Walking, Rocking, and Carl

Well, not quite walking yet, but kinda. He's taking up to five or so steps at a time, still very wobbly, and still not real consistently, but he seems to be showing more enthusiasm for it. Today he actually walked a few steps to me, fell down, stood back up (without help), walked a couple more, fell down, and then decided to just crawl. And then later this evening he was standing by the bed in his room and wanted the blanket out of his crib so he walked the few steps to get it instead of crawling over there. Hopefully we can get a video of it soon so you all can see it. It's pretty amazing to watch him learn new things, and it blows my mind at just how much little babies' brains develop and pick up at this age.

This video is of Cade in his rocking chair. This chair was a very special birthday present from Susie's parents. This rocking chair belonged to Susie's great grandfather. Susie's dad refinished the rocking chair and then they had the webbing replaced so it's as good as new. Cade is still a little small for it, and for the most part he's ignored it until just recently. Susie got a good video of his newest trick, which is how he likes to climb into it and rock.

Here's a bonus outtake:

I wonder if any other parents out there fight the getting dressed battle like we do. Every night we follow pretty much the same routine. When Cade starts getting tired we get him in the bath. We'll do a small snack with some milk either before or after the bath. After bath/snack, we brush his little teeth (all ten of them!). Then we read a book or two together. Then we say our prayers and it's off to bed. He's generally very compliant throughout the whole process, probably because we're pretty consistent with it and he knows what's coming. But.....at least 9 out of 10 nights it's a major struggle to get his pj's on him after his bath. I wonder if he thinks if he fusses enough that one glorious night we'll let him sleep in his birthday suit. I don't know why he gets cranky with us, but once his pj's are on him crab Cade goes away and sweet Cade returns from wherever he was hiding.

Cade is constantly adding to his vocabulary, and it's not always the words we expect. A friend and coworker sent a book for Cade called "Good Dog, Carl" (thanks Kate!). It's a story about a lady who leaves her baby under the dutiful watch of the family rottweiler, Carl. While she's gone, the dog gets the baby out of the crib and they have tons of fun dancing to music from the stereo, raiding the fridge, playing dress up, sliding down the laundry chute, and jumping on the bed. Before the lady comes home Carl puts the baby back in the crib and cleans up their messes. When the lady returns she's pleased to see the baby sleeping in the crib and tells the dog, "Good dog, Carl." It's a fun book because other than the initial instructions and the final words of praise, there is no text, so we can make up the story as we go. Well, tonight Cade grabbed that book and handed it to me. I said "Good Dog, Carl!" and Cade looked me in the eye and repeated "Carl." Then he kept saying it. Hilarious. He hears the words "good" and "dog" way more frequently than "Carl," but he chose to say "Carl." I shot a quick video on my phone, so the quality's not super, and the lighting was poor, but hopefully you can catch it. (And yes, he's sitting in his toy box. I'm not sure why, but he just climbed in it, which made me laugh.)