Preschool

It's now his turn...

He's off to his first preschool class this morning, so excited, a slightly hesitant look on his face when leaving him at the classroom door. I kept it cool, leaving before he saw me tear up.

His big sister showed him how to get in line to enter the room, nervously moving him to another spot, instructing him on what to say and do. Such a mother...a controlling, bossy-ish type of mother,  ;o), but definitely loving and a bit worried about Caedon.

I know the boy will be fine. He's the social one, excited about preschool because he wants to "meet new friends." And my prayer is exactly that - that he will meet new children and continue to be who he is, letting love shine through!

Five.

Today my first-born son turned five. Talk about feeling old(ish)!


He told me this morning that he still felt like he was four. Please, my boy, stay that way!

I often tell Caedon to stop growing up and getting bigger and older. He lovingly responds with "I can't, Mom...that's the way God made us!" Oh, my heart. When did he stop calling me Mama or Mommy??

Caedon continues to be a fun-loving, physical, wrestle around, loud-talking, imaginative, curious, and friendly little boy. He makes friends with other children no matter where we go, often asking for playdates and inviting others over (sometimes we know about it, other times we don't). :o)

Pre-school is waiting for him in four short weeks. I'm sure I'll cry when I drop him off that morning...more growth, more change.

For today, we celebrate five years with our Caedon! We love you deeply!

Happy 4th

Four years ago today, just after midnight, my first son was born.


Four years old...

Enjoying his most-requested (and only sometimes made) breakfast: wheat cinnamon rolls

My mind is always baffled by how quickly time goes by. How my baby went from infant to toddler to little boy, seemingly in a flash! I remember Caedon's birth so vividly. Natural, not too long, feeling great afterward...the easiest birth, yet my largest baby (he was just a hair under 10 pounds, 22 inches in length).

Now, my Caed is an all-action, dirt and wrestling-loving boy. He's so sensitive...loving to his mama and big sister...quick to hug and touch...often saying he wants a roommate to snuggle with. Yet, he's full of testosterone and creativity, often playing with dinosaurs and Legos for hours, setting up scenes and holding imaginary conversations. I could just sit and watch him all day!

Tonight, instead of taking him out to eat, Caedon chose "mac n' cheese at home" as his birthday dinner. He is a complete homebody at heart, often wanting to stay home instead of going to a store or someone's home. He's also a lover of fruits and vegetables, preferring both over his main meal. His birthday cake request? "I want a cake with apple slices in it." Needless to say, there's a part-wheat Jewish Apple Cake in my oven right now. :o)


Oh, how we love our Caedon and wouldn't trade or wish to change him for anything. Today, we celebrate him!

2011 Birthday Photos

Welcome, Spring! :)


Again, another one-month break from blogging. Please pardon the interruption - while I am missing the "down time" to get my thoughts out and just write, things have been quite busy, and I've been trying to make my little ones a priority when I'm home. I'm thinking the 6+ friends who are having babies from this past December through May are making me miss those sweet, quickly-passing baby years and desiring more time with my babes. I continuously tell Danae and Caedon to stop growing up, but they don't seem to be listening! :o)


Speaking of growing up...last year our neighbor/friend photographed Danae (when she turned 6) and Caedon (when he turned 3) for us. (I promised - several months ago - to share the photos...better late than never!)



Sweet smiles...

...crazy boyish ways...

...curiosity at its best...

...and a little personality

Preston is a high school senior who will be going to a terrific photography school in Philly this fall. He photographed my kiddos shortly after each of their birthdays, patiently following them around our two backyards and getting them to actually look at the camera...something that they don't do easily for me!  

If you are interested in giving Preston more experience and work, check out his website (Preston Sean Photography) and contact him!

My 3 year old and bedtime

Initial findings indicate he didn't go to sleep right away. Instead, he trashed his sister's bookcase, played with toys, and passed out in the hallway almost two hours after bedtime. This seems to be his nightly routine lately.

Time to intervene.

The Boys and Bible Stories

I could sit all morning and watch these two chat about a children's Bible book over a cup of coffee (for Caedon, it's a cup of soy milk). ;o)

There's something about the way my boy's face lights up, mainly when the story involves soldiers, fights, or animals of any kind. He's in the "fascinated by bad guys" stage, so stories like David & Goliath are right up his alley.

 His Daddy is the same way...great at story-telling, total boy to the heart. Two peas in a pod, I tell ya. If you know them in person, you understand!

The littlest mohawk

There once was this adorable, almost-three-year-old, rough-and-tumble little boy...





...who loves his bear blankie, stuffed dinosaur, and any animal toy...




...who actually got tired of the itchiness of having longer hair and the shampooing that his mama required so she could get him smelling good...




