sniderkin

It’s almost the end of March and my last update was at the end of December. As Cavan would say, “Ay Chi-wa-wa!” Forgive me, loyal stalkers, if you’re out there…

Cavan started a music class called Wiggleworms here at the Old Town School of Folk Music. He absolutely loves it. There are about 12 kids in the class but so far Cavan is the only one that gets up front and center and boogies his little bum off. He frequently makes the instructor laugh mid song, and everyone is always telling me how super cute he is.

Here he is in his first Wiggleworms class - and that’s his first complete somersault caught on camera!

2009 has been an eventful year for us, but I think all the changes were for the better. Shannon’s job is going well, we’ve moved into an apartment and neighborhood we love and will likely stay in for awhile, and Cavan has been growing into a little boy more and more each day.

Santa Claus brought Cavan some cool toys this year, and it didn’t take long for him to figure out how to open presents. I’ll put up some pictures of Christmas morning when I get a chance…. hopefully before the snow melts!

Cavan has been having a language explosion over the last few days. He repeats almost every word he hears that sounds interesting. I’ve lost track of how many words he says now! It’s cute to have him talking, he tells Daddy “Hello” when he comes home from work, and at night time before bed, rather than saying “goodnight” he tells us “bye bye.” We also transitioned Cavan to a big boy bed a few weeks ago, and that has gone very smoothly. The boy likes his sleep, so he just goes in and sleeps at naptime and bedtime. In the morning he wakes up and plays with his toys. We’ve got such a good little boy!

Our little boy at the park with his sidewalk chalk before the snow hit:

Christmas Pictures!

Okay, okay, I know I haven’t posted in awhile. Having an almost 2 year old really does take every ounce of time I get and it is very rare to have a moment where I can sit down and post anything cohesive - but here’s to trying.

Cavan is 21 months old now, he still loves music, coloring, and anything with wheels, but lately has taken a very strong interest in books and learning his letters. He knows quite a few letters by sight - though he won’t recite his ABC’s. He likes to flip through books or look at posters and point to letters and say “M” or “R” or, his favorite “O.” Words are coming quickly now, about one new word every few days. Some of his favorite words are “Apple,” “Snack,” “Crayon,” “Book,” “Aw Man!” “All Done/Gone,” “Up,” and today he learned “Cookie.”

The boy loves to boogie. He dances around to any music (or even hammering sometimes…) and he won’t allow Mommy and Daddy to relax if there’s music going, we’ve got to get up and boogie too! One of Shannon’s coworkers had a Rock Band Party and Cavan really loved playing the drums and singing into the microphone.

We’ve moved, I posted about that before. We really love our new neighborhood and it’s so nice to have a variety of parks to choose from and be in such a kid-friendly area. Cavan has met lots of new friends and I’m not exaggerating when I saw that almost every building on this street has a child under 5 living in it. This winter I’m thinking of getting Cavan a little sled since we live so close to the park. My better judgment tells me that I will probably regret this after one day of pulling him around, but I know it would make him so happy. In the spring we also plan on getting him one of those push tricycles so he can cruise to the park in style. Whenever we pass another kid in a push car or tricycle Cavan’s head whips around and you can almost smell the jealousy brewing! I let him try a regular Radio Flyer trike at the toy store and he did surprisingly well with it, I guess he’s ready.

Cavan loves his new room. We’re still working on pretty much everything in the new apartment, but it feels like home and we have plenty of space for Cavan to run around (much to the downstairs neighbor’s dismay…) Cavan’s room has been the first room we’ve actively worked on completing though, this weekend we hope to finish his toy boxes and also painting the stars on his ceiling (glow in the dark paint!)

