Happy Easter!

Easter? Really? Already? We almost forgot to prepare Caden for it this year, but he picked it up pretty quickly when we mentioned Easter baskets and gifts! The first thing he noticed in his basket was unguarded (e.g. kept on a high shelf and portioned by Mama and Dada) jellybeans. He immediately got to eating them, lest they disappear any minute (as they did!).

The Easter bunny brought lots of fun gifts including Spiderman undies (good thing, since Caden has already outgrown the smallest 2T/3T size!), Mr. Bubble bubblebath, goldfish crackers, a couple little chocolate bunnies, and a remote control car. There were also jellybeans hidden all around the living room, and it was fun watching Caden catch onto searching for them.

After opening Easter baskets, we drove out to Danvers to go to an Easter service at a United Methodist Church. Caden was enthralled with the service - including the children's bell choir (they were wearing gloves!), adult and children's choirs, children's time up front (he later asked who Jesus was and if he was a boy or a girl), and the sermon. He liked to sit up on our laps our stand leaning into the aisle to get the best view! The only time he made noise was in the middle of a quiet prayer when he said, loudly 'No noise?'

After church, we returned home to enjoy the cool but sunny day. Caden and Dada made paper airplanes with Caden's new construction paper from Nana and Boopa, and his Easter photo shoot turned into paper airplane throwing.

In the afternoon, we dyed Easter eggs, then had a nice dinner of wild Alaska sockeye from our local Whole Foods.

Monday is Caden's day off from school, and Mama and Dada had volunteered to bring a tidepool exhibit in to show the toddler and pre-school classes. Unfortunately, we seem to have misplaced all our photos, but as you can imagine, it was a super fun day for us and the ~50 kids, many who started afraid to even touch a seastar and ended up wanting to learn how to hold the biggest spider crab.

Unfortunately, Monday night, Caden came down with another stomach flu (that's 3 in 1.5 months, but who's counting?) and was out of school for the rest of the week. Dada and Mama worked in a.m. and p.m. shifts all week, then Mama came down with the flu over this last weekend (but is now recovering).

Once he had moved past the sitting-in-front-of-Thomas-and-Wiggles DVD stage, Caden was back to having fun with discovering bubble baths...

...and Mama's mask and snorkel set.

This next week is school vacation week, so Caden is only going to school W-F. Mama was home with Caden today, and Caden has been giving a little bit of attitude (e.g. saying 'no' when Mama asked if he would mind being extra nice since she was still getting over being sick). At one point, Caden was pleading with Mama to watch a DVD, Mama gave him an emphatic 'NO'. He responded 'No, Mama, people don't say 'no', people say 'yes''. He then retreated to his playroom, emerging a few minutes later to show Mama the 'no bed' he had built. Apparently, it is where people go when they say 'no'. And when asked if those people are good or bad, he said 'they are bad'. (the 'no bed' is to the far right by his knee, next to a house and 'stairs' that he built)

Of course, throughout the day, he was also so cute, using his doctor set to check on Mama's recovery and building, building, building with Dada!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

We celebrated Caden's 3rd birthday last weekend! On Friday, we brought treats (muffins) into his class, along with a fun Thomas the Train book for storytime.

On his actual birthday, we had a small farm themed party at our house, with friends Summer, Mae, Jack Henry, and Micah (our new 1-year old neighbor, 2 houses down). We started out with a little activity - planting seeds in starter pots (aka ice cube trays). ~1 week later, we already have radishes, peas, beans, carrots, and beets sprouting on our windowsill!
Next came lunch: rice cakes, veggie chips, veggies, hummus, dill dip, apples, and apple and 'moo' juice.

At different times, Caden requested a 'strawberry' and a 'chocolate' cake, so Dada delivered with a delicious chocolate cake with strawberry filling, chocolate strawberry frosting, and decorative vines and strawberries on top. Scoop got to ride on top, since we couldn't find a 'real' tractor on our last-minute search. Caden did a great job blowing out the candles all by himself this year!

We had strawberry ice cream, too!

Caden also learned to 'open cards first' this year; here, opening a beautiful card from Summer and Mae...

He immediately got to playing with his new toys, including a remote control backhoe from Summer and Mae (check out he and Jack Henry's matching farmer overalls!), a super cool AquaDoodle from Micah, ...

...and gardening supplies from Jack Henry, including his own watering can! We planted some lupine and bachelor button seeds in the little plot next to the house/kitchen, and Caden is loving watering the seeds!

