Now...what do we do with all this stuff!

Cade had an outstanding Christmas. He was so excited by all his new toys. He got a slide and had a new train table with a train set up on it. He would slide down the slide, then go "ooh, train." He'd take the train around the track a few times then look at the slide and go "ooh, slide." He'd slide down the slide a few times and it would be back to the train. Dada had to open his presents from Momma and Dada because he was uninterested in opening anything at that point.

Aunt Debbie was kind enough to get him a drum set for Christmas. The sitter's son has a big drum set and Cade loves to play the drums. The drum set that Cameron has is very loud. The set Cade got is loud but not as loud as the big set. Anyway, the drums were a hit as well. Santa brought Cade bongo drums. Santa thought maybe those wouldn't be quite as loud as a regular set of drums. He liked the bongo drums too. But I have to admit the drum set is more fun...especially the cymbal!

Cade's birthday is coming up January 22nd. I'm not quite sure what this child will be getting for his birthday. We don't know what we'll do with all the toys he has now. And there is a baby on the way. We're going to have build a separate house just for toys! If it wasn't rude to do so, I would request that if people insist on a birthday gift, we'd rather have money to just put in Cade's account. I know, I know, it's very rude to ask for money but honestly, this kid couldn't possibly need another thing! But I'm sure there are things out there he'd love to have and doesn't.... And all I can think is he's only 2! The toys will eventually become less and be replaced by more expensive things. I guess I should be happy that a $1 hotwheel car amuses him now. At some point he'll want the $200 ipod...or whatever gadget is the thing then.

Santa Claus is Coming!

I don't think Cade understands the concept of Santa Claus. We talk about it. I've told him things I think Santa Claus might be bringing him for Christmas. And he likes the "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" song. He will ask for this at night when we do our nightly rocking before bed. He knows what Santa Claus looks like. He sat on Santa's lap (not very happily - until Santa gave him a sucker).

It may be that his momma is more excited about Santa Claus this year than he is. This is the first year that Cade can talk well and knows what's going on. It will just be so much fun!

Cade hasn't messed with the Christmas Tree or the presents under the tree. At least not when we are there with him. Grandma came and stayed with him a couple hours the other night while we went to a Christmas party. She said he was taking the balls off the tree and swatting at the ornaments on her watch. I find it humorous what he chooses to test the adults in his life with. You can see the wheels turning in his head when he does his testing.... The next day he kept telling me "Momma, I touch tree." Then he walked all around the tree and talked about the ornaments on the tree. I have put Disney, Elmo and other kid-type ornaments on the tree this year.

With us, his testing is usually standing his ground when he doesn't want something or want to do something. For instance, the battle now is his coat. He'll say "I don't want toat." Since it's really cold outside, this isn't an option. So it's a struggle everytime I go to put his coat on him. Other times he might not want to me to change his diaper, or he might want to carry something down the stairs when we leave in the morning. I don't let him do that because he is still learning to go down the stairs and I want him to hold on the railing with one hand and my hand with his other hand. I never know what is going to set him off. But it's quite clear that he knows what he wants and is unhappy when he is told otherwise! I'm sure this comes from the fact that both me and his dad are stubborn and strong-willed and don't particularly care for people to tell us what to do. I fear the toddler years might be a struggle for all 3 of us! :)

I don't care what "experts" say about TV.

Cade doesn't watch a lot of TV. He does like Sesame Street. When he was a baby and he woke up while I was getting ready for work, I would put him in his swing. His swing happened to be near the TV. While he was still pretty young, I decided that maybe he could be watching an educational kids show while swinging. At least he might learn something, right? An infant shouldn't be watching the news.

Anyway, Cade quickly became a Sesame Street junkie. That is the one show he will sit still for. He now can recite lines from the shows....if it's one he's seen several times. He can also sing songs from that show. He knows his alphabet and can count now and so when they do that on the show, he will do it with them.

Where I'm going with this is, my not quite 2 year old nows an octagon has 8 sides. He likes the episode named The Golden Triangle of Destiny. He will tell me how Telly looks for the golden triangle. On the way, Telly finds other shapes. So we talk about those other shapes. One of them is the octagon. So I told him the octagon has 8 sides. He says that often now.

While I like to take credit for him learning what he has to this point, I know some of what he's learned has been from the TV and Sesame Street. I'm glad he's learning good stuff! And that he's as smart as he is.

