Mischief

As mentioned previously, Caedmon has started giving us a different sort of expression when we take his photo and ask him to smile. We finally realized that he's smiling with his eyes, as he tries so, so hard to comply with our request. We took a lengthy series of photos after supper this week and showed him the picture each time, he was so funny!

With the cold weather keeping us indoors, and with him becoming more and more independent and curious, our Caedmon has had opportunities to do deeper excavations into cabinets. One day earlier this week, he struck gold, in his eyes, with a package of marshmallows. Since it was almost time for lunch, I bargained with him that he could have some if he ate his ravioli...so, he would take a few bites, then break for a marshmallow, and so on until all his ravioli was gone, then he got the rest of his loot.

I put the chip clip, which is still impenetrable for him, back on the bag, and refocused my attention on feeding Isaac his lunch. Caedmon managed to snatch the bag of marshmallows off the island, and I began my "We can have more later, you already had your marshmallows..." admonition, hoping that he would be agreeable to that. Instead, his eyes lit up and he said, while nodding his head, "Put marshmallows back in cabinet." He then turned and walked out of the kitchen, as if heading to the hall pantry. Now, he's not quite tall enough to reach the shelf in the hall yet, so I wondered if he would get his step stool, or if I was witnessing the first really sneaky maneuver on his part. His little footsteps kept going down the hall so I got up and followed him. He very quickly darted into Isaac's room and I found him hiding in the corner behind the crib, nervously trying to get the clip off the bag. He jumped when I walked into the room (probably a total of about eight seconds after him) and knew he was caught - so he immediately held the bag up to me and asked for help opening it. Poor guy really, really wanted some more marshmallows!

Our little Isaac is already seven months old! I took a series of photos of him one afternoon this week. His giraffe is looking smaller and smaller!

It's so fun to see our boys more and more able to interact and play. Isaac has discovered Caedmon's little play tunnel and has made several trips through it. We had a little head-on collision between him and his big brother but they worked it out with Isaac only getting a little squished.

I don't have a photo to go along with the story, but our Christmas shopping was definitely an adventure this year. We could only make a couple of stops each day so by the time Christmas was getting close, I was really ready to figure out how to pull together the last items on our list. One day we mustered our courage (or maybe that was just me) and headed out to the mall. With the boys in our double stroller, we tackled the too-crowded aisles and had several incidents of barely fitting through racks and displays - or not at all.

Our first stop was JCPenney - I really wanted to look for some men's dress socks and ended up squeezing our stroller in between the sock rack and another display, smushing up against the socks in the process. After not finding what we were looking for, we headed out, up the elevator, into another store, and finally ended up in the food court to grab some lunch. Caedmon requested chicken nuggets, which he then refused to eat. So, I saw a place I could grab him a fruit smoothie, which he was agreeable to drink.

With that, we were off to Dillards. I let Caedmon keep drinking his smoothie as we walked - as briskly as I could push them - to the store. I knew the boys' fuses were getting shorter but am never quite sure how much time I have left! Isaac, Mr. Curious, decided that he needed to check out Caedmon's straw, and made continuous efforts to snatch it away, much to Caedmon's consternation. After several stops to try to appease Isaac with his own toys, we made it to Dillards and I again rammed our stroller through the displays where I could find enough space. As I scanned the shoe department, Caedmon started yelling at his brother, who had managed to reach the straw and yanked it out of the cup. As they tugged and flailed, dark purple smoothie from the straw splattered on Caedmon's jacket, blanket, and Doug. Thankfully we had picked up some napkins, which I retrieved and used to dab up as much of the sticky mess as possible, then stuffed them into my purse. When I finished and looked up at Isaac again, he had grabbed a shoe from the closest display and was getting a good taste of, I'm sure, genuine leather. I pried it out of his hands, gave it a quick wipe, and put it back to make as quick an exit as possible after our little scene.

As I backed our wide load back out of the displays of shoes, I looked up to see Isaac hanging on to the clear shelf-like stands that hold shoes at different levels, and it was coming with us. We stopped, I removed his fingers from their tight grip, and we kept on moving. At this point I was ready to reconsider my goals for what we'd accomplish that day and getting to the car moved to the top of the list. We happened to bump into a lady from church that we haven't seen in awhile, and she took a quick peek at the sweet little cherubs in the stroller before hurrying away.

