Yesterday we decided to take a family field trip. We went all the way downtown (Golden, that is!) to visit our old stomping grounds - the Coors Brewery. They have made lots of changes since JZ and I gave tours there while we were in college - including no more tour guides! Now, instead of going through the brewery with a tour guide it is a self-guided tour. We enjoyed the new tour, the sampling (some of us more than others!), and the presents we took home from the gift shop.
The boys in the sampling lounge - JZ is having a Blue Moon, Caden is having some Goldfish crackers
Caden's present from the gift shop was a mini Coors Light basketball. He was crawling around the gift shop (no judging - I couldn't keep him contained any longer!) and found the basketballs. One immediately went in his mouth so we decided it should come home with us!
We've always been a Coors family, and we're starting this one early!
We've already started the birthday celebration around here! Earlier this week we received two big boxes from Grammy and Papa. And, while the boxes were pretty fun...
...the SLIDE that was in one of the boxes was even more fun!
The box was pretty badly damaged when it got here, so we decided to go ahead and put it together to make sure all of the parts were there.
On a side note, Caden has now figured out what to do when I pull the camera out. Every time I say, "Smile!" this is what I get
Yesterday we had our first casualty, a plant by the front door. This poor plant has been around forever and I have (unintentionally) tried to kill it by lack of watering many, many, times. It never bit the dust; however, it was no match for our little monkey. I caught him swinging from the limbs and before I could get there...
...down it went. Dirt everywhere. I did make sure to take a picture or two before I cleaned it all up.
Now, can we please have a moment of silence for our dear, departed plant
Poor Caden has been a toothless wonder for a long time. He has struggled getting his little toofers to come through, but FINALLY, they have! They popped through about a week ago and have slowly been growing ever since. Here are the best pics I could get of his two new teeth.
Today was a big day for our little man. We decided to move him over to his big boy car seat. We have had both seats since January, and since he's so squishy in his infant seat and we were going to have him ride backwards anyway, we decided to go ahead and change him.
Here is his last ride in the infant seat
And just for fun, here was his first ride in the infant seat
Seriously, I'm wiping tears from my eyes now!
We made an appointment at the fire station for their tech to show us how to correctly install his seats into both of our cars. We debated on whether or not this was overkill - it's just a car seat right? Wrong! Have you seen these things? They're like spaceships! In the end, even JZ said he was glad to have someone trained in installing these puppies showing us how to do it correctly. The tech told us that fire fighters have to take a 40 hour course to become certified in car seat installation ( I'm sure that certificate is hanging on his wall!). I'm not sure why that is so shocking to me - that is pretty precious cargo!
Here is our GFD friend, Robert, helping JZ put the first seat into my car
While we were waiting, the nice GFD guys opened the bay for Caden and me and let us play on the fire trucks. The last time Caden got his picture taken on a fire truckwas at Buffalo Bill Days. Little squidget was only 2 months old!
Caden was such a good boy that they said we could come back anytime. Maybe next time they'll let us slide down the pole!
In the end, our trip to the fire station was very successful
The jury is still out on whether or not he loves the new car seat. He has to face backwards until he is at least one, but we may be back there in two and a half weeks to turn him forwards. He didn't yell all the way home, but it's tough to say if that is because he was diggin' his new ride or because I let him have his pacifier. Either way, it was a lovely trip.
I know it has been almost two weeks since I have posted. I'm sure you're probably missing Team Zahrte, although honestly, no one has even mentioned my lack of postings. Weird.
Anyway, I have a good excuse. See, the weather here has been so beautiful. And we got a cool new stroller. So, instead of posting on the blog, we have been walking and playing outside. A good choice, I believe. Today, on the other hand, is a little Seattle-ish. So here I am, updating the blog instead of doing laundry. Another good choice I believe!
So....what have we been up to? So glad you asked!
You already know that Caden is good at pulling everything out of the cabinets and cooking for us. Now he's now decided that recipes are necessary.
He's also been learning to play baseball
And doing gymnastics
My favorite part of this video is when he tries to figure out how to take a drink out of the sippy cup while still dragging the chair!
He's also started pushing things as walkers. Now, does he use the two walkers that we own? Nope he prefers the kitchen trash can and his dump truck. Unfortunately, the dump truck often dumps while he's holding on to it. Ouch. He also loves making the truck dump. One evening he put plastic Easter eggs into the truck and then dumped it. Over and over and over again.
Thanks Auntie Megan! Best. Gift. Ever.
JZ and I even got to go out one night. We went to the WOW! Children's Museum annual fundraising dinner. Last yearit was a western theme, but since the event was 6 days before I delivered Caden, only JZ dressed up. This year we were all in for the pirate theme - Aaaaargh!
What is it that has Caden (and Daddy!) glued to the TV?
Handy Manny? Thomas? Elmo? Nope...
it was a Paul Simon concert DVD. He sat and watched for about 10 min, and he NEVER sits still for that long. That is Daddy's boy for sure!
I'm still not sure why I ever buy this boy toys. Here he is laughing while Daddy kicks around an empty diaper bag. He was laughing way more before I turned on the camera, but it's still cute anyway
It's hard to believe that he will be one in just two and a half weeks!
...and fall down them. He didn't make it all the way to the tile, just to one of the landings, but he did get his first bloody nose. We're working on turning around backwards to go down, but he's not getting that quite as quickly! (Pay no attention to the super soggy diaper. That's why we were heading upstairs!)
He loves "people" food. He now turns up his nose at pureed food and only wants what we're eating. Two nights ago he ate pot roast with us. I'm glad someone likes my cooking!
He can now show us "how big" he is (sometimes)
He can pull every cookbook, piece of tuperware, and bowl out of our cabinets/shelves
He has a few words - some we understand (Mama, Dada, Nana) and some we don't (Ba ga ga!)
He has also started having a little separation anxiety. He now cries when we leave him in the nursery at church or the gym and everytime Daddy goes into his office and closes the door - he is a TOTAL Daddy's boy!
It's hard to believe that one month from today is his 1st birthday - I only have one more sticker for him to wear! Happy 11th month Birthday Caden P - you're so big!
