wishing

Monday, September 2nd was Labor Day, so we went out for breakfast, and then the boys and I went to a playground we hadn't visited in a while. Zane proved that he was able to do the tunnel ladder thing like it was no big deal, and I'm fairly certain I had to spot him a lot during his last attempt. Caden wanted to follow his big brother, but then showed off his climbing skills to get to the slide:





The boys went back to school on Tuesday to fully rearranged, redecorated and reorganized classrooms. Zane and a few of his friends saw one of his teachers working on portfolios and asked what those books were. When they flipped through their own, they all thought their own baby pictures were pictures of their baby brothers or sisters. Later in the week, when I was trying to get Zane to get himself dressed while I was getting Caden ready, he said, "I wish I was still a baby!"

On Thursday evening, we loaded the boys into the car in their pjs and dropped daddy off at the airport for his annual US Open trip that also tied into a work trip. After a less than smooth night, Caden woke up on Friday morning with his fourth tooth, the top left one.

We kept ourselves busy on Saturday in an effort to keep ourselves out of trouble, and it backfired on me because Caden fell asleep in the car for a short bit on the way home from a store, woke up when I was moving him to his bed, and then stayed up! Then Zane refused to take a nap too. Once I stopped fighting it, we ran a few more errands, took Molly for a walk and went to a playground where we saw more of Caden's climbing skills.


On Sunday, Zane finished off the week nicely by putting his socks on all by himself for the first time! We went to a different park to burn off some energy, but Zane still skipped his nap again.











So while he was awake for those extra hours, Zane got to keep me company while I stained his and Caden's little adirondack chairs for the back patio and then mowed - Caden took an extra long nap. :)

fall break

The boys had school on Monday, August 26th, but they were out the rest of the week for the annual closure. Caden did manage to squeeze in his very first bee sting (he beat Zane to a first!) on the playground on Monday. We had one backup care nanny on Tuesday and Wednesday and a different one on Thursday, and then it was a mama and two boys day on Friday! We met up with some school friends at a playground for a play date, and then bumped into the same family again on Saturday at another park.


On Sunday we went on an adventure to Portland for the first time. The boys did great in the car, we stopped at the Adidas company store, and then went to the mellow mushroom for lunch.


After that, we hit the highlight of our trip, the zoo!


We got to see bats eating bananas:


A few teeth:


Caden helped figure out the map:


To find the giraffes:


Hippos!


The boys were wiped out when we got back to the car. Zane was adamant that he wasn't going to sleep on the way home though:

conversation

The week of August 19th, Caden practiced standing without holding onto anything, and he also started to show us that he has some climbing skills. I think we have another monkey on our hands!

Zane was being a big helper that week at school for a few of his friends, and I got a few cute stories from his teacher. One friend was having a particularly hard time because she was just transitioning into their class, and Zane told her "it will be ok," with a few sweet shoulder pats. He helped her learn some of the routines for his class. Then another of his friends was making some bad choices and having a chat with a teacher about it, and when he lost focus, Zane reminded him, "you're having a conversation." I thought that was a good one, and I keep trying it out when Zane and I have talks about his bad choices, but it never seems to be very effective. Funny how that works!


Caden had a follow up ear check scheduled for Friday, but when I got a text that he woke up really early from nap with a fever on Wednesday, it got bumped up to that afternoon. He did have an ear infection. I stayed home with him on Thursday, and then Friday I worked from home while a back up care nanny kept Caden entertained. Thankfully, his fever finally broke on Friday, and we had a low key Saturday planned with just Zane's soccer class in the morning. On Sunday, we met some friends at a playground before going to brunch with some other friends. And here's one more gorgeous sunset to finish up with:

great wheel

The week of August 12th, Caden worked on saying "uh-oh" repeatedly, which still makes me feel just as clumsy the second time around! He also drops things, just so he can say uh oh (like cups from the drawer he was rummaging through). Zane's memorable quote of the week was, "you're not listening to my words!" (I denied his request for something two times in a row...)


Caden also started waving while saying bye, and he was happy holding onto just one hand while walking. Freeing up a hand meant it was much easier to oblige and continue walking around the house.


