18 months

Cade hit 1.5 years yesterday!  We went to the doctor today and he actually did really well.  He only cried when they measured his height and gave him a shot.  He is now 29 pounds (85th percentile) and 34.5 inches tall (90th percentile).  He used to be 95th in both.  I guess he is shrinking a bit.  He just got his top 2 first molars and the bottom ones are working on coming in.

 

• Cade has started talking a bit.  He says several words that I understand but you probably wouldn't:  juice, fan, pan, mom, dad, dishes, on, heater, one, vacuum, outside, go, Cade, Grandma, Grandpa, Alan, Kristi, Lindsey, bubble, bath, elbow, chin, eye.  He imitates words we say and babbles all the time.  This kid is getting loud!
• He know some animal sounds:  moo, quack, baa, ssss (snake), roar, buzz, and meow.  He opens and closes his mouth for fish and says hop hop hop for bunny.
• He knows most of his major body parts.  This week he learned elbow.
• He loves to sing action songs and dance to Raffi music on the TV.  Right now his favorite songs are Mr. Sun, Shake my Sillies out and the Wiseman and the Foolishman. He asks to watch the Raffi DVD almost every day.  He loves to see it and will do the actions with the songs when he can. 
• Each time I put Cade to bed, I sing a couple of primary songs.  He recently has been "asking" for me to do "monkey's jumping on the bed" too. 
• Cade likes to spread his books out all over the room, standing them up on end. 

• One day I asked him to put an empty bowl by the sink in the kitchen.  He took off down the hall and put it by the sink in my bathroom.
• Cade loves to help clean up (hope it lasts!)  When he is done with his books, he puts them away.  Today we went grocery shopping and he emptied out the bags.  Who cares if I find milk in the panrty and onion soup mix in the fridge?  We got it sorted out. 
• Cade has been to nursey twice.  The first time we left him alone for the last 20 min and he did great.  The second time, I left after about 10 min because he was ignoring me playing with toys.  Apparently that was not ok.  When I came back to check about 20 min later he had been bawling the entire time.  I stayed with him after that.  We'll see how this Sunday goes.  I know at some point we will just have to leave and let him cry and he'll be fine, but I think I want to give it a couple more weeks.
• Cade takes his shoes off in the car almost every time we go anywhere. 
• Cade sets the table pretty much every day for breakfast and dinner.  I tell him to put the plate by mommy's chair or the cup by daddy's chair and he does pretty well.  He always gets excited about his own bowl and cup.
• He is getting good at eating with a spoon or fork on his own.  I can give him a cup of yogurt, applesauce or oatmeal and he will eat the whole thing.  He likes to use forks for whatever he can too and will eat a lot better when he has his own silverware. 

• Cade is really good about folding his arms during the prayer.  However, if there is food on his tray, he can be seen sneaking bites with one hand while the other stays folded.  Who can blame him, really?  (At breakfast he ususally has food b/c Cade and I start eating and then pray when Kirk comes out.)
• Cade loves to stretch his legs.  He stands up and then spreads his legs out as far as he can until he falls over.  He's been doing it for a couple of weeks and gets lower than he used to.  Maybe by the time he's 2 he'll be doing the splits!
• Cade also loves to play basketball with his dad.  He has started throwing the ball in the hoop instead of always dunking it.  He laughs so hard when Kirk plays defense on him!
• Cade has decided that standing on the couch and then falling over onto the pillows is about the funniest thing ever.  He just laughs at himself!
• We live on the 3rd floor and Cade can walk up and down the stairs by himself (with the rail)  yay!
• I took Cade to my doctor appointment this week with me.  He keeps reminding me what happened.  Instead of saying doctor, he does the actions for the monkey song with what the doctor said and waves his hand up and down.  Then he points to my belly because the doctor looked at my tummy.  Today when we went to see his doctor I think it helped.  The doctor looked at his tummy too!