As we passed the "water" (the fountain in front of JCPenney's, with large turtle statues on the outside that squirt water into the fountain) Caedmon, as always, requested that we stop and check it all out. I pulled the stroller right up to one of the turtles, and Caedmon leaned forward and started slapping on it with his palms. Isaac, of course, followed suit. They were so funny, and so enthusiastic about their turtle-whopping, that I moved to the front of the stroller so I could watch their beaming little faces. This is when I realized that at some point between leaving the shoe department of Dillards and that moment, one of the boys had swiped bright purple smoothie all the way across Isaac's face. As I quickly wiped it off, my mind started listing all the things that others, particularly my friend, were probably thinking about how I neglect my boys, and do they ever get their faces washed or get a bath?, and why was such a little baby drinking a berry smoothie anyway?

Embarrassed again, I grabbed the handles of the stroller and we were off to the car - and it was at this point that I realized that stuck to an exposed piece of velcro on the side of our stroller...was a single dress sock. From JCPenney's. From the very first stop on our shopping trip. So, although I wanted nothing more than to be in our car on our way home, we meandered back to the too-crowded sock display, where I located the pack missing one.

And then, we went home.

Caedmon's prayer

Tonight at supper we asked Caedmon if he would like to pray for us. He didn't hesitate or need any further encouragement: "Dear Jesus, thank you for our family, and for Dada and Mama and Isaac. And Uncle Davub (David). A-men." Out of the mouth of babes...

He had a ton of energy this afternoon, and used it to pretty much disassemble his bedding while leaping and rolling around his room. All of his little stuffed animal friends took to the air (notice Bear Dog sailing towards the top left of this photo) and he rolled himself off the bed in his blankets and sheets. His bed was almost empty by the time he finished, but the rest of his room was covered with debris and scattered toys!

Isaac took advantage of the opportunity to crawl around on the edge of the bed, since there was nothing in his way! He thought all the excitement and activity was thrilling, and joined in by enthusiastically blowing raspberries and slapping the bed with his hands.

After running out of projectiles, Caedmon would occasionally gather a huge armload of toys back up and dump them back on his bed for another few rounds of fun. Isaac was gracious to again smile for the camera.

I put him down for a nap this afternoon and when I went to check on him - he was apparently ready and waiting for me to open the other door. "Let me out of this baby jail!"

What a difference a day makes

After posting last night, I already have some updates and changes. First, our sweet boy Isaac, who was only pulling himself up to standing by using us as his anchor, has successfully pulled up both on Caedmon's bed (a mattress on the floor) and a plastic tub where we store some of Caedmon's blocks. He was so proud of his accomplishment! It is surely only a matter of time before he's pulling up everywhere.

Now that he can get himself upright he's going to have to do a lot of work on balancing and holding on, as shortly after I snapped this photo, Caedmon decided he needed some blocks and flipped the lid of his tub open, sending Isaac toppling onto his back. He wasn't down for long, though, before he was ready to do it again!

And, I need to add a few more names to the "posse" of friends that get to have a slumber party with Caedmon every night. I neglected to mention Koala Bear, Biscuit Dog, and Fuzzy Sheep. I don't keep track of them all as well as he does.

Lately, whenever I've been snapping photos and ask our darling firstborn to smile, he gives me all sorts of other funny expressions instead. This is a series that I took earlier this week, it cracks me up. (He put his cap on by himself.)

I was so proud of him at his 2-year check-up today. He's 36 inches tall and 24.2 lbs which means he's growing just great, but I was disappointed that he chose not to demonstrate his verbal skills, uttering mostly silly babbling sounds during the whole check-up. The nurse asked if his vocabulary is growing - oh my! If she only knew!

Bees, donkeys, and big smiles

Recently, when we've gone shopping, Caedmon has spotted a cute little bee pillow in a number of stores and always asks to see and play with it. I decided to pick one up for his birthday, and had no idea what this addition to his toy stash would do! He immediately started treating Bee like a friend - pointing his little face at things and saying "See that, Bee?" and even putting toys and books in front of him to "show" him.

This apparently started something, as he became more and more attached to other stuffed animals that we've had for a long time. One morning I was cleaning up breakfast dishes while Caedmon played in the living room - when I finished, I realized that he had gotten Bee, Peter Rabbit, Little Peter Rabbit, and of course Doug, and was sitting in the chair "reading" his "Peter Rabbit" book to them, telling them about Mr. McGregor. So cute!

