Entertaining Cayden

My mind has been wandering a lot lately. I think about the new baby and how we will manage with a new one and a two year old. I think about all the stuff I would like to get organized and cleaned out before he gets here. I think about the summer and what I can do with Cayden so that he doesn't get bored, but also things he can do without much help from me. I know I'm not going to be able to give him all the attention I give him now, but I also know that I never want him to feel neglected. My mission is to find ways to entertain him that don't involve the TV. There are times that Pinterest can be a detriment. It can be exhausting, without even having to do anything. But I have found a great list of activities for toddlers. Bingo! 

A couple of weekends ago, I busted out the shaving cream! I wasn't sure how Cayden would handle it. My first fear was that he would eat it. He does like toilet paper, so shaving cream may look like whipped cream and then it's down hill from there...

He loved it!

 He figured out that if you clap your hands, the shaving cream will splatter every where. This isn't a daily activity. I want to keep the novelty of it, so I probably will do this every now and then. But it does entertain him for a good 15 minutes. Which is quite long in my world.

 Boo. This game comes in a lot of different forms. Really anything he hides behind becomes a game of Boo. He recently started covering his eyes with his hands and saying Boo. I was washing his sheets the other day, and I went to put it in the laundry, and he insisted on playing with it. Okay? He drug it into the dining room, sat at the table, and basically hid under it. The cute part is when he says "Boo" it comes out in a quiet whisper. Boo.

 He likes to color. Heath has fears of markers on the furniture and walls, so when I first introduced coloring to him, I made him sit on a towel. This is our art place. He knows that he can't take the colors off the towel, and if he does, he's good about taking them back when you tell him to. We have been working on circles and colors. There was only one incident where he colored on the tile, and all I have to say is thank goodness for Washable Crayolas.

 He liked the chalkboard too! I was jotting down possible names and he decided to give his input. I'm not telling what the verdict is yet.

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you will be bombarded with photos of Cayden and his crew. The crew being characters from Winnie the Pooh with Mickey Mouse thrown in. On the weekends, they are every where! In the kitchen. In the chair. In our bed. Under the fort. He loves them, and I love that about him.

Boys are boys. Sometimes you just need to dump stuff out. And then not play with it.

Heath has been working a lot lately, so Cayden and I find ourselves eating for two. I cannot mention the number of times where I have thought to myself sarcastically..."Wow! I'm racking up the parent points here!"

Case-in-point: Cayden loves Chick-Fila. He calls it Bock-Bock (chicken noise). Earlier this week, we went to the mall, where he got a cookie (point #1). On the way home, he got Bock-Bock (point #2). I wanted Taco Bell. I have had some serious cravings for Mexican food lately. Not that Taco Bell is really Mexican, but anyway. As we were sitting at the window waiting for our food, Cayden is in the background saying, "MMMMmmmm" and pointing. I look around for the cows...and I can't figure out what he's doing. And then I see Dairy Queen across the way. Where he is pointing. Point #3. I swear, I have been there twice with him. And he now knows what it is. Crazy. And let me tell you, it makes you feel like a whale. What does my kid recognize? Fast food and the mall. Help me.

He has been working on his words lately and is getting better. We definitely don't have the S or C sounds down. But he's trying. His letter recognition is insane. I thank Elmo for that. He can recognize upper and lower case of a lot of them. I'm going to make him some flash cards to put around the kitchen.

Everyday I just think about how blessed we are with him. He's not the perfect sleeper, and I don't think he will ever sleep past 630am, but he loves to hang out in the bed with us in the morning, and I know one day he won't. He loves nose kisses and giving "knucks." And he screams for joy when I pick him up in the afternoons. I can't really ask for much more!