School's in session

And while Caden's not quite ready to toddle off to school himself just yet, his group with Early Intervention DID get to go on a bus. Since so many of the kids in the program end up being placed in a preschool of some kind, one of the things they do is take the kids on bus ride to get them used to school buses. This trip was on the 3rd of this month. I'm just a slacker and haven't gotten around to the pictures until now.

I was a little worried about how Caden would handle it, he kind of has issues with enclosed spaces he's not familiar with. Yeah. I shouldn't have worried, hehe. He LOVED IT. He squealed when he saw it in the parking lot. He was so excited to get on it. Not sure that I like how excited he got though....hm. Don't want my baby growing up so fast!

He's so SMALL next to such a big bus:







Scoping out the best possible seat:



Found it!



Watching the other kids get on the bus:



So much seat for so little body:



Special Ed buses have the COOLEST feature; behind the flap of the seat is a carseat harness and the kids just get buckled right into the seat. SO much less 16th century than the harnesses you used to have to strap onto the kids and then clip to the anchors on older buses. Caden LOVED the carseat, thus the 'squeal face' here:



Loved being so close to the window to look out it during the drive:





We stopped at a playground where the kids got to goof around for a bit, have some snacks and popsicles (it was HOT) and juice. There were tears when we had to get off the bus at the playground, and it was pretty much only this horse that consoled him and kept him entertained enough till it was time to get back on the bus and go home.

It's a zoo, and we like it like that

2 weeks ago we went to the zoo. The day was perfect. It was very overcast, so no fear of burning, but warm. Nugget LOVES the zoo. He loves the giraffes (couldn't get a decent picture of him with them) and the elephants and, while the zoo has them, the dinosaurs. Apologies for the scant few pictures, but Caden simply doesn't slow down enough to allow for many photo ops!

Of course everyone who's ever been to Hogle Zoo has to have a lion drinking fountain picture:

Poor bug, you can really see the lordosis (curve) in his lower spine on a side-on shot like this.


One of the animatronic dinosaurs they have throughout the zoo right now - this particular one sprays water at unsuspecting passers-by. Caden loved it.



Diggin in the dirt with Daddy:



The train ride. A little apprehension at first cause he didn't really know why we were so excited about him sitting on a bench that wasn't going anywhere:



And then OMIGOSH I'M ON A TRAIN!!!!! The kid was literally vibrating in his seat the entire train ride he was so excited.


Outings with Caden are always such a treat. Not just because of how much he enjoys them, but because of the joy other people get when they see him. I get comments all the time about how just soulfully happy this child is, comments from strangers about how much they loved watching him on the train, or by the ducks, or around the animals. He just touches everyone who happens to cross his path because he has such pure unadulterated joy for absolutely everything he sees. Love my little man.