Because his birthday falls so close to Christmas, we celebrated a week early (on December 12) with a barnyard-themed party. We were so blessed by the family and friends that gathered with us to mark this event, and helped us pull everything together! His Aunt Amanda helped with his cake, his Grammy and Pappa brought hay bales for decoration and helped with the food, Uncle Brian and Aunt Toni decorated, and Gramma and Dude helped with last minute party preparations. Even Caedmon helped the day before as we mixed up and baked his cake.
I was concerned that all the commotion might be overwhelming, but Caedmon did great. He ate a hearty lunch of chicken tenders, baked beans, mashed potatoes, and fresh fruit, then learned about opening presents. Surprisingly, with all his experience tearing pages of magazines, he wasn't terribly interested in ripping off wrapping paper but did pull some tissue paper out of bags. His toy box has been updated with some great new toys, which he has really enjoyed, as well as some new books for us to read together!
The moment we were all most curious about, though, was last - eating his birthday cake. We presented him with his own little cake, sang, and "helped" blow out the candle. He was very tentative at first, gently picking some of the icing "grass" off the top and tasting it. After that first nibble, though, it didn't take long for him to dive in to the rest. For the most part, he was a very purposeful eater, keeping himself as clean as one can when eating birthday cake with no utensils. As he filled up, we did get more cake on the floor and I got a few nice handprints on my pants, but we didn't feel bad about taking the cake away at that point as he'd finished about half of it anyway!
In the last week and a half or two, he has really made progress with walking on his own. At first he would only take solo steps if Daniel or I helped him get started but now he's gotten a bit more confident, and I've seen him hold onto a piece of furniture and contemplate his journey to another piece of furniture or toy. He still doesn't go far, but incentives (such as the cat) definitely boost his confidence!
He's also learning a lot and becoming a big helper around the house. One of his favorite tasks is to help unload the dishwasher, which he is able to do very quickly. Such a sweet little helper!
And some lessons are a little harder to learn. One of our challenges right now is diaper changes, which, for reasons I don't understand, have been a battle from time to time. One particular day I had to pick up our little guy and hold him against me to get his pants back on, as he was squirming and struggling so hard. It was a chore! I couldn't really see what I was doing, and once I finished and put him down on the floor to play, realized what had happened. Poor boy! I had time to run and snap a quick picture, as Caedmon wasn't going anywhere fast!
In other family news...I'm very excited to report that at 16 weeks, I've begun to be able to feel our little baby moving. Last night, in fact, even Daniel felt a teeny little fluttering. The movements are still small and light, but each one is a cause for celebration, excitement, anticipation, and awe - what a miracle!
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