Friday, May 3, 2013

Cayden

Cayden, or Cay-Cay

12 short months ago, Cayden was the unchallenged baby of the year, by far.  I think Roo wins that contest currently.  Cayden is the leader of the nightime brigade, checking the bedroom door every 10 minutes or so for an opportunity.   Cayden and Gabe are close in the same way Austin and Roo are, unfortunately, they do most of there interacting after hours, in the dark. Seeing the looks on their two faces when they get caught coming out of their room at night is priceless, they know they did wrong, and immediately turn around and haul their little butts back up into their beds......only to repeat the process minutes later.

Cayden is our best talker, not many more words than others, but he speaks very clearly.  One of my favorite things about Cayden is he puts a lot of heart and emotion into anything he says.   You ask him what a cow says, and he will lay a "moo" on you better than any cow I know, with a lot of passion coming through on his face.   Same with train sounds, best "choo-choo" in a three state area.  Cayden can put a puzzle together like nobodies business, his cousin Jared thinks he is a puzzle-savant.    

Cayden is a lot more aggressive than he used to be. If you give him information he does not want, he has no problem walking up to you and giving you a smack. And Cayden throws the best fits, full body, loss of all ability to stand, tears-a-flying, out and out fits. Its hard not to laugh.  


meal-time fit
Cayden is still a thumb-sucker...the last one to hang on to pacifier or thumb.  Cayden does it with flair though, thumb in mouth while twirling or pulling the hair on the side of his head. 

Some of the adventures Cayden enjoyed the last year were trips to Traverse City with all grandparents, Cincy Zoo, Jumpys in Troy, Boonshoft, Sauder Village and many trips to see grandma and grandpa in Anna, indian lake or delaware.  

inspecting the lights at nana's

Just like Gabe, getting rushed and hugged by Cayden at the end of a long day of work makes it all worthwhile.     Love my Cayden, Happy Birthday.

Gabe

I think it was Uncle Jay that coined Gabe as Gabe-tron, and unfortunately, it has stuck a little bit.  He is still Gabey to many.

Gabe is still rough and tough and leave little doubt in how he feels about something.   He is quick with a cry, smile or punch.   Gabe likes to put together puzzles and he still loves to read books. Overall, Gabe is our best eater, still chomping away when the other two (three?) have resorted to throwing their food on the floor and ripping their bibs off. Gabe loves to be outside, loves to swing and go up and down the slide to the point of exhaustion.

Gabe was the first to move to a big boy bed, which he did in mid February.   He tested his freedom for a bit,  leaving the bedroom at night and heading down the hall, but within about 5 days he was trained and more or less stayed in bed, with Cayden sleeping in a crib beside him.   However, 6 weeks later he found a running mate when Cayden was freed from his shackles.   They have really tested us for the last 6 weeks.   We have tried many different things, but it takes a good hour for those two to settle down and drift off to sleep.   That hour includes 4-5 attempts to open the door and leave the room as Courtney or I stand guard outside the room holding the door shut (all to tearful howls as they are not set free to roam).  



Still the wanderer, Gabe is quick to head in the opposite direction of everyone else.   Whatever is going on here, there must be something much better over there.  If we are playing in the back yard, he wants to be in the front yard.  We went to the zoo last week, and he was first to jump into the goat area, and within minutes we found ourselves separated by 40 yards, Gabe all my himself, surrounded by a half dozen goats.  He was in heaven.

Gabe (and Rye) both stopped using their pacifiers a few weeks ago, fortunately, without great difficulty.    Prior to that, his pacficier, was a best friend, at least at night.  


Gabe gave us one of our biggest scares to date, when during vacation, he went tumbling down a set of 20 wooden stairs at our rental home.   In Gabe-like fashion, he shook it off within a few seconds and didn't miss a beat. 

Gabe is a big time grandpa's boy.   You put mom, dad and either grandpa in a row, and Courtney and I are fighting for second place.   "Poppo, Poppo" he loves to say.  

As I said before, Gabe does not pull any punches, you always know where you stand, for better or worse.   When he sprints to greet me when I come in the door at night, or first grab him out of bed in the morning, his bear hug, and greeting of "dada" makes everything in the world right.   Love ya Gabers, Happy Birthday.

Terrible Twos Times Three - Ryleigh

The triplets, now known around our house as "The Littles", turn two years old today.   We thought we would bring the blog back to life to commemorate.   Looking back, there have been a lot of changes in each of these three the last year.  

RYLEIGH - Still most often called Rye or Roo, Ryleigh continued to show the most personality as she marches towards two years old.    Rye likes to put her little index finger to her lip, in a pensive manner, as she is constantly pondering her next move.  You can see her little mind just a spinning as she moves to her adventure.

Rye shocked us when in late November, she settled down on the potty and proceeded to go pee.   A few times a day she will try to go, and about 50% of the time she is successful.  She especially enjoys her "potty lesssons" with Austin where early evening they wil disappear into the bathroom and he will provide her meaningful guidance as to what to do.  This lesson usually ends with a lot of water on the floor after they wash their hands.  It is funny to watch, because Austin takes it oh so seriously, barking out directions.


Ryleigh is best at following directions and understanding what we are trying to tell her.  She probably falls in the middle in terms of speaking, more clear than Gabe, but not as strong as Cayden.  She still adores shoes and clothes.   When Courtney introduces her to a new outfit, she sprouts the biggest smile and blushes red from the overwhelming excitement.   The last few months, when you are changing Rye's diapers, she intermittently commands "powder" or "cream".  But to Roo, it is not just cream, it is "Keeeem !", which for some reason, makes me laugh every darn time.  

Roo is the last of the three still in a crib.  She has taken a few naps in a bed, but seems to be still okay with a crib.   The difficult transition (and by difficult transition I mean absolute. living.  hell.)  (more on that later), has made us not so eager to move her to bed.  Rye developed into a much better sleeper the last year, she is usually the first asleep at night, and is pretty good about not waking up before 7:00.......most days.   Of course, some nights she can lay in bed talking to herself..."mama" "dada" "bunny" "bunny" for two hours.  "Bunny" might mean "Barney"...we are not certain.

Ryleigh and Austin play the best together.  We don't hesitate to send those two up to the train room together to play.  Introducing one of the boys though, usually results in a train up somebody's head.  She most assuredly takes after and tries to mimic and impress her older brother.  When Austin developed an unusual fixation in pointing out and discovering his toejam, it wasn't but a few days before Rye would sit on the floor, take off her socks, pick at her toes, and mutter "jam".... "jam."



Rye has a sweet tooth.  She likes her "num nums", as she likes to call them.  She is a pretty good eater overall, not letting the extra hurdle of sitting between her brothers and getting picked on and prodded much of the meal. 

Roo is more shy than Cayden and Gabe, but is getting better about quickly warming up to strangers, or family she hasn't seen in awhile.   Instead of screaming, she will get real close to mom or dad, and peak around the corner, flashing her big smile, until she determines it is safe.  Rye reminds me of my other favorite girl more and more each day, both in looks and mannerisms. 


Moreso than the boys, Rye still likes to be held quite a bit as she lets you know "Up".   There is no better feeling in the world, than grabbing Roo a little after 8:00pm, having her bury her head in my neck as we make our climb up the stairs, singing our little bed-time song, getting my good night kiss, and softly laying her down to sleep for the night.   I love you Rye, Happy Birthday from Dad.