I know I say this every time but our kids are just growing up too fast! Caeden is now four years old! I'm so thankful he has an early August birthday because that means he won't start school (kindergarten) until he's 6....which means an extra year at home with my first baby! Since Caeden just turned four, I want to do a quick summary of all the things he's doing right now....just for our record. So here we go!!
EATING
Caeden eats a great breakfast and lunch each day, but we still struggle with dinner on a daily basis. I keep thinking this picky phase will pass and I just keep waiting.... He's not a big fan of meat in general (unless its chicken nuggets). The fruits he will eat right now are: apples, strawberries, bananas (if they have peanut butter on them), cantaloupe, and watermelon. The vegetables he will eat are: carrots, broccoli, and asparagus. This is not a great variety, but at least he's not refusing all produce I guess... His favorite foods are oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, and yogurt. He does NOT like eggs, cheese, beef, and a whole host of other things!!
SLEEPING
Caeden is still taking one nap a day (Thank you Jesus!) and it's about 1-1.5 hours a day. He can skip a nap if needed, but if he DOES, he's definitely ready for bed by 8:00! So besides the occasional skipped nap, he still naps every day. He sleeps 10-11 hours at night. He's usually in bed by 8:30 and asleep by 9. We usually hear "Mommy!! I'm ready to get u-up!" sometime between 7-8am. He puts himself to sleep great and never gets out of bed once he's laid down.
One thing he has started doing in the past 6 months is asking us to tell "me a story about when you were little." It's getting to the point that we're running out of stories....and mommy has an awful memory! He always likes daddy's stories the best...I think he was a little more ornery as a kid so his stories are more entertaining!
PLAYING
Caeden still loves to play outside more than anything else! He is still not a big fan of playing by himself. He would much rather play with mommy, daddy, or Ella. We often hear, "Will you play with me?" all throughout the day.
His favorite toys right now are: his blue power wheels truck, Superman figure, LeapPad, and bike. He's really into listening to the Magic Tree House series right now....we started reading him the series at the end of June and are on book #12 only seven weeks later. His favorite things to watch on TV are "Jake and the Neverland Pirates," "Daniel Tiger," and the Superman cartoon.
At the beginning of summer we re-implemented "room time." This is where he has to stay in his room for a set amount of time and play by himself. It helps teach him how to play independently and be more creative with his play. He's not a big fan, but once he gets started he's always fine. Right now, we do 20 minutes of room time every morning.
LOVES to catch bugs!!
LANGUAGE
Caeden is constantly adding words to his vocabulary. He usually says a few new words a week, that we've never heard him say. Of course this just makes him seem so much older and grown up!
He is into making up words lately. He will ask us, "Do you know what jic-a-naw-wa-cos is?" Of course we'll answer "no" and he will proceed to give us us a definition. It's quite interesting! One word he created was "TOOTS" and he will just say it randomly. He is not referring to an actual toot that comes from your rear end....he just likes to say the word TOOTS! Ha! We were recently at a party where he got the whole party room chanting "Toots! Toots! Toots!" I don't think the kids even knew what they were saying, but it was pretty humorous!
SUMMER ACTIVITIES
As usual, we stayed very busy this summer! No big vacations, but we did lots of things as a family (as noted in my Summer Bucket List posts). His favorite activities were camping in the backyard with Daddy, going to our new Rogers Aquatic Center, and going to play miniature golf. He was NOT a fan of bowling! He absolutely despised the shoes and REFUSED to wear them. So after a fit and him repetitively kicking off his shoes, we left before we even got to play. :( Every time we bring up bowling now, he replies with "I don't want to go bowling!!!" He also did not like swimming lessons....hoping for better success next summer!
Did NOT like swimming lessons!
CHORES
Caeden now has certain responsibilities in our house. This was something else we started this summer....but we call them his "jobs." They are all very age-appropriate and do-able. We are using a system called Accountable Kids which I absolutely love!!! I would highly recommend it! It's simple, kids understand it, they get immediate rewards, and also long-term rewards. It's so great and Caeden is truly doing great with it!
No, this is not one of our chores we assign him! ;)
But he does love to help daddy in the back yard!
BIRTHDAY PARTY
Caeden had his birthday party at the Bentonville Fire Station this year! This was at HIS request and he had a blast! More party details by clicking here.
DISCIPLINE
We continue to use time out for Caeden, because that is what works best for him. We do spank occasionally for extremely defiant behavior, but we mostly use time out. His biggest challenges right now are controlling his anger, obeying the first time, and talking mean to mommy and daddy. Something we started this past week is "ugly water." It's a mixture of half vinegar and half water. When he yells at us, or tells us "NO!" we squirt a tiny bit in his mouth. This actually fixed the situation really quick, for the most part. So hopefully we won't have to use it much longer...
