Toddler

"Cheese face"

Caden can walk! He officially took two steps on Independence Day. How suiting. Since then he's slowly built up his courage and is now able to walk all around the house. And last Thursday evening he stood up without holding onto or pushing off of anything. Caden looks so funny when he toddles around. He's still a bit unbalanced, making him look drunk, and he puts his arms up in the air, like a chimp. He thinks he's so big and bad now that he can walk and loves when we cheer him on or chase him. He hates shoes (the photo was taken while he was upset, but once he saw the camera he smiled).

Another silly thing he likes to do is the yoga position downward dog, but with his head touching the ground. He is just so cute! And mischievous. Wednesday he took off his diaper.

Caden is a little Narcissus. He loves the mirror. If he wasn't banging on it, he was just sitting there gazing at himself and laughing once I caught him doing it. It calms him down when he's crying too. We had to move it (who knows when Justin will put it up) because it fell on him one day. Caden also enjoys shutting doors and putting his toys in his drawers. He's obsessed with his toes. When he's on the potty or just randomly sitting down he'll stare at them while wiggling them around. He inherited playing with his tongue from Justin's mom. They both stick it out slightly and bite on it when concentrating. Speaking of biting, his four top two teeth are coming in. It's been a nightmare. Caden's hair is getting long and curly. He looks less like a baby each day. Something random: he always smells like applesauce, even if he didn't eat any.

Every night we put away the toys before bed while singing the "Clean Up" song. Caden joins in with "ee-nuh." I'm not sure if he associates it with actually tidying up because he says it sometimes when he sees his toys during the day. Can I count them as his first words? I think he knows Dad(a) too, but he makes that sound for other things as well.

Caden still spends most of the night in bed with us. And let me tell ya, this guy is a little gymnast in his sleep! He ends up sideways, upside down, or on his side arching his back and head into a C. We are working on getting him back in his crib because we can't stand being pushed and kicked and rolled on anymore!

One more month and my baby will be one years old. I cry if I dwell on it.