June

The start of our summer vacation - June 27 - June 29, 2008
Kaden and I started our trek to Ottawa without Daddy. Kaden was a real champ on the plane up until the final descent. I can only guess that what transpired was on account of the pressure change or perhaps air-sickness. Either way, just as the seatbelt light turned on and the pilot announced our imminent arrival in Ottawa, Kaden lost his lunch...and dinner...and whatever else he must have eaten that day. Poor little bear. Needless to say we made a mad dash to the washroom to do our best to tidy up before returning to our seat to treat the rest of the passengers to shrieking baby for the final 30minutes. Let's just say that I thoroughly enjoyed my glass (or was it two) of red wine when we arrived at Nanna and Poppa's house!

Kaden adjusted quite well to his new surroundings, time zone and company. On the Friday after our arrival, we met up with Kaden's cousins (Ben and Mia) to spend the morning at Andrew Hayden Park. It is a park/water-park combo. The kids were in heaven. How can you go wrong with water and sand?!

This last photo I like to call "Snack-time for Chuncho & Chunhca"! Apparently Mia's Spanish pet name is chuncha...meaning little pig. You can see Kaden is her male equivalent!

Daddy joined us on summer vacation on Saturday, June 28th. On the Sunday, we took Daddy to show him the great park Kaden had been visiting the past few days with Nanna and me. Who knew downtown Ottawa was so kid-friendly. Kaden took part in two of his favourite park pastimes - playing in the sand and on the swing.

Is this a genetic thing?
Kaden just can't help but to fill and dump - best game ever!
 

S'up? - June 22, 2008
Kaden kicks back in his stroller while we do some shopping at our local grocer. He's too cool for school. Those crossed legs kill me!|

Happy Daddy Day - June 15, 2008
What a great day. Kaden helped Daddy make coffee in the morning and then helped him open his D-Day gifts. Kaden was also up to his usual antics putting together a photo shoot for Daddy. He doesn't have much more hair than last year, but he is a little more active this time around! What he lacks in hair he makes up for in legs!

Check out the pair this year and last.

After a delicious breakfast we toddled out to the park for some playtime. We managed to distract Kaden from his constant mission to get to the swings long enough to play ball and be silly.

After a good swing Kaden lusted after his other new favourite pastime...playing in the dirt. First the gravel then the sand!

Kaden is getting even more adventurous when it comes to the slide. Not only can he go down on his own,
but he can get up to it himself as well. He hasn't quite figured out how to sit back down on his bum, but
in a pinch he has been known to go down feet first!
 

Summer is finally here...hopefully - June 14, 2008
The middle of June seems like an appropriate time for the sun to start shining...and stay shining... One of today's adventures was to attend the birthday party of one of Kaden's buddies. Sol actually turned one in February (we were in pre-natal together), but waiting to celebrate in June was a perfect idea. The party was pretty funny, it was basically a bunch of toddlers playing near each other with their respective parents trying to mingle while making sure said toddlers didn't get into too much trouble! Kaden gravitated to the dirt, of course. He happily played in the sandbox and even managed to figure out how to get in and out on his own. Very impressive. He also discovered a new driving toy. I'm already wary of the day he asks for my keys... Kaden and Daddy also had fun playing in the hammock. Not caught on film of course was Kaden's acrobatics...fortunately I didn't witness it either... Craig thought it would be a great idea to get in the hammock with Kaden, of course, as soon as he sat down it launched Kaden out! Kaden bounced out onto his head, rolled over and got up...LAUGHING!!! He thought it was a game. Better than the alternative I suppose. And of course, no party would be complete without cake. Delish.

Weeble Wobble - June 13, 2008
Kaden is getting so much better at walking. He is cruising like a champ around the house and now will happily walk holding our hands for assistance. He's not very steady and still leads his body with his head, but he's getting the hang of it. I risked it the other day and tried to trundle around with him holding only one hand. We don't go very far very fast, but in this case, it's not like we were going to miss the trains...

You can't keep out Kaden...or keep him in anymore... - June 9, 2008
Kaden actually discovered this new trick a few days ago, but this was the first time I could catch it on video. Apparently, the builders who installed our doorknobs don't have children.

What else are pockets for? - June 8, 2008
A few of Kaden's bibs have "pockets", which are meant to catch food that inevitably misses the mark. Either way, Kaden enjoyed his bib-discovery today.

Music to my ears...if perhaps I was deaf... - June 8, 2008
For a while Kaden had a plastic food container, some measuring cups and a wooden spoon to play with while I was doing other things in the kitchen. After this discovery however, the plastic container disappeared...

Who needs a dog? - June 8, 2008
I don't know what got into Kaden today, but he was a wild animal. At various times throughout the day Kaden could be found stuffing toys in his mouth and then continuing to crawl, cruise or play. Weirdo. In between rounds of behaving like a dog, we took a break to go play at the park. Daddy and Kaden teamed up on the see-saw.

Continuing with his 'dog theme', Kaden demonstrates a few tricks with the ball.
He is actually getting quite good at playing fetch...I mean catch! He's got a pretty good arm too.
        

Science World - June 2, 2008
Kaden took in the KidsZone at Science World this week. We last visited in November with his cousins, but being immobile at the time only his eyes and ears got to explore. This time around, he happily crawled and climbed amongst all the other toddlers. He was fascinated by the experiments that he could touch and move and he was SO excited to watch a train go around and around. There was also a water exhibit, but we couldn't linger too long there as Kaden had no desire to move the boats along the course...just to splash himself and other innocent bystanders!

Kaden really enjoyed going back and forth through the tunnel.
 

First Steps - June 1, 2008
Kaden has been cruising on furniture for a while now, but really hasn't been interested to walk about holding our hands. This weekend though he discovered that not only could he kneel behind his car, but he could stand and push it...while walking! What fun. Our house is pretty much a straight line, so he walks until he hits a wall...or toy...or stroller...and then says "more" so that we will turn him around to go again! If the rain ever stops we'll have to take the car outside and see where we end up!