Christmas Train

I started last weekend to get out the Christmas decorations. I say started because I wasn't able to get it finished. I forgot how tiring being 7 months pregnant can be. And with an almost 2 year old involved, it's not a few hours project like it normally would be. The tree is up and partly decorated (hooray for prelit trees!).

Grandma Griffith gave Cade a Christmas train last year. It can be set up to go around under the tree. When we got home last night, I told Cade that we would get the train out. Talk about an excited 22 month old. All he kept saying was train, train. Mike got home when we were in the middle of it and helped us get it together. We finally got it together and turned it on. Cade had to have said it 45 times at least "Momma, Dada, Train!" He was so excited about this train.

That is what makes Christmas so much fun! Even though I am 7 months pregnant and tired a lot of the time, I really don't mind doing all the decorating and stuff (just wish I could get it donw a little quicker) because Cade makes it all worth it. He's finally at the age where he understands what toys are and he knows what he likes. I think Christmas morning will be fun at our house!

He's a singer.

Cade has been singing more and more. He sings with Sesame Street. He sings the ABC song. He sings with certain parts of the Cars Movie. It's actually pretty cute. He now knows the whole ABC song. Before he was hit and miss on some of the letters. But he knows them all. And not only does he sing it, he actually sings it in tune. I don't know if this is advanced for a kid that isn't quite 2. He also sings Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the theme song to Elmo's World. I love to hear him sing.

Yesterday whenever he'd fall or fall and hurt himself, he'd say "Oh sorry." I couldn't quite figure out where that came from. But I do remember Yurie saying she has been trying to get him to say sorry when he's acting out. And I suspect if he's too rough with Lily she tells him to tell her he's sorry. He was also saying "No, no, Cade." Whenever he was doing something he knows he shouldn't. That was pretty funny as well.

He was helping me with laundry yesterday. He likes to put stuff in the washer and dryer. This is actually very helpful for me because it's hard on my back these days to do much bending over. We have front loaders and we didn't buy the pedestals (big mistake in retrospect). Anyway, I would hand him the clothes to put in the dryer and he'd put them in. I would put a pile of clothes on the floor that needed to go in the washer and he would put those in. He likes to push the button to turn them on too. I just hope he never outgrows that. My next task is to teach him to fold...

Terrible Two's are a few months early!

Cade is showing his temper in full force. He can be the sweetest kid and in a second change to the devil! He likes to argue with me. It's hard not to laugh at him when he has that defiant look on his face.... but it's frustrating all the same. We had quite an argument this morning. He was demanding and cranky....(yes, he gets that from Mike- hahahahaha). He got mad at me and threw his cracker down the stairs. Then he said "uh oh, cracker." I told him too bad he threw it down the stairs. An argument broke out between us. Him screaming at me, me telling him that's what happens when we have a temper, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure it was a comical site seeing a 21 month old arguing with his mother. I'm sure it was more funny the site of me arguing with him than the site of him arguing with me. Does he really understand what I'm saying? I seem to think so because he reacts when I tell him stuff.

Because he was demanding and cranky this morning, I had to sneak out of the babysitter's house without my morning kiss. I hate that...but I guess that's what a mom has to do sometimes to keep her child from throwing a huge tantrum!

Could he really know what's coming?

The last week, Cade has been particularly crabby but mostly around me. I think some of his problem might be that he's getting his 2-year molars. There aren't any bumps back there yet. But from what I've read, the symptoms can start as much as a week or two before you notice any teeth. He wasn't really very crabby when his other teeth came in. So this cranky stuff is kind of new for me.

This week everytime I've dropped him off at the sitter's, he's thrown a fit. He doesn't want me to leave. While a mother likes to be wanted, she also doesn't want to leave her child screaming on the floor. He normally loves going to the sitter. There is a little girl there that he loves to play with. This week, he hasn't wanted me to leave him. I told the sitter..." you know he's 21 months old and has been coming here since he was tiny and he's never had an issue with this before. Why now?" She said she thinks he knows there is a baby coming and he's about to compete for my attention. I was kind of surprised by this. She said her oldest did it too.

I never really thought about it. We talk about the baby in mommy's belly all the time but I didn't figure he really knew what that meant. But I guess he's smarter than I give him credit for. Maybe he does know what it means and he's letting me know that he's not at all happy about it!

Or it could just be the terrible twos coming on very strongly.....