Cadence the Big Boy

It's been a while since I've talked about Cadence's habits--thought I'd provide an update. He's now completely weaned off breastmilk; it was about a three-week process that involved talking, encouraging, and no tears whatsoever. He's such a great guy who responds so well to reason! Of course, as most people told me would happen, he began sleeping completely through the night in direct correlation with the weaning. Which is perfect when mom is in the first trimester of pregnancy!

What else--well, if you dare to call him a baby, he'll quickly correct you: "I'm a big boy now." We often sit & talk about all the great things he can do now that he's a big boy, from my end it's to reinforce the weaning and to prepare him for being a big brother down the line. Things like: eat food with a knife and fork, which he loves (especially the knife). Walking adventures in the ditch. Picking out his own clothes. And so on.

Drew and I also had our first night away to celebrate our anniversary; we went to a canoe lodge about 20 minutes away and even though I was exhausted & feeling sick, we had a very nice time. Gramma & Grampa came over to babysit, and all went well. Apparently Cadence woke once in the night, saying "go get mommy." Which of course couldn't be done. So my mom offered to lie down with him, etc, and finally just said, "well, I'm going back to bed then; call me if you need me." And he just laid down and went back to sleep. In the morning she woke up to find him reading books at his table.

Oh--and the other night, out of the blue, he said, "Mommy, go to your bed." He didn't want me to even lie down with him at bedtime (we hadn't been prompting for this but I was happy to oblige). I said, "ok, well call me if you need me." And he didn't. Saw him next at 7am! Hasn't repeated since then, but I'm pretty proud of his comfort in trying things like this.

Today's Saturday, so we'll head to the farmer's market and then to the annual plowing match (can't pass up a chance to see tractors in action!) Will be sure to take some pictures as I've been negligent on that front in general lately. On the pregnancy front, I'm feeling ok--sleepy during the day , generally nauseous all the time unless I'm eating constantly, and having vivid dreams--all the same as with Cadence, but all a bit less than last week so maybe it's starting to ease up. In week 8 now...

Some pictures from our weekend-long visit with gramma & grampa while Drew was away on a trip:

Having a picnic together after a hike at Pete's Dam, and reading some new books they picked up that day on an outing to the library.