...who sat still just long enough for his mama to cut his hair and give him a mohawk.


Now his big sister is asking if girls can have mohawks, too.


:)

I've been finding these guys in my fridge a lot these days...

Caedon says they are "bad guys". He puts them in right before nap time, almost every afternoon. Death by refrigeration, I guess. ;o)

Fall Risk

I don't think the bracelet was needed. The head told the story perfectly well.






This is how we started out Memorial Day weekend: an early Friday morning visit to the ER after my little man fell off a curb and hit his head on the ground. Now, I knew a head injury could bleed...but seriously?! That was enough to make me jittery for the rest of the day!

(This is one of the better/not looking as bad pictures...about an hour after the fall)

Thank the Lord, though, a little super glue did the trick, and Caedon was back to his "let's go play dinosaurs and turn everything I touch into a pretend gun" self.




Given my son's gender and his history of accidents and sickness, (dare we forget the severely burned hand incident), I'm pretty sure this wasn't our last ER trip!

My Cookie (and Lunch) Monster

I think I've told you about my sneaky little soon-to-be three year old boy, right?



You know, the cute one who likes to eat food here and there (usually when it's convenient for him)?



Here's another story about the boy I'm referring to:


On the mornings I go to work, I try so hard to stay organized and focused. The kids have their clothing laid out the night before. Hubby leaves for work at 6:45am, so I then get my lunch ready, maybe file or clean something, then get myself and the kids ready and out the door by 8:00am. I tend to get the kids ready and send them downstairs while I finish up.


This morning went as planned...except that when Danae and I came downstairs, we found this:








There stood our little Eating Machine, polishing off a Ziplock bag of recently made chocolate chip bars. (I think the bag had three or four bars left in it...somewhere around there.)


I just had to laugh and find the camera. After capturing this memory, though, I gathered my lunch bag and purse to head out the door...and realized he had also eaten part of my lunch. Game-changer.




Try using that excuse on your boss as to why you're 5-10 minutes late for work. "Yeah, uh...my son ate my lunch, so I had to scramble and find more food to throw in my bag and clean up the mess of crumbs, chocolate, bread, and Ziplock bags he left on the floor." Has a kind of "The dog ate my homework" type of ring to it, don't you think? :o)


Gotta love that boy! (And his cute big sister, too!)

One of THOSE days...

I find myself wondering if there will be a full moon tonight, or was there one last night...


...or do rain + warmer temps = children bouncing off the walls + fighting all day long...


...or is it all just ME???



Yes, folks, it has been one of THOSE days. When you look at your kids and wonder who they are, where they came from, and who their mother is. When you find yourself saying and doing things that are completely abnormal. When moving the afternoon nap start time to 9:00am sounds just about perfect.



Today started out great, with my two kiddos plus the sweet little girl I babysit eating breakfast nicely together. Then the sibling fighting started, with the sweet little girl staring at the siblings like they are lunatics. Then it went to arguing. The snatching of toys. The spilling of glitter on the floor that I had juuust vacuumed and mopped.



It led to chasing one another, which led to just running around to get the energy out. But then that led to the somewhat brand new floor lamp getting knocked over and meeting its end, and glass all over the carpet I juuust vacuumed. (Yes, I love to vacuum! It's an obsession.)



That led to me removing hundreds of pieces of glass (then vacuuming again) while trying to keep a rather head-strong little boy off the carpet (who didn't listen, despite warnings of glass in his feet and boo-boos and a hospital visit).



This was all followed by an appointment to drop off kindergarten paperwork, which was preceded by a warning to behave "or else" but was followed by fights over who could look at the fish tank in the secretary's office, hitting, and high-pitched crying.



Lunch was successful, but was quickly followed by Caedon some little boy throwing a wooden train track at the sweet little girl I babysit and making her head bleed. A.LOT. This led to me trying to stay calm but running to get a towel to put on her head. My running led to panic and more crying, followed by calm instructions for my kiddos to get in their beds for nap. (Who knows...my instructions may or may not have been calm by this point.)



All of that was followed by a dab of ointment put on a 1/8-inch cut that had flowed like the Red Sea, followed by three or four concussion tests to make sure the sweet little girl I babysit was still alive and well. (These were mostly for me to calm down...the sweet little girl I babysit had long stopped crying, long stopped bleeding, and looked at me like I was nuts.)





And...


...finally...


...NAP TIME!



The reset button of all reset buttons. When the parents of the world rejoice. When I can piece my thoughts back together, move on, work, and figure out dinner. When I wonder if the parents of said "sweet little girl that I babysit", who happen to be our good friends, will still like me.



And when I pray that the next day is a tad bit less adventurous than this one!

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb

Potty training? I don't think so.

