Intermission

The kids watching the zamboni.

Kaden and Daddy at the museum

The vet

Dr Mackinna at the children's museum.

Piggies

Today at lunch the kids finished (and I'm talking licked every drop out of the bowl) an entire box of Annie's Mac & Cheese and were asking for more.  This concerns me because the box says its 2.5 servings and I'm assuming they are not talking toddler sized servings.  Mark typically eats a box by himself.  I'm afraid that soon the kids will be doing the same!  I guess its a good thing I buy the ten pack at BJs!

And if you were wondering, they still had room for left over cake...

Potty

Kaden is doing such a good job on the potty. He's peed on it 5 out of 6 mornings now. (on the floor twice on the other morning after sitting on the potty and doing nothing)

The first couple of times, it was just because I happened to sit in there with him long enough, but now its seems like he's starting to really get it. I asked him when he woke up if he wanted to go sit on the potty and he grabbed a book and ran in there, lifted the lid and started trying to pull down his jammie pants. He sat and peed almost immediately, then stood up to see it. I was concerned that there was not much in there and asked him to sit back down and finish and sure enough he did. He had just gotten so excited to see it he couldn't wait to finish up I guess! When he did finish, he attempted to pick it up and dump it in the toilet himself! I assisted in that part in hopes of keeping the pee from getting dumped all over the floor.

Is so cute how proud he is of himself and how proud Mackinna is of him. I'm not about to give up the diapers or anything, but we are definitely making progress.

Peanut Butter Cookies- or not

We tried to make peanut butter cookies today.  Mackinna had her apron on and was ready to help, Kaden was kind of doing his own thing, but then appeared with another apron from the playroom and handed it to me, as he insisted that he help.

I had asked my mom last week for my Gram's cookie recipe, and we followed it to a tee but I was surprised to see how runny my cookie dough was.  It really looked more like the constancy of cake mix.  I looked it up on line and found the same recipe- with one difference. 2 tablespoons of water, when Mom had told me 2 cups.  I called Mom and told her.  She laughed.  So after all their work the kids didn't get cookies, but we poured it into cake pans- so we'll see how our peanut butter cake tastes.

Pictures

Here are some random pictures from this month that we just took off the new camera for the first time.

Kaden in Mackinna's baby pack n play.

He's looking at his pee and loving it.

Hugging Niesa

Sharing a snack cup

Mackinna and Jovi- Hen could hold babies all day.

Kaden, Mark & Neisa

The kids and Mark meet Isabella Boudreau for the first time

Isabella seemed so tiny!

Mackinna bringing up the garbage can- what a good helper!

This is how Kaden naps when Uncle Robby babysits.

Lucy looking cute- and not barking for once

Nice outfit Hen

And now my kids...

Here are my attempts to reenact the picture in the post below from 26 years ago.  I was even sure to move the shower curtain to the left side and pushed the bath mat out of the way- too bad the kids didn't get it exactly right...

Name these kids

Big Sister

This morning when I was getting the kids ready to eat breakfast, when we were walking into the dinning room, Mackinna turns to me and says, "Mommy do you want me to sit next to him, so he has an adult right by him to help him?"  She was totally serious.

Again!

Again yesterday morning Kaden woke up dry and I stuck him on the potty, and sure enough he went.  When Mackinna came in to see, she said, "Oh Daddy should see this."  She was serious, it was really cute.  

 Today though, when I went to the bathroom I asked Kaden if he wanted to try too.  He said yes-which didn't surprise me because he always does.  The kid loves just sitting on the potty and then wiping nothing, but wouldn't you know, when he stood up today there was actually pee in there.  I was shocked!  I thought it was great that he's gone a couple of times first thing in the morning, but felt kind of like it was cheating- but today feels more for real.  

 I took a picture of Kaden looking at his pee.  (he practically sticks his face in there)  I'll post it when I figure out how to upload pictures from the new camera.

Tutu

Mackinna dug this old tutu of mine out of her dress up clothes and
wore it all afternoon and thru dinner last night, only taking it off
to put on pajamas. In the back ground you can catch a glimpse of the
hopefully soon to be finished new & approved playroom.

Uncle Robby

I know I'm going to be in trouble with my mom for posting this story, but I'm doing it anyway....

Uncle Robby watched the kids for a couple hours yesterday afternoon because Kari just had her gallbladder removed.  Kaden ran to the door when Uncle Robby arrived and was pretty excited to see him, so much so that when I asked him to say "Uncle Robby," he actually said it.  (Sounded kind of like "bye-eye")  So on the phone with my mom this morning, I told Kaden to say Robby to Grandma so she could hear.  He said it a couple of times, then Mom asked him to say Grandma and again, he said Robby.  When she asked again, he decided he was done talking to her.  We'll have to work on saying Grandma today...

(sorry for the super old picture of Robby & Kaden, but it is a good one and its all I could find)

This week's dancer

I know I posted a dance class picture last week, but I just can't get
enough. Look at how cute she is. Note the legwarmers just like Ms
Danielle!

