Mad Skills

Cade knows how to walk backwards. He's been doing it sporadically the last couple of weeks. But last night while we were playing he was doing it quite a bit. I don't know why this particular skill is so amazing to me. Maybe it's because he just learned to walk 5 months ago. And now he's already walking backwards! I know it's the little things that amuse me. : )

He has added the word driving to his vocabulary. There is a song from Sesame Street and the words are "Elmo's Riding". Cade can sing this. I guess one Saturday when he went to breakfast with DADA, DADA started singing "DADA's driving." So now Cade says driving a lot. And it's clear that is what he's saying.

Yurie said this morning she's amazed at how much he learns each day. She said maybe he'll be a genius. I think he might be....

A new thing he's been doing. When I take Cade to Yurie's in the morning, her boys are usually still in bed. So the last couple of days, Cade will go into their rooms and wake them up. It's pretty funny. Yurie said that the boys told her last night that she didn't need to wake them up in the morning...that Cade could. They are just as smitten with him and he is with them.

doctor's visit and more words

Cade had a follow up visit with his doctor on Friday for his breathing issue he had a couple weeks ago. Thankfully, he had no other episodes besides that weekend. Cade doesn't like the doctor's office. It's not just about the shots. He hates all of it. He screams when we put him on the scale. He doesn't like to have his temp taken (although I can't really blame him there as they do it rectally). He doesn't want them to listen to his heart or look in his ears or nose or mouth. So it's never a pleasant time when we go to the doctor. One of the peditrician's we saw told us that kids his age do not like having their personal space invaded. I guess I can see that. I don't particularly care for it either! I was glad to find out that once he's 2, they will take his temp under his arm and he gets to stand on the "big boy" scale.

Anyway, the doctor was checking his ears. He had an ear infection about a month ago. She looked in his first ear. Then Cade pushed the thing away and said "no more". The doctor laughed and said "I can see he has no development issues with talking." I know he knows the word "no" and the word "more". I didn't know he knew how to put them together.


He's also putting together "car bye bye". He says this a lot when he's playing with his cars.


Here are some pictures that Jordan took of Cade out by the pool. The first one is one of him on the 4-wheeler with uncle Doug. He loves to ride the 4-wheeler and wasn't very happy when Doug stopped. He was also very tired. That's the deer-in-headlights look.

Pictures

Who's House?

This morning when we went to Yurie's. When I pulled in the driveway and walked around to get Cade, I asked him "Who's House is This?" when I opened the door. He looked at me and said "Mameron". One of Yurie's sons is named Cameron. I think Cade say his name pretty well considering it's kind of a hard name to say. Her other son is named Alec. I would think this one is easy to say but Cade doesn't say it. He also doesn't say Yurie. It might be in some of his gibberish but it's not anything I can understand. I do know that he loves being over there. This always makes me feel better about leaving him for the day. As a matter of fact, there are days I pick him up and he doesn't want to leave.

Last night when I picked him up, I told him to give Yurie kisses. He did. He wanted to give the boys a kiss....but they weren't in the room. Cameron came in and Cade gave him one of his opened mouth kisses. He then high-fived everybody before we left. Very funny!

So Sweet!

This weekend Cade was particularly ornery. I don't know if it is the age, the gender, or the weekend but by the time Sunday night rolled around, I was worn out! This morning he was very sweet. He went to Lala's house this morning. Mondays are sometimes hard for him at first because he's been with me all weekend. He's always fine after I walk out the door. But it doesn't keep him from making it known that I'm leaving him. Anyway, this morning I was holding him and talking to Jan. He was rubbing on my face and kept leaning over giving me kisses. I told you....very sweet. What happened to Cade? Where was that ornery boy from the weekend? I think he was doing it on purpose to make me feel guilty for not staying home with him. I've told you I think he's very smart....I think I under-estimate just how smart!

I went to see him at lunch today and I had to change his diaper. His timing is impeccable! I asked him if he could sing for me. He started singing a song he hears on Sesame Street. The words are "Elmo's Riding". This is a song Elmo sings while riding his tricycle. Cade can sing this pretty clearly and in the same tune as on TV. He has such a sweet voice.

Tantrums

Cade has become quite a pro in the tantrum field. He is very good about screaming and loudly (I think he gets his loudness from me). He is also into throwing himself on the floor, ground, or wherever we happen to be.

