A Few New Words

Snacks (comes out nack)
Elmo (comes out momo)
Bath (this one is pretty clear)

When I picked Cade up from the sitter's, he always gives me a great big smile and comes right to me. He did that yesterday. But then he wanted to go back to Yurie. When I held my arms out for him to come back to me, he shook his head no and turned away from me. That's the first time he's ever done that to me! Quite a shock for MAMA.

It does make me happy to know that he likes his sitter that much. She has two boys that Cade just loves to play with. They are home for the summer and I know Cade will have a great summer with them.

Outside

Cade loves to be outside. If the weather is nice, we have been walking to the pond to feed the fish. Cade likes to walk down the driveway. This is particularly scary for me because it is kind of steep and he insists on walking by himself without holding hands. He gets to going pretty fast. I'm just sure he will face-plant in the driveway. So it is usually a battle when we walk down the driveway.

Cade doesn't have a problem with help going back up the hill of the driveway. I think his little legs get worn out because he wants to be carried.

Today the city delivered the 96 gallon trash cans they are providing all the households in the city. Cade and I walked down to get it. It was so funny. As I pulled the can up the hill, Cade was pushing from behind it. I wish I had my camera with me. He was a real trooper too. He "pushed" it all the way up. He was also mad when we came inside. But MAMA was sweating and hot and we all know that MAMA doesn't like to sweat! : )

Recent Pictures

Cade went swimming with DADA over Memorial Day weekend. Here is a picture of the 2 of them in the pool. Yes, it's scary how much they look alike! There will never be any denying who the father of this kid is!

Here are a few pictures I took while waiting for an order at Sonic. I was tickling Cade in the leg to get him to smile. I think I got some good ones. This smile melts my heart everytime! This is the face I'm talking about....how could he ever be in trouble!? If he looks at you like that, how can you get mad at him!?

Grandma and Grandpa

Last night I took Cade to Gradma Becky and Grandpa Doug's house. Grandma Becky works a lot so they don't get to see Cade as often as others do. Grandma Becky has lots of toys that Cade's cousins, Tristan and Payton, have kept at her house and played with over the years. It includes lots of cars and a couple motorcycles. Cade loved the motorcycles. Grandma Becky was convenced that Cade remembered Mike's bike. I told her that was impossible because he was pretty small when Mike got rid of it. I think Cade just thought they were cool because they were something different.

Cade wasn't at all shy when we first got there. Sometimes when he hasn't been someplace before or very often he's a little shy. But Grandma Becky said "Let's go get the toys." And Cade followed her right back to where the toys were. Cade also enjoys being outside with Grandpa Doug. Doug can carry him around and talk to him about the trees and flowers and stuff. Cade thinks that is great.

Cade is very fortunate to have 3 sets of grandparents. He's going to be uber-spoiled. I guess that is okay.....

Now the fun begins

We have our family room set up so that we can block Cade in there. It's easier to watch a toddler that way. He doesn't like being left in there by himself anymore unless Sesame Street is on TV. So if you walk out, he wants to come with you. One of the barriers has been his pack n play. It is just pushed up against the two couches so he can't get through. Well, last night, he pushed it open. Our little guy is finally strong enough and figured this out. He just pushed it out of his way. You should have seen the smile on his face. Mike and I just looked at each other like "uh oh, he's outsmarted us again!"

See what I mean....this outsmarting us thing is happening way to fast!

Cade has also not messed with the TV at all this whole time until a couple weeks ago. He found the buttons on the TV and he now knows these buttons actually do stuff to the TV. So if I block Cade in (pre-strong Cade) and I go outside with the dogs, he will have the TV off when I come back in. Fun times!!! He knows he isn't suppose to do it. And to watch him non-chalantly walk over by the TV is way too funny. Mike and I will both say "NO!" He just looks at us like "what, I wasn't going to do anything." I'm afraid that cute face might keep him out of trouble....or do parents learn to ignore the cute face?!

Our Weekend

Cade went swimming! I have a blow-up pool for Cade. We filled it with water this weekend. He liked it. But he enjoyed getting in the big pool with DADA much better! We may have created a monster! As long as Mike was in there, Cade had no fear of just walking to the edge and "stepping" in. Yes, Mike was there to catch him. I don't know if he would do it on his own without DADA in the pool because I wouldn't let him get close enough to the pool in that situation.