Shannon had to get glasses for reading/up close. They look really nice, and I’m sure that once he gets used to them he won’t have to stress so hard to read. His eye was twitching pretty bad for awhile, just stress and then the added stress of not being able to see properly. We’re hoping that the twitch will go away soon, if not, I’m going to rename him to “Blinky.” *evil grin*

I’ve been having shoulder issues and I have to start physical therapy soon. I have an appointment to be evaluated by a sports medicine guy to determine if it’s just “Frozen Shoulder” or if it’s something more serious, such as a torn rotor cuff. I don’t see how I would have torn my rotor cuff though, so I’m pretty confident I won’t need surgery. I’m sure it’s just a frozen shoulder, I’ve had neck/back muscle issues for awhile, and I think that I was limiting use on my right side without really realizing it and that caused the shoulder issues. There’s a lot of grinding and popping going on in my shoulder, and my range of motion is severely limited, in my doctor’s own words “Somethin’ ain’t right.” I’m hopeful that the physical therapist can teach me some things to do at home and then I’ll be back to normal without too much fuss. I also found a gym close by that offers daycare, so as soon as I figure out what’s going on with my shoulder I’d like to join that. I did a tour and Cavan loved the daycare area, and it would be nice to be able to get a little time to myself and be able to work out and maybe take another yoga class. I walk a lot, on average 2-5 miles a day, but my body seems to think that walking isn’t exercise.

Caesar is afraid of the ceiling fans in the new place, so he has decided to camp out in the bedroom and refuses to go further than the hallway. The bunny is braver, but doesn’t care for the hardwood floors (he skitters across them.) The bunny does go into the living room though, and as soon as we get some more rugs I’m sure he’ll adjust just fine. It’s pretty sad, the cat would love all the windows here, they have nice wide ledges for his fatty butt to sit on and watch all the kids and dogs and squirrels in the neighborhood.

Cavan is in a phase right now where he picks up EVERYTHING! He is constantly watching people and mimicking what they do. A guy on the train a couple weeks ago taught him how to shake hands, and that was his favorite thing to do, but then he tried to shake hands with a younger guy that in turn taught him the fist bump. Now he holds out his little fist to get fist bumps from everybody, he loves the attention it gets him and everyone thinks it’s adorable. A few days ago he was holding his fist out to a young girl on the train and she was smiling at him, I told her he wanted a fist bump and her response was “No way!? Really?!” I told her that was what he was after, and when she believed that I wasn’t joking she gave him a fist bump and they were best friends after that. He is a real social butterfly, I can’t imagine where he gets that from with Shannon and I as parents!

I’ll try to get some pictures up soon of the new place (empty as it is) and also of mister Cavan. I can’t believe how much he has grown in the last year, he’s not a baby anymore! He wears size 2T clothing and size 7 Toddler shoes. He’s a big little boy!

We’re moving at the end of the month to a more family friendly neighborhood in Chicago called Lincoln Square. There are lots of parks for Cavan to play at, the closest one is just 3 houses down the street, and there is a very large one (Welles Park) with a great kid’s playground about a 10 minute walk from the new apartment.

We’re excited about the move, but it’s keeping us busy. Finding a place was difficult, but in the end I think we found something perfect for us in a place where Cavan can be around other kids and play outdoors a lot more often than he can now. I’ll post pictures as soon as we can get in and take some.

The new landlady is really nice. She’s from Thailand and she loves Cavan, she has already tried to teach him a few words in Thai. She also welcomes our cat and rabbit, the cat is pretty standard but a lot of people freak out about the rabbit so it’s fantastic not to have to smuggle him in!

Cavan is 19 months old now, and he sure is a big boy! He still doesn’t talk a whole lot, but he understands everything. He will now point to things when we ask him, or bring us his shoes. He seems to be adding one new word to his vocabulary every week - Oatmeal is his most recent “O-meah,” and “Uh -oh” is his favorite. I have also trained him to be a helper, so he will hand the bunny his lettuce when I ask him to. Somehow the graham crackers I give him for the bunny never make it though…

Cavan loves his toy cars, and anything else with wheels. He is still a huge flirt and is getting really good at getting attention from people with a silly grin and laughing until they look at him. He also knows that the drycleaning man in the building has chocolates and that he doesn’t speak good enough English that I can communicate that Cavan doesn’t need more than one without being rude… So, whenever we walk to the lobby Cavan runs in to the drycleaners and gets himself a chocolate, and when he’s done, if I’m not fast enough to catch him, he runs back and gets another one.

