Oh, Caden!

It always seems that right before his birthday, Caden will push all sorts of boundaries and be quite the handful.

*He wants to climb on everything and everyone, rough house all the time, throw tantrums, hit, kick, push, and pull. Time outs aren't working again.

*After coming home from CA, Caden suddenly became deathly afraid of the shower, although nothing happened there or here that can explain why. Justin and I took turns getting in with him the first couple days. Then I just stuck him in by himself and bathed him really fast. He wouldn't take a bath either. Finally I tried the infant tub. The first time he still cried, but ever since then he is fine with taking a bath in the "baby battuv" while I blow bubbles.

He's slept like that since a baby. Unfortunately, I couldn't find another photo like this.

*He also became afraid of the dark. The first week was a nightmare. Nothing helped. Not nightlights, glow-in-the-dark stars, leaving the light on, rocking him to sleep, letting him sleep with us, etc. He would finally fall asleep late from exhaustion but still wake up in fear a few times at night. I asked for help on Facebook and only received one answer from a friend. I even contacted my hero, Elizabeth Pantley, but felt like her advice was more for a 4- or 5-year-old. Even his nap time was affected. It's ended up being something we've just had to wait out. We've progressed to leaving his door open and the living room light on, with him tucked in with his giant monkey and Elmo. Hopefully in a few more weeks he will be back to normal.

*On the up side, he is back to letting me sleep in every morning. He either plays or falls back asleep on the couch. 

Napping on the couch under his monkey.

*He is getting his molars. I decided to try giving him a teething ring again and he loves biting it!

*Caden loves to be read to. His favorite books right now are Goodnight Moon and Go, Dogs, Go! He also likes Dr. Seuss. He doesn't want to read baby board books anymore. I instigated the change after taking him to family reading time at the library one day (instead of baby reading time) and noticing how well he listened to the longer, big-kid books.

*Yesterday morning it was awfully quiet in his room, so I went to investigate and this is what I found:

In his closet.

*He is obsessed with photos of himself. Whenever I write family blog posts, he climbs into my lap and wants to look through all the pictures.

*He repeats everything and talks so much. My favorite things he says are "Ha be (I'll be) right back!" and "Drive Daddy nuts!" (while running around crazy). He also loves listening to Michael Jackson, particularly the song "Rock with You," which he sings along to during the chorus.

I still can't believe my little baby is going to be 3 in a couple months!