What a Smart Young Man.

We had parent teacher conferences for Caiden last week. We had a really great conference this time.
About a month ago we had an unofficial meeting with his teachers and were told that they had some concerns about his behavior. We discussed their concerns as well as ours.
The consensus?.... He was bored, bored, bored. Preschool is just to easy for him and the fact that he is getting a repeat from last year was driving him to boredom which equaled naughtiness and attention seeking.
So the teachers have been working on challenging him more and teaching him things that he hasn't already mastered.
So with that in mind, we have been working on first grade skills in both reading and math.
It is good to see him having a challenging time with trying to figure out how to add double digits and reading complex words (sh, ch, st,).
It was good for me to hear just how well he is doing and who wouldn't love hearing that they have the smartest kid in class? (and possibly the school) The teacher said that she wished that they had a gifted program that they could offer him. For now we will just continue to challenge and teach him until he feels like he needs to slow down. He truly amazes and inspires us.

He has been acting better in class and expressing his needs and frustrations as they come up.
I just don't think they were prepared to have a child that can articulate his needs and so they didn't know quite how to handle his strong personality.

His latest obsession is memorizing dialogue. He told me that he wants to be a movie star.
This is the latest thing that he has memorized. He is mesmerized by the newest version of Charlie and the chocolate factory.

*Greetings,to you the lucky finder of this golden ticket, from Mr. Willy Wonka.
I shake you warmly by the hand and invite you to my factory for ONE WHOLE DAY.*

He also loves jingles from commercials.
* Nationwide is on your side *
(He used this one when we were at a meeting and the presentor was discussing some national statistics about the subject.)
She said " These statistics are nationwide.....
He busts out in song, "Nationwide is on your side!"

The other one that he loves is,
OXI CLEAN WITH KABOOM. IT GETS THE TOUGH STAINS OUT!
or if it is just KABOOM.
KABOOM AND THE STAINS ARE GONE!

I was stirring grape juice and some of it spilled on my white shirt he told me that we needed to use (in his best infomercial voice) OXI CLEAN WITH KABOOM. IT GETS THE TOUGH STAINS OUT!


♥Caiden, thank you for being my boy. I just love you so much and think you are such an extraordinary young man. You never stop making us laugh and have such a fun personality.
Keep up the excellent work in school. You are truly gifted and very talented. ♥ MOM

Service With a Smile and Some Yummy Cookies

While we were at church on Sunday I noticed that one of the sisters in our branch was not there. It is not like her to miss church, so when Caiden and I got home from church I called her. We found out that she was not feeling well.
Caiden and I decided to bake a batch of cookies for her as well as have him make a get well card. (Scott delivered them to her so that he could give her a blessing.)
We also took plates of cookies to a few of our neighbors. I believe that it is never to young to instill the desire to give service and provide random acts of kindness.
I also believe that receiving cookies from a little boy as handsome as Caiden would bring a huge smile to my face.

How cute is this card? Caiden said that the hands are shooting webs like Spiderman.

My sweet little boy making his cookie delivery.

A Scary Story... By Caiden

While we were driving home tonight the kids were all telling scary ghost stories. Caiden wanted to tell one too.

Once there a room, and in the room was a couch, and on the couch sat a shadow figure.
On the back of the couch there was a note. The shadow figure read the note- it said,
BOO!!!

We all got a good laugh at how scary (more like cute) his story was. I sure adore that little boy.

Hair Cuts are No Fun

Caiden does not love having his hair cut. It usually starts with a big fight, lots of tears and a constant stream of "are we finished yet?"

This was a super fast hair cut. The reward was a super happy boy at the end.

So handsome!!!

Natural History Museum

We like to take Caiden to the natural history museum in Albuquerque. He has fun looking at all of the exhibits his favorite thing to do is spend time in the snake room, go through their volcano and look at all of the dinosaurs. Thank heavens for museum passes. Scientist in the making.

Seeing how an ant sees.

One of the dino friends.

Checking out the exhibit

OH NO! It's time to go!

It Needs More Grease.

We are firm believers in our children doing chores. Even as young as Caiden is, there are certain things that he is asked to do on a daily or regular basis. His hardest thing is making his bed. He has a hard time getting the sheet pulled up and to lay flat after he has tossed, turned and then kicked it down to the bottom of the bed.

