My Kid Is A Genius :)

Yesterday, a Parents As Teachers advocate came to the daycare to do free development screenings for the kids under the age of 3. She started in Cael's class. At the end of the day, she came into my room to ask me some more questions about what he does at home, if there's been any problems, etc. and she tells me that, out of all the other babies that were around his age, he scored the highest in all of the categories tested! He missed out on a few points in the Personal/Social section because he didn't roll the ball with the observer (guess he didn't feel like sharing that one lol). She said his fine motor skills are "amazing" because he can stack 3 or more blocks on top of each other, which isn't really expected at 13 months. She also said he shared a lot of the toys with her and told her many of the words he knows. He also showed her how he can flip the light switch off, which he does all the time at home. She said he's extremely smart! :) You have no idea how proud I am of Cael!

Last night, after dinner, Cael and I went for a walk outside. I picked a dandelion and was telling Cael "flower" and stroking it on my face and then his face, saying "pretty." He grabbed it from me and started to rub it on my face and say "pretty" lol Then we took it back inside so Brad could see and he did the same thing to Brad! It was so cute! He was just clutching the little dandelion like it was the most important thing in the world and wouldn't let it go :)

He's been sleeping through the night (pretty much) for the past few days. Last night he went to bed at 8 and woke up at 4 this morning :) That's REALLY good for him!

This morning I was trying to get him ready for school. I tried to take off his Elmo pajamas (which he loves) and he threw a HUGE fit. I decided we didn't really need to fight over this so I changed his diaper and put his socks and Elmo jacket on. When I went out into the living room to get my jacket and shoes on, he found his Elmo slippers and wouldn't let go of them, so I put them on his feet lol This is the whole ensemble

He was sooooooo happy lol When we got to school, he pointed up at the tree outside his classroom and said "tree"! That's the first time I've heard him say that! Now he has a whole bunch of words to say! This is his word list right now:

• Tree
• Light
• Kitty cat
• Mama
• Dada
• No no
• More
• Mo-mo (Elmo)
• Tickle-tickle (he says this when we see grass, since usually when we play in the grass, I tickle his face with a piece and say "tickle-tickle" lol)
• Bye bye
• On
• Off
• Dat (that)
• Duck
• Dog

He can also sign "cup" (which he uses for cup, truck, and up). He waves bye bye when he hears or sees a train or when someone says "train." He's so dang smart! It makes me so happy!

He also loves making messes when he eats. With this video, I turned around for literally two minutes to talk to Brad and send a text of the tent we had set up for Cael and when I came back, this is what I found lol

I'm so proud of my big boy! To think he's already grown up this fast!

DUUUUUUUUUDE!

I haven't posted in like two months! What is wrong with me?!?!

Well, I don't know if you noticed this or not, but Cael is turning one year old in six days. SIX DAYS. Am I freaking out? Yes, that's what I do.

Everyone has been well here. Cael has six teeth, is cruising and speed-crawling, and flirts his little heart out when there are girls around. He loves to say "dada," "mama," "no no," and "kee ka" (kitty cat). He also says "bubba" and "Gigi" (Brad's grandma). He weighs around 19 pounds and still has a big head and short body for his age. We're getting a "big boy" car seat for his birthday from Grandma Judy and Papa Russ. He's getting so big that I'm starting to get lost... He's already getting more independent and is hardly ever near me, can I handle anymore growing up? I guess I'll have to...

Brad's still at the copy center and loving it. He also recently (Christmas time) got an iPod Touch which he constantly plays with. He also has a brand new headset (Triton AX720) for the PS3 and is one a clan for Black Ops.

I'm at the daycare now and working roughly 25 hours a week. I love it there! It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than retail in any shape or form, especially anything at Dollar General. The people I work with are awesome and the kids are fun and hilarious. We have bad days sometimes but it's to be expected from two-year-olds. On Friday, we played with snow and talked about airplanes and cars (our current unit is transportation). I'm also taking all online classes and it's going really well so far. Though, it does seem like every week I end up slacking on one class while taking care of the rest. This week I accidentally slid off on my Technology for Teachers class. Whoops! Luckily I got most of it caught up tonight.

I found out on Thursday, when one of Cael's teachers was clocking out for the day, that she and Cael had a tickle fight and he headbutted her and busted her lip. It had swollen up and I felt so bad! She was a good sport though and laughed it off. I'm glad it wasn't anything more serious!

I found out this past week that another manager at Dollar General has quit and one cashier is leaving within a few weeks. The store manager is out "sick" with something that is requiring her to take off two weeks (ish). I remember having to pretty much pull teeth if another employee (or I) was sick and couldn't come in. Lovely how management always gets the best treatment and the employees under them get crapped on.

I figured since I've had a rant on here about my previous employer's poor management skills, I should break it up with some new(ish) pictures of Cael!



Messy boy in the bath





My first time using Picnik (and yes, that is his original eye color!) Looks diferent in black-and-white!




This kid loves him some green beans