Rockin with Thomas

Caden loves Thomas. There's no other way to say it. He can name the engines in the beginning and closing credits of every video. He can mimic some of the videos and 'say' what the characters say. He parrots with a 'yes sir' (and he says it so clearly, it's hilarious) when the engines talk to the railway owner, Sir Topamm Hatt. The most recent installment of hilarity is the video below - Caden rocking out to a music video at the end of one his mostest favoritest videos, The Great Discovery:

Christmas Eve chaos

What a busy day! But it was so much fun. We went to Branden's dad's in the morning and Caden got some GREAT police vehicles - a jeep and a helicopter - and a super cute outfit. After naptime we went to the Randall Christmas Eve party. It started with some 'look how much room I have to explore!' playtime on the stage:


Then there was some zoning out at dinner while Brad's wife Lori gave him a splendid back rub (something's he's loved since he was teeny tiny):


We had one meltdown which required some away time...in the nursery where he found his bestest train friend Percy:


This find brought much joy:


Which was followed by some 'who the heck are you, mommy says not to talk to strangers' anxiety (this was as close as we could get him to Santa this year. Oh well):


We came home just in time to start making cookies for Santa:


I showed him how to use the dough dropper:


He had to show me my dough dropper:


Had to do some more stirring:


And then had to put the dough globs (from the second batch) on the pan all by himself as well as putting Santa's cookies on the plate:


After all was said and done, he had his bath, sippy cup cuddle, T'was The Night Before Christmas story time, all followed by the quickest and hardest crash since his birthday fun (he was rubbing his blanket wad over his face just as I snapped, so his face is blurry):


And while visions of trains named Percy and Thomas danced in his head, Santa helped me wrap his presents and set them just so under the tree:


I'm so excited for Christmas morning I can't hardly stand it. Whoever says Christmas is just for kids is SO wrong. It's for the kids' parents so they can see their children's faces.

Caden Temple

I turned my son into Shirley Temple. The male version. He had Early Intervention people coming yesterday and his hair was bedhead-y so I spritzed it to tame it...and he sprouted a head full of curls. It's just like his daddy when his daddy was this age, and I love it. Am I a bad mother for being tempted to see what he would look like with a girly headband?


The back:

2 years and a few 'where the heck did the last 24 months go' squeals

Wow, really? 2 already?! It's so hard to believe that my little Nugget is 2 years old today. 2 years ago today (2 years and about 2 hours to be exact) we welcomed our special little boy into our lives. As the days and months progressed, we came to realize just how special he is to our entire family. He has such a sweet spirit, embodies such a pure joy, and I cannot imagine life without him. I can't seem to recall, or understand, how life was before him. He's getting so big (relatively speaking; lil runt barely tops the scales at 24lbs right now, hehe) and so smart and I love it and hate it at the same time.

Birthday hijinks ensued today. He got such fun stuff, and was so excited about the most hilarious stuff. First present he got to he peeled open rather delicately...and then his eyes got so big and he let out this little exclamation of absolute joy when he saw it was a bag of fishy crackers for his very own. His great-grandma Randall couldn't get the bag open fast enough for him, and he thanked her (in his cute sign language) profusely for several seconds and on and off for the rest of the night. He was so patient when we'd stick another present in front of him to open when I could tell all he wanted to do was play with the one he'd just opened a few seconds ago. He wanted nothing to do with his cake because he noticed the Thomas the Tank Engine cake topper on it - which he quickly made off with. He was happy all night, made the rest of us laugh all night, and all around was a very busy birthday boy. Mommy and Daddy love you so much, Caden!

The Thomas cake:


1 lonely unopened present on the coffee table (rest were in the kitchen out of sight still):


And inside he discovered the best present ever, the fishy crackers:


I can open this one too, right?


Taking a break for fishy crackers:


Back at it:


A set of mini Fisher Price's Little People cars he couldn't stop playing with:


This one is SURE to have something fun inside:


Opening presents is hard! (he was making grunting 'heave-ho' noises here):


Thomas pj's!!


Bow-headed:


Cake time!


Ppfftt, forget the cake, I just want the Thomas topper:


Hypnotized...


Such a big boy!