Ketchup if you can...

The last time we were up north, Cade was eating his burger rather slowly...instead he was focusing on his fruit and beans. Jon said maybe he wanted some ketchup with it so we gave him some ketchup to dip the burger in. Suffice it to say, Cade was a fan. He now LOVES dipping anything in ketchup...well, actually we think he just loves the ketchup. He'll dip it, suck the ketchup off, redip...you get the picture. He'll even dip just his spoon or fork into the ketchup and eat it plain. If you know Jon, you know this is a father/son bonding moment. As you can imagine, all of this lovin' on ketchup can get a little messy..just one more reason we're delighted that Cade is warming back up to bath time.

In all of his dipping glory...

Mmmmm.....

Revenge of the Bath

If you remember from a previous post (see: http://felchfam.blogspot.com/2009/05/splish-splash-snooze.html ), Cade was such a huge fan of the bath that he even wanted to snooze in the tub. Flash forward a few weeks and he developed a sudden phobia of the bath tub, screaming the minute his little legs hit the water. Three baths later and a bit of book/internet research, we determined that Cade is at the prime age for phobia development. The two most common toddler phobias - bugs and baths. Apparently, at Cade's age, kids begin to question where the bath water goes and why they aren't sucked down the drain. Traumatic, I know. So, last night we hit the tub once again in hopes of overcoming the dreaded bath/cry/scream bath fiasco. Previously, we tried bathing in the sink, showering, bathing with mom in the tub (don't worry, I had my suit on!) to no avail. Enter Crayola's bath crayons. We hit the tub with the usual fanfare until mom brought out the bath crayons. There was a break in the whimper as Cade happily drew on the side of the tub..then a brief laugh..and before we knew it, Cade was (relatively) back to his bath loving self. Thank goodness...this boy needs his baths...especially since he developed a new and dirty love which I'll post more of later. I'm not quite ready to consider bath time a success, but thanks to Crayola bath crayons, we're well on our way.

Playstation Play Time

Cade and daddy took advantage of the rainy day on Saturday...daddy by playing PS3 and Cade by cheering daddy on.

Great job, daddy!!

Taking a water break...

Time Out.

Cade had his first time out this week. He recently picked up the bad habit of hitting. So far, mom is the only one that's been on the receiving end of the hits. Our pediatrician recommended putting Cade in his high chair facing the wall or corner for his timeout. It was difficult to ignore him as he sat kicking the wall and singing after the initial whining.


Who, me? Trouble??

Weekend Wonder

We had another wonderful weekend at the cabin last weekend. Cade enjoyed playing with his water table...but just not his frog pool. We're not sure if he was afraid of the frog canopy over the pool or if it was related to his new found phobia of the bathtub, but suffice it to say Cade kept his feet (and his bottom) on dry land.

Cade also tried his hand at baggo toss...although he may have been cheating a bit. He had fun though!
He also loved climbing around in daddy's fishing boat...especially pushing all the buttons on the fish finder.

Cade can't wait to head back up north for the fourth of July...he gets to go up early with Grandma and Grandpa from Tuesday - Friday and then with the whole fam Friday - Sunday and with mom and dad Sunday - Friday. We can't wait!

Briq. House.

We made the return visit to the ER tonight to have Cade's staples removed. He had to climb up on every chair in the waiting room while we waited...and we waited. We were a bit lower priority this week versus last week - thank goodness. Once we were in the exam room, they had the staples out within a few minutes. Cade was not a fan of being held down..I think that part was probably worse than the staple removal itself. He is definitely our little mover and shaker! As a reward, we hit up Briq's for a vanilla shake. Cade was definitely a fan...I think it's safe to say that Cade and daddy will be returning to Briq's.

Dear Daddy...

I love you SO much. You are my favorite guy in the world. When I get big, I hope I am just big and strong and great as you are. I love when you tickle me, when you snuggle me, when we laugh at our own little jokes, watching sportscenter, taking naps, "wrestling," playing outside and helping you with your tools. I can't wait to go fishing with you, play sports with you and learn how to be a man from you. You are the bestest dad in the whole wide world. I love you!!

Love, Cade



Dear Jon,
Thank you for being the best father to our sweet baby boy. I fall more in love with you every time I see you with Cade. Cade and I are blessed to have you in our lives! I can't wait for the new and exciting adventures our life holds....

Love, Katie

Firsts

It was a week of firsts for Cade. On Saturday, we went to watch Grandpa Lech and the other Wausau firefighters play the Green Bay Packers in a charity softball game. Cade made it on the local sports reel for the first time. (Grandpa made the sports reel as well...)

http://www.wsaw.com/sports/headlines/48012617.html

On Monday, we had a less exciting first...Cade's first visit to the ER. Cade knocked a piece of artwork off of the wall in the master bedroom, which came crashing down on his poor little head. He had a two inch piece of glass in the top of his scalp that had to be removed. He was more scared than anything else...poor little guy. He ended up having to have three staples in his scalp and x-rays to ensure all the glass was out. The ER nurses gave Cade a teddy bear (daddy says it's the most expensive bear he'll ever have!) and his first popsicle. He was a real trooper through it all.

After everything he went through, here was the happy boy when we returned from the hospital....

Hopefully, the first "first" will be the first of many...and the second "first," not so much. Although with Cade's all boy antics, I'm fairly certain we'll be experiencing both again in the future. As far as the popsicles go, he can have as many of those as he likes!

Hiatus

I have to head to a weeklong conference tomorrow, so the blog will be on hiatus until next Saturday...unless Jon snaps pics of the little man and updates the blog while I'm gone. Anyone want to take bets on that happening?

xoxo

Story Time with Cade

As mentioned yesterday, Cade loves to read us stories. Here's a sneak peek of Cade's narration.

Reading is Fun!

When Cade first started at the YMCA, he cried every time I dropped him off. You can see from the photo below, taken this morning after I told Cade it was time to go bye-bye to school, that he is well over this fear...

When we got home from Uncle Kyle's softball game, we ate dinner and then played and read stories. Cade loves to sit in his chair from Auntie Lisa and read stories to us. Tonight's feature was "Max the Minnow" - hence, the googly eyes on the book.

All Aboard...

We enjoyed the nice evening outside with Cade's first official wagon ride. I think Cade thought he was in a parade because he waved at everyone we saw.

He then had quite a lengthy conversation with his teddy bear wagon companion until....

man overboard.

After the wagon ride, Cade and daddy played some kick ball in the yard.

Without further adieu...

...or much adieu about nothing if you came looking for pictures of the little man today. Instead, we finally have pictures of the completed master bath remodel. It was a loooong week of work, but worth it for us. Although it's safe to say I wouldn't need to see a palm sander again for quite some time. I'm sure Jon would say the same about plumbing fixtures!

Before

After

Before

After

More...

16 Months...

It's hard to believe our sweet "baby" boy is 16 months old. He exhibited his "I'm a big boy" tendencies today while on our first bike ride with the bike trailer...aka "I don't need this helmet on mama." I'm fairly certain he was trying to pull the helmet off the entire bike ride. At least things started out well...a bit tentative and unsure, but overall a success...