sniderkin

As promised, here are some pictures of Cavan and his pumpkin! The coloring is a bit off, but getting them up is enough of a struggle without having to correct them too! As I type this he is hanging on my leg…

What a marvelous new toy!

What’s this thing on top?

I shall taste it and see…

Mommy cut a hole in my new toy!

and all these slimy little things spilled out…

They feel funny between my fingers!

What Daddy? I’m just playing…

Squish! Squish! Squish!

Let’s see how they taste…

No Mommy, it’s mine! Find your own!

Dangit woman, you always ruin my fun…

Cavan is now officially 9 months old, where did the time go?! He has 3 teeth on the bottom with 1 cutting through, 1 on the top, and the second top one just cut through. One of his teeth seems to be bothering him, but we’ve been giving him teething pellets and those seem to help him a lot. His latest entertainment is growling his way around, he’s been making a deep throat noise and kind of going “rawr rawr” all over the place. He also bounces to music now, stands up on his own (still needs to hold something for balance though he does let go often and can manage to balance for a minute before he falls). If we let him hold our fingers he walks all around and thinks that it’s great fun. He eats pretty much everything now, and insists on trying whatever we’re eating. He loves fruit leather (the 100% compressed fruit roll ups you can buy at health food stores), maple teddy bear puffs (they taste best off the floor), toast and jam, and bananas.

I have some pictures of pumpkin carving that I’ll try to put up soon. Also, we should be taking some pictures of him in Gymboree tonight so I’ll try to get those up as well.

The weather here has been getting really cold and windy. I ordered a sleeping bag type thing to go over his stroller (I hope it fits), but I still haven’t found a wind-blocker that will fit.

Cavan’s great-grandma was in town so he got to chase her dog around. He really loves dogs so having one in the apartment with him was a super-bonus! However, I don’t think the dog appreciated it nearly as much as Cavan did.

Cavan got to pet a horse last week. There are carriages that give rides all around and we stopped to look at one of the horses. This horse in particular was very interested in Cavan (or in trying to find cheerios in Cavan’s stroller as her driver told us). Cavan thought it was pretty funny to have a horse sniffing him, and he got to pet her nose. And, for the record, I don’t think the poor horse found even one cheerio - Cavan’s pretty good at hoovering them up!

Cavan is going to be a Lemur for his first Halloween. We dressed him up in his costume and went down to an event they were having at Daley Plaza. His cuteness drew quite a lot of attention, and some tourists even asked to take his picture.

Getting a bit sleepy…

Looking at the kids playing on a sculpture and wishing he could join in.

They even colored the water in the fountain orange. Thirsty?

Today Cavan had his first Gymboree class. It was a free trial class for 6 - 10 month olds. He really liked seeing all the other kids, but he is officially off the charts in terms of size and skill level. He wasn’t the oldest in the class, but he was far beyond all the activities we did so the instructor pulled me aside and told me that since Cavan is so big and mobile, we should put him in the 10-16 month class. So, we stayed for the 10-16 month class and Cavan had a blast! He wasn’t even the smallest kid there, and he was right on par with what most of them were doing (except for the few walkers). He isn’t shy at all, he kept climbing over to the other moms and sitting on their laps or standing holding onto them and smiling at them. What a flirt!

Also, Monday we went to the Brookfield Zoo with my friend Kristen. Cavan liked it a lot, especially the primate house with all the waterfalls and tropical plants. The zoo was impressive, and we’re so thankful to Kristen for taking us out there - I never would have found my way there without her superb public transit knowledge. It was also Cavan’s first train ride!

And… it takes 3 spoons to feed Cavan lately. One for each of his hands, and one for me. When he sees my spoon coming he’ll drop one of his and grab the one with food, so we get a nice assembly line going. Diaper changes have also turned into an all out ordeal. He’ll lay still long enough to unfasten the soiled one, but that’s it. It’s an all out wrestling match that usually ends up with a naked little butt crawling swiftly away from me. Cavan is also independent enough that he crawls all around the apartment, usually I see his legs and bottom going around the corner as he chases that cat or bunny. For the last couple days he’s started clicking his tongue, which serves as a sort of echo-location device for me. I hear the clicks close by, and they get softer as he approaches things he’s not supposed to get into!