I signed Cade and I up for swimming lessons at the Y. They start next week. I'm not that excited to put on a bathing suit in front of a bunch of strangers. But I am excited to learn some tools for teaching Cade to swim. I was told we will also learn some basic CPR skills as well. Hopefully that is something I'll never need to use. But it will be nice to know.

Cade ran a fever off and on all weekend. He was just plain crabby on Sunday. Sunday night was terrible. He slept restlessly and cried when he was awake, which was often. So today I took him to Express Care. After a 2 hour wait (yeah, it was fun with a sick toddler), I was told he had an ear infection and very sore throat. This is Cade's 3rd ear infection since January this year. I'm not sure if that means we'll need tubes or not. I will call the peditrician this week and see what she says about it. This ear infection threw me because other than the night screaming, he didn't have any of the other symptoms...rubbing ear, lots of drainage. I guess he had drainage running down the back of the throat just not out of this nose.

He was acting much better this afternoon and getting him to take medicine wasn't a fight finally. He'd always been good about taking medicine until the previous 2 days.

New words: "oh no", "cool", "dada work"

Amazing

Cade has foam letters and numbers to play with in the bathtub. We put a few in the tub when he takes a bath. I will always hold one up and ask him what it is and then I'll say it. I've told you he can identify the "w". We had a number 9 in there and I held it up and asked him "What's this?" He said "nine" plain as day. I was amazed.

I didn't realize he knew the number 9. He hadn't had any of the numbers in the tub with him yet. I count to him all the time but other than Sesame Street, he hasn't really seen number 9's. I guess he's absorbing more from Sesame Street than I thought.

I've been told that he said DADA at work today. I think we may be in trouble if he already can speak in sentences!

Great night!

This is the first time in Cade's 16 months that he slept all night without making a peep! After I weaned him from breastfeeding, he quit waking as much. But was still waking anywhere from 3:00am to 5:30am, take a bottle and dry diapers, and go back to sleep. And there have the been the nights where something is bothering him and he's up multiple times. Perhaps it's a stuff nose or teeth trying to come through. But last night he went down about 7:30-7:45pm and didn't wake until I went in to get him up at 7:30am!

If this is his normal pattern here on out, I will be thrilled. The little guy is just busy the whole time he is awake. He doesn't stop to just sit. He's busy...moving around, playing with toys, getting into stuff. The wheels are working constantly in his head. He's talking in sentences but you can't understand all the words that come out. He's growing up so fast!

This morning when I woke him up, I got him dressed. As we were walking out of his room, he called "DADA!" He and his DADA exchange smiles and laughs every morning that DADA is home. This morning happened to be a day that DADA was gone. Cade babbled about DADA all the way to the car. Once there, we turned on the DVD in the car, his attention was captured. Sesame Street will do that everytime!

Our first embarassing moment!

He finally did it. Cade embarrassed his mom. Those that know me well know that I don't embarrass easy. I understand that toddlers can be difficult at times and show some ugly sides. But yesterday was the first time I was actually embarrassed that I could do nothing to keep him from screaming.

I had to take Cade to the eye doctor in Springfield yesterday afternoon. On our way back, we stopped by the vet to pick up Spencer. Spencer is my Shih Tzu that I've had for almost 14 years now. He's getting old and is having some issues. He's lost a lot of weight and I've been concerned. I dropped him at the vet so they could do some bloodwork. The vet wanted to talk with me before we left.

I couldn't keep the kid happy. He started out with his loud voice just jabbering. For those that haven't been exposed to his loud voice, it's very loud (he also comes by this honestly)! They put us in a room (I'm guessing they'd had enough of us in the waiting room). We waited probably 20 minutes. Cade wasn't happy. He screamed. I think he though we were there for him. Ordinarily I would find that funny. But the vet office was packed. They were running behind so I know the people waiting were already annoyed. They didn't want to listen to my screaming kid. He screamed when I put him down, he screamed when I picked him up. He fussed and whined the whole time the vet was trying to talk to me. One of the girls came in at one point while we were waiting on the doctor to see if he'd color. I said "We'll try anything at this point." I was surprised that entertained him for a short while. I kept apologizing to the vet....telling him he hadn't had a nap all day....

