Pics of the weeks

We haven't really done much that is overly exciting this past month, hence the lack of interesting posts. Those weeks are coming soon...wedding in wine country next weekend, 6 days in Cabo for adult only libations the following weekend, family weekend/wedding in Napa in early November, Thanksgiving for a week in Virginia then Christmas in Nebraska for two weeks in December....woooza.  I am so looking forward to all these fun things.

In the meantime here are some fantastic pics from the past few weeks.

When Caiden gets up from his naps he's real snuggly, sometimes. It's the best when he just wants you to hold him so he can snuggle a little.

A few blocks from our house is a rec center that was built a few years ago. During the day is the best time to go because no one is there. I can shoot a few hoops and Caiden can take a ball and run around.

I took him to his first music class last week. He loved all the toys that he could shake like a mother.

Seriously, my sister gets the cutest pictures of him.

After a few beers...for us, not Caiden.

Sign language

We received really good reviews from some friends on a video that helps learn sign language. I was skeptical in the beginning -thinking there was no way Caiden would sit through a video.  But I was wrong. He's captivated by it. It's so cute, if you start singing the song ("Baby, baby, baby signing time"). He gets so excited and starts saying, "baby" over and over again and dances over to the TV and points at it until you put it on.

We've been showing him the video once a day for a month now and he is finally starting to get it. All the reviews on Amazon and our friends told us it takes a month or two before it finally clicks and then they just start doing it. So true. He knows how to tell us when he's hungry which is so awesome. It makes life so much easier. He also knows how to sign 'more', but chooses to say it instead which works for me. He knows how to sign cracker, milk and bird as well. Before the video I would do sign language with him while he ate but I feel like he wasn't understanding...who knows, he probably was, it just takes awhile.

The video is about 30 minutes long and he never wines or cares about anything else when it's on. It's the only thing I've really let him watch on TV but I don't feel bad because he's actually learning something. Such a lifesaver sometimes. I would highly recommend this video for others...at only $20 it's so worth it.

San Diego Zoo

My girlfriend Mickey and her husband Bill did a tour of California and ended in San Diego earlier this week. They stayed with us for a few days and we went to the zoo, went out to breakfast and had a great time just hanging out. Unfortunately Marc had to work during the day so missed out on the zoo trip.

It was Caiden's first trip to the zoo and as much as I liked to think he knows what he's looking at...the fact is, he would rather pick leaves up off the ground and eat them. Sigh.

This Great Ape was so much fun. It just sat next to the window and waited for people to come by and get in its face. There was a little girl with a coloring book and as she would flip the pages the Ape would totally look back and forth at them like he knew what he was looking at. Caiden on the other hand was more interested in the little girls stuffed animal than the real Ape staring at him.

What was even better was that Bill pretty much pushed the stroller or held Caiden the entire time! Score on not having a back ache later that night!

So Caiden got along pretty well with Bill and by the second day would smile and go up to him and hang out. Mickey on the other hand was a different story. When she would hold him he would take both arms and stick them straight out and not let them touch her. Like in the picture below. We got many laughs from it.

Breakfast at Snooze!

Wowas

...what, you don't know what, "wowas" mean?  Flowers. Yes, it means, flowers. Caiden loves flowers. He'll stand by the door and say, "wowas", because he knows there are flowers right outside the door. He's been known to pluck a few from the stem but for the most part he's pretty gentle with them. Anytime we're outside he'll point to any flower and keep saying, "wowas", until you get close to them.

And yes, he has no pants on...we were going on the 12th hour of just me and him alone last night because Marc had to work late and when he destroyed his pants at the park I decided he didn't need them anymore. ;)

Batting Cage

I got a wild hair this weekend and decided I wanted to go to the batting cages. Pretty sure it came after a few glasses of wine Friday night celebrating my birthday. Not sure what made me think this was a good idea because I'm SO sore now. Pretty pathetic, huh? Every muscle is sore, my hands, my neck...just sneezing or laughing my entire mid section winces.  This is after 15 minutes in a batting cage...I really can't believe I'm this sore. I really need to start doing some more activities...especially since we're going to Cabo next month (without Caiden!) and I'm going to be in a suit for 5 days! Every muscle I had before Caiden has disappeared and I've really done nothing to get them back. Poor me, I know.

