Cade at 18 Months Old

Cade turned 18 months old last Saturday!  18 months... WOW! At times it feels like I was just pregnant and then at times it feels like he has always been a part of our lives.   He is growing so much right now and is changing more everyday from a baby into a little boy.  He is such a sweet boy and loves to give hugs and kisses and cuddle!  I am holding on to all of this right now because I know that he will soon out grow all these things. 

Cade is mainly wearing 18 and 24 month shirts and 18 month shorts.  He wears size 4 diapers and is up to size 5.5 shoes.  He now has 9 teeth.  He has had his front 4 on top and 2 on bottom since January and over the last month has had his top first molars on both sides break through as well as his bottom right molar.  The bottom left molar is really close and should break through any day.  He has been more fussy and tired recently and we attribute that to these big teeth that are coming in! 

Cade takes one nap a day usually from around 12:30-2:30pm and then usually goes to bed around 9pm and will sleep until between 7am-8am.  On days when he has been at daycare he is usually tired when he comes home so we eat supper right away and then go upstairs to lay down.  Most times on those nights he will be asleep between 8-8:30pm.  He still takes a paci at night time and during naps on days when he is home with Gregg.  We will probably wait until closer to 2 years old to start breaking that habit.

Gregg took Cade in for his 18 month well check on Wednesday.  Cade was apparently quite a ham at the doctor's office running around the waiting room, playing with all the toys and flirting with the staff.  Cade sometimes gets a little anxious in new situations and can be clingy.  Gregg said that he was like that initially but that our Pediatrician was able to get him warmed up very quickly and by the end of the appointment he was giving her hugs and knuckle bumps (a true sign he likes you these days)!  We love our Pediatrician, Dr. Souers, and all the staff at her office and feel blessed to have such a great medical team on our side!

Now on to the good stuff...

Weight: 26 lbs, 13 oz (65%)

Height: 32 in (40%)

Head Circumfrence: 19.5 in (90%)

I was most surprised by his height and the fact that he has grown 2 inches over the last three months since his 15 month visit!  I thought that he looked like he was getting taller and am still holding out hope that he will get my Dad's height genes and not Gregg's!!!  Mostly though we are just thankful that he is a healthy growing boy!  Gregg also completed a developmental questionaire while at the appointment and Cade is right on track there as well.  

This boy loves to talk!  He tries to say almost everything that we say now and is jabbering constantly.  While there is still a lot that we cannot understand there are quite a few words that we do:

• mama
• dada
• this (dis)
• hi
• bye
• uh-oh and uh-oh Mom
• shoes
• dog
• thank you (tank ou)
• please (peas)
• up please when he wants you to hold him
• good day
• banana (nana)
• grape (gape)
• no and oh no
• yes
• yay
• cheese
• Cade (tade) and points to himself when saying it
• car (cah)
• truck (tuk)
• I don't know (I don no) he says it in a real high pitched voice while holding his hands up
• ball (bah)
• yellow (lello)
• mine
• nap
• night night (nigh nigh)

Words and signs he frequently uses:

• milk (mik)
• water (wa wa or agua)
• food
• more (mah)
• all done (a don)

I am constantly suprised by how much Cade understands and how well he follows instructions.  We are always talking to him and it is just amazing to me how his little mind soaks up things.

Other things Cade loves these days:

• being outside
• helping Gregg out especially when he is cooking or grilling
• running- the boy is in constant motion
• climbing
• playing with his trucks and cars
• being tickled
• going for walks
• holding the phone up to his ear and pretending to talk
• changing the channel on the TV and turning the TV off
• pushing his plastic toy bin around the living room
• being pulled around the living room in this same plastic bin
• brushing his hair and his teeth
• eating
• taking a bath
• looking through his books
• turning the noise switches on his toys on and off
• trying to unlock our iPhones so that he can rearrange (or delete) the apps
• pulling everything out of his diaper box or toy box and then putting it back in and then doing this over and over again
• dragging our big water squeege all around the driveway
• closing any open door
• throwing his cup or not wanted food on the ground whenever he is done (this is driving Gregg and I crazy and something we are working on correcting)
• crawling or walking backwards across the living room or kitchen floor
• pulling all the clothes off the couch one by one and throwing them on the floow while I am trying to fold laundry (he sometimes then hides a piece of laundry to be pulled out a few days later!)

There are only a couple of things that I can think of that Cade does not like.  One is having his diaper changed.  He is much too busy to lay down on the ground for that.  Instead, he will run away from us around the living room  to avoid being changed!  The other is being dropped off at daycare.  He still clings to me and cries most days when I drop him off  but is always fine as soon as I am out of the room.  And he is always playing and seems happy whenever I log into the video monitoring system to watch him throughout the day.  He has stopped crying when I pick him up and even will keep playing instead of running to me somedays!

Overall, Cade is a great eater!  He loves mealtime and will get frantic when he sees us making food if he doesn't get it quick enough.  He is a big chicken eater and will usually eat both grilled chicken or chicken nuggets.  He also likes hamburger meat, turkey and popcorn shrimp.  He is a little picky about the texture of his food though.  It is kinda funny because he is opposite of most kids and would rather eat mushy food.  We have a hard time getting him to eat vegetables unless they are in the toddler squeeze packages.  He loves fruit and can go to town on some grapes, peaches, strawberries, oranges and bananas! 

We went to go see our cousin Jadyn play soccer on Cade's actual 18 month birthday.  I had a great time being able to catch up with my cousin Mikka and letting Cade play with Carson during the game.  Mikka and I were super close growing up and I hope that our kids can grow up being close as well.

Cade and Carson playing

Jadyn and Cade celebrating her victory

Cade, Jadyn and Carson

We feel so blessed to have been choosen as the earthly parents for this little boy!  Cade is the light of our life and is such a joy to both Gregg and I.  We love watching him each day as he grows and changes and look forward to all the more fun times ahead of us!!!