Jack-o-lantern

Today, Cade had his first experience with a pumpkin. He had a good time playing with the seeds and the stringy part. He even decided that he would eat part of the pumpkin after I carved it.

New words

Here's a couple exchanges that Cade and I had today:

Me: What does the duck say?
Cade: Cack, Cack

Me: What does the horse say?
Cade: Neeiiigh

Me: What does Belle-belle say?
Cade: Maaaow

He also is now saying bye-bye in context. For example, he said bye-bye to Sean when he left for work on Thursday. He also waves while saying it. He says hi to anything and everything. Always waving enthusiastically.

His favorite gesture is the "I don't know". Alot of the times it is both hands but I only caught the one handed type. This gesture is used for "I don't know" and "Uh-oh".

He has also learned that you blow your nose in a kleenex. This is probably because he watches mommy do it many, many times per day. I hate allergies.

18 month stats

Today, Cade had his 18 month appointment. It seemed like he recognized his doctor when we saw him in the hallway. The appt went well and Cade even talked to the doc. Of course, nothing was understandable. His stats are:
Height: 31 inches, 15th percentile for 18 months
Weight: 20 lbs 3 oz, 1st percentile for 18 months (he's barely on the charts but he's finally made the 20 lb mark!)
Head circumference: 18.5 in, 27th percentile for 18 months

He was such a big boy. He didn't shed a tear when he got 3 shots. I was amazed but this was the first time that I held him during the shots instead of just holding him down. His upper lip quivered but not a peep out of him.

I think that there will be some crying in the near future though. The doc said that I should work on weaning Cade in the next 6 weeks. I don't think it's going to go well. I also asked about his obsession with hair. I'm not sure if I've written about it before but Cade loves playing with hair. Any type of hair, mine, Belle's, Sophie's, Lucy's. He will find it on the floor, pull it from my head and pull it out of the poor animals backs. When I told the doc, he agreed that it is a weird obsession but not something to be concerned about since there are no other signs that something is wrong. The doc also commented on the fact that Cade makes such great eye contact and is very interactive. He said that there are no signs of autism. He also checked for signs of cerebral palsy and said that Cade's reflexes were a little off but nothing to be concerned about. If there is CP, it is very mild but nothing diagnosable yet.

Here's a cute video of Cade opening the door to wave hi to the dogs but then he closes the door and can't get it open again:

18 months

Cade is 18 months old today. He has been busy walking all over and he's almost running. Now, when he falls down he will get up and keep walking instead of crawling. Changing directions is really easy for him now too. He will carry his cup and drink while walking. Vocally, he has gotten very loud and is continually talking. He still says words that are recognizable and then we never hear them again. He has said light, up, potato, clock recently. Words that he knows are dada, mama, hi (with a wave), meow, belle (the cat). He really loves to give everyone kisses. Grandma and grandpa really enjoyed that part of toddlerhood this weekend. Grandpa took care of him all day Thursday while Sean was at work and grandma and I were shopping with Marcy, my aunt and 2 cousins. It was our annual trip to Albertville and we all had such a great time. Cade was even good for grandpa.

Museum Outing

This past Sunday we got a chance to meet Kristie, Tom, Ashley and Brooke at the Children's museum. We hadn't seen each other since Memorial day when we met up at the museum for the first time. This time Cade was running all over the place. It was too bad that we only had a couple of hours but that's what worked best with Cade's nap schedule. The kids all had a great time. I couldn't believe how much Cade wanted to run around. He played with Ashley and Brooke in the grocery store. When he tried to steal Brooke's grocery cart, Brooke wasn't too happy. The look on her face could have bored holes in him I think :) The water works part was his favorite. He bent over and tried to slurp up the water out of the tub part. I was so glad he wasn't tall enough to actually get any water. We also found some buttons to push. There's a video of him pushing the buttons and then going to kiss Sean through the glass. Too cute!

Hey, you didn't pay for that bread yet.

Brooke says, "Cade this is my cart!"

The construction worker running away without his hard hat.
Maybe he wants to be a tailor instead.
This is so cool!
Do you think I can drink this?
Playing nicely :)

I love these buttons but I love daddy more.

Favorite toys

Here are a couple videos of Cade playing with a couple of his favorite toys. Now neither of these are meant to be toys of course but they provide hours of entertainment.

The dog muzzle:



The electrical cord. Don't worry, it's not plugged into anything but still it apparently is one of the most entertaining things for a one year old. Well, at least our one year old. He has been fascinated with cords for as long as I can remember.

On, off, on, off

The title is referring to Cade's new favorite activity. He loves to turn the lights on and off. At 6:15 am, he got up and started flicking the light on and off since he can reach the switch. I guess it's a really good way of getting me out of bed. He also points at the lights and "asks" for us to pick him up to flip the switch. At times, he gets very upset if we don't let him. As I'm typing this, he's turning the computer on and off. This is probably not a good thing since it is connected to the TV and is our DVR. I missed a good chunk of Oprah the other day because he turned the computer off!
He continues to work on his walking and now walks just about 100% of the time. When he falls though he still prefers to crawl over to something that he can pull himself up on and then continues to walk. I've seen him stand up on his own but he must not feel totally comfortable doing that. We went outside earlier this week and he walked around the yard. He fell a few times but actually I was impressed by how well he handled the uneven terrain. He enjoyed exploring too.
Another thing that he has now learned is how to give kisses. It's very cute. He gets a determined look on his face and then leans in and gives his kiss. It's a real kiss and not his open mouth slobber to the face. Definitely a huge improvement over being slobbered on.
After two weeks, we finally have all of our new windows installed. Cade missed many naps due to the construction but I think we are starting to get back on track. The windows are wonderful. I can already tell a difference in the number of times the heat needs to come on. Now, Sean and I have the task of staining and varnishing all of the interior trim. It should be an interesting project since neither one of us is experienced in home improvement.