April update

Cade

• Cade is now 20 months old.  He is getting more and more independent every week.  This also means he knows what he wants and is getting more stubborn too.
• Cade has started pooping on the toilet.  It started one day when he made the "poopy" face in the bathtub.  I didn't want to have to clean it out, so I grabbed him and stuck him on the toilet.  He did his business and I made a big deal about how cool it was.  Since then, we have bought a little seat and Cade sits on it every time we change his diaper or he takes a bath.  He asks to sit on it sometimes.  He actually goes 2-3 times a day.  It has really cut down on the number of dirty diapers I have to change.  We're not in full force potty training, but I'll take what I can get.  He's still pretty young. 
• Cade got a new orange chair and he thinks it is the best thing ever!

• Cade likes to see Kirk's flies (for fishing).  When he finds the boxes laying around, he brings it to Kirk and says "flies, see, flies."
• We saw some geese flying out on a walk one day.  Cade heard their honking and imitated the sound.  Now he knows what geese say.
• We had an ant invasion on our window sill.  I smashed them and, it had quite an impression on Cade.  He keeps telling the story about the bugs (shows you where) that Momma smashed (does the action) and then vacuumed up (shows you again).
• Another story from this week:  Kirk was helping me get my bike ready to take out and was pumping up the tires.  The pump wasn't on quite right and made a lout PPSSHH sound.  It scared Cade.  Now when he sees the pump he says "pump, PPSSH, Dada, right there."
• Cade has seen a couple of Elmo videos on youtube and loves Elmo now.  Cami has Elmo on her diapers and he likes to pull them all out of the drawer. 
• Cade talks nonstop.  I made a list of the words he says the other day and I had about 65.  I could add to it every day.  Many of the words sound the same, but when you get them in context it makes sense.  At least toddler-sense to me.
• Cade has some magnet letters that he likes to play with.  We have been teaching him the names of the letters using sounds.  He can pick out the mama letter (M), the Dada letter (D), the pop letter, the Grandma letter, the SSSS letter, and the bubble letter. 
• Cade was sitting on the bathroom counter while I did my hair the other day.  Next thing I knew he had the liquid hand soap all over his hair and hands. 
• Cade likes to help me unload the dishwasher.  He will pull ou the dishes (dirty or clean) and hand them to me to put away.  When the silverware is clean he will take it out for me and put it all in the silverware drawer. 
• Cade LOVES books.  We read all of his books at least twice a day and they are often on the floor.  Whenever we talk to grandparents on the phone or on skype he will show them his books.  He is getting really good at pointing out things in the books. 
• Last month Cade really liked coloring with crayons.  This month he has been asking to draw.  That means he needs a pencil and a notebook.
• Cade was doing his dinosaur puzzle the other day and decided that his volcano was thirsty.  He took his water cup and gave some to the volcano.  Then he let the dinosaurs take a drink too. 

He is learning and growing so quickly.  He is like a sponge right now.  If I do a new song, he picks up on it.  He can learn new words and letters daily.  He remembers stuff and tells stories.  I am trying to stay on my game and nurture this learning while I can!

Enjoying March Madness with Dad while eating a bedtime snack
He had to move his chair right there.

 

Cami

• Cami is 8 weeks old tomorrow.  She has her 2 month check-up coming.  I'll update this with height and weight then. 
• Cami has recovered from her baby achne.  Her face is clear and beautiful again.
• Cami is now losing her hair and getting more in simultaneously.
• I have given her a bottle 2-3 times a week for the last while and she takes them fine.  I need to keep doing this so we have options for feeding her. 
• She typically eats every 2.5-3 .5 hours.  She is totally not on any sort of schedule and yes, there are days that it drives me nuts!  Most of the time, though, I just try to get her to sleep at the same time as Cade in the afternoon. 
• She takes 3 ish naps a day.  They vary in length from 45 min to 3 hours.  It is not unusual for her to wake up during a nap and if I hold her for like 20 min she will go back to sleep for a couple of hours.  This is not ideal, but it works for now.  I really want to get her to fall asleep on her own and it is a work in progress.
• She has been waking up twice at night about half of the time and once the rest.  Last night was our best night.  She fell asleep around 8:30 and I got her up for a quick dreamfeed at 10.  Then she slept until 2, ate and slept until 6:30, ate and slept until 8:30 am. 
• Cami will follow us around with her eyes.
• Just this last week she has started smiling.  That is so rewarding for parents!  She will smile at Cade and whenever we talk to her.  She has also started making a few talking noises.