Yesterday's tantrums started at the sitter's house. He didn't want to leave. I kept saying "let's go." He kept shaking his head saying "no, no". He took off running from me into Yurie's bedroom and wedged himself between her bed and her bedside table so I couldn't get him. I had to move the table to get him out! Fun times!

Later that evening, we went outside to feed the fish. Cade saw the guy across the street mowing. He kept hollering "mow, mow". We were walking down the driveway. He wanted to cross the street. When I told him no, he kept going. So I grabbed his arm and told him NO. He started screaming and tried to throw himself down. I say try because I did my best to keep him from doing this because I don't think he knows how much it would hurt to have his head slam down on the concrete!

I get him started back up the driveway. He wants to step off the driveway onto the grass but it's steep and I don't want him to fall and roll into the pond. I try to take his hand and tell him no again. Again, he decides to throw himself on the ground. This time I let him fall. Before you scream "child abuse", I did catch his fall some but still let him fall so that his head was on the ground. This didn't make him any happier. He laid there on the ground screaming at me. Again, fun times!

But just as quickly as the tantrum was starting it was over quickly as a car came pulling up our driveway. I'm amazed how quickly he can turn it on and off. I guess that is the nature of a tantrum. They don't have to last very long to be effective. He definitely gets the point across!

We have an elephant!

Yesterday morning, while I was getting Cade dressed, he was pointing to the picture that is above his changing table. (Yes, I am still using the changing table. He stays still on this and it's the easiest way to get him dressed and change diapers....but he is getting too big for it). Anyway, the picture is of an elephant. It was a picture my Aunt Vicky took years ago and hung on the wall in my room when I was little. We have talked a lot about the elephant hanging there. There were a few times I told him what noise an elephant made and I would make a trunk with my arm. I hadn't done it in a long time and hadn't really thought much about it.

While Cade was pointing to the picture, I asked him what noise an elephant makes. He proceeded to use his arm like a trunk and make an elephant noise! Imagine my surprise that he could do this. I wasn't expecting it at all. It is very cute, by the way.

I found out this morning when I dropped him off at Yurie's that she had been teaching him that. She said he was a very quick learner as she has only showed him that a couple times.

He's such a smart boy!!

Poopoo for Grandpa!

Lala (Jan) had a meeting this afternoon. This required Grandpa Jerry to come home from work early and stay with him until I could pick him up. Cade loves hanging out with Grandpa.

I walked in and Grandpa said "only 5 more minutes!" I asked what he was talking about. He said Cade was poopy and he knew it but he tried to wait as long as possible, hoping I would get there to change him. He said Cade was kind of crabby. So he finally asked him "Do you need to change your pants?" He said Cade ran back to the room where his diaper bag was and Lala changes him.

Luckily, Grandpa said he remembered how to change diapers. So all was good. It makes me smile to see the two of them in there trying to change diapers. It's the same smile I get thinking of DADA changing diapers.

Cade and I shared a high-five when I picked him up and found out he pooped for Grandpa! : )

Scary Moment

Cade managed to scare us this past week. He was at Nana and Papa's house on Friday. Nana called me that afternoon telling me something was up with Cade's breathing. I could hear him on the phone and he was wheezing and coughing. I told her I would call the peditrician and call her back. While I was on hold with the peditrician, Nana called back and said he was really scaring them. So I left and got him. In the meantime, the doctor called and could get him in as soon as I could get there.

Cade was in good spirits. He was just having a hard time breathing. We got to the doctor's office. Cade hated being weighed, looked at and touched in general. You'd think he would be use to this by now as often as we've been lately. They did a breathing treatment in the office. He also hated this. Then we had to take him for xray. This wasn't pleasant either. The nurses had to hold him down while he screamed the whole time. Luckily the nurses were wonderful and it didn't take very long. You can see his little mouth open in the screaming position in his xray. That was kind of cute to see.

Diagnosis was brochiolitus (I'm sure this isn't spelled correctly). My mom told me this is basically asthma. The doctor said this could be a one-time occurrence or something that might happen more. Asthma runs on my mom's side of the family (she and my brother both have it). His cousin also had a couple episodes like this when he was little but has since outgrown it. So it's not out of the question for him to have it. They sent us home with a breathing machine, steroids and antibiotics. After a breathing treatment that night, and several on Saturday, he's much better. He had one breathing treatment yesterday morning and didn't need another one all day.