Since I’m starting to get threats for not having new pictures of Cavan up… Here we go!

This is the little mister in the living room of the new apartment.

This was taken a month or so ago but we never got it put up. Cavan is showing off his new shoes at the nature center in East Lansing. Thank you Auntie Jen and Uncle Freddie for the shoes! Everyone tells him how cute they are.

And last but not least… here’s a somewhat blurry picture of Cavan’s first adventure in the pool. I’m sure we’ll get some better ones soon, this was during the first couple minutes in the pool before our camera battery ran out. — and yes, that’s a tattoo, he got it at the market and after 4 days it showed no signs of fading, my friend Kristen recommended rubbing alcohol, and without that tip it probably would still be there!

I forgot to add…

Cavan got his first balloon at the grocery store a couple days ago. He loved it. He held tight onto the string and watched it bop all around, and the next day when the helium leaked out he grabbed the string and tried very hard to throw it back up into the air where it “should be.”

So, today we went to the grocery store again, and the clerk saw him staring in amazement at the balloons and he got another one. As I type this he’s growling and talking to it beside me, he got it an hour ago and he hasn’t let go of it since (aside of once when I made him to take his coat off). I was going to make a video, but the camera that does video is packed up and I can’t find it

Oh, and Cavan loves pigeons.  He’s fascinated by them - good thing too, because there are tons of them here and they’re FAT.

We’re all getting used to the city pretty well.  I’m more comfortable than I thought I would be, I’m able to navigate fairly well and I don’t feel unsafe at all.  Cavan is adjusting well too.  A few days ago we took him to the Lincoln Park Zoo, a free zoo just a short bus ride from our apartment.  I have to say, we were really impressed with the zoo - I’d wager to say it was better than the Detroit zoo in terms of habitats and animal health.  There are always lots of programs going on there for kids too.  Cavan met a lady who told him all about bees and honey (he wasn’t listening, he was desperately trying to get the bee puppet she was gesturing with.)  He liked to look at the animals, and the monkeys were very active so they held his attention for a long time.  He got to see sea lions underwater, I think he just wanted to swim with them.  We’ll definitely go back.

Cavan likes all the people a lot, he can’t manage to go into the elevator without commanding someone’s attention, and yesterday the lady at the tailor/dry cleaner gave him a hug.  He really liked her, which is a bit of a coincidence because he also really liked the tailor in East Lansing - I guess our boy has a thing for asian tailor ladies.

I ordered Cavan’s Halloween costume online today.  He’s going to be a lemur.  I bought the 12 month costume because most of his clothing is 12 months, I hope it’s not too big!

Also, we’ve entered into the realm of cheerios.  Cavan LOVES them.  He grabs them by the handfuls and shoves them into his mouth.  Yesterday he did so and forgot that the binkie was still in, so they ended up all over his lap and the floor.  He’s doing really well eating them, they dissolve pretty easily which is good, but he’s also gumming them pretty well.

And… Cavan now pulls himself up onto things with ease.  He’s started traveling sideways while holding onto things too.  He’s begun to let go too, which results in him falling onto his bum.  I keep telling him he’s not allowed to even think about walking yet.  I’m not ready!  As it is, I chase him all over the apartment.  When he gets it into his head that he wants something he can crawl surprisingly fast!

Just a quick update for everyone who is wondering. We are all moved into Chicago now! Our internet is active, but we are still unpacking and getting organized. Becky will post further once we get a little more settled.

EDIT: There are some images now in the Sniderkin: Chicago gallery of our apartment and the views from our windows. We’ll get some of the outside and of the area in Chicago soon as well.

Cavan learned how to pull himself up to standing today and hasn’t stopped doing it all day long.  He had been pulling up onto his knees, but this morning he got his feet under him and it’s been all downhill since then!

