"You Are a Pirate"

I'm proud to say it, and my brothers can just deal with it: my baby boy can boogie. Caden LOVES to dance. If he finds a songs he likes, he has absolutely zero qualms about getting jiggy with it and busting a move. Tonight's flavah was a goofy song called "You Are a Pirate." We had it playing through Branden's computer speakers and Caden was getting so into it he almost couldn't keep his balance. In fact, he kept his hands up by/on the computer desk through most of it so he didn't turf it on his face (which, with the way his little hips are so tight right now, he has a very frequent tendency to do... and it's kind of funny/sad to witness). The giggles never stop with this child, honestly, every single day he does - and now says - (insert 'sqeeeee' here, yes, he's talking now finally) things that just totally crack me up.

I wish I had video going 24/7.

Christmas 2010

This Christmas was so much fun. Caden was so much fun. I really believe now that Christmas is all about the kids. It was so great to watch him rip off wrapping paper and discover the treasures underneath. I daresay that, save for a couple of choice presents, he had just as much fun opening the gifts than he did with the gifts themselves.

We had a busy busy day. We let him open his presents at home before it was off to Grandma Berrett's (Branden's mom) to eat breakfast and open presents there. After that it was back in the car and over to Branden's Grandma's for the family party. He was hilarious, 'oooo'ing and 'wow!'ing over a remote control helicopter one of Branden's cousins got. We were able to sneak in a nap after that before it was up again and off to Grandma and Grandpa Bylund's for that family party. Here was where Nugget hit jackpot. He got great stuff (and we got a breadmaker, huzzah!) and stayed up late. He was halfway asleep on the drive home, and sleeping like a dead thing about 20 min after we got home and had bath.

The last month we've been teaching him 'feeling' signs. His favorite, and ours, is 'surprised'. It was very applicable this holiday. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

And in case you're wondering, yes, Caden would do surprised! face on command. Absolutely unadulterated Christmas Day hilarity.

Little boy in a big-boy bed

I'm in a sad and happy place. It was finally time to get Caden out of his crib and into a big bed. He just couldn't get or stay completely comfortable in the crib anymore, his clubfoot brace bar would smack against the sides when he'd try to roll over, and in the nights he wasn't in the brace, his feet would stick through the crib rails when he'd lay cross-wise in the crib. We'd gotten a bed from a friend, and for a couple of days now it's been in the living room so he could get used to it. He'd lay on it, play on it, seemed to absolutely love the space he had on it, and today I put it up and in his room (we had to wait till today to get the mattress).

His bedroom pre-big-boy-bed:


And after:


'nother view from the door. I had to do just a little rearrangin but everything still fits:


I had this brilliant plan for tonight; I took his crib down this morning after he woke up, and kept him up all day. No nap. I was hoping that he'd just be so ready for bed, so tired, that'd he'd go right to sleep and immediately associate the new fun bed with sleep instead of play. We had bath, snuggle, story, and he fell asleep in my arms sometime during the second verse of "I Am a Child of God". So I gave him one last snuggle and laid him down. Now, Caden's small for his age anyway. But man...this bed just swallows him! SO much bed for such a little boy (just for reference, his feet end only about half of the way between the top of the striped sheet and the top of the blue comforter):



I went grocery shopping afterwards and when I got back - only about an hour after I laid him down - he was crying and the battle of wills between him and his oh-so-comfy bed began. Took him about an hour and a half of me and daddy alternating going in and singing and letting him know this was where he needed to sleep now. It's been about twenty/thirty minutes since the last whimper, so I think he and bed have made friends and he's sleeping (mostly) soundly now. I know he'll be a lot more comfy in this bed. Here's hoping he sleeps through the night.