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Why, Why, Why???

Three Caden quotes from today

"All daddy's have to work...Casey has to work, John has to work... what other daddy's have to work?"

[When I sat next to him on the couch tonight]
"I'm gonna sit by you... you're my best, best pal"

[A small sample of our conversation in the car on the way home tonight and most of the time these days]

C: Why are we stopped?

Me: The light's red

C: Why is it red?

Me: Because it's the other cars' turn to go

C: Why?

Me: Because we have to take turns

C: Wh-Is the light green?

Me: Yes

C: Why?

Me: Because It's our turn to go

C: Why is it our turn?

Me: Because the other cars stopped

C: Why?

Me: You say "Why" a lot

C: Why?

Me: I don't know why

C: Why don't you know why?...Why are you laughing?

Me: Because you're funny

C: Why?

First Day of Preschool

It's hard to believe but today was Caden's first day of preschool. On the first day they break the class into two parts and have each half come in for an hour with parents to meet the teachers and get acquainted with the classroom. Case stayed home from work and the whole family went, which was great.

I made a photo book of the preschool with some pictures I took a few weeks ago, plus Caden toured the space with me last spring, so he was really comfortable when we got there. We saw his pal Hailey and her family in the lobby for check-in (side note: the church just went all super high tech and their check in process is crazy. You literally scan a bar code and it prints a receipt that you stick to your kids back for the day!)

After we got checked in the kids ran to their new class and pretty much failed to notice us adults for the rest of the hour. Sadie also really liked it - in fact I think she's gonna be disappointed when she realizes it's not her preschool too. Fully competent walker that she now is, she marched around the place like she owned it. She even walked right up to the play dough table, took a seat, and got to work.

We've been talking about this day with Caden for a while now and we really tried to make it special. After getting home and taking a nap, he got to watch "Mickey Mouse Space Adventure" which is an hour long special that aired a few days ago but we've been saving for this occasion.

After that Case made pancakes for dinner and then headed off for trivia night and a few beers with John. Sadie went down early so Caden and I had time to play with trucks and blocks for quite a while before bed. When he gets one-on-one concentrated play time like that he gets so excited that he talks non-stop while he plays... it's like the 2 year old version of stream of consciousness and a lot of what he reads, sings, and watches on TV comes out, "say it with me: blue, green, yellow, red... sometimes we're happy and sometimes we're sad but emotions are never bad..."

He also comes up with some pretty random stuff. One of the towers we built tonight was a "bajungle". When I asked him what that was he said it was something to "build your beast up". Hmmm... I'm guessing this has something to do with a recent Mickey Mouse episode in the jungle?

When we went to bed Caden said, "that was a fun day".

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Tidbits & Playing Together

We've had a lot of big firsts around here lately.  Sadie became a full fledged walker last week (just before she turns 14 months) and she now fluently signs "milk", "water", "eat" and "help" and says "more" and "hi".

Caden got a big boy bed (which he's not sleeping in yet) courtesy of Aunt Laura moving to San Diego. Plus, out of the blue yesterday, he suddenly demanded to start wearing big boy underwear and using the potty.  Caden also starts preschool next week and Sadie and I start toddler group as well.  But the nicest change has been how much the two of them are really starting to act like brother and sister.  I give you this video as proof:

NOTE: CLICK THE 2ND ICON ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF THE PICTURE TO SEE VIDEOS IN FULL SCREEN



As always, I'm behind on my updates but I wanted to write down a few funny things the kids have been doing lately so we won't forget.

Tidbit #1 - this is actually one from several months ago but Case and I were just talking about it last night.  Caden went through this stage where he was very concerned about people missing him when he left the room.  So before he would do so he'd run up to each person and say, "don't be sad and don't be sad!".  I'm not sure why we were thinking of that but it made us smile.

Tidbit #2 - on one of the very first days Sadie started taking several steps in a row, Caden excitedly grabbed her hand and helped her walk across the room.  It was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen.

Tidbit #3 - Case and I each have a special bedtime routine with Caden.  Lately his ends with him stuffing Caden into the dinosaur sleeping bag we got him for their backyard camping adventure (sometimes upside down).  He hides in there and surprises me when I come to kiss him goodnight.  After which I always say, "Goodnight, I love you sweet boy" and he responds, "Good night sweet girl" and then usually sings me the ABCs.

Tidbit #4 - we like to have dance parties.  Caden absolutely loves to listen to "Life is a Highway" from  the Cars movie and both kids love to bop up and down.  Sadie will often wander up to the musical magnet on our fridge to turn it on and get her groove on.  She's been into music for a while now.  Here she is almost exactly 2 months ago playing with some instruments:

Nana

Casey's grandma, "Nana", passed away on July 21st.  We were very sorry to lose her but also thankful for the time she had to spend with the kids.  This is her and Sadie on Easter.  They also got the chance to spend the day together again in June while Casey, Caden, and I were in San Diego.  Sadie was Nana's first great grand daughter and we're so happy they got to meet.

Adventures in Potty Training - Take One

We took our first step towards potty training on Sunday... and had our first set back.  As you can see from his happy dance, Caden loved his new Thomas underwear (we also got Mickey and Lightening McQueen) but he wasn't so keen on actually going in the potty.  The next day he some stomach trouble so in hindsight I think he just wasn't feeling great.  We're tabling the whole thing for now but he knows all about the cool underwear that await him when he's ready so I don't think it'll be too long before he's interested again.

In other news, back to school time is drawing near.  We have parent night for both kids in a few weeks and then we'll be off and rolling.  Sadie is still sleeping in until 10 or 11 am so I'm nervous about how we're going to adjust our schedule to actually make it there in the morning.

And speaking of Sadie, she's becoming more and more communicative - starting to sign and say "more" consistently and signing "help" occasionally too.  She's still working on her bottom two molars but she has 12 teeth total now!  She's been standing on her own for months now and is starting to attempt a few steps here and there. 

She also thinks it's great fun these days to walk all the way up the big slide herself and she just learned how to climb onto the couch.  This means I'm back to not being able to let her be in a room by herself because falling from higher distances head first doesn't seem to upset her much,  let alone deter her from climbing on anything and everything.

Despite that minor frustration, we are having lots of fun playing at home these days.  The kids are at a stage where they truly enjoy each other.  They crack each other up daily playing chase on the slide, hide-and-seek in Sadie's closet, or just making noises and faces at each other from their respective high chairs. 

Caden's capacity for imaginative play has also fully bloomed.  Yesterday he and I spent half an hour before bed "fixing" his dump truck.  I let him take full lead of the activity and he dreamed up and acted out an entire scenario about broken truck parts, tools to fix them, and other vehicles to bring the tools to the job site.  I'm really gonna miss watching that for the 5 hours he's at preschool every week.