We extended the birthday festivities through the weekend and didn't get to opening family gifts until Sunday and Monday! Here, Caden is discovering his new block set from Ama and Adad, which brings back memories (for Mama) of the blocks that Grandad Godard made for all of his grandkids. Dada and Mama agree that it is nearly impossible to keep from building something when getting within a few feet of these blocks!

As I'm writing this, Caden is currently sweeping the sun room, then picking up the broom and playing it like a guitar. :)

Travels with Mama

On Thursday, March 26th, Caden and Mama left for a 5 day trip to Oregon to visit with lots of family and friends. Caden was a wonderful traveller - staying right where Mama told him while we filled and unfilled about 5 tubs going through security, telling Mama whenever he needed to go poddy (fortunately never at inopportune times), and being pretty darn good on the 6 hour flight, even though he decided to only sleep ~1/2 hour.

First, we spent a night with Jenny and Marcus in Portland. Caden loved playing with Jenny's doctor 'toys' and the yummy pancake breakfast!Friday morning, we met up with Martha Mae, Sofia, and Conor just south of Portland for catching up, shopping, and watching the kids run circles around Gymboree.

We arrived in Corvallis to a sunny, ~60oF Friday afternoon, which got us all out onto the back porch, including one of Adad's first forays outside that didn't involve a doctor appointment!

Caden loved playing with Auntie Sally's remote control truck and sidewalk chalk (cheers!), while Mama and Adad sipped pinot noir, breathed in the blooming daphne and soaked in the sun.

On Saturday, we were hanging around the house when we were excited to see lots of family visitors, including Uncle Jerry, Auntie Misty, and - surprise! - cousin Meg, G'Uncle Tom, and G'Auntie Janet! The cousins cleared off the ping pong table and played some rousing games, and even though he barely clears the table, G'Uncle Tom took Caden down to play, too.

Caden spent the afternoon hanging out with the guys - while the girls went out shopping - and then spent the evening with Ama and Adad while the cousins went to Indian food and a local production of 'Chicago'. What a treat for all of us!

Sunday was another busy day, as we held a 'pea in the pod' shower for Auntie Misty. Caden dropped in and out while Ama, Mama, Auntie Sally, Auntie Misty, G'Auntie Janet, and cousins Meg and Lindsay all spent the afternoon lunching, playing games, and trying to lure each other into saying the word 'baby'.

During the shower, Adad celebrated his increasing mobility (with walker and crutches) by going on his first purely fun outing, to Hazelnut Hill and the toy store (where he picked up Rocky the Crane for Caden; Caden and Adad are both big Thomas the Train fans!). When the guys got back from their adventures, they took Caden out to the garage to climb around in the boat (and try out his new work gloves - he is still *really* into gloves!)

As always, Caden had a blast with his Uncle Jerry and Auntie Misty. How exciting that Caden will finally have a cousin in September!!

The trip felt far too short when we packed up to leave on Monday. We made one last visit - a night with Amy, Brian, and Owen in Portland. The boys got along swimmingly, as usual, and even tried to barricade themselves in Owen's room.

Mama and Caden got up and left before dawn on Tuesday, to catch a 7 am flight. En route to the airport, after having a snack and waking up a bit, Caden realized and was very upset that he had not gotten to say good-bye to Owen. Good-bye Owen! Good-bye Ama, Adad, Uncle, and Aunties! We look forward to seeing you during our next Oregon visit in August (if not before)!

A week with Nana and Boopa

The first week of March - for Northeastern's spring break - Mama and Dada went to Hawaii for a week to visit Auntie Sally, who is doing Teach for America on Oahu, and explore the Big Island. Although both Mama and Dada had been away from Caden, this was Caden's first time without either of us for even one night - and we were gone for 9 nights! Nana and Boopa - Dada's parents - flew in from Alaska to stay with Caden. They arrived 3 days before we left, giving them time to get to know their way around the North Shore and Caden's routines. Just over a day before we left, Caden came down with the stomach flu, and Nana and Boopa were nice enough to take over Caden-care early, as both Mama and Dada had busy days on Friday getting work in order before we left.

Over the first weekend, Nana and Boopa sequentially caught Caden's bug and, as Nana put it in an update email to us, "well, we wanted to share in Caden's routine - now we're even sharing germs"! And, the day after we left, there was a big snowstorm. So, pretty much everything we worried would deter future Caden-carers happened, but Nana and Boopa could not have been more wonderful. Their pictures show what a special week Caden got to have with his grandparents.

Back at school on Tuesday (Monday was a snow day, but he normally stays home on Mondays, anyways):

First trike ride of 2009:

Baking salmon quiche with Nana (mm, tasty!):

Quiche time! (Caden kept talking about salmon and quiche when we got back - and we've started eating fish at least once a week which he really likes)

The second weekend, the weather warmed up to almost 60oF! Nana and Boopa took Caden to explore Marblehead Neck (Mama and Dada have still not been out there) and to the playground at Devereux Beach.