It was the first time since Cade came along that I was embarrassed. I know...how could anything ugly come out of such a cute bo y! Oh sure, he's done plenty of screaming. But I have usually been able to get him onto something else or pick him up or something to please him. Yesterday, I couldn't please him. And I'm sure I have a million more embarrasing moments ahead of me! ;)

I still had to go to the store. I wasn't about to take him there. By then I was worn out with him. I left him with DADA. When I got him DADA said he was good, didn't fuss or nothing. Why do kids reserve all the "fun" stuff for their mothers?

Shoes and other misc.

We have a boy who is obsessed with shoes. He comes by it honestly. His DADA has lots of shoes. And for a guy, it's really kind of ridiculous the amount of shoes DADA has. Cade likes to go into the closet (most of them spill out of the closet) and carry around DADA's shoes.

Anyway, Cade got a pair of Mickey Mouse crocs for his birthday from Papa (Jerry) and Lala (Jan). They are red and black and just plain adorable. He wore them for the first time yesterday at Lala and Papa's house. Jan (Lala) said that he would get upset if they came off his feet. He also likes playing with her shoes. He would put his feet in his crocs then put those inside her slippers. He thought that was great fun because he could walk around in them. I'm sure that was quite a site.

Something else Cade like's to do at Lala's is watch the cooking channel. Papa and Lala like to cook so the cooking channel is on most of the time at their house. Cade has watched it since he was little and there are a couple ladies he really likes to watch. One is Barefoot Contessa. I can't remember the name of the other one. I'm hoping he's learning something and as soon as he can reach the stove, he can take over the cooking duties at our house! : )

Over the weekend, we moved the large majority of Cade's toys to the basement to make him a play room (we are trying to get our house ready to sell). So, upstairs he has just a few. This makes the bookcase very visible because now it's not covered up by all those toys. Anyway, I heard him and Dada in there talking about the books. Cade was saying stuff and every once in awhile you could hear Lala intermixed. He likes to play with the cookbooks at Lala's house. I heard Mike say at one point, "Lala has books like that?" Apparently Cade was telling DADA that Lala has books and he likes to play with those.

Note to Jan: It looks like Lala has stuck. At least it's not Granny. And it makes for a good story!

For those that missed it: Abeula is spanish for grandmother and I was teaching that to Cade and it came out Lala. Cade already has Grandma and Nana and now he has Lala. : )

Smart guy

Cade has these foam letters and numbers that go in the bath. He was taking a bath the other day and we had several letters in the tub with him. I would pick up a letter and say what it was and he would repeat. Then I picked up the letter "b" and asked him "what's that?" He said b very clearly. He could also identify the letter "w". This amazes me. I'm a little worried that when we need to spell words so he doesn't know what we are saying. Will he be able to spell at an early age? And we'll think we're getting stuff by him and we really won't be fooling him at all?

When my niece was little (but old enough to write), whenever her mom would spell stuff she didn't want her to know, she would write the letters down and ask her grandmother what the words were. I guess at some point they really do become smarter than their parents!! I'm sure it's coming sooner rather than later.

Jeep Ride

Mike wanted to take the Jeep when we went to some friends house on Saturday afternoon. This required the moving of the car seat. As some of you know, this isn't always an easy task. Last year, Cade was only in the Jeep a couple times and it was when he faced backwards. Back then, he would wear sunglasses and leave them alone. Well, Cade hated every minute of it.

He didn't particularly like the wind. Since he wouldn't keep the sunglasses on, he couldn't open his eyes because there was too much wind. Mike thought there was less wind with him facing backwards. I don't think that is the case. I rode back there with him last year and there was just as much wind. Last year, he had me holding a blanket over his face while we drove.

I think the biggest problem was the sun. When Cade is in my car and I have the sunroof open, if the sun gets in his eyes, he will scream. Again, if he'd wear the sunglasses, this would eliminate a lot of the issue. However, he's very stubborn (I don't know where he gets this trait : ) ) and when he doesn't want to do something, he lets it be known. I kept telling him that it would be better if he'd leave his sunglasses on. He was having none of that. Luckily we weren't going far but it was a noisy ride anyway!

I will say that the ride back wasn't quite as bad since the sun was behind us that way. He at least didn't scream. He still couldn't open his eyes because of the wind.

So Smart

I'm afraid that Cade will surpass Mike and I in intelligence much sooner than expected. I was expecting it when he got to high school not when he turned 16 months! : )

He retains everything and is well on his way of knowing a lot! This morning while we were getting dressed, he started counting...."one, two, three". Those come out clearly. He kept counting and we could make out "seven" (this is also the name of our dog so he hears this a lot) and "nine." I tried to get him to repeat the ABC's. He got out A and B, then he got bored. He also says W very clearly. My dad (Papa Jerry) calls him C.W. so I think that is where he's heard W and says it clearly from being around him.