He gets really frustrated that it doesn't look smooth. He will come asking for help even before he ever tries.
Caiden's response to needing to make his bed is one that is somewhere between disappointment and frustration at this very simple (to an adult) chore.
Each day my reply is the same. "Try your best and if you still need help, then you can come and ask me for it."

I decided to have a teaching moment yesterday. I wanted to teach him about the Grace of Christ. I sat down with Caiden and explained this concept - that we are asked to do our best while in this life, and if we do, Jesus will help make up the difference between us and being perfect so that we can return to heaven - this is grace.

I paralleled it with him making his bed. I replied similarly this time but added "Try your best and if you still need help, I will provide 'grace' for you and help you make your bed so that it looks nice."
I thought our talk went really well. He hoped right down off his bed and started to try it again.

A couple of minutes later he came looking for me again.
He said, "I can't get my sheet to come up, it's stuck.... I think it needs more GREASE."

(I guess my teaching moment didn't go so well after all. It did give us a good giggle and a fun memory.)

FYI,
Caiden's chores that he is in charge of:
Setting the table
Making his bed and putting away his pajamas in the morning.
Being nice to his family.
Emptying the little garbage cans.
(These next two are the ones he picked out... SERIOUSLY!!!)
Scrubbing the toilets (He loves the brush thing... strange I know!)
And mopping the floor. (He has a Swiffer Wet Jet that he LOVES!)

Schools Out... Let the Learning Continue.

At Caiden's last parent teacher conference, he did so well.
He had high marks in almost everything and has improved so much since the beginning of the school year. The progress report showed that he is ready for kindergarten except for in two areas. Those areas are fine motor skills and rote counting to 100. When I asked about the fine motor skills they said that they want him to basically love crafting, which he DOESN'T. (ME EITHER, but we have gotten out the beads and puzzles. So, I didn't totally disregard their suggestion.)
He still has a full year of preschool before he is even old enough for kindergarten so those two things will be easy for him to accomplish over the next couple of months.

I loved parent teacher conference this time. I went into it with a different attitude this time. I went in only looking at all the amazing things that Caiden does know, and understanding that he is going to have areas that are his strengths and others that are more of a challenge.

A funny/cool thing about Caiden is that he can learn anything if it is put to music. (Spelling of his full name, phone number, address and he is working on his birth date right now.)

Since school has been out we have been able to teach him his phone number (writing it and reciting it). I couldn't believe that it only took about 5 minutes for him to memorize it and have it stick. He has also learned to identify so many more of the numbers that he had been struggling with.... He officially hates the number 13. We taped it up around the house and drilled it into him at every corner.... he knows it perfectly now but begged us to please pull the cards off the wall.... "I hate that number!!!"
The poor kid had to be able to recall it before he could have it come down off the screen of the TV... Before he even went down stairs the next morning he stumbled out of his room and in his sleepiest voice he said, "The number is... 13." Poor little boy, he probably had nightmares that the number 13 was coming after him around every corner. Taping it up everywhere was simple yet extremely effective. (Thanks Ms. Vallo for the tip!)

I purchased a kindergarten readiness book and was quite surprised at some of the things that they want children to know before they ever start school.
A couple of the things that I thought were interesting were the full names of siblings and parents and their birth dates and ages as well.
Caiden knows our full names but not the other kids'. I think we will skip the birthday thing. It just doesn't seem that important yet.

I love being able to stay at home with him. It is great to be able to take the time to complement and reinforce all the things that he has already learned at school.

FYI... He can finally identify all of his numbers from 1-100 and is getting close to being perfect at wrote counting from 1-100 also. (He can even count by tens and 2's... HE IS AWESOME!!!)

CAIDEN,
You are amazing and wonderful. It is OK to fail sometimes, but you can only fail if you do not try. Be YOUR best!
We are so proud of your growth and development. You amaze us everyday.
You are such a blessing to have in our home and we thank Heavenly Father for you daily.
♥ Mom

~♦Cruisin Caiden Style♦~

We were able to take Caiden on his second cruise this past week. We went to the Western Caribbean which included: Grand Cayman, Belize and Key West. Due to the Swine Flu, Cozumel had to be cancelled. We left out of Miami and set sail for our vacation on May 3rd-10th.