Where Caden apparently insisted on throwing rocks:

And, in general, had a perfect day with Nana and Boopa:

Nana and Boopa also took Caden for his first swim in the new YMCA's pool!

Caden has been telling us how we need to learn how to be motorboats. I guess we're going to have to have Nana and Boopa leave us notes, just like we left for them!

And there were lots and lots of stories. Caden especially enjoyed the Lobsterman book that Boopa brought for him and is currently very intrigued by all professions that require wearing gloves (including lobstermen, doctors, and garbage collectors).

After a sunny and warm weekend, Mama and Dada returned on Monday the 9th to another snowstorm. Nana and Boopa left the next day for Nana's 60th birthday trip to Costa Rica. They will swing through Boston for a night this week, on their way back to Alaska.

The day Nana and Boopa left, Caden came down with another stomach flu, and was out of school Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, Thursday, and then had to be picked up early again on Friday.

When he was still complaining of bad stomach pain on Friday, Caden's pediatrician convinced us to take him to the E.R. to do an x-ray to check for intusseseption (looped and blocked intestines). So, we packed up teddy and some snacks and headed over to North Shore Children's Hospital at Salem Hospital. The staff, nurse, and doctor all could not have been more efficient and friendly. Caden was in awe of all the medical equipment. The x-ray didn't show anything wrong, so the doctor didn't have much to suggest. Mama and Dada's theory is that Caden is both starting to experience physical manifestations of emotions (and is missing Nana and Boopa and trying to get settled back into a routine, with a stomach bug thrown in) and that Caden learned saying 'my tummy's owie' got him lots of attention.

After a bit of a tough week back, we've had some really nice weather over the last week. We have enjoyed a couple trips to the park and have our first crocus blooming out front. Spring is in the air. Caden is looking forward to next week's visit from Nana and Boopa and trip to Oregon to see Ama and Adad (and Uncle Jerry, Auntie Misty, Auntie Sally, and lots of good friends!).

Also in the last few weeks: on February 28, the day we left on our trip, we found out that Grammy Larrie had passed away in Anchorage, having been med-evac-ed from Petersburg where she and Grandpa have lived for the past year (before that, they were in Juneau for many years). We were lucky to be able to spend time with Grammy and Grandpa during our trip to Petersburg last August. During that trip, Caden was so affectionate with his great grandparents and liked to push Grammy in her wheelchair and make them laugh with their funny toys. We feel so lucky that Caden has had the chance to know many of his great-grandparents!

...and the rest of February

February was such a busy and fun month! For Valentine's Day, we printed out some kid-friendly recipes (eggless chocolate cake, snow ice cream, etc.), and Caden decorated the pages with stickers and pens. This project took place the same night the girls from the lab were 'getting crafty' in preparation for G's bachelorette party, so Caden got help from our friend Catherine.

On Valentine's Day, we invited Summer and Mae over so Sal and Liza could go on a date (a snowshoe race in VT!). The kids had a blast, as usual, playing, snacking, reading books, and painting. That night, Dada and Caden went over to Luke's to play guitar hero (there were extra instruments for Caden, so he could play the guitar and drums, too) while Mama joined the girls for dinner and a movie in Boston.

The next day, we took the T into Boston and then out to Cambridge

to go to the (residents free day at the) Harvard Natural History Museum. We had talked up the dinosaur bones, so Caden did a happy dance for about 30 seconds when he saw this complete skeleton! He also liked seeing the stuffed African mammals, insect collections, and space rocks. We made it to only a few exhibits, with there being so much to see and the place being pretty packed with kids, so we'll definitely return. We had lunch at b.good., a natural food burger place, before riding the trains back to the car.

The next weekend, Mama went to Foxwoods (in CT) for a night, then returned in time to celebrate her birthday at home with some of her favorites: taco salad and rhubarb cake (which Caden helped make).

Finally, a couple pictures of Caden playing...here he is practicing out his doctoring. He is wearing socks as gloves (he is very interested in the different gloves that are worn in different professions - has also asked about garbage collectors, lobstermen, and postal workers) and using his Slinky as a stethoscope to give his sea animals a check-up. Maybe we don't need to get him a doctor kit for his birthday after all!


And we couldn't resist taking a picture of this train. We like how he used his natural wood blocks, with the small sticks set sideways as wheels.

Next - photos of Caden's week with Nana and Boopa while Mama and Dada went to Hawaii for Spring Break!