Hair Cut

We took Cade to get his hair cut tonight. This was the 4th time in his life he's had this done. The first 2 times, I was there. The last time I couldn't go and just Mike took him. I guess he had a complete meltdown. This time I figured I better go. He wasn't happy about it. But we tried a different person to cut his hair and it wasn't as bad as the previous times. He cried and shook his head a few times. But overall he did pretty well. And DADA agreed that we could keep it a little longer! He's just so cute!

I promise to post new pictures when I get my camera fixed. In the meantime, these are a few pictures that I have from the last couple months.

More New Stuff

Cade is trying to count. Well, he is counting, the words just don't sound the same as you or I would say them....except he can say one, two, three, and nine is clear as can be.

This morning he looked out his window and said "tree." We were watching the trees out our basement window Saturday night (May10th) when the weather was getting bad. Keeping a 15 month old occupied during a storm is kind of hard to do....especially with a pacing dada and big dog.

Speaking of the storms, I never was freaked out by storms. When I was little we lived on Joy Street when that famous tornado of 75 (I think it was) came right down our street. I couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 at the time. I remember getting in the shower with my mom. I don't remember the sound of the tornado but I remember looking outside after it was done and seeing the house across the street was gone. I don't remember my mom being freaked out. Maybe that's why I never was freaked out by storms.

Note the was...Now that Cade has come along, my outlook is different. I'm responsible for another person now. So, I don't take them as lightly as I use to. I was a little flippant about it Saturday night. We had talked about going to dinner. Mike didn't want to because of the tornado warning. I said "We always have tornado warnings this time of year." In retrospect, Mike was right on this one. Thankfully we stayed home and rode out the storm in our basement. We were obviously the lucky ones. The bad stuff wasn't close to us. We couldn't hear it or even see it, except that the sky was black to our North. And after seeing the damage that tornado caused and knowing it came that close, I'm not so flippant about those storms. With Cade being the most important thing in our lives, I will always be sure that we take cover whenever possible.

Giggling

When Cade gets really tired, he gets giddy. I think most people get that way. But it's funny for such a small guy to do that. Last night, he went to bed a little later than normal. I gave him his bottle of milk (yes, he still drinks a bottle - hopefully by the time he's 2 we'll be done with that). We rocked and he drank his bottle. Then, I usually put him on my shoulder. Most of the time he'll lay his head down and fall asleep. Sometimes, when he's really tired, he talk with me and laugh about stuff. Last night he didn't want to lay his head down. So I got up and rocked him while standing (this is a move I find myself doing even when I'm not holding him). He laid his head on my shoulder and just started giggling. I don't know what he found so funny but he made me giggle. He laid his head there and giggled and I giggled....this is more of that good stuff.

Fire Truck

This morning Cade decided he wanted his fire truck. I told him that we should leave it at home and we could take other toys I already had in his bag. The tantrum began. Yes, we ended up taking the fire truck with us. Of course, he had to have the driver as well. He wouldn't let go when I tried to put him in his car seat. He held it in his lap the whole way to grandma and grandpa's house. At one point I heard something drop and then "uh oh" from the backseat. He dropped the driver. When we got to grandma and grandpa's, he still wouldn't put it down....not even to take off his jacket. So I handed him over to Abeula*, fire truck, jacket, and all. I'm sure at some point he put the truck down. But he was bound and determined to make my morning just a little more interesting.

*Abeula means grandmother in Spanish. When Cade says it, it comes out Lala. I think this is a good name for him to call Jan. I hate for him to just call her Jan. He calls Mike's mom Nana. And my mom is Grandma. He hasn't said that but a couple times. Anyway, I think Lala is good! :)

Mother's Day

This being only my 2nd Mother's Day ever, it still surprises me to hear "Happy Mother's Day." I spent 35 years of my life saying it and presenting gifts to my mothers. I never realized how important Mother's Day is until I became a mother. It and Father's Day are more special than any of the other holidays. It's the day to honor those who are the reason you are here. It dawned on me that the best present I could ever have is the guy this blog is about. Without Cade I wouldn't be able to celebrate Mother's Day as a mother. I can't wait for the days when Cade will be making Mother's Day presents at school and bringing them home for me.