Luckily this episode was short-lived. I'm hoping this will be the only episode. It never phased Cade any. He was still wanting to play and wrestle and talked like he always does. He and DADA wrestled a lot yesterday - that's funny to watch. Cade was head-butting as hard as he could.

The scariness of the moment didn't hit me until I was at Walgreens getting his prescription filled. I got all teary-eyed while at the drive-thru. I know there are many years ahead of me of worry with Cade. I guess it is a life-time of worry.... I guess that is being a parent.

Kisses sometimes, Head-butting all the time

Most of the time when you ask Cade for a kiss, he'll give you one. They are never the same. Sometimes, it's a closed mouth, lips puckered kiss with no noise. Sometimes, it's that same kind of kiss but he makes the noise "MMMMMAAA". Those are the sweetest. Then other times they are open-mouthed kisses. Those are good as well.

Every evening when it's time for bed, I tell Cade to give DADA a kiss. He won't always give one. But DADA will ask him to head-butt and Cade will do this everytime. I don't know what the draw is to head-butting. But he does it. So every night before bed, DADA gets a head-butt.

Something else funny: Cade like to give "five", high or low. He can be throwing the biggest fit but if you ask him to give you "five", he'll stop the tantrum to do it.

This little guy is so amusing! Who needs TV when you have this little guy to entertain you everyday.

Swim Lessons

Cade had his first swim lesson last night. It's a parent/child class, which means mom has to get in the pool too. I wasn't excited about that as this meant putting on a swim suit in front of others. I laughed because I would do anything for Cade.

The class was pretty fun. Cade is the youngest one there. One of the exercises they wanted us to do was sit the child on the side of the pool and tell them to "wait" until you said it was okay for them to get in. We had already been in the pool for a few minutes by this time and he was having no part of having to just sit on the side. I guess we'll have to work on that one.

The other exercise was learning how to climb out of the water. Cade did really well with that. He also loved that. He would climb out turn around and step right back in the water. He did that until it was time to go.

Another thing they did was encourage them to splash. Cade loved that! As a result, MOMMA got wetter in the face than she was planning. MOMMA came straight from work and didn't wipe off her non-waterproof mascara. This was a pretty sight I'm sure. Mascara also burns terribly when it gets in your eyes! Note to self: take off eye makeup before next lesson.

I've learned that Cade isn't afraid of the water at all. This is good and bad. Good because I don't want him to be afraid of the water. Bad because he'll think he can just get in whenever. Next lesson for home is to show him how to keep his head out of the water with a life-jacket on.

Cardinals - Tweet

Papa Jerry and Lala went to St. Louis last week. They bought Cade a Cardinals t-shirt. It is so cute on him. He was wearing it when I picked him up this evening (I'll post a picture soon). Papa and Lala told me he would point to his chest whenver they'd ask where the birds were. Of course, he wouldn't do any of that when I got there. But they also taught him that the bird says "Tweet". It's so cute to hear his little voice say "Tweet!" When I asked him what the bird says, he'd say "bye bye". At first I couldn't figure out why he was doing that. But then I remembered. He has a Fridge DJ and one of the songs it sings is "Birdie Bye Bye." It amazes me what he remembers!

Why there is no picture of Cade in his Cardinal shirt:
We were outside with DADA while he was pumping water out of the pool (we got lots of rain). The hose where the water comes out has a hole in it. It squirts water in the air like a sprinkler. Cade thought it was funny to stand in the water spray. He got pretty wet so I didn't get a chance to take the picture. But it sure was funny watching him in that water. On my next Wal-Mart list will be some sort of water spraying device for him to play in.

Bathtime

Cade loves to take a bath. Whenever it's time, I'll ask him "are you ready to take a bath?" He'll scream "BATH!" And run for the bathroom. I have a blow-up duck that I put in the big tub for him. This duck is not long for this world as Cade is getting too big for the duck bath. But it's funny now because when we go into the bathroom, he'll yell "DUCK!" and he'll drag it to the big tub and try to put it in. That just cracks me up to watch. He can't quite lift it over the tub. But he tries really hard. We also have small rubber ducks he plays with. I keep those on the sink. After the duck-tub is in the big tub, he'll walk to the sink and get on his tip-toes and yell "DUCK!" So we have to get the little ducks and he throws them in the tub. It's the little things that amuse me! : )

Here's a picture of Cade in his duck-tub! Isn't he just adorable?!