What a concept!

My friend Allison and I were talking about what a big difference 16 months makes- and it's so true! I feel like right before Kaden turned 16 months, something clicked and he just gets things now. Here are a few examples:

Today he brought a book over to my mom (his favorite, Ba Ba Ba? aka Go Dog Go) and then went to the table, got her glasses and handed it to her without her saying anything! This afternoon I asked him if he wanted to go with me to get changed out of my work clothes, and he ran into our room and into our closet.

Kaden is also starting to get concepts- which just baffles me. A couple of weeks ago we got into Nic's car which was parked in the driveway and he said "hot" when we put him in. Not only that, but recently I was washing his hands and as the water started to warm up, he said "hot." It's really cute too because he crinkles up his nose when he says it.

Another concept he started getting recently is light... When the sun is in his eyes, he again crinkles up his nose and says "light."

The last concept I can think of now is when something is stuck. A few times a dump truck he likes to push around was jammed in the corner of the room and he says "tuck." Tonight when I was putting him to bed he said "tuck." I said, "nothing's stuck... you're fine" until I realized his sleepsack was under my butt and he couldn't move around!

It is just simply amazing to watch a baby grow up and understand things! The picture above is Kaden doing a handstand. One day I was trying to keep Kaden occupied so I showed him a handstand. He immediately put his head down on the ground and tried to do it too!

Petting zoo

Saturday Nic and I took Kaden to a place very close to our house with horses, horse trails and lessons, bounce houses and a petting zoo!

Kaden still LOVES animals and was not afraid of any of the animals that just came right up to him. He even tried to snuggle with some goats.

There is a picture of some kind of pink chicken... not sure if it's a chicken or why it's pink, but it's really cute!

We saw goats, sheep, pigs, donkeys, horses, chickens, and a beautiful peacock! We had so much fun and would definitely recommend it. With one nap, Kaden is a much happier boy when he has a morning activity- so this was perfect!

Pottery

Here is the last of the pottery I have painted in the last couple of months! It has been busy... and after these pieces I cleaned off the dining room table and moved everything upstairs! We actually have a dining room now... Crazy.

This is my 2nd attempt at these 4 shoes for Ava. The first time they basically burnt in the kiln and I still have no clue how this happened. I think the key is firing them in the middle, so I had to wait till I had a kiln-full in order to fire them the 2nd time around.


More shoes...




Contemporary stars plate for a funky grandma!


Birth announcement plate- look at those tiny feet!

Happy Monday!

16 month update

I feel like I haven't had much time lately to update on what Kaden has been up to lately.

Kaden transitioned over to one nap per day about 2 weeks ago. I think that Kaden was more ready for this than Nic or I was, but the 2 naps were starting to be a bit of a hassle with friends, playgroups, errands, etc. He had also started waking up 30-60 minutes earlier in the morning... It was then that we decided we would try one nap and see how it would go. Kaden did pretty well considering it was a pretty big change in his daily schedule. Instead of going down for a nap at 10:30, he is now going down at 12:30 after lunch. 11:30-12:30 was a pretty rough time at first, but now sometimes I think he could even go a bit longer. The first week he slept right about 2 hours, but he was sleeping in a little longer in the morning. The second week (this week) he has slowly increased his nap to between 2.25-3.25 hours!! I don't know if it was a fluke, but yesterday he slept for 3.25 hours. He was actually a little cranky at first so I'm not sure if that was too much sleep for him.

Kaden is constantly talking. Constantly. He loves to talk on the play phone, and sometimes he gives a little chuckle to whoever he is talking to on the other line! It's really cute- I will try get it on video. He has a lot of new words- like "there it is" which comes out "thereeese."
Me: "Kaden, where's the blocks?"
Kaden: "Thereeese!"
He also says blocks "gocks," Roxy (can't exactly spell it out but something like...) "Dotdy," Max "Mah," "ball," blankie "baykey," chomper (pacifier) "bompa." He also has a lot of words for "ba ba" which varies anywhere from water and vacuum to airplane and golf ball. Gotta use those context clues :)

Kaden has started to climb. His new favorite thing to do is to climb up on our ottoman/coffee table and stand up right in the middle. He does so with such a proud look on his face and then thinks it's hilarious to scare us to death and take some steps toward the edge. If we tell him to get down the right way, he sits down, turns on to his belly, and then goes leg-first off. He also is starting to climb on everything from diaper boxes, to chairs to couches.

Kaden still loves books, especially Go Dog Go. He loves to sit in our lap our lie next to us on the floor as we read to him. Since we read Go Dog Go so often, he has started to memorize the words.
Me: "Hello"
K: "eeyoo"
Me: "Do you like my..."
K: "hat?"
Me: "I do not like it"
K: "Buh bye"
Me: "Good bye"
There is also another section where he fills in the word water 3 times when I pause. Pretty funny.

Other than that, it seems like Kaden is really starting to pick up on things. For example, we were up at Be-dazzled the other day and I told him it was time to go home. He walked over to the diaper bag, picked up the handle and handed it to me. Once I took it from him, he walked over to the front door. I am amazed every day by what he understands and what he can do. My little Boo Boo, I love you!!

Cute video

Here is a stinkin' cute video of Kaden playing with one of his new favorite toys. He has gotten pretty good at stacking blocks and placing the rings on the holder. Enjoy the video!

Paintin' Fool

Shoes are back... These 2 are for customer's of Bedazzled with more to come!




I love painting wedding plates. This is for my friend Jennie's friends- I hope they enjoy it as well.


I was able to steal Lilly and Kensley away from Grammie long enough to get their prints for her birthday gift! The colors and theme match her home perfectly.

4th of July Pictures

Grammie and Pop, Megan, Mark and the girls, as well as Mimi and Papa joined us at DAC to celebrate the 4th of July!!

Website

The Be-dazzled website is up and running!! It looks fabulous... Check it out at:

www.bedazzledplano.com

Dallas Zoo

We spent Friday morning at the Dallas Zoo with Grammie, Pop, Lilly and Kensley!

These first 2 pictures were in the petting zoo. Kaden still LOVES animals and kept wanting to go back to pet the bunny and guinea pig.



What a great picture of my 2 monkeys... and a gorilla!


I'm not sure that Kaden noticed the gorilla at first... and then he turned his head to look at us! It's crazy being that close to such a ginormous animal!


My personal favorite... the penguins!


The cousins


We ended the day with a carousel ride. Kaden has never been on one before and I figured he would love it! And he did... until it started moving!! Then all he said for the next 2 minutes was, "Up... up... up... pease... peeeease.... ppppeeeeaaase!"


After the ride was over, he pointed back at it and said, "Mo." Crazy kid...


We spent the 4th at DAC and will post those pictures as soon as I get them on the computer!

More pottery

Here are some of the other pieces I painted for Father's Day:

For my step-dad, Paul, I painted an aquarium-inspired plate! Paul and Kaden love to look at the "sh" together and I thought it would be special for him to have a plate of the "sh"-variety =) The back says "Tangs for everything you do for me!"



My friend Shea asked me to paint a mug for her husband Eric's Father's Day gift. Mugs are sometimes difficult to paint prints on because of the curve... but little Claire's feet turned out darling on this one!



For Be-dazzled customers




For Father's Day, I painted Nic a BBQ plate. Lately he has been hinting that he wished he had something with Kaden's prints on it. I SECRETLY painted AND fired his plate... He was sure surprised to open it, and he seemed very proud to have something with his Boo's prints on it!

I've also been busy painting other things besides Father's Day gifts:






Enjoy!!