LEARNING
In the past 3-4 months, Caeden has improved tremendously in his writing skills. He can trace pretty much anything, can draw a person with lots of body parts, and can write his name (with me sitting next to him reminding him of various things). He still does great at knowing his alphabet, knowing most letter sounds now.
At the beginning of the summer, we started having a 15-20 minute learning time each day. During this time we do calendar, and go over our learning poster. Our learning poster has a weekly theme, vocabulary word, nursery rhyme, shape or color, letter, and number we go over. I wasn't sure how he would react to this since he would have to stop playing to learn. But he actually loves it and looks forward to it! I am planning to continue this during the school year....we both love it!
Something else we've been working on learning are bible verses. Just in the last few months, he has memorized 3 verses. We make sure to pick out verses that he can apply to his life daily...so we refer to them often. On the last day of swimming lessons (when he still didn't want to be there) he started quoting Psalm 56:3 to his swim teacher..."When I am afraid, I will trust in You." I don't think she is a believer so it was neat to see him sharing this with her!
This was a card he made for Asher,
at the end of July. This was his tracing of the letters!
6 months ago, he would not have done this!!
DOCTOR & GROWTH STATS
At Caeden's four-year check up, everything looked great! He was able to do all of the milestones she asked about and she wasn't too concerned about his picky eating. She suggested we start giving him a daily vitamin to help provide the nutrients he's not getting in food. He had to get three shots and was actually not nervous at all. I think he knew he had to get them because Ella kept telling him, :) but he didn't seem to ask about them or see concerned. I think he just didn't know what to expect. (The last time he had shots he was 2 years old so he doesn't remember). Well of course he cried, and pretty hard too. It just broke my heart....it wasn't a scream....just a really hard cry...and I had to hold down his arms.... :/ But once they were over he only cried for about 60 seconds, so he really did pretty good!! It made me sad though because the rest of the day he kept telling people he wasn't brave because he cried... :( He was pretty sore and had a fever for the next 24 hours, but then he was back to his normal active self! His growth stats are below:
WEIGHT: 32 lbs (15th percentile)
HEIGHT: 39 inches (20th percentile)
These are actually higher percentiles than what they used to be, so yay!
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Caeden plays great with other kids when they are kids he knows and is comfortable with. He will still say his best friend is Ella, but some of his other great friends are Darby (our neighbor) and his friend Kyle (who he has known since he was 3 mos old). For the most part he will share willingly and take turns with his friends. He may not initiate the idea of taking turns on his own, but he will if its suggested. :) He is often thoughtful of others, being concerned about other people's feelings.
One thing he does not like at all is being in the spotlight. This means he does not like having his picture taken, being in a video, and even participating in large group activities. When we try to play games with a large group he is very hesitant and does not want to play. I guess because he knows people will be watching him... We have tried introducing him to team sports and he hates it! This is frustrating to Reid and I because we want him to be involved....but we also realize that he is just different than us in this area. So we aren't pushing the extracurricular activities yet....we're hoping this is a phase that will eventually pass!!
Caeden and Darby
OUR DAYS
We stay home a lot because its just hard to get out with 3 kids (including Ella). But Caeden is totally fine with that. We have a pretty set routine every day. In the morning he does his morning jobs, room time, learning time and playtime with mommy. In the afternoon we always take a nap after lunch and then usually play outside the rest of the afternoon and evening.
This week he is starting preschool. He will be going twice a week from 8-noon. Mommy is super excited about this new schedule! His new teacher is Mrs. Brooke. Sometimes he seems excited and sometimes not so much. So we'll see how this year goes!
SIBLINGS
Caeden and Callie still have a unique relationship that I'm so thankful for! They still both love each other so much! Caeden loves to see Callie as soon as she or he wakes up. He loves to kiss on her and hug on her. Sometimes she gets fussy and upset when he is constantly kissing on her and he's in her face a lot, but she lets him know!! Now that Callie is crawling, she often follows Caeden to whatever room he is in. Right now he doesn't mind and loves it! We'll see how long that lasts! While I know that sibling bickering is bound to happen, I'm praying this bond continues forever!
Caeden,
You are growing up and are just becoming a big boy! We love all the time we get to play with you and we love that you still like us to hold you and cuddle with you! We are so thankful that mommy gets to stay home with you every day and spend so much time with you! Our biggest prayer is that you will continue to love the Bible, that you will grow into a man of prayer, and that you will have an intimate relationship with Jesus very soon! We love you so much little man!!
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