The last week and a half have been an adventure with all the frigid temperatures and especially the ice and snow. We had a good bit of quality time at home last week; the boys and I didn't leave the house for four days straight, and while there was certainly some cabin fever afflicting us all, we also had some really fun and new experiences that we wouldn't have been able to have in our typically mild winters.
Friday morning we woke up to a good four inches of beautiful snow, and although it was still very cold, was at least out of the teens so I felt more comfortable than I had earlier in the week with letting Caedmon romp around outside for a while. He took it all in, wanting to just walk and walk all over the place. We asked him what the snow sounded like when he walked, and he said, "Pop! Pop!"
Saturday morning was warmer and the sun was out, so Daniel and Caedmon made the most of their opportunity to get outside and play before it all melted. They made this cute little snowman (no-man, according to Caedmon) complete with a carrot for his nose.
On Tuesday and Thursday, although we did have some snow on the ground, I didn't want to take Caedmon out because it was just so very cold, so we brought the snow inside. He spent hours at the kitchen table with a big baking dish full of snow. We played with his little toy diggers, cups, spoons, bowls, mixers, and used food coloring to create whatever color of snow he wanted. It was a lot of fun for him, and nice for me that he was so fascinated with it!
Isaac happily watched the change of scenery out the back door while sitting in his high chair. I didn't take him outside this time, but he seemed content to stay in the warm house and look out over the fluffy white blanket that covered our backyard.
He is getting to be quite the grown-up little guy, especially while in his high chair. He doesn't think there's anything that he can't eat at this point, and he may well be right! It's been several weeks since he really started getting unhappy during meals, resisting our attempts at feeding him and getting all worked up. I figured he was probably just bored with the same old thing, so started putting little bits of food on his tray and bought baby crackers and puffs (chips and baby 'nacks [snacks] according to Caedmon) for him to feed himself. He lost no time in getting those things into his mouth, almost immediately using a pincer grasp (thumb and index finger) to accurately pick up pieces. Now we can give him peas, bits of banana, carrot, chicken, squash, egg yolk, or avocado, and he'll grab them and eat them up.
Of course, his proficiency with picking up things and putting them in his mouth combined with his ability to crawl all over the place also has its downside, as he sees every little crumb and particle of detritus on our floor and acts as our baby vacuum cleaner. He has learned, as Caedmon did, that the area under their side of the table is a rich gathering ground for all sorts of interesting tidbits. I like to let the boys play in the kitchen with me while I'm cooking or doing dishes, but I've learned to act quickly whenever I hear Caedmon say, "No sir, Isaac, not in your mouth!" as one day I recovered five or six little morsels all at one time, including a teeny bit of beef jerky that I'd let Caedmon taste earlier that day. Perhaps he will have a strong immune system.
He does continue to gain strength and balance as he pulls himself up on anything and everything, including walls, the refrigerator, and his walker. His day is a nonstop workout routine with continuous ups and downs as he navigates every room of our home.
As we go through our day, we often sing or listen to music, and I've been amazed at how many of the songs we sing Caedmon knows and will occasionally begin to sing to himself without our prompting. I have heard him sing all or parts of "Jesus Loves Me," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "This Old Man," "I Love You Lord," "The Ants Go Marching," "The Wheels on the Bus," "I've Got the Joy, Joy," "Old McDonald," "Arky Arky," and even has his own little medley of "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "Praise Him, Praise Him."
He's getting to be such a conversationalist, talking in complete or almost complete sentences most of the time. I'm always so amused at the things he comes up with - and especially the way he picks up on the difference in the way we talk to him, each other, and to Isaac. A while back I was listening to him talk to Isaac while I made dinner, and his side of the conversation went a little something like this: "What's up? Do you know? Are you awake? Want some more? I love some more. You open your mouth?" He was talking to him in the same tone and using some of the same phrases that we do. And he often asks us "Do you remember?" and "Did you see/hear that?" because that's what we say to him all the time.
He continues to talk to his little stuffed animal friends, too, and care for them by feeding, diapering, playing with, reading to, and putting them down for naps. This morning he was holding Doug and pointing his head towards his (Caedmon's) feet (he always holds Doug's head in the direction of whatever he wants him to "see") and said, "See that, Doug? See those socks?" I don't know what was so interesting about the socks this morning, but this sort of one-sided conversation will go on throughout the day. And this evening, when he realized he couldn't fit between my chair at the kitchen table and the wall, he finally told himself, "You are too big to do that!"
I really like this photo of Isaac - the look on his face (oh, and the piece of leaf stuck to his chin!) seem to be saying, "Mom, why on earth would you ask if I tried to put something in my mouth?"
Caedmon has been full of funny little tidbits of conversation this week. Yesterday we were out in the front yard, and he looked up at the neighbor's garbage can across the street. His observation? "There's a trash can. That's so sweet." Later, he was plucking dried flowers and stems off of our mum plants and said, "Here's a cute little flower." Our child definitely has an optimistic outlook!
We have also spent a good bit of time watching for our cat (Andrely, as Caedmon calls him) to come home. We put food in his bowl yesterday, then I asked Caedmon if he knew where Andreley was. He walked to the edge of the front walk to where it meets the driveway, looked back and forth down the step, and said, "Is Andreley on the step? Noooo." Then he walked to the edge of the lawn and stepped off the sidewalk, looking around his feet. "Is he in the grass? Noooo." He turned and walked back to the planter box, and delicately lifted up some small stems and leaves on our asparagus fern. "Is he in the plants? Nooo." He walked towards the faucet. "Is he in the water hose? Noooo." Back to the grass...same question, same answer. Back to the planter box, carefully parting out little dwarf nandinas. "Is he in the shrubs? Nooo." He's definitely more thorough in his search than I would think to be!
Even in the great outdoors, Isaac is a little adventurer, especially when Caedmon leads the way. He does not hesitate to venture out on his own when Caedmon is playing in one place, but if it looks like his big brother may be headed somewhere interesting, Isaac will be right on his heels.
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