Cruisin' around

We're savoring our last few weeks here, spending time with friends, enjoying the sunny weather, and watching Caden explore his world with increasing skill and rapidity. We've enjoyed parties, dinners, and outings with friends from the lab, including a fun picnic yesterday with Amy, Brian, and Owen in the park near our house and a hike with Matt and Sarah last Saturday. We've been wandering down to the local farmers' market at the plaza on Sundays. Caden especially likes the fountain, the kids, and the music. Today, we ran into Caden's buddy James and his mom, Randall, at the farmers' market, and we listened to some good bluegrass together. Our friend Emily also came by and chatted for a while. We're really going to miss this place and our friends.

Caden has figured out how to get pretty much everywhere in the house via a combination of frog-crawling (he kicks with both feet together), cruising, and scooting. Today, he added a new skill to his repertoire: he can now get from his belly into a sitting position. Given his rather unorthodox method of "crawling"--he still doesn't get up on his hands and knees--we were wondering exactly how he was going to learn to sit. Caden walks backward with his hands, keeping his feet planted and his legs straight. Eventually, he reaches a tipping point and falls back onto his behind. Today, he frog-crawled over to the gate in the hallway, hand-walked into a sitting position, then pulled himself to standing on the gate. Boy, was he pleased with himself!

As promised, here's an update on Caden's increasing vocabulary:

Caden-English Dictionary

(parenthetical numbers refer to the order in which he learned them)

aie = eye (8)
da da = Daddy (6)
da = dog (4)
du = duck (7)
haiee = hi (2)
hai de = hi there (3)
kee-kee = kitty (1)
ma ma = Mommy (5)

A few more pictures

With Dave, our kiwi friend

A duet with Mommy

Cozy with his teddy bear

Video of the week

Here, you can see Caden pulling up on the gate and cruising into his bedroom. If you turn the volume up, you'll notice that he is making a funny squealing noise. That's because Mommy is enticing him into the bedroom with his stuffed humpback whale puppet. How many 15-month-olds do you know who make whale sounds?