A good day for mail...

It was a great day to check the mail! I was happy when I visited my mom's house and found one package! BUT I was even happier when I got back to my mailbox and found 3 more! AND not a single bill in my box - how great is that?!??!! We're starting to gear up for Caydin's 2nd birthday bash and have decided to throw him a "Choo-choo I'm 2" party! He loves trains right now - and anything else with wheels! I found this shirt and backpack on Etsy. Aren't they the cutest!!! Caydin is not too fond of his backpack yet (its for his birthday anyways!) but loves the choo-choo shirt. He proudly points to his belly and says "choo-choo!" I have a feeling that its going to be a "favorite" as Caydin starts to pick his own shirts this coming year!

Here is his other 2 year old tee-shirt! I LOVE it!

**You all are lucky!!!! The only reason I'm posting these is to show Grammy who happens to be up in Virginia this weekend! We had lots of fun picking out which tee's to get! And this kiddo won't be wearing them until after he turns 2 - afterall I'm still hoping he will stay my little baby forever... Being 2 makes him sound so old!!! HAHAH

(Did I really just say that??!?!)

OH and my last package!!! A book from Bud (Opa)! I can't wait to read it - thanks for sending it Bud!

Pool Day

Rob and I took Caydin to the neighborhood pool yesterday (Thursday) afterschool! I had it in my mind that Caydin wouldn't like the pool... since he totally dislikes the splash zone at the pool and doesn't sit down in the kiddie pool that we have in the backyard. But he surprised us again! He was full of giggles and laughs as we played in the water. He was very clingy when we first got in the water but loosened up once he realized that the water wasn't going to hate him (or once he warmed up and got used to the pool temp!) He loved watching daddy hide in the water. He would say "down" every time Daddy popped his head up. He would even put his hand on daddy's head and try to push him down! He figured out the stairs very quickly. He now knows how to climb in and out of the pool using the stairs. I, of course, was nervous but Rob kept saying... "lets see what he will do" so we sat on the stairs and watched. I was really surprised to see him come back into the pool after he climbed out. GO CAYDIN! YOU SURE ARE FULL OF GOOD SURPRISES THIS WEEK!

No pictures at the pool... since you know... our cameras have a habit of falling into water... No way was I going to let my love... I mean CAMERA get "hurt" at the pool! Next time, I'll bring it though :)

Puzzle Pics

This kiddo shocked us all when he pulled a chucky puzzle off the bottom shelf of our coffee table yesterday. You see, we used to practice with puzzles all the time... back when Caydin liked sitting still. We haven't done puzzles in awhile. We were amazed to see Caydin pull off all the pieces, study the board, then place the pieces back on the board in the right spots! Wow!

{Grandma Carey tongue!}

Dear Caydin,

We are all so proud of you and your puzzle-doing skills!

Love, Mommy and Grandma (and Daddy too!)

And check it out - I posted before 11 pm!!!

Today...

Dear Caydin,

Today, little guy, you decided that your barn would make the PERFECT garage for your cars. You tried so hard to get all 15 cars into the barn and never realized that all 15 wouldn't fit - but you didn't care - you kept trying. Today, while trying to fit all your cars into the barn, you showed us your frustration! You would throw the car to the side if it didn't fit where you wanted it. All part of being an almost 2 year old! Today, Caydin, you stopped to look at me while I made crazy sounds so I could take your picture. {Sweeeeet!}

Today, Caydin, you played with play-doh for the first time. As soon as I set it on your highchair tray, you lifted it and was about to attempt to eat it! You were a good boy though and didn't try to eat it once I told you not too. I showed you how to play with it and you laughed when I would roll it into a ball. You would smack your hand down on the ball and squish it! I was so happy that you didn't cry. You didn't play for very long but hey... baby steps... baby steps!!

Today, Caydin, you also did a puzzle all by yourself. We were so impressed that I'm going to give it a post of its own tomorrow!

Love, Mommy

Our Saturday

We had a great Saturday! Caydin woke around 8 and we played, played, played. We even set up his pool on the back porch so that Caydin could play later in the day. He had some much fun playing in the empty pool! After an early nap, we headed over to a friend's 1st birthday! Caydin fell in love with the swing. I wish we had a strong enough tree in the backyard to set one up! I love this picture of Caydin, the capri sun, and the swing. The Birthday Boy

Some music class buddies!

After we got home, we tried to get Caydin to take a nap... but of course, he didn't! He was happy though so no worries! We played inside before heading out to the pool.

AHhhH, the pool!!!

Caydin figured out how to climb in and out!

We ended our afternoon with some yummy donuts! Because, you know, the best time to eat donuts is when you're outside swimming!! No messy powder to clean up! Score!

Hope your Saturday was happy!

Sneaky Boy

Yesterday morning, Caydin got into our guest bedroom (which is usually just a storage room/craft room when we don't have any guests). We had a couple really good coupons for some little Tonka cars so they were hiding in the bedroom, waiting for Caydin's birthday in a couple months. Well the sneaky little guy got in there and smelled out those cars!...and because he was just so cute and asked so nicely, I opened up a box for him (Thanks, Grandma!) He loves those cars. They went swimming with him, ate breakfast and dinner with him, and even rode in the car with him. Caydin is definitely a car boy. :)

And just for fun, here is Caydin in the pool before we filled it with water!!!

More coming!

Happy 21 months!

This month,

Caydin learned lots of new words: boat, nose, bottle, rolo, one-two-three, go-go-go (says as he watches Daddy drive down the street - I guess he doesn't want daddy to be late!)

Rode a carousel for the first time and loved it.

Has played with markers and tried so hard to get the caps on when I'd take them off!

Discovered a love for Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars.

Slowed down on the massive amounts of tantrums!

Started taking just one long nap each day instead of the two that he'd been doing for the past year or so.

Can shake his body when asked.

Can jump (almost - he hasn't figured out the feet off the ground thing but looks super cute trying!)

Loves to point and touch everyone's nose! Can find his nose when asked but will usually point to someone else's nose when asked "Where is your nose?"

Follows directions - will stop, throw things away, go and get items when asked, find his books, get shoes, close doors, etc.

Likes to eat food whole, as in - likes when you gives he a whole piece of bread or a whole strawberry as opposed to cutting everything up in little pieces.

Got a new pool and loves it - but hates the splash zone at the zoo (strange?!?)

Sleeps all night, but if he wakes up, man ---- its hard to get him back to sleep!

Is addicted to pushing his wagon (and train) around the back porch!

Loves to smell things (again - strange!?!?!)

Can make a big, big mess!

Wordless Wednesday

Just because...

Who can resist a pool-playing, bread-eating, bright blue-eyed boy???I can't! :)

New Pool

I'm trying to avoid a picture overload here, so here are a couple pictures from our afternoon on the porch yesterday!

Despite not liking the splash area at the zoo, Caydin REALLY likes his new big boy pool. Its huge, seriously huge! We have a BIG back porch and this thing takes up a good quarter of the porch. It's got 2 big sections to play in, one deeper than the other, a slide, a ring toss, 2 ramps for balls to go down, a sprinkler and a bunch more that I didn't mention. It's crazy! We filled up one section and let Caydin play with a bunch of his boats that he got for Easter. He had a blast! Caydin liked to send his boats down the ball ramp. We got this swimsuit last year. I find it funny that it still fits, in fact, I don't think he ever wore it last year!

Caydin had so much fun yesterday that this morning when we went out on the porch (the pool was still set up) he got so excited that he accidently threw his favorite lovey in the pool! Then his threw a tantrum when I pulled it out and he grabbed it only to realize that it was all wet! He was not a happy camper!