Oye! Our son...

Kaden has started getting into the whole "2 year old toddler" thing. Here's a bit from his weekend.

We took him to a Big Truck event through Raleigh Parks and Rec. It was very cool -- many trucks (diggers, dump trucks, fire engine, police car, garbage truck, etc) set up and the workers allowed the kids (mostly boys) to run the machines, honk the horns, etc. We thought Kaden would love it since he loves all of those machines. Nope. He cried! As soon as he got there he started saying "Kaden go home, Kaden go home." He tightly held onto Matt or I and would not release. A few times he was even shaking. Silly kid -- even the girls that were there were smiling and enjoying the trucks!! Apparently Kaden only likes those machines from the safety of his house or car.









Yesterday we went for a walk after dinner. The last block on the way home we let Kaden out of the stroller/bike and he runs/walks home. He kicked a ball and tripped and skinned his knee. No tears though (go figure, he cries at the sight of fun trucks, but scraping his knee, no!) and just wanted a kiss. Then he was off again. His knee looks painful though -- this was what it looked like tonight.



Then the true 2-year old test. He was playing a game on the computer and Matt and I stepped outside to see what needed packing in the storage unit outside. I came back in 5 min. later to find this:





Luckily it all snaps back together, and Matt and I tried to tell him it was bad, but it was so hard to do between our laughs and smiles.

And one with Kaden:

Busy!

We have been keeping super busy. Matt's official last day for UNC was last Tuesday. He rode along in the ambulance for the day, but didn't have any "duties" as he was only there to observe. He had a huge smile on his face when he got home that night, knowing he was DONE!!! On Wednesay he started working/making up drills for the Guard. He worked Wed-Friday this week, and for the next two weeks he'll be working almost every day (M-F). He will be done in September, but is trying to work on drills for June/July/August/September so he doesn't have to find someplace in St. Louis to do them, all while trying to fit them into his intern schedule. This coming week is the last week of daycare. I have also been trying to pack 2-3 boxes every day, just so I don't have an overwhelming amount next week. It's amazing how much stuff fits into a house! We plan on packing quite a bit this weekend, as next weekend Matt has drill and then the following weekend we're moving. Wow! Kaden was "helping" me pack today and was playing with one of his favorite books. He brought it to me and put it in the box and said "take it to new house". So cute!

Kaden has also been missing Talbot a lot lately. He saw a picture of her in one of his books today and was beyond excited. He sat in the rocking chair just looking and smiling at the picture. We often have squirrels in the backyard and he knows Talbot likes watching them. Yesterday he saw them outside and yelled "Talgee, Talgee... Squirrels!", then he realized she wasn't here. So, he got his stuffed dog animal and held him up to the window so he could watch the squirrels. Then he wanted the dog next to him the entire day. Today he found a blankie from when he was little that has a stuffed dog attached to the blanket using a string. He held the dog and "read" a book to him. We went on a walk tonight and Kaden was so excited everytime we saw a dog. I can't wait to see their reunion in a couple weeks (even though we know she's loving staying at Uncle Bri's house and playing with Breck everyday).

Here are some pictures of our week:

Climber--


Showing the "dog" the squirrels




Playing on the computer (notice the boxes/packed stuff in the background)


Using his tools the measure the wall. According to him, it's "fifteen"




It was really warm out today, so I got the water table out for Kaden. Then we put a little water in the plastic pool for him to stomp in. Then he sat down. In his clothes. Once that got cold, he wanted more warm water in the water table. Once that task was complete, he moved into the water table. His love of water has been re-ignited from last summer.







After dinner we went for a walk. Kaden enjoyed riding his bike while eating his ice cream cone. Then we visited the waterfalls on a trail near our house (we will REALLY miss this neighborhood) and Kaden threw rocks in the water.











Kaden pointing at Daddy, who was getting big rocks for him









Off to find more big rocks



Of course he found a stick resembling a fishing rod....



Notice the drool:







He really wanted to "fish" in the waterfall, but didn't realize the water was too deep right there. I tried picking him up so at least he could reach it, and he kept saying "down, mommy. let go, mommy"...



Headed home

A Birthday Party and a few others

Today we went to Kaden's friend Colin's 2nd birthday party. The weather was perfect -- sunny and 80 degrees -- and the party was a lot of fun. They rented a bounce house for the kids to play in. Kaden wasn't too sure about it at first, but after awhile (and having me go into the bounce house with him clinging to my side) he eventually warmed up to it and was bouncing all around.

In the beginning he would only get down if I was holding both hands. At the very beginning he had found a rock in the yard, and that was how I convinced him to get into the bounce house, by telling him "lets bring the rock!!” so for awhile I was holding each hand and he was holding a rock in one of the hands!


To get out of the bounce house there was a slide, which REALLY helped Kaden ease his fears. He did well with the slide.



And even go in on his own a few times!







Every time I'd try to get a picture of Matt and Kaden, this kid would join in the picture. This is the best one I got :).



Mmm.... then the kids had cupcakes with gummy bears and jelly beans on top! Kaden really didn't care much about the frosting/cupcake, but he loved the candies on top!







Juliet was also at the party. Kaden was excited about that. She was sitting in this little push car and Kaden decided to push her for a ride! They were so cute!

"Here, Juliet, let me turn the radio on for you for your listening pleasure."



"And we're off!!"





A few intermission hugs...



Here he is showing off his muscles to Juliet by pushing one-handed. What a show off. :)



Then Kaden left Juliet for bigger and better things...like sticks.







He really enjoyed the party and didn't want to leave!

We've started slowly packing some boxes in the past week. Kaden sees us packing the baby things, and decides he likes them all over again. Silly boy!





Then when we were packing one room he entertained himself by sitting on his bike.



Last week we used the old plastic Easter eggs and had an Easter egg hunt inside. I filled the eggs with Cheerios and hid them (well, not so much hid, but placed them) around the living room and Marie, Juliet, and Kaden searched for them. I put 2 jelly beans in one of the eggs and Kaden was beyond excited to find that egg. He thought the jelly beans were way better than Cheerios. The egg hunt was a lot of fun for all 3 kids.







A couple daycare pictures





Kaden frequently demonstrates to us how bright he is and what a quick learner he is. He's mastered identifying all the uppercase letters, numbers 1-10, and all of the basic shapes. I decided to start working with him on more complicated shapes (hexagon, trapezoid, octagon, etc). While we were in St. Louis he started yelling "octagon! Octagon!”... Sure enough, there was a stop sign a few streets over that he had spied. This week we were playing with the train set. We often set up different track shapes -- usually by chance. As soon as I put the next to last track piece in, Kaden exclaimed "trapezoid!"... Sure enough, he was right. I told him to stand in the trapezoid and tell me what it was. So that's what he's doing in the picture.



While I was cleaning up lunch that day I could hear Kaden saying "I see blue. I see green. I see Thomas." ...and so on. I looked in the living room and found him sitting in the chair reading his book to himself!



And a few silly, happy, ice cream eating boy pictures.