Caiden: 2 and a half

I was really on the fence about doing this post. Mainly just because of the time it goes in to writing it and taking the pictures but I feel like he has changed SO much since his 2 year post and he'll be a completely different person by the time 3 rolls around...so here it is.

He talks and talks and talks some more. He asks me one hundred questions every day. "What's this, Mommy?" is his favorite of all time. Seriously, I'm not joking. I get asked this question probably 100 times a day. He speaks in full sentences most of the time and it's so cute when he's trying to put words together that he's never done before. He'll stop and repeat the sentence a couple of times until it comes out correctly.

We have not attempted potty training. With a new baby it's really the last thing I feel like spending my energy doing and he really doesn't seem ready so I feel like it would be a lot of work right now. He'll always tell us when he poops in his diaper and is usually pretty eager to get out of it, but has only once told me when he's in the act of peeing but doesn't care about it being changed. I figure it's going to be a lot easier when I'm he's ready...which will be sometime this summer...stay tuned!

His sleeping habits are decent I think. He goes to bed around 8pm and wakes up anytime between 7-8am. He still has random nights where he'll wake up crying and he'll need one of us to go in and hold him for a bit. He can never tell us why he's crying, like if he's scared or something so we're not sure why it happens. We even put a night light in his room a few months ago but it still happens. He takes his nap around 1pm everyday and he'll nap anywhere between 1 and a half to 3 hours. It usually depends on how active he was that morning. He's still sleeping in his crib and will probably stay there until he's potty trained. I'm assuming you have to move them to a normal bed in case they need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night? I really like him in a crib though (which is another reason we haven't attempted potty training), he's never tried to get out so I figure there's no need to move him. It's going to be a sad day when he can come and go as he pleases.

We have a 'time-out' spot and it really works. We started this shortly after his second birthday when we watched one of our friends do it to their kid that was younger than Caiden. It was like a light bulb went off and we weren't sure why we didn't think of it sooner. He really gets threatened with it more than he actually has to go sit in it because he immediately follows directions when we ask him if he wants to go to time-out. He mainly has to go there when he is crying for no reason. I'm sure there's a reason in his head -but to us it's really no reason at all and doesn't warrant crying. The funniest thing -last week I was in the kitchen and I heard him saying, "Woody has to go to time-out." So I walk around the corner and I see him putting Woody in time-out and looking around saying that Mickey and Minnie need to go to time-out, too. Once he got them all there he then started counting just like we do when he has to go sit there. It was so funny. I wonder what they did to make them go to time-out ;)

He's a great eater. He will really eat anything you put in front of him. Unfortunately the poor kid still has his dairy, egg, nut and shellfish allergy, He gets exposed to some of them a bit here and there when we are out at a restaurant and it sucks because his voice will get all raspy and he immediately doesn't want to eat anything else because his stomach hurts and he can't breath very well. It's so hard to go to a birthday party, out to restaurants or just "wing it" with his food because everything has something in it he can't eat. We have to constantly be prepared anywhere we go with a meal for Caiden, it makes it almost not enjoyable to go out for meals. Despite all of that he eats what we do give him and usually never complains. He eats a lot proteins, fruits and vegetables.

He was obsessed with Curious George before Christmas so of course that's what I told everyone to get him but then literally on Christmas day he discovered Mickey and now that is up there in the ranks. It's about 50/50 on whether he asks to watch Mickey or George. The great thing about DVR is that I always have something in my back pocket when I need 20 minutes to put Grace down to sleep, make phone calls or respond to emails. I try really hard to only let him watch a few episodes a day but it's so hard now with Grace when I need to put her down. Sometimes that can take 20 minutes and that's a long time to leave a 2 year old by himself. The only way I know he won't be doing something he shouldn't be is if there is a show on.

He loves Grace. The first thing he almost always asks when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap is, "Where's baby Gracie?". He's always looking for her blankie to give her and he always wants to rest his cheek against her cheek. She was crying the other day and he looked at me and said, "What's wrong with baby sister?" I said, "She's tired." He said, "I think baby sister wants her blankie.". He's usually always so sweet her with -Now don't get me wrong, sometimes he'll try to lay on her or throw Sophie at her thinking she can catch it, but mostly he's aware of how to treat her and we couldn't ask for a better big brother.