New words

Finally Kaden seems to be showing some interest in talking.  He's adding new words to the mix everyday.  Last night I asked him if he wanted a bubble bath and he lit up and said, "Bubbles" clear as a bell and just now he handed me a toy car and called it a truck.  I told him it was actually a car and so, he said, "car".  Then he handed me another, and again called it a truck, but did say car when I reminded him...

It makes me feel better to hear these two new words after our appointment yesterday because Dr Youth had enough concern over Kaden's white spots in combination with his big head and somewhat slow language development, that he has referred us to a genetics Dr just to be safe.  So hopefully the growing vocabulary is a great sign and the kid just had a big noggin like his sister and some minor skin pigmentation issues and nothing more.

18 month check up

Here are Kaden's stats from today:

height: 34.25"- 94%

weight: 28lbs- 76%

head: 51.2 cm -99%

So he hasn't really grown in 3 months.  I thought it seemed like other kids were starting to catch up with him... well... not his head!

My baby really isn't a baby anymore...

I don't know why its taken me this long to notice, but my baby is really a little boy now. You would think any number of things like that fact that he's been wearing 24 month clothes for a few months now, might have tipped me off, or that his once wobbly walk has become a run these days, or that he feeds the dogs and lets them inside when they bark, or that lately he's been demanding a big boy cup without a sippy top! But today he turned 18 months- which is a pretty big milestone in itself, but he also peed on the potty for the first time and ate his dinner at the table with us rather than in his highchair. (see picture below- note he's signing "more" for more pizza).

When Kaden woke up this morning with a dry diaper, I stuck him on the potty chair and we hung out in the bathroom for a while. Mackinna read him a book, we played patty cake & brushed his teeth while we waited, and sure enough, eventually he peed. Mackinna was so proud of him and made such a big deal- it was really great. Kaden didn't seem to care or muster up even a fraction of the excitement that his sister had for him, so we'll see if it happens again anytime soon.

Maybe since he's doing so many big boy things today, he'll sleep through the night tonight???? I think if he did, I'd be so worried he had stopped breathing or something, that I have to go check on him and wouldn't get a good nights sleep anyway.

Booster seat

The kids' first hockey game

We are at the Portland Pirates game tonight. Both kids are
fascinated. Kaden can't stop clapping.

Dancer

Mackinna wore her new Christmas dance stuff to class today. Doesn't
she look so grown up?

Baby's Daddy

Ever since Mackinna got Salice, Kaden has been playing with this
little cabage patch kid (aka Baby Mohawk). Here he is with her in the
sling. Mackinna was taking Salice for a walk in the stroller so Kaden
used the sling. He's been known to use the shopping cart as well.

More Kaden speak

Kaden says belly now too- though it sounds like "ba-ee" very similar to Maa-ee ad Daa-ee.  Mackinna is trying desperately to get him to say penis.  Luckily he's not going there.  He will say bum bum whenever she asks him to though, and she gets a kick out of that.

Bath time

Kaden couldn't wait.

Kaden's growing vocabulary

Kaden's got a new word today.  I won't reveal it just yet, but give you time to guess.  I am please that finally he is adding some words to his repertoire because for a while it seemed that "ball" might be his only word ever, however I'm not so sure this latest word is a great addition.

Words that he says regularly now:  (he sometimes busts out a word or two one day and we never hear it again- baby is an example of this.  Its as if he never knew it.  Puppy & cup also seems to have been lost from his vocabulary.  He is a man of few words, so maybe he had to weed some out to make room for others.

Ball

Truck

Ma-ee

Da-ee

Go go

Bye

Um (come- which include a hand motion as well)

eeese (cheese- whenever he sees a camera)

ot (Hot- when referring to the wood stove & hot food- which he then blows/spits on)

And as of today... Bum and/or Bum-bum.  It sounds similar to ball but when used in context the difference is pretty clear.

Pomegranate

Mackinna loves pomegranate so the other day when I was pulling one apart for her, she was eating them nearly as fast as I put them in the bowl.  She decided to try to share with her brother, which I thought was very nice given how much she likes them herself.  She said to him, " You should try it Kaden.  Did you know they have candies on the inside and the candies are filled with 'applecado'?  At first I thought she was just trying to get him to try because he loves avocado nearly as much as she loves pomegranate, so I inquired.  "But Mackinna you don't like avocado, and you like these."  Her response- "Well this avocado is the color orange and its strawberry flavored.  I like strawberry flavored avocado."

So yes in Mackinna's world pomegranate is filled with candy, and the candy has strawberry flavored, orange avocado inside it.

Mackinna's baby

Time to feed the "heavy baby that sits on Mackinna's hip"
She was named Ruby but her name recently was changed to "Salice." Mackinna's friend from work emailed her that name and she and Shawn both liked it so that is what they decided to name her.