Sunday we went to Germanfest in the neighborhood we’re moving to. Cavan had a great time dancing with all the toddlers and drunks to German bar music. I was busy chasing him around and making sure he didn’t get too far away, but Shannon told me that Cavan had a little fan club of old ladies that really enjoyed his frantic dancing.

Cavan is still a mild-mannered boy and is really well behaved. He gets into trouble on occasion, but he knows how to behave and people are always commenting on how good he is. He doesn’t like it when other kids cry and will come hug me if he thinks another kid is crying. Overall though, he is still very independent and not shy at all!

And, just for good measure, here’s a picture taken yesterday on the El platform coming back from Germanfest:

We decided to take Cavan on his first camping trip for our family vacation this year. We planned to visit Northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior, but we took a few detours.

It was quite a long car ride but Cavan didn’t have any trouble getting comfortable and sleeping…

And when he woke up, he was a very happy boy!

To pass the time he did some singin’ … and dancin’ … and movin’ to the music…

After the drive we spent the first day at the hotel before moving on to the campground. Cavan loved jumping on the bed, especially after such a long drive!

Cavan is always so happy to wake up in the morning! How does the bear yawn when he wakes up?!

We stayed in Copper Falls State Park and opted for a “hike in” site, which just means you don’t pitch your tent next to your car, you actually have to walk into the woods a little bit. This is the trail leading up to our campsite.

This is the view of our site and tent from the trail…

While setting up it was easiest to lock Cavan in the tent, here he is peeking out.

Surprisingly, Cavan slept really well in the tent. We watched spiders hunting on the outside of the tent until he fell asleep. In the morning there were tiny toads hopping all around the tent, Cavan enjoyed watching them but we shooed them away so they wouldn’t get accidentally squished. He even slept through the thunderstorm that drenched the whole campsite and threatened to either blow the tent away, or strike a tree down on top of us during the night. It was a very windy, very bright, and very sleepless night for Shannon and I, but Cavan fell asleep before the storm hit and woke up in the morning after it was gone. We even got some hale, in July. It’s like mother nature was trying to kick us out or something!

We came across a mother deer and two fawns in the State Park and managed to get a couple of pictures…

This fawn decided to watch me taking pictures of him

We did a few short hikes in the woods. Cavan loved the view from his carrier.

Shannon and Cavan looking at the river bed from the bridge

Here’s what they saw:

Shannon and Cavan on a trail

Sunset over Lake Superior near the Apostle Islands

A pretty river in Wisconsin

True to our nature, we took a little detour for part of the trip. We found ourselves in Northern Minnesota along the coast, which is much prettier than Northern Wisconsin. If we hadn’t already paid for the site and if we could have found an available site in Minnesota we probably would have stayed there instead. Who’d have thought Minnesota was so pretty?

We did a roadside “hike” up a mountain and I climbed the guardrail to get this shot, all the while Shannon was freaking out because apparently I’m not “the most athletic person…” Pfft. Determination trumps athleticism any day… unless of course you’re talking about a race or something… then I suppose it might pay off not to be rolly-polly-fat-and-round-splatted-on-the-ground.

The rocky shore of Lake Superior

A very still Lake Superior, almost makes you want to go for a swim… except that it’s Lake Superior and freezing cold.

Shannon and Cavan playing with pebbles on the shore (and rock spiders too)

Daddy teaching Cavan how to skip stones at a roadside park

Cavan and Daddy enjoying the lake breeze

We stopped in a State Park in Minnesota to do a little waterfall hike, Cavan enjoyed putting his feet in the water in the places where it had washed over the rocks

A mountain tunnel… in Minnesota… really? tunnel… Tunnel… TUnnel…TUNnel…TUNNel…TUNNEl… TUNNEL!!!

The campground had a nice little park area and Cavan liked playing around there, he found a nice stick to poke things with.

Playing on the slide was the highlight of his day!

But there is nothing our boy likes more than WATER!

I think Cavan really enjoyed exploring on his own, despite the bumps and bruises that resulted. By the end of the trip he looked a bit like he had been in a fight with a bear… and lost.