I think Caiden really loved watching us because he just sat in the chair (with a ball) and didn't try to get down or move around much at all. The first few swings when the bat hit the ball he let out a few yelps like he was saying, "What's going on in there, Mommy! Why are you doing these things?" I so can't wait until he can join us and hit some balls of his own.

BTW, just to brag a bit. I was totally able to hit the 50 mph fast ball. I started with slow pitch softball because I had no idea how this was going to go down. I haven't hit a baseball in like, a decade??  ha. And the first few swings I was wondering why I wanted to do this because I completely missed...but then I got the swing of things and moved up to the fast balls! It was a lot of fun and so addicting, you really could just stay in there forever and keep hitting.

And on Friday morning we went out to breakfast for my birthday before Marc went to work! I love this place and they just opened one up a few miles from our house. I'm so, so happy because there aren't any good breakfast spots around our new house. 

Gymboree

I took him to his first class last week but didn't take a single photo so this week I snapped away.

He is pretty cool with the class. There are about 10 other kids between 10-16 months in this class and it's so great for him to be around so many at one time. Although he doesn't even act like anyone else is there. Seriously, he gravitates to the balls and just goes around trying to touch any ball he can find. There are a gazillion other things to play with and he only goes for the balls. I have to hide them when it's time for a structured activity. The class is 45 minutes and it really is a good thing. I hate having to pay for him to play...but it be what it be. :)

We sit in a circle and listen to the teacher tell us what activity to do next then we go do it for 5 minutes then back to the circle to tell us what to do next...like crawl through tunnels, crawl up slides, slide down slides, put toys away, etc.

Mairin and Landon are also doing the class with us!

"Hmmmm....I think you just took my ball'"

The only way I could get him to crawl up this was to put a ball at the top.

The teacher blowing bubbles at Caiden...I forgot to mention earlier how much he loves bubbles, too.

Balls and Dogs...

..two things Caiden is obsessed with the most right now.

Balls. Seriously if you've ever been around this kid for more than 10 minutes you will know his obsession with balls. Any ball, big or small, he needs it. And he'll tell you he needs it. He'll look at you, point at it and say, "ball, ball, ball" until he gets it in his hands. At the park if he sees a ball he's on a mission to go get it. Doesn't matter how big or small the kid is, he will go right up to them and try to take the ball. Yesterday there was a 2 year old with a soccer ball. The kid wanted to kick the ball to Caiden so the two of them went back and forth for about 15 minutes. At first I would position the ball in front of him and make his leg kick the ball to the kid, after a few times Caiden got the hang of it and would kick it himself...so cute. 

Another funny thing. Marc aired up the yoga ball that we have and put it in the middle of the living room. When I brought Caiden down the next morning he got so excited when he saw this huge ball waiting for him. He loves rolling it around the house and really loves when I bounce on it.

Dogs. Anytime he sees a dog he says, "woof, woof" and his eyes pop out of his head. At the park, in the neighborhood, in the car...even if he just hears a dog he turns his neck in every direction trying to find it. I even use it as a ploy now to get him to eat. "You wanna see a doggy?!?!?!  You gotta eat your food."  I know, so wrong but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Our friends have a little dog that loves kids and is the most patient dog in the world. Caiden giggles and giggles when we walk in their house and sees Coco. He is very gentle with the dog but crawls around after it and tries to "pet" it. Really he just smacks Coco and Coco just sits and takes it. It's funny though, I showed him this picture later in the day and he started meow'ing...he totally thinks Coco is a cat.