Cade and I spent the whole day together. He was tantrum-free yesterday, which always makes for a good day. We bought cars at Wal-Mart. He wanted a ball but kept throwing it out of the cart. I decided he had plenty of balls and could use a few more cars. When we got home, he rolled his cars around the kitchen floor. Then he wanted to put them on top of the trash can and roll them around. Pretty soon I hear a crash and then "uh oh". He had rolled it off the back. I asked him "Where did it go?" He pointed behind the trash can. He's such a smart boy! It amazes me every single day when he knows something new. It really shows just how much they absorb and learn everyday. Now, DADA and I really need to watch what we say. Sometimes a word comes out of Cade's mouth that sounds like a bad word. We just kind of let it go and don't say anything. Because surely that can't be what he's saying!

Toys!!!!

Our family room looks like Toys R Us blew up in there. There are toys everywhere. Among those toys are the numerous rubber ducks talked about before. He also has lots of books (I want him to be a reader like me and so far we are well on our way to that!) He likes to take all his toys and throw them about the room. My mom says that is how I use to play with my toys. I'd get them all out and then play with them. Occasionally I can get him to help me put them away. But most days, I just leave the mess. He will just make one again the next day.

It will be interesting though. We are planning on putting our house up for sale. So every night, I will have to put toys away (or at least organize them) after Cade goes to bed. The next evening he will make a big mess all over again. I think the key will be to take most of the toys out of this room where he can't get to them. The fewer toys he has access to, the smaller the mess will be. That might work out in my favor!

New Word!!

Last night Cade said something I haven't heard him say before. I've said it several times but he hasn't. He was pushing his school bus around on the table and it fell off. He said "uhoh". I thought it was so cute. He said it again this morning when he threw his rubber duck on the ground.

In other news, Mike will be coming home today after being gone most of the week. I know he will go to Nana's to see Cade when he gets to town. I wish I could be there when Cade gets to see his dad after he's been gone. Cade is always excited to see DADA. But after he hasn't seen him for a few days, he's even more excited. It will be a great moment for the both of them.

I forgot to mention earlier other things that Cade knows: body parts....he can identify most parts of his body now. We are still working on belly button. But other than that one, he knows: hair, teeth, nose, eyes, ears, feet, hands, dingaling. Most of these he can also say not just point to.

DADA

Cade is always excited to see his dada. He smiles when he sees him. He'll talk to him on the phone when dada is traveling. When he first wakes up and he's in a good mood, while I'm changing him, he'll yell for dada. I think that Mike has done a wonderful job with Cade. They have a good relationship and it's always fun to see them play together. It's always funny to me how different a child's relationship is with their father as opposed to their mother. Cade doesn't play with me on the level he plays with Mike. With Mike he likes to do boy stuff like wrestle and head-butt. This is all good with me as I don't like either one of those things! LOL!



This morning while I was running around getting stuff together, I could hear Cade in his room. I thought he was crying really hard so I went back to his room to find him hollering "DADA!"

Another funny thing: when he's talking and we ask him to say words, he'll say most words with his sweet normal voice. But when you ask him to say dada, it is always a loud, rough-voiced "DADA"! I'm not sure why but he's very enthusiastic about his dada. I think they are well on their way to having this kind of relationship for the rest of their lives.

All Things Good

Last night, like every night, Cade woke up. I think his diaper gets so saturated that when he goes again it wakes him up. So I get a bottle of milk and change his diaper and we rock. I really enjoy this time with Cade. When he finishes the bottle, I put him on my shoulder and he goes back to sleep.

This morning Cade woke at 4am. We did our usual routine and he went back to sleep. Then at 5am, he was awake again. At first I was grumbling, I needed my sleep (or so I thought). But he fussed around enough that I got up and got him. We rocked. As I was rocking him, I thought this really isn't anything to grumble about. It's my alone time with Cade. He was happy to fall back asleep on my shoulder. So I rocked him until it was time for me to start getting ready for work. Cade went back to sleep and happily laid down in his crib. But for that 30 to 40 minutes, we just enjoyed rocking.

These are the moments I'd like to have forever. But I know that as he gets older, he'll stop needing mommy to rock him back to sleep. He'll stop wanting to give me kisses because he doesn't want to be embarassed in front of his friends. He'll stop wanting to just sit on my lap with his blanket, sucking his thumb while we watch Sesame Street. So until that day comes, I'm going to enjoy every minute of this cuddly time I have with him...whether it's at 5pm or 5am!