We are having so much fun with him. Just listening to him talk and watching him do things can make the time go so fast during the day. Watching him sing and dance to all the songs he knows is so sweet and you can't help but smile. Marc and I find ourselves just looking at each other with amazement at all the new and cute things he does each day. It's amazing how these little people can make your heart smile so big!

After I brushed his hair I only had a few minutes to snap some photos before he took his hands and vigorously ran them through his hair to get it all messy.

Weekend happenings

The weather this weekend was beautiful. It's the time of year when we get these 75 degree weekends that make it truly worth living here. We were outside all weekend...with sidewalk chalk, climbed trees and even went to the beach. Caiden managed to fall belly first into the water while he was running from the waves. He had a blast - and we had a very sandy and wet boy to take home with us!

Sophie's second time around

Sophie is finally being loved again. It took Grace a bit longer to get the hang of all the ways Sophie could make her happy...and now she stands no chance at peace again.

Mamani visits SD

Marc's mom came out to visit last week -Mamani is the closest translation to "grandmother" in Farsi and that is what Caiden calls her. We always get so much done when she comes out. Grace had a doctor appointment, I went to the eye doctor and dentist. We went up to Orange County to visit family and we had some friends over to enjoy her delish food!

Caiden also got a much needed hair cut. He did so good during the cut. We turned on an episode of Mickey Mouse and it kept him occupied. There were a few times when the hair fell on his legs and arms and he got freaked out but we quickly brushed it off. She probably cut 2 inches off the back and added a bunch of layers to thin it out. Just wait until you see the photo at the end.

Fery took Caiden to the park every morning and Marc had Monday off so they both took him to his soccer class and then to the park. He's getting so brave and will climb on and up anything.

Caiden is obsessed with putting money in his piggy bank. He got into Fery's purse one night and pulled out a handful of 20's and got so excited. He immediately stood up and looked at us with wide eyes and said, "I've got to put these monies in my piggy bank" and ran to his room. We laughed so hard. We kept telling him, you can't take all of Mamani's money and he would say, "It's my monies. Put it in my piggy bank!"

Here are a bunch of other pictures that were taken over the week.

Fery left this morning and I'm so sad. It gets harder and harder to adjust back to normal life when I have a helping hand all day. Even the little things like going out and running errands by myself is heaven. Or just taking a shower without Caiden barging in or Grace crying is like a spa retreat. Back to reality we go.

Grace 5-months

She is rolling all over the place, from her back to her belly and from her belly to her back. She started this just a few days after her 4-month post. I hate to keep comparing them -but Caiden wasn't even doing this when I posted his 6-month blog post. I was always skeptical about people saying that girls doing things sooner than boys but so far that seems to be the trend.

We pulled out the jumper a few weeks ago. She's starting to spend a little more time in it every day. She loves to be able to see everything going on around her. She pulls at all the toys and manages to hit the buttons to make the music play. She has the cutest little jump -she jumps from tip toe to tip toe back and forth on each foot (Caiden just jumped with both feet up and down).

She's still taking a short nap in the morning, around 10am, and then another one around 1pm. Then usually around 3 or 4pm I can get her to take a 1-2 hour nap. Then we put her down around 7:30/8pm, dream feed her around 10pm and then she wakes up around 3 or 4am to eat again then up for the day around 7:30/8am...then we do it all over again...just.like.clockwork. We're all done swaddling her. She would wake up in the middle of the night after two hours trying to get out then she'd be wide awake after the 5 minute struggle so we stopped and now she's sleeping four or five hours with her arms flayed out.

She is very attentive to what is going on around her, constantly watching what everyone does and grabbing anything in her reach. She's got a fist full of my mashed potatoes, grabs my glasses off my face any chance she gets and loves to put everything in her mouth -feet, fingers, blankets, my hair. I think her feet are her favorite though. We've introduced Sophie the giraffe teether but she's not very interested in it. We'll see if she likes it more when her motor skills get a little better.

We've officially gotten rid of the pacifier! Whenever we'd try to give it to her when she's cranky or tired she just spits it out and cry's louder so I told Marc this is the perfect time to get rid of it. It's been over a week so there's no going back now! But we did introduce a little blanket just like Caiden's (Graces is a pink elephant). When we put her down for a nap I'll throw it on her face and she immediately knows it's time to fall asleep and she'll sleep with it draped over her face or in her hands the entire time.

She smiles A LOT at anyone that will give her the time of day. She's way more social than Caiden was at this age...he was SO serious. She's our little sweetie, precious and darling and she just lights up our life (most of the time) ;)