Thursday, November 13, 2014

Cayden's Art Show

If there is one thing that Cayden's school does well, it's art. They are always painting stuff. In fact, at the end of each month we get a giant brown paper envelope the size of poster board stuffed with art. What do you do with it? I feel kind of bad throwing it away, but at this rate by the time we leave it will fill half the shipping container. Not really, but there is A LOT of it. 

Anyway, they had a Recycled Art Show at his school one Saturday to show off some of the up cycled goods. 

This is Cayden's silly face. All of my pictures are blurry phone shots. Sorry. Desculpe. 














His silly face photo is now in his room. Cayden loves school, which makes it easy for me to drop him off each day. In fact, since he no longer takes naps, we are thinking of letting him go until 3. I guess that means he's growing up...sniff, sniff. And to make it worse... Beckham will start going to school too in January!!


Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Boys

Hi. It's been awhile. It's really been some time since I've given everyone a status update on the boys. Not that there is anything wrong, but you know, the everyday stuff. The weight, the height, the likes, the dislikes, the quirks ...and trust me, there are plenty of quirks. 

I feel like I took so many pictures while we were in the US, and then there they sat, on my computer, just waiting to be rediscovered. So some of these are a few months old, some newer. 

It would probably be easiest to talk about the little stinkers separately and then as one. 

Cayden ( a.k.a. Cayden Rhys or Buddy, or Doodlebug)
Weight: 35 pounds
Height: 39 or 40 inches...I think.
Occupation: School, chatter bug, #1 Brother Pesterer, constant Christmas Present Notifier, Forgetter of Nothing!
Age: 3 Years and almost 4 months (wishes he was 5. Talks about it constantly and often is very insistent that he IS 5)

Likes: Spiderman, Ironman, superheroes, candy, treats, getting something special at the store, tennis, red chips from Kacey, Gabriel (at school), the number 5 (see above), the letter G (because of his friend Gabriel), ice cream, his Planes book (which is terribly long and much of which we kind of gloss over)

Dislikes: Things not going his way, whatever that may be. His brother. Sleeping in his own bed. 

* We have talked about Christmas and Santa Claus and so now every toy or thing he sees, he wants to add to his "list." It currently has about 50 items on it ranging from the Spiderman to Mega Bouncers (as seen on Henry Hugglemonster).

* He is obsessed with tennis. Wants to play, but is really too little. Mr. Egas is kind enough to humor him and play with him here and there. 

* He sings. Because of his slight delay of speech, he never really sang songs. Not now, he is quite good. They have been singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town at school, it's adorable. 

*He's obsessed with his classmate Gabriel. He wants to do everything he does. Wear socks with Crocs (uh, NO), take his Lightning McQueen suitcase to school, etc. The list goes on. 




Beckham (a.k.a. Little Stinker, or Beckham Connor)
Weight: 24 pounds
Height: 30 inches
Occupation: Whiner, Thrower of things off the balcony, Swirler of Stuff in the Toilet
Age: 1 Year and 4+ months

Likes: Food, lots and lots of food. Gummy Snacks, balls, playing in the toilet, throwing stuff off the balcony (including a remote to our TV), climbing everything, dancing, singing, going outside

Dislikes: Being told NO, not getting food when he wants it, not getting picked up when he wants, in general not getting what he wants.

*Beckham has had all 16 teeth for the last few months.

*He loves Cayden. He wants to do things like Cayden does. Cayden isn't wearing a shirt, Beckham takes his off. Cayden puts on big boy underwear, Beckham tries to do the same. I'm hoping this last one pays off when potty training rolls around.

*Sings. All the Time. Not anything recognizable, but its a constant, "Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba."  He especially likes the theme songs to Mickey Mouse Club House, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Doc McStuffins. He also likes the ABC's.

*Likes to dance. Shake It Off is a favorite.

*He plays in the toilet. And NO, I do not let him. We try and keep all the doors to the bathrooms closed, but sometimes we slip up. He will wander off, and it's the silence that is telling. I usually take off running to find a trail of wet toilet paper and a huge puddle of toilet water in the bathroom.

*He throws toys and remotes off the balcony. We are just on the first floor, so no one is hurt, but every time he does it, he tattles on himself. He will be out there playing, and then come in and point and "tell" me that he has done something. He then leads me to the balcony where he points to the ground. I finally just had to learn the Portuguese word for Dropped (Caiu) so I could explain why we make frequent trips outside to look for stuff.






While we were home for the summer, Cayden was smitten with the four-wheeler. My Grandma would always come over in the evening and take him for a ride to check cows, or drive around and look at stuff. He misses that. We actually saw a four-wheeler dealership here in the city, and he said, "Look, It's Rah-Rah's four-wheeler!" We had to start taking the keys out of it while we were at my mom's because he figured out how to turn it on!


Beckham and I are together 24 hours a day. Most of the time it's good. We have our routine. But I think he would like to play with other kids sometimes. The problem is that the school that Cayden goes to, Beckham would go 8-11, 5 days a week. I'm just not sure if I want him gone that much. He is still so little, right?




It's pretty hard getting pictures of them together. And Cayden isn't the problem. Getting Beckham to sit still for more than a second is quite a task. They are rotten together. If they aren't picking on each other, then they are wrestling which turns violent and someone gets hurt, or one wants what the other has....it's tiresome. I really hope they can get to the point of liking each other and playing together...without the violence. Cayden will often say, "Beckham Connor. What. Are. You. Doing?" I can't imagine where he gets that from?

As much as they zap the energy from me, they are cute, and I really can't imagine life without them. They are growing so fast. Cayden can recognize some words (Cat, Car, Dog), count to 15, dress himself, and if we would let him, probably serve himself breakfast.  We are excited about coming home for the holidays, and I know Cayden misses Millie!

*** From the top and bottom pictures, the kids are wearing the same shirts. These photos were taken about four months apart. Apparently it's all my kids wear.)