He also has decided that all these friends need to be in his bed for naps and bedtime. Caedmon knows that once we've gone through the bedtime routine and tucked him in, he's supposed to stay in his room. One night a few weeks ago, we'd done all this and thought he'd gone to sleep as all was quiet, then hear a small "Peter Rabbit?" from his doorway. Then, the request got more and more sad and pitiful, and by the time Daniel got to his room with the lost toy in tow, he sounded like he was going to burst into tears. After being reunited with his bunny friend, he meekly asked, "Little Peter Rabbit?" Daniel had definitely planned ahead, and produced the miniature version of this stuffed toy for our boy.

Since then, anything soft and fluffy and not tied down in his room has found a place in Caedmon's bed at night, until there's hardly room for him. His "posse," as we lovingly call it, now includes Doug, Bee, Big Peter Rabbit, Little Peter Rabbit, Jingly Frog, Jesus Loves Me Lamb, Pillow Dog, Bear Dog, Easter Duck, Hooey Bird...as well as four blankets/quilts (in addition to his bedspread), four small pillows, and the pillow that he actually sleeps on.

It's amazing how Caedmon keeps tabs of these little friends, and often remembers who is missing. I've taken advantage of his sharp little mind and often tell him what I need when we go to the store - not only does it give him satisfaction and entertainment to know what we're looking for, it helps me because he usually is able to remember better than I am!

We went to Hamilton to celebrate Christmas the week after this year, and our boys had some fun adventures. Caedmon got to meet a new farm animal - Dixie Lou, his great-uncle's donkey. She was very gentle and so he was able to feed her out of his hand.

Caedmon's Papa has been telling him for a while about a friend who has a bulldozer, and that he could sit on it whenever we visited. We finally were able to go out and see it - Caedmon had a great time climbing up the tracks and pulling the levers. He thought it was pretty great!

And last Thursday, December 30, Isaac had a major breakthrough. He is now officially a crawler! Look out, world! And he didn't stop there - now he has also figured out how to pull himself up to standing. So far he's only done it when crawling to/up us and one time on Caedmon's bed, but I'm sure it won't be long before he's pulling up on all the furniture.

We have loved doing anything that will make Isaac give us his huge, jolly smile. Recently, though, he's stopped opening his mouth wide every time, and smiles just as big, but with his little gums clamped tightly together. It's so different from what we're accustomed to, but so darling! It's often accompanied by a little chuckling sound in his throat. How precious is each and every stage and development! God created, and continues to create, and we are blessed to watch it all.

Such busy guys!

Wow, so much has happened since my last post! These boys have kept us busy, on our toes, and with big smiles on our faces.

Caedmon knows how to answer if asked his age now - "Two years old!" We had a lot of fun building up to his birthday and celebrating with a digger party. He seemed to have a better understanding that the party was for him - he couldn't wait to blow out his candle! And actually, he didn't - about halfway through the birthday song, he went ahead and extinguished it. We had been practicing so I guess he was just too eager to see if he could really do it! We continued singing and just re-lit it for him, something that we did numerous times the week of his birthday.

At his party, Caedmon took full advantage of the fact that there weren't many guests in attendance who would refuse him the opportunity to nibble on as many treats as he could reach - so he had quite a helping of chocolate "boulders" from his brownie cake, marshmallows, and the brownie itself.

It was such a joy to get to sing the birthday song over and over to our darling little toddler, especially to see his eyes light up when we said his name, and to do fun things to make him feel special on his big day. I think I was probably more sad than he was when his birthday was over!

Isaac is changing and learning so fast, the months are just flying by. He has had such a jolly disposition for a while now, and it just gets better as he grows! I had to try to capture the big smile he always shares when I go to pick him up after his nap, he always wakes up so happy and ready to go.

He's been up on all fours for a while now, so I guess the novelty of that wore off for Isaac and he began experimenting with other yoga-style moves for us to enjoy. He pushes himself up on his toes, twists from side to side in that position, and occasionally ends up with one foot off the ground. Sometimes he looks like he's going to just push himself right up to standing. I can only imagine the upper body strength this boy is developing!

We put up the Christmas tree this year, but didn't even try to put ornaments on it yet. Both boys were, of course, drawn to it. Caedmon was thrilled to learn that he could toss toys up into the tree and they would occasionally get stuck there. And despite our admonishments, he sometimes is unable to resist the urge to climb under and behind the tree, and peek out at us through the branches. Isaac hasn't really done a lot of crawling under/behind the tree, but loves to scootch up to the lowest branches and try to grab them.