Just to mix things up, on the way home we decided to follow the Mississippi River…

It was a nice drive and we were able to stay pretty close to the river

The Mississippi at dusk

It was a really great trip and we all had fun. It was nice to get out of the city for a week and to enjoy nature, despite the ticks. Cavan managed not to get any tick bites, and I caught a tick before he bit me, but Shannon wasn’t so lucky. He was, however, fortunate enough to have such a brave wife as to fearlessly pull the ferocious tick out of his leg and squash it to bits. The mosquitoes weren’t as bad as I expected, Cavan got one or two bites but they didn’t seem to bother him much. Cavan managed not to get poison ivy, there was plenty around though. We have yet to determine if he’s allergic to it or not (Mommy is not allergic), so until we know for sure… better safe than itchy.

And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Your random clip of Cavan weirdness…

Time to update this puppy!  Cavan and I went to Michigan for a short trip back in June for my sister’s graduation from night school.  I wish we had more time to spend visiting, but alas - it was a short trip.

Shannon had to work, so just Cavan and I went.  We rented a car and drove and I’m happy to report that Cavan did excellent in the car during the 7 hour drive.  I stopped twice at rest areas on the way there to let him stretch and run around, and once to eat dinner.  He mostly slept the whole way, but when he was awake he was in a good mood and sat happily looking out the window, playing with his toys, or singing.

I brought the pack and play for him to sleep in at the hotel, but it turned out that he wanted nothing to do with that.  Luckily the room had a king sized bed, because Cavan, as it turns out, can hog a bed with the best of them!

We spent some time visiting before the ceremony, and Cavan absolutely loved being able to run around without having to have Mommy 5 feet from him at all times.  He met some little puppies, which he loved, and he met some kittens too.  I held the kittens for awhile and Cavan showed his jealousy by pulling my arms off from them.  Apparently I am his Mommy and I am not allowed to hold any other creature!

Cavan sleeping in after a long night of bed hogging

My sister hamming it up before her graduation

My sister and my Dad after the ceremony, notice my Dad dressed up and wore his fancy flannel…

Cavan blowing some dandelion seeds on the farm

Cavan enjoying some freedom

Cavan playing with a bale of hay

Cavan and his cousin Christian looking at my grandma’s chicks and ducklings

Oh, and did I mention - Cavan LOVES watermelon?

And, here’s your dose of Cavan weirdness… As I was packing I found him doing this:

The end result?

We’ve been looking for a dresser for Cavan’s room for awhile, but didn’t want to spend a fortune on one since it will likely be drawn on and stickered over the years, and we wanted something cute. Turns out, cheap, durable, and cute are pretty impossible to find so I decided to take it upon myself to buy an unfinished dresser ($39 at IKEA) and paint it myself.

Cavan helps me unpack the pieces of his dresser

My painting setup - priming on the kitchen table. The project took me a total of 4 days because of waiting for paint to dry, having to work primarily during naptime, and having to have everything cleaned up before cooking dinner.

The first day I tried to just lock Cavan out of the kitchen, he played nicely on the chairs for awhile, spent some time throwing things into the kitchen, and then decided the best way to get my attention was to cause trouble in the living room.

I chose to make the dresser blue and orange, I used a super high gloss latex based paint (easy to clean/touch up.) Here’s the blue in progress…

The orange in progress… - notice I had to improvise and raise the panels using canned goods so that I could paint the sides the same day as the faces.

Assembly starts - Cavan was awake during this process, he sat on me and the dresser most of the time, but he did take time to be a good helper.

Here Cavan is inspecting the screws he helped me put in. By help, I mean sat on my lap and held the screwdriver as I tried to turn it.

Once Cavan and I got the dresser assembled, he had to make sure the knobs weren’t loose.

And, the finished project!

Cavan playing with his new dresser, I think he approves!

Cavan and I went to Olive Park along the lakeshore last week when it was nice and sunny. We were both getting over a cold, but I thought the fresh air might help clear it up. If nothing else, it was very nice to get outside!

This is what I see as soon as I unbuckle Cavan from his stroller…His back side as he makes a break for it!

