A boy and his Oats

The keyword being his. Kaiden has decided that he should be able to feed himself his breakfast. He gets so excited when I hand him the spoon, then does everything in his power (and arm reach) to keep the spoon from getting back into my hand. If handing him the spoon with food already in it is exciting, handing him the bowl to dip the spoon in himself actually gets a squeal of sheer delight! Yes, baths have become more frequent in the Dean household...not to mention floor sweeping and mopping.

Back off buddy...this one's MINE!

If only I had been holding a camera, but I wasn't, so picture this:
A bbq with friends last night. I look behind my shoulder to see Kaiden crying madly at 2 yr. old Josey as he holds his hands out following her around and trying to steal the cheeto from her left hand. Josey, a very unhappy look on her face, keeps it out of reach and behind herself. With her other hand, and pointed threateningly at Kaiden, she holds an empty water gun, finger on the trigger.

These are a few...

of my favorite things:

11. My little boom box. I carry it around everywhere I go and as soon as the music stops, I slap the front until I hit the correct button and it starts up again. Please don’t teach me which button is the correct one to press…slapping stuff is much more fun.

10. Attention. Especially when mama takes me shopping. She lets me stand in the cart and I bop up and down and sing at the top of my lungs—staring at people while I do so until they talk back. It’s working out pretty well for me.

9. My cool ball-blowing machine from miss Becky. People think I’m pretty smart because I have it all figured out. I know what button to press to get it to start blowing, then I walk around and collect the balls and put them back into the machine all by myself so that they can blow out again.
   

8. Jewelry. Sorry daddy, but it’s just so darn pretty! I’m learning to be gentle when I reach up and touch mama’s earrings…but when I saw grandma last I accidentally got a little too excited and ripped the earring almost completely out of her ear.

7. Balloons! Mind-boggling fun.

6. Playing in the cupboards…or should I say wonderlands.

5. Clapping. Just say “Yay” (or “bravo” if you speak Spanish like a lot of my neighbor friends) and I’ll give you a show and a half. In fact, if I am playing with my toys and I hear applause on the tv, I’ll join in right away. Such fun!

4. Bubble baths! As soon as the water starts running I try to get into the tub, my legs just aren’t quite long enough yet so as hard as I try mama has to eventually lift me over.

3. The vacuum cleaner. Call it that if you want to, but I know it’s really a monster. I get SO excited when I see mama bring it out. As soon as she turns it on I start running away usually falling over (like in a bad dream) cause I’m just running too quickly for my little legs. I come back to it every once and awhile to tease it to chase me again, then if it catches me I laugh. Too bad it has to spend most of the time in the closet.

2. Being Naked! Seriously, what more can I say.
   
   And coming in first place with a long lead…

1. Food! Wow. What can I say. It’s wonderful. Topping the charts is still mama milk, although I don’t eat too much of that these days and I hear that I am going to have to say bye-bye to that in a few weeks. Banana’s are amazing. I pretty much enjoy anything that anyone else is eating…after-all if they’re enjoying it so much it must be good. I’m known as the beggar at whatever social gathering in which food is present. Forget playing, I will grovel at the feet of anyone eating something…smacking and licking my lips until they share with me…for hours on end. I embarrassed mama at the park the other day because I kept going up to people we didn’t know and trying to take the food out of their hands.
   

Naked AND carrying around my boom box. Life is good, is it not!

My friend Josey and I both understand how wonderful food is. Here we are sharing a cookie while all the other kids are off playing with silly toys. Back and forth we handed it till every last crumb was devoured. Yum!

And here is the cool ball-blowing machine I told you about. This is my friend Asher and I playing with it. Did I mention that I LOVE bigger boys. Sometimes I pull their hair or do something that annoys them, but Asher especially is really nice to me.

A Day at the ZOO

Kaiden had his first trip to the zoo last Tuesday. It was a gorgeous day, though a bit tiring for us mama's as we tried to keep pace with 9 excited little kids (7 of whom were boys!). Kaiden has decided that he shouldn't have to ride in the stroller when it's so much more comfortable in mom's arms, so needless-to-say I am learning that every-mother's art of holding, pushing, and carrying a million things at once. We had a wonderful time, and I'm going to have to sum up the experience by agreeing with Tara who said "it's always fun to go to the zoo, and it's always fun to leave the zoo!" :)

Kaiden's first steps

So he's a little wobbly, but at least he's trying. He's only interested in trying it out during the evening, though, when he's in silly moods and doesn't really care if he does well or not. Haha.