Caiden had so much fun. He did everything from attempting to snorkel with sting rays and barracudas to building sand castles and zipping down a huge water slide. He loved the kids program that we got to be involved in. He loved playing with all the new toys, and doing science experiments and crafts. He even had fun at the dance parties that they had put on for the kids.

I love this picture! I just don't understand how water and a bunch of dirt can make little people so happy.

Scott and Caiden had a blast being together. Caiden is very blessed to have such a wonderful father and friend.

These sting rays were huge... Caiden was quite intimidated by them... I found out later that Scott was uneasy about them too. I find that interesting because I was able to dive in and pick them up, feed them squid from out of my hand and take pictures of them. I guess if the big tough dad is uneasy about them, how could I blame Caiden for being nervous? They were huge!

Caiden like watching the fish from the bow of a catamaran. He fed them meat and bagels.

~•~

Caiden had fun playing in a downpour in the Belize rain forest. He was awesome to have a long.

It was pouring buckets of water.

Caiden was surprised that the snake didn't feel slippery. He got a bit nervous when it started to squeeze his little arm and hand... Really, how much more adventure could this little boy take?

Caiden and his new friend Mia had so much fun together. She was a very nice girl and Caiden enjoyed finding a new friend. We were glad that we made new friends too.

We loved feeling the warm rain. It felt like being back in Massachusetts again.

We were soaked for hours... it was a good thing that we had our swimming clothes on. Look at the pure delight in his little smile. This is a day that I will remember for a very, very long time!

~☺~

One of his favorite days on the ship was the Fun Ship Freddy Party. He loved the mascot and had to have all of the Fun Ship Freddy Toys, books and CD'S.

Freddy signed his book and CD.

He was so funny. You would have thought that Caiden was in the presence of a rock star.

He definitely was Fun Ship Freddy's biggest fan.
♦☺♦☺♦☺♦☺♦☺♦☺

As far as the food on the ship goes, he really liked the bacon. Every morning that is all that he wanted to eat. We had to monitor it of course and encourage more fruits and veggies (I said encourage, that doesn't mean we were successful in our attempt. At dinner one night he was so tired of all the fancy food that he finally just said... "Can't I just have a hot dog or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" Our waiters accommodated him with a 2 hot dogs (no bun, just the wieners), fries and chocolate milk.... He thought he had hit the jackpot with this meal. I think the food was the hardest thing for him as a child. Presentation of fancy food means nothing if it isn't kid friendly.

Our Table mates: Rob, Karey and Mia; Us; Steve, Kim and Emma.

A magician came around to our children and did some magic tricks for our kiddos.

~☺~

Caiden loved our room steward. Her name was Signe, she was from Croatia. She knew how to make some pretty fun towel animals. Caiden adored them all. Every night when we would pick him up from his play time, he would be excited to see what new 'friend' awaited his arrival back in the room.

Caiden's bed was so comfy. He slept really well every night.

This is a snail..... I made the mistake of saying to our steward "Wow, that was a great swan."

She quickly corrected me, "It's a snail"... Well Duh, I can totally see it now!

Caiden kept asking for a monkey. I thought this gorilla was awesome.

Scott wasn't sure if these little guys were walruses or football players.

Piggy

Hibiscus Flower

Stingray- He was wearing Caiden's shades when we found him.

Isn't he cute? I learned how to make this elephant later after we returned home.

~•☺•~

I loved seeing the excitement on his face as we watched the ocean, the other ships and the sunsets. It was like taking two cruises when he was around. I enjoyed viewing it through the eyes of our precious four year old.

SO CUTE!!!

Miami Bay

Getting ready to set sail

I love how happy we look together.

I was so happy that we were able to spend such a wonderful vacation together as a little family. I love being able to share experiences with Caiden that most adults have never even been able to do. I hope by encouraging travel and adventures that he will find the thrill of traveling, a passion for the ocean and a love for learning about new places and cultures.

~♥~Caiden,

Thank you for being such a good boy on our trip. You amazed us when you wanted to try new things, when you were so content playing at Camp Carnival and that you were so much fun to have around. You only cried when you thought sharks would bite off your toes. Thank you for helping mommy realize that you are still little and that it is ok to be afraid sometimes. Thank you for trusting us enough to try it again. At four years old you have done some pretty amazing things and had some awesome adventures. I hope you always enjoy your time with mommy and daddy.

We love you baby boy and are so happy that you are our son. ♥ Mom and Dad