Yellow Shirts, Christmas Lights, Poncho

Grampa and grandma came by last Saturday for a short visit; here Cadence and his grampa are wearing matching outfits. They don't seem too upset about it.

Last night Drew played National Lampoon and put up our Christmas lights. We all went out in the (freezing) rain to check out his handy work.

Thoughts about the Discovery of Toes

I want to add that watching Cadence discovery things like his toes is a remarkable thing that could easily just pass by, be noted, and then stuffed into memory away wherever we stuff away all the other little milestones we surpass. As some of you know, I have two dear friends who have been travelling the world discovering all sorts of wonders and beauties (their favourites seems to have been in Mongolia. I think that's where mine would be too.) In reading about their large-scale adventures, I can't help but feel like it's all relative, and that even though we're sitting put on our living room floor making funny noises and drum beats and faces all the time, we're bearing witness to an equally amazing level of discovery.

Try to imagine what it must like to actually discover your toes. To see that, hey, these things are here and when I move my legs they move too and if I'm just agile & quick enough I can get a hold of them. And, if I can just manage to hold on long enough, and keep my leg from pulling the other way, I might get to connect them with my one true sensory perceptor--my mouth. To see what it's really all about.

I've always felt that I want to live more in the present, but had difficulty maintaining the conscious resolve to do so. I must say the going through labour was a whole lot of here-and-now. But getting to watch another human go through each and every day differently, learning new things, making life-changing observations and discoveries, is both an honour and a much-appreciated opportunity to try and do the same.

Here's to living in the now, and the fact that we can learn so much from someone so small.

Toes

Although all the snow has melted, we're going to try and put up our Christmas decorations today. I've always tried to wait until Dec 1, but we figure a week in advance won't hurt anything. Looking forward to baby's first Christmas, and our first family Christmas in the house!

This week was a big one for Cadence. One day mid-week Drew was out with the dog, and I had to go to the bathroom so I put Cadence down on his back, on his playmat. I came back in about one minute, and there he was, still on his back, but about three feet away on the floor. Apparently he has figured out how to do the complete rollover sequence! I feel like the whole planet has subtly shifted. We're told that he'll likely get around by rolling, then start inching on his belly, and eventually start crawling. It has begun. So now we need to get on our hands and knees & look at the house from his perspective, to get things baby-proofed. But first the Christmas decorations! :)

He also stays sitting (for a little bit) when put in position. Doing very well in the exersaucer; we think it's something he might like to own since this one's from the toy library & we only have it for three weeks.

And, yes, he's found his toes. He will work for a very long time trying to get a good enough grip to get them into his little mouth. We think it's quite amusing.

Happy Birthday Drew!

Drew had a birthday this week. Here's what Cadence made for his daddy:

The Exersaucer, Chewing

Drew brought an Exersaucer home yesterday from the Early Years' Centre. Cadence appears to be a bit unsure about it, but I think he's just now ready for it. He did a few short turns around it, so he seems to have the hang of it already.


Oh--and just in case you thought he might be done with his chewing phase, think again.

Naked in the Coffee Shop

This photo is from a few weeks ago, when Sharilynn was herre with Jordan. She was good enough to send her pictures from the visit, and I just had to share this one.

Out and About, and Eating Everything

A nice weekend...yesterday we went to two different church bazaars in Haileybury. Cadence was a hit, and Drew got to buy a tonne of baking (which I haven't been doing as much as I used to...)

Here's Cadence in his car seat, ready to hit the road. Note if you can the new blue mittens (with strings!) that we bought him at the church bazaar. Somehow the mittens on strings really hit home for me--we have a little child who will one day be running around losing his mittens! Every once in a while we have little moments of "hey--we have a baby!" and "hey--he's going to grow into a real little person!" and "hey--one day he's going to just up & say, 'yo mom & dad, i'm taking the car. can i have 20 bucks?'"


In the car (obviously).


He's still into the swing, and will usually sit in it for about 2/3 of any given meal. He is increasingly frustrated, however, by the fact that he can't put the little toys attached to the swing in his mouth. So we have to attach things that will actually reach.

Pumpkin Time

Cadence's first Hallowe'en was a nice one...lots of snow came just before, so it was starting to feel much more like Christmas. Hallowe'en was a bit milder but not a busy one for us--not a single kid! Here's Cadence posing with our pumpkin, and a pic of our backyard last weekend.