NO!

I can't believe I didn't put this in the list of words he says. I guess I hear it all the time now that I just kind of forgot.

No is one of his favorites. Anytime you ask him a question, he says no. Even when it's something you know he's going to want. He says this a lot when I'm trying to feed him.

Ducks in a Row

Cade is especially fond of rubber ducks. Out of all his toys, he always goes for the rubber duck. I found all kinds of rubber ducks online that are dressed up....you name it there is a duck dressed like that. I bought Cade rock star ducks, sports ducks, red-neck ducks complete with buck teeth and chest hair!, pirate ducks, easter ducks (bunnies, sheep, eggs). Some have teased that maybe Mom likes the rubber ducks more than Cade. It's not more than him but just as much. When you line of his ducks there are more than 50 and it's a pretty funny sight.

One night we were lining up his ducks and I kept telling him "ducks in a row", over and over. He finally started saying what sounded like "ducks in a row". Every once in awhile I'll hear "row" and I know that's what he's talking about.

One day we were playing with his rock star ducks and I was teaching him that the duck with the guitar makes a certain sound: "Nah, nah, nah, nananana, nah, nah, nah, nana." You know in the Smoke on the Water song. He started doing it and he actually had the tune down. He's such a smart boy!

It might be a few posts before I have new pictures. Mike was trying to capture a cute Cade moment and he dropped my camera. I need to try and find someone to fix it.

More words!

Here are a few that came out today that I forgot he could say:
Nasty - we say this when we are changing a dirty diaper along with:
Stinky
Squirrel - comes out sounding like birl but it is definitely squirrel he's trying to say
More
Night Night - this is his blue blanket
Hi
Yeah
Hi Yah - I know not a real word but it's funny to hear him say it! We say this when we throw his blocks back into its container.
Cookie
Num Nums - this is when he's hungry

Something else new the last week or so is head butting. This doesn't feel so good on the bridge of your nose! He was head-butting Mike in the shoulder tonight.

Welcome!

I thought it might be nice to post what's going on with Cade as often as I can. That way his "milestones" so to speak will be documented and those that do not get to see him often can keep up with what he's doing. Something else...this little guy has been such a joy for his dad and me that I don't want to forget all the precious moments. I know I'm late recording precious moments. I may go back and record some of the early stuff at a later date....

I know I'm a little late getting this whole thing started. 15 months late to be exact. But now that he is a toddler, he's doing so much stuff and something new is happening almost daily, I want to be able to remember all of it when we all get older!

He's walking like a pro for only having been doing that trick for 3 months now. He's fallen and scraped his knees (much to the excitement of his Dad, "you have to let him fall, how else will he learn.") He loves to be outside. And trains are very exciting right now.

His first train sighting was very exciting, he kept yelling "train, train!" After that anything noisy and on wheels was a train. So I taught him "Car!" Now he yells that. But it comes out "Caa", sounding like his from Boston. : ) Very cute, if I do say so myself.

He has a whole slew of words he's saying right now. I know I won't remember them all but I'll try and list some of them here:

Mama, Dada, Duck, Car, Train, Nana, Papa, Debbie, He actually said Coleman once, Baby, Bye Bye, Pretty, Bird.... (to be continued)

He knows what a cow says, a sheep says, a lion, a horse, a pirate, a dog, a duck....

We are struggling a little with people food. He'll eat stuff if it is sweet (who won't, right?). But he has a texture issue and to get him to eat fruits and veggies, we still do baby food. I decided that I could feed him pureed foods from a spoon as long as he wants me to but his future wife might not appreciate that too much! : )

We just opened our pool. Let the fun begin! I'm very worried about him around the pool because he doesn't seem to have much fear of stuff. He may just have to wear that obnoxious life jacket everytime he's outside anywhere near the pool. I plan to teach him as much as I can and maybe I need to look into a swim class. I'm just not that excited about putting on a swimsuit myself. It was a sad day when I realized that I was never going to be able to wear a two piece bikini again....stretch marks and being too old. That's kind of a harsh reality to have all at once!

Here's a picture of the cutie. He had his first birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. It wasn't his party but the party of his good friend Michael, who turned 3 that day! He wasn't that excited about any of the rides at first. His favorite game to start with was of course, the one with rubber ducks. But after much coaxing from mom, he finally had some fun (see pic).