On Sunday morning we went on a family adventure to go ride the Seattle great wheel on the waterfront. Zane loves looking for it when we drive past it and had been talking about it for quite some time. Zane was pretty nervous to get into it, but once it went around one full rotation, he relaxed and believed us that it wasn't going to go under water. We had a lot of fun, and now Zane talks about riding it again, but next time when it's dark and the wheel is all lit up. :)


Harbor island.


Downtown


Alki and west Seattle, and a ferry boat!

one year old photos

A few, ok, a bunch, of my favorites from Caden's one year old pictures:

family pictures

The week of August 5th, we got to enjoy some more gorgeous sunsets!


Caden started cruising around with a baby walker that week, started saying "hi" and "bye" more clearly, and had his third tooth, the bottom left, start to appear on Sunday. That weekend, grandma and grandpa were back in town to join us for Caden's one year old pictures on Saturday morning. So later on Saturday, we went to the Amazon company picnic at century link field with just Zane while Caden stayed with grandma and grandpa to nap. Then afterward, we went to a house warming party without either of the boys - it was a very strange feeling, but a nice little afternoon date for us!









On Sunday, we went to a park with some friends for a Texas Exes barbecue, and the highlight for Zane was getting to stand on the footbridge from the park to the beach above railroad tracks when a train came chugging through pulling a giant airplane body:

check ups

The week of July 29th started out with Caden's one year check up on Monday morning. He ended up having another ear infection, so while his fever from last week was likely unrelated, he still wasn't feeling great. Since he had two ear infections so close together, we scheduled a follow up ear check in a couple weeks, and she even mentioned tubes, although we weren't quite to 6 in a season, she thought there was a good chance he was heading in that direction. Everything else besides his ears checked out great, and she was happy with where he was developmentally. She guessed that he would be a 14 month walker. Caden weighed in at 22 lbs 14 oz (70%) and measured 30.25" long (62%).


Then on Tuesday morning, Zane had his next 6 month dentist check up. He did great sitting in the big boy chair again, and this time he had his teeth checked out, counted, brushed for a really long time and even flossed. He's continuing his trend of really liking the dentist, but not the hygienist so much. He also said "no thank you" very quickly to the spinning tooth polisher. Maybe next time he will be big enough!
Our daycare had a family social we got to go to on Thursday evening, and Caden made the big switch to one nap with his classmates that week. He was a little extra emotional the first few days, but settled into his new routine pretty quickly.


That weekend we went to a nearby park to go fly Zane's Spider-Man kite. He had been asking to fly his kite for a really long time, and we finally followed through. It was a pretty hot day, and it involved a lot of running, so once Zane was tuckered out, he was happy to put it away for a little while.

one year old!!!

Caden turned one year old on Tuesday July 23rd! Unfortunately, the birthday boy woke up with a fever (again!). Boo. He still managed to have some fun once his fever medicine kicked in.


Since his birthday didn't go quite according to plan, Zane was pretty bummed out that we didn't end up getting cupcakes that night. By Thursday, Caden's fever had broken, and he was ready to entertain grandma and grandpa who were in town for birthday celebrations.


We had a little party for Caden late Saturday afternoon with mostly grown up friends, and Zane got to invite 2 of his friends, so there was still plenty of action! The menu included sliders, "the dip", and plenty of other little kid friendly fare like fruits and crackers.


Since we weren't able to have cupcakes on his birthday, Caden tried out his first piece of yellow cake at the party. He's generally a pretty good eater, so we were not surprised that he was a fan:


And he didn't even slow down when we struck a pose for a family picture:


We all had a great time, and it was fun getting to see a lot of friends that we don't have as much time to hang out with these days! Caden partied so hard into the evening that he passed out while riding around on grandpa's shoulders:


And stayed asleep for the transfer over to me!


Since he was under the weather on his actual birthday, I attempted Caden's birthday pictures that weekend. He was not a fan, and I probably ended up with the same reaction I would have gotten from him on Tuesday anyway:





You could see his tiny bottom tooth though since he was crying (mean mama for continuing to just take pictures!):


And when I tried to get him on his belly, he was out of there!