The Anderson Family

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Cade... 18 months old

Can I just say that I can not believe my "Baby Cade" is now 18 months old! No longer my baby I can tell you. We had his well baby visit today and he is one growing boy!
HEIGHT - 33 1/8 inches (84 cms)- 75th percentile (not that I am a percentile person particularly but I'll include it)
WEIGHT - 24lb 14oz (11 1/2 kg) - 30th percentile
HEAD - 48.2cm - 60th percentile

Cade is in the busy/clinging stage and it is both fun and exhausting and at times quite frustrating for me. For example as I am typing I have Cade climbing on my chair behind me and once he climbs over he will be climbing on my back pulling my neck backward against him (personal pet peeve of all). I guess I should be thankful that he is climbing on me instead of being destructo when not in my view or when he knows I am busy with something other than him...
He has constant bruises on his shins, knees and forehead, poor little guy but he is a definite 'explorer child'. I read a while ago in parents magazine about personality types of toddlers and I had already seen the type of toddler I would have in Cade. Here is the snippet of the "Explorer Child"....

He's the one barreling around the playground, darting toward anything that catches his eye. These kids are confident and likely to become leaders, but their fearlessness can also send them running headlong into unsafe situations.

How to bring out his best:
Treat your explorer like a big kid. Allow him to handle safe "grown-up" objects like a toothbrush, remote control, or telephone -- and praise him for using them correctly.

Make exceptions to the rules. "Intrepid kids are independent children, and that's a good thing," says Harvey Karp, MD, author of The Happiest Toddler on the Block. "Sometimes, letting them have extra time at the playground, for example, helps them feel like you're working with, not against, them." So make exceptions to the rules once in a while.

Insist on naptime! He'll resist because he's so interested in everything that's going on, but an overtired child will be harder to manage and calm down.

Avoid monotony. Explorers are in constant motion because they thrive on and learn through movement. So skip passive stuff like sitting in front of the TV.

Turn your home into a playground. After you've toddler-proofed your house (a must, regardless of personality type), let him blow off steam by creating an obstacle course with pillows, stacking empty boxes for exploring, or playing hide-and-seek.

I just love Cade's nature. He is fun and energetic, yet tender and sweet natured all wrapped up into one. He is the most predictable kid (always has been), just not when he is playing, hence the name explorer. He has the funniest little giggles, like deep tummy giggles and then what we call courtesy laughs. Makes me smile just thinking about his different giggles.

I just can't believe this time has gone so fast. The paediatrician said that his vocabulary will double every 2 months from now on and that makes me almost sad (Cory is the opposite, he loves the toddler stages), I think it makes me sad to realize that they are only little for such a short period of time and then a new stage arrives and to be honest I have loved each and every stage (except the putting-everything-in-their-mouth stage, which comes and goes!!), it just seems you only just get it down pat and use to it for it to just change again. I love my baby boy and all that he is and all that he has brought our little family. We are totally smitten by he who is our first born.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Friday, April 25, 2008

The Record Is Broken

Well as of this week Cade's record has been broken. He had his first dose of anti-biotics! He had been struggling since last Thursday with loss of appetite and then the onset of fever's that night and that continued through the weekend. By Sunday we were not having to give him anything to suppress the fever but he was coughing and sneezing constantly so Monday I took him to the Dr and sure enough, predictions were right and he had a sinus infection. Run's in the family big time so I hope that Cade takes after mommy in this regard and it is a seasonal thing and not daddy, who has it constantly!! He has done really well and after the second dose of antibiotics, he was back to our ever eating Cade. Thank goodness! I can not imagine having a fussy eater, I feel for those that do, as I could bearly handle the 5 days I had with my fussy eater!!

Also, for those that had read about my dislocated "lefty", I have an update... I now have a huge, hideous brace to try and extend my arm. I had lost 50 degrees in both directions and have been having physical therapy 3 times a week for the last month and today I had a follow up with my Dr and he is happy with my progress (I am now at 15 extension and 133 flexing but the elbow is a weird one as it has it's own defense mechanism and I am working with scar tissue and therefore it is like an elastic band when I work it, goes to the 15 degrees once warmed up and therapy has been done and then it goes back to it's 'comfort zone' at 20ish and then the process starts over. So annoying!! So now I have the brace to help me as the work I am doing at home seems to have plateaued with progress and the brace will pick it up again. I have to have it on 3 hours a day which doesn't seem much I know but it is a constant stretch and that is ouchy! :( I will have to get a pic of the brace and put it up for you to see. (I know, so exciting...not)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

He Speaks!! New words....