So within the last 3 days Cavan has 1) learned to crawl 2) learned to sit up on his own 3) learned to pull up onto his knees, and 4) learned to pull up to standing.  Holy moly!

Also, yesterday while we were driving I was riding in back with him and we were stopped at a light.  I looked at him and he was smiling and being a weirdo, so I looked around and saw that a gruff looking guy in a work van next to us was hanging his head out the window talking to Cavan and smiling and generally being a doober.  That was pretty amusing, but not too surprising since he also tries to get the attention of people at the gas pump.  A couple weeks ago I noticed he was smiling and being a super-flirt and looked around and saw a girl pumping gas next to us.  She said she looked over and he was grinning at her.

It seems that what Shannon and I lack in social skills, Cavan has managed to perfect.  We’re much more social now that he’s with us than before, he simply won’t let us go about our day without stopping to talk to everyone!

Cavan is now 7 1/2 months old!  Here’s the rundown…

He’s been army crawling for awhile now, but today he learned how to all out crawl.  And now, we’re in for trouble.  Also today he seems to have figured out how to pull himself up (he’s been trying for awhile).  Mere seconds ago he pulled himself up onto his knees using one of Shannon’s desk drawer handles.  Of course, the drawer rolled out and left poor Cavan hanging there and very confused.  While Mommy and Daddy were busy laughing at him, he let go and fell over backward, which promptly set him off laughing.

Cavan is also Mister Grabby Hands, anything within reach is fair game, from waitresses shirts or aprons to the shopping bags of passersby.  Luckily all of his victims thus far have been good natured and found it amusing.

Today we went to visit my friend Beth who just had a baby boy, Cavan wasn’t sure what to make of Aiden.  When Aiden started to cry in protest of being changed Cavan looked very concerned and started to fuss a bit as well.  Once he was able to watch Aiden and realized that Aiden’s Daddy wasn’t torturing him, Cavan calmed down.

We’re still waiting on first words, we get a lot of baby chatter but no actual words yet.  I suspect that as soon as he connects words to meanings we’re never going to get him to be quiet.  As it is, he sits and talks to himself for hours.

Things Cavan thinks are funny:  People yawning, Things with long necks (giraffes and horses), Dogs, and Mailmen.

Things Cavan is afraid of: Nothing yet.  We’re working on not always catching him when he falls so he can learn cause and effect.  The other day Cavan was playing on the bed and trying to climb off the edge.  I decided I would let him fall (catching him, of course).  I thought it might scare him a little and help him learn that not every surface is safe.  Instead, he rolled off, I caught him before he hit the floor, and he proceeded to laugh like it was the most amusing game ever.  *sigh*

Cavan is a really great eater.  He’s eating squishable finger foods now (avocado, gerber fruit puffs, cheerio-type things).  He holds his own bottle now (and trying to get it away from him is like trying to wrestle Chuck Norris).  We have also progressed into a realm where he wants to control the spoon entirely when being fed.  Feeding now requires 2 spoons, one for me and one for him.  Cavan has made the connection that food comes from the plate/bowl, but still doesn’t have the coordination he needs to get it onto the spoon and into his mouth.  So… he puts the spoon on the bowl/plate, I fill it up, and he puts it into his mouth (and sometimes his ear.)  He’s also not so good at the whole idea of not shoving the entire spoon down his throat, so I bought a couple spoons with looped handles made to prevent exactly that.  We’ll see how they work out!

Now that Cavan is crawling, the animals are in severe danger.  Cavan LOVES the cat and the bunny and if they don’t move fast enough, he’ll pull their fur.  Luckily, they’re both faster than he is… for now.

Also, Cavan is is a stage where he’s very intrigued by textures.  He likes to feel everything.  Combine this with his need to grab and put everything into his mouth, and we’ve got our hands full!  Most recently, he likes to crawl over to the bunny’s mat and try to share his lettuce.

And… we have two bottom teeth and are learning to use them to chew!