So we're a bit loud

This clip is a couple months out-dated, but I think you'll like watching Kaiden as he discovers the joy of sceaming...and getting screamed at. Maybe this will make up for my 2 months of no posts. :)

Litte Walker

I think it's so cute to see little Kaiden walking around, and thought it would bring you a smile too. He is walking quite early (not without help yet though) and in addition to that he is really small for his age (only 16 lbs), so he just looks to me like this little baby boppin' around. :) Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

I remember Easter a year ago with my oversized belly. I thought Easter 2008 would be forever in coming and couldn't wait to see the face of the little boy whom we'd be celebrating it with. But, as always, that year has flown by and 8 1/2 mo. old Kaiden had a wonderful first Easter. Daddy had to work :( but Kaid and mama went to an Easter service that was being held by a church plant who was having their first service (and with whom Emmaus Road is going to be meeting with now monthly). We then went to a friends house for a wonderful dinner and an easter egg hunt. Kaiden LOVES to watch other kids do their thing. He just can't wait until he can join in!

Sidney Brinker adores Kaiden...and how could he not adore her and all the attention she lavishes on him. Sid helped him find an Easter egg during the hunt and he wouldn't put it down for the rest of the day.

I never knew the hours of fun that a rattling egg could provide.

Grandma sent Kaiden an Easter basket, and although it was filled with nice things, nothing came even remotely close to being as wonderful as the plastic stuffing...yum!

A little snapshot of Christmas

The cutest little morning face, just checking to see what Santa left

My first turkey!

I don't know what he enjoyed more...the gifts or the stuff the gifts were wrapped up in

Kaiden blew away the competition for "most presents received"

Great grandma was able to come spend Christmas with us too!

Santa and his papa

6 mos. old

Is this not the saddest little sad face ever!

Will somebody please tell me...

when this little boy came and my baby left!!!

(Early December)

Kaiden's dedication

Our lives have been kinda crazy busy lately, so I will try to catch up with what has been happening around here the last couple of months.

Kaiden was dedicated on January 5th during one of Emmaus Roads' all-gatherings. We were thrilled that Kaiden's Nan and Pop were both here for the dedication!

5 mos. big!

sittin' up

Kaiden started sitting by himself a few days ago. He had been balancing for a few seconds by himself for a couple days, then he went outside with dad on Thursday and just sat by himself in the yard for about ten minutes while dad weeded. In fact, Brandon finished weeding and came back inside to have me look out the window and there he sat, perfectly content and just looking around at everything. He absolutely loves being outside. If he's upset we can take him outside and just stand on the porch and he quickly calms down. What a big little guy!

The cutest little pumpkin

What an appropriate costume for a little boy who, along with far too many other nicknames, responds to pumpkin. Lisa and I took Kaiden trick-or-treating on Pearl street. He wasn't old enough to get in on all the fun--although he loved staring at all the other brightly-costumed kids--but mama had fun showing him off...and she also enjoyed eating all his candy for him! It was also a sad day as Kaiden and I took Lisa to the airport and said goodbye. Yes, mama kept the little pumpkin in costume even at the airport--how embarrassing!

Kaiden had a nice picture taken by the Daily Camera Newspaper. You can check it out if you want at www.dailycamera.com. Just click on the "munchkin masquerade" link and look in the first gallery.

3 months goin on 30

3 Months

Autumn's arrival

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music....Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy." Psalm 98:8


photos from our hike

Hiking

We finally went on a day-hike when Lisa's friend, Twyla, was visiting from Canada last week. We had a wonderful time and loved the beautiful fall scenery!


Kaiden rode on dad and absolutely loved the hike!

Lis and Kaid a bit worried about the birds.

That's right, when we were eating lunch a couple very friendly birds swooped in and shared our lunch. Hours of fun:)

Baby Shower

Sue and Erika Moog and Holly Schaeffer hosted a wonderful baby shower for Kaiden when we were in North Platte last month. It was great to see so many old familiar faces and introduce them to the little guy.

Kaiden LOVES the little monkey he got that giggles at him. Sara and Hope had him smiling big over it.

It truly amazes me how girls begin liking babies at such a young age. Isn't the mothering instinct confounding? I've had girls who are still babies themselves see Kaiden and yell out "baby!!!" I don't know if Chloe (Holly's daughter) is quite there yet, but she still found Kaiden pretty interesting.

Worn out little Kaiden with his mama, grandma and great grandma