Just had to share Cades new word for the day!! Today he has started saying, "What's that?" and always relevant to the situation. Tonight he was getting his hair cut and his (and my) hairdresser had a bunny and he was oh so curious and went to where it was and asks, "What's that?" he enjoyed watching the bunny. Then when Alicia was mixing up some color he asks again, "what's that?" and then when Cami was tearing some foil he pipes up, "What's that?" I was impressed! Cade seems to be the child that will not speak until he says it right. He jabbers alot but when he actually speaks it is well-spoken and clear. He now says:-
"No"
"Mumma"
"Daddy"
"More"
"Juice"
"Where is it" (more the sound or one word, "wherehisit")
"There it is" (more the sound or one word, "theretis")
"Juice" (this is for water usually)
"Shoes"
and now, "What's that"

These are his daily words, a few others make appearances every now and then, but these are his most consistant.

Oh my baby is SO not a baby anymore.... now we just need him to learn, bubba sissy or bubby boy so we can have another.... hehe

Poser....

I love these pictures...although my little boy does not look little in them at all!!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Food, glorious food!!

Cade is our good little eater! (I say a prayer of thanks everyday) and he particularly likes my cooking, which is a good thing. He is a little unsure with spaghetti but loves the meat in any dish I make. He is a messy one at the best of times so I had to capture the "fun" in his eating. Enjoy!!

Oh the places he goes....

Below are a few hiding places Cade has found of late, he seems to have ventured from the oven drawer....

Swiffer....Cades softy???

Cade has had a fear of the vacuum for some time and just last week I brought it out to vacuum while he was awake, which is like a huge avoidance on my part for the fact that Cade is like a growth to me once it gets turned on.... anyway I couldn't handle walking on crackers anymore and decided I couldn't wait till nap time. Well, it turns out he is over his fear! He just sat in front of it for me to run into him while vacuuming and he thought this was the best thing ever! I went to pack it away when I was done as Cade had attempted to smuggle it into his room by the cord and I wasn't up for him breaking it. Cade was not impressed that I wanted it away, he freaked out! Talk about polar opposites right! I gave in for about 2 more minutes and let him wheel it away and he seemed happy about that. Upon wheeling it into the linen cupboard where we keep it, he found a swiffer sweeper that I probably used once and decided it was his so I figured, no worries. Come Tuesday (the next day) I am about ready to throw this stinkin' swiffer away as Cade carries it everywhere and bangs it into everything attempting to sweep the walls and anything he can reach, so I decide to look at it and figure out if I can adjust the height etc and I could, to his perfect height and it has been his lovey/softy ever since. I say lovey or softy as this is what we tend to call his favorite toys that he takes to bed, mainly his blankey. But no....... swiffer has taken over all favorite toys/loveys/softys. Check it out.................

Stick It To Me

When I was about 5 or 6 years old, my mum had a subscription to Readers Digest and they would have some kind of collector item stamps every now and then or stamps to order something or other and I stuck these all over my face and arms and my mum or sisters got a photo of it. So last week when Cade got a hold of the Disney stickers we received, he brought them over to me and so I stuck one on him and he took it from there. He loved it and I love the fact that I will have these photos forever just like the one my mum has of me!

Yoghurt Child.....

I have to say I laughed hard at this!! Grabbing the video camera and some photo evidence to prove the antics of one little boy named Cade….(who was almost named Dannon believe it or not….)!!

I had been scrapbooking this day, as Cade was sleeping and I had been utilizing his nap times to get caught up on some baby album goodness!! I had the bug to be crafty so when Cade woke from his nap so I sat him in his chair and he had some lunch while I finished up my creativeness. After about 15 minutes of him still working on his yoghurt I figured I had better pry myself away and check on him! I noticed he had dropped his spoon, so I picked it up and found this………

Me - “What are you doing Cade baby?”
Cade - “Aaarrwwwaaa yuuyuu mumma! Juzz cruuuckkrraa!” ….which in translation I believe to be…. “Utt ohh mumma! My paci is in here!”

Then this happens...........

This is the email I sent to my family................

I have to tell you this. So funny. Just now, I was doing some scrapbooking at the table and Cade woke up so I gave him some snacks, a banana and a tub of yoghurt, he has been pretty good about his yoghurt and puts his hands in it but feeds himself with the spoon and his hands. Well I get up to check on him, he was right next to me with his back to me in his high chair and he was COVERED in yoghurt. I grabbed the video camera, got some pics and the rest video. Killed myself laughing before I got it on camera. He had dropped his spoon which I didn't know and was tipping the yoghurt container up to have it 'fall' in his mouth and when this wasn't working, he pulls 2 completely smothered pacifiers out of the tub of yoghurt! What a little grub! It was all over his tray, shirt, hands and even the bridge of his nose, eyebrows and eyelashes! When I was video taping he decided to rub it in his hair for affect I guess. This will definitely be an addition to his scrapbook album!!