Life has been...busy!


Wrapping up a dining room project, getting ready for puppies, Christmas shopping, a little bit of sickness, attempts at potty-training...I'm sure most of you know the feeling!


To spare you a post that's longer than my arm, I'll just tell you more about the latter: potty-training.



Here's the gist: It ain't going too well in our parts.



Our daughter was trained and on her way by a little over 2 years old. She showed great interest in using the potty right before she turned 2, and then it just went from there.

Wasn't she just the cutest??? :o)

Our son?




HAHAHA! Still cute, but oh so not potty-trained.



The only experience I have with a boy being potty-trained is the memories of my brother. Mom has a picture of him crying on the toilet, holding his little head in his hands, not wanting to use the stinking thing...at age 3+ years. I have always been told that boys typically take longer, so I don't know why I expected him to follow in his sister's footsteps.



We have tried bribery. We have tried new Toy Story undies. We have tried toys. He shows some interest, but it comes and goes.



He's just not ready yet, and here are a few signs to prove it:

1) He will pee on the potty, get down, go play, and poop and pee in his diaper 5 minutes later.
2) All three of his Toy Story undies ended up in the washer...within a matter of 3 hours.
3) He peed in his undies this morning, then asked to go on the potty, and then asked to wear a diaper instead.
4) He could care less about being a "big boy" and wearing his undies. They are just cool to look at.
5) Seeing his big sister in underwear and not needing a diaper change has no appeal to him whatsoever.
6) Explaining to him that diapers cost a lot more than being potty-trained doesn't work, either. Not sure why...



Yes, we'll get there eventually, and we're not worried or stressed about it in the least. When he's 5 and needing a diaper change in kindergarten, then we'll start to worry.

Lunch

I thought he finished his lunch.



I even rewarded him with a post-lunch/pre-nap cookie.



Then, after it's all said and done...I found this:






Spaghetti and meatballs, in my glass of water.


Lovely.

Little Boys

I guess this is how little boys...






...watch Curious George...






...in their underwear.

The End of Bear #1

He never took a pacifier.


He didn't take to sucking his thumb.


But at around 6 or 7 months old, we noticed Caedon was getting attached to a little bear/blanket thing, and that was completely fine by us!


Bear went to lots of places with us: trips, sometimes stores. He was a must at naptime and bedtime. There were very few times that Bear wasn't present during sleeping times (you know, when I stuck him in the washer and totally forgot about having him dry by naptime).


But on this gloriously rainy day, Caedon felt the need to show his Bear to our dog, Lucy...by shoving Bear into the dog's crate when I wasn't looking.


Oh, I found him, alright...




Guess who will be making a trip to Target this evening to purchase a Bear replacement? This Mom!

Where's Waldo Caedon? - Wordless Wednesday Edition

Can you spot him???

This is why we do not let our 15-month-old boy out of our arms in stores...he tends to run away and hide. And so it begins. :o)

Déjà Vu

Wow, this scene looks familiar...

Now, where have I seen this before?

Hmm...

Oh, right...like sister, like brother.

I can't find my pictures of Danae with the Vaseline, but for her, lotion worked just as well. What can I tell ya? My kids like for their skin to stay hydrated. And that's very important these days, with the cold weather on its way.

What's wrong with this picture?

Can you see the problems in this photo? I can count five.


Yes, five.


Look around, think through it...


Are you ready for the answers?


'Kay, here we go:


1) There's a little boy standing on a chair, thinking he's big enough to conquer the world and that his sister won't care if he gets into and eats her PlayDoh Ice Cream Maker toy.

2) A certain puppy named Princess Lucy is taking her name to the limit by constantly stealing shoes for chewing. For this photo, she chose the ever-so-tasty Dora Crocs.

3) An atrocious-looking art table and toys strewn everywhere make this an ideal scene for the little boy in #1 and the puppy in #2.

4) (Look closely for this one.) There are all sorts of stains and marks on the carpet, mainly from the boy in #1 who likes to chew crayons and markers, then spit them out onto the floor. Makes for a really inviting place to sit.

5) And lastly...where's the Mama who should be stopping or fixing all of the aforementioned problems?! Oh, right...she grabbed the camera to take a picture before correcting #'s 1 and 2. Oh, yes, she has her priorities in place.


Tomorrow will hopefully bring enough time for me to make some changes to the playroom, namely find a new home for all of the art supplies and get toys up off the floor. Stay tuned! :)

On the move...

We now have a little walker on our hands! He went from a few steps here and there to suddenly walking...all over the place...happy as a clam...


So, without further ado, I now present for your viewing pleasure: The Walker. Enjoy! (And, yes, it's "ado" not "adieu"...I googled it.) ;o)