want to be sure to get as much as I can in writing, so we have something to look back on. 

January (18 months)

• after a little scare with red, swollen eyes while taking amoxicillin, it is now documented that Kaden's allergic to it. They aren't 100% sure but it was enough to not let him try it again. 

• picky eater (and still is. Maybe even worse now)

• took his love for trucks to the next level

February (19 months)

• first ice cream cone thanks to an episode of Blue's Clues that played over and over again
• after playing and learning all about football from Dad, he got a hand-me-down helmet from an old student of mine. He isn't too sure about wearing it though. He wore it long enough for me to snap a quick picture.

• not sure when this began, but one of his favorite hats is his "cone hat". I couldn't even get him to take it off to go into the store. 

• HCS was closed a lot during February due to bad winter weather, so that meant a lot of extra time on our hands. We even won free Chicfila for a year because of Kirby's mad song writing skills. 

*knew majority of the alphabet

• 5 Little Monkeys nursery rhyme caused Kaden to say "Fall down. Bump his head." All the time! 

March (20 months)

• 2nd "real" hair cut. Thank you lollipop for getting us through it. 

• worked on his basketball skills (bending and pushing the ball up and in)
• he's a "dipper" now. He likes to dip his food into sauces. Mainly, mustard. 

• LOVES (I can't stress it enough) being outside! He likes digging in dirt, exploring in the yard, going for walks, looking for animals... 

 

 

 

• talks about his friends at school all the time. Ellie. Brantley. Rose. Bennett. 

• became more independent and tested his boundaries a lot more. Diaper changes were (and still are) either really easy (he tells us he pooped and he lays down to be changed) or it will be a hitting and kicking fight to get the job done.
• He started hitting people and things this month (and again... still does) Usually when he's mad about something, tired, or he's playing around with us...trying to be funny. 
• started talking more in short sentences ("momma go" "eat breakfast" "take a bath")

Currently (21 months)

• wears 18ish month shirts and shorts/pants
• size 5 diapers
• talks in sentences ("Momma play with us, too." "I go outside") and a few times even had a conversation with us ("Hey, Momma. Whatcha doing? Momma pickin' weeds?")
• uses "thank you" appropriately
• very shy around people he doesn't know... Shy=won't talk to them and says "no" when they try to say hi to him
• aggressive with his toys. Daycare even asked us about it. He hits them or uses another toy to hit them.
• can identify and count the numbers 1-10
• loves brushing his teeth
• drinks milk from a sippy cup with a straw
• loves breakfast, but lunch and dinner are a struggle (macaroni and cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, bread/toast, sliced/shredded cheese... and grilled cheese, ravioli, and hot dogs are a hit or miss)
• bedtime is around 7:30.  This was with hopes of him sleeping in later.  Didn't work.  He's up between 5-6 every day.... closer to 5
• sleeps with his "papa and mukey" at nap and at night

 

 

Hopefully, I can keep up with these posts. I know my family reads them and I want so badly to do it for Kaden and our family. I want to be able to go back to reminisce.

hello? What we've been up to

 

I've been debating about leaving the blogging world lately (obviously... hence the lack of posts).  After not posting for over a month, I kinda missed it though.  I missed being able to go back and read things from the past.  And... I started to feel guilty that I wasn't keeping up with Kaden's milestones and big events for us to go back and look at together.  So, once again, I'm going to try blogging more often. 

To catch up... here are a bunch of pictures to document what we've been up to this past month.

 

 

 

 

17 months

 

Tried something different this month-

He's growing and learning like crazy!  We can't keep up with everything.

 

*click to enlarge*

No ear tubes for this guy

We finally had ourselves mentally prepared for what we thought the ENT doctor was going to say about Kaden's ears (9 ear infections in about 12 months), so we were very surprised when we were told he was not a candidate for tubes.

 

I wasn't able to get more than this picture, because going to the doctor nowadays is torture... for all of us.  Kaden hates (strong word, I know... but very true in this case) doctors' visits!

(this was in the waiting room, before he actually knew where we were :/)

 

First, he had a hearing test and passed with minimal hearing loss (typical for a child his age).  Then, the doctor looked in his ears and said his ears looked great... not red, not inflamed, no fluid!!  We talked him through what the last year has been like for Kaden.  He wasn't quick to tell us anything about tubes, but instead looked at his ear again with another instrument.  And again... told us everything looked good (this all happened while restraining our child... told you he hated it).  He explained that the 9 infections that he's had could have actually be 2 or 3 looong infections that never went away.  He said sometimes it takes an ear infection 3 months to go away and often times ear infections are mistreated with antibiotics when that is not the answer.

 

So ultimately, he said he doesn't feel that Kaden is a candidate for tubes.... at this time.  However, he wants to be Kaden's primary doctor right now.  So next time he starts to have symptoms of sickness, specifically an ear infection, we need to take him to the ENT.  He wants to see his ears and learn more about them for himself. 

 

So... we will see how things go.  At this time, we feel good about the decision. 

All things Halloween

 

This is going to be the All-In-One Halloween post.

Everything Halloween related will be here. 

 

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Last weekend we made it out to Howl-O-Scream at McLean Park.  It was a perfect time.  Kaden was comfortably dresses in his skeleton sweatshirt costume (only because he wasn't havin' any other costume) and got to have fun with all the Halloween themed activities.

 

 

A few days before Halloween, we decided to finally carve the pumpkin we bought the week before.  Just as expected, he really wasn't into it.  He actually ate a popsicle the first half and played in the dirt, near the driveway, the second half.  He did end up "helping" scrape the outside of the pumpkin clean... which was a little more than he did last year.  I'm sure next year will be even better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The night of Halloween was great!  Kaden (once again, comfortably dressed in his sweatshirt) filled his bucket up at First Baptist's Trick or Trunk.  Since it was a confined space (the church parking lot), it was a perfect for our little adventurous boy!  He loved running around and dancing to the music.  And of course... getting a few pieces of candy. ;) I think the lollipops are his favorite.  We will definitely go back again next year. 

 

 

 

All throughout the week, he learned about pumpkins and celebrated Halloween at school.  He painted a rrick or treat box for his candy, made a pumpkin, carved a real pumpkin, and even went trick or treating around the school building with this friends.