Cavan exploring the park, notice the big puddle in the background? Yeeeah, so did he.

He’s a happy boy, and he loves to explore!

Cavan exploring, notice his feet are moving so fast there’s a blur. He definitely keeps me on my toes!

There’s a long fence that goes along a sort of pier-park out into the lake, Cavan had fun inspecting it.

Who’s that handsome boy?!

I managed to get him to hold still for about 30 seconds by laying down the Lego mat we bought for our next project, the Lego Table!

Cavan really likes to inspect every little thing, he demonstrates this below by poking at a plant. As he was doing this, a herd of young women rode up on shiny rented bikes with bells and Cavan ran over to them as they parked to watch the lake. Luckily they thought he was cute, because he wanted to inspect every one of their bike tires before giving them each a flirty grin. They took turns ringing the bells on the bikes to get him to come over to them.

Here’s a picture I took with my phone during lunch a couple weekends ago, Cavan sitting waiting for his food patiently and playing with his airplane. Shannon didn’t like the faux-hawk, I thought it was cute!

And, in keeping with tradition, here’s your dose of Cavan weirdness:

I was cooking dinner and turned around to see this:

Cavan has also learned that when he’s stashing things away the trash isn’t the best place for them, the filing boxes are! (Note the bunny nibbles - luckily this box hasn’t been in use for some time)

Cavan is 14 months old now, he’s independent, curious, and fairly fearless. Last week we had a playdate at the Chicago Children’s Museum and Cavan loved it! They have a whole floor appropriate for toddler play and Cavan didn’t miss a square inch of it! We’ll definitely have to go back and bring the camera next time.

Lately Cavan has been entertaining himself by walking backwards and crawling backwards, trying to stand on his head, and dragging various things behind him. We think he’ll really enjoy one of the wooden clacker toys that kids can pull behind them, but we’ve got to try to find one.

Cavan still loves dogs. Yesterday at the park there was a big friendly black lab with a toddler the same age as Cavan. Cavan ran over to the dog and after I made sure the dog was okay he had a good time watching the dog play fetch and petting him. The little boy that was with the dog was 14 months old as well, according to his father, but wasn’t as adventurous or as active as Cavan so they didn’t play together.

For Easter Cavan got a basket with a pinwheel in it, a puppy dog puppet, and a few small candy treats. The pinwheel and the puppy dog were big hits, he loves them both and likes to spin the pinwheel in the sun and watch it cast light across the living room.

And, without further adieu… Pictures!

We went to Soldier Field to watch the Easter Candy Grab, a race where kids are sorted by age and allowed to run across the field and grab as much candy off the ground as they can fit in their baskets. Here the kids are lining up…

And bunny says “GO!”

Cavan was a big boy and sat in a stadium chair to watch the race.

And… here’s your dose of Cavan weirdness:

No, lettuce doesn’t grow out of boxes here - Cavan stuffed it in there. Bunny disapproves.

Some weirdness!

This is the suction thing that goes to the clean/dirty dial on the dishwasher. The dial has been missing for quite some time because it was a favorite toy for awhile.

The other day he got 2 balloons at Trader Joe’s. The cashier was spoiling him because he’s cute… I turned around and found him sitting like this, he then proceeded to walk all around the apartment with the balloons somehow tied under his arms…

And… Cavan likes to use the waste paper basket next to the computer desk to store his toys and other treasures in…This collection includes the rabbit’s lettuce, his sippy cup, the cat’s toy, his soccer ball, a shirt, and some blocks.

For awhile Cavan has been sitting on things and having a great time doing it. He likes to walk backwards and back his little butt up to something and sit on it, nothing is safe. We decided it was time that he got his own chair so I ordered one online ($40 at Wal-Mart) and Cavan loves it, the box is also so much fun! As an added bonus, Cavan likes to stand on the chair and look out the window, or play with his cars on the windowsill. Note: These pictures aren’t as nice because I took them with my phone in low light.

Exploring the box-house Daddy made him

Peeking out the window

Hi Mommy!

Am I supposed to stand on this?

Oooh, it’s for sitting!

Relaxing and watching some… whatever that thing is…