The blog has really suffered lately.  I guess things at our house are just crazy busy these days.  We don't seem to accomplish things...just constantly addressing Caden's whining!  That kid is growing increasingly more and more wild with every passing day.  I guess that's what I get for having a child with Nadia.  He obviously gets the wild side of his personality from his mom. 

Caden hasn't really started "crawling" per se, but he is getting very efficient at pivoting and spinning on his belly - and then scooting backwards.  He will backwards scoot from one side of the room to the other rather quickly.  His new favorite toy seems to be a bucket!  His mom keeps a bucket with his nail clippers, bulb syringe (nose sucker thingee), thermometer, ear thermometer, and two lids from baby food jars.  These "toys" seem to be of far more interest to him the past few days - moreso than any other items (real toys) he could play with.

Tonight, we left him playing on the floor with his "toy bucket".  As it's a rare treat that he will play semi-quietly on the floor by himself, we left him for several minutes as he was willing to do so for the time being.  I watched him as he scooted and played - and scooted and played...until he found himself at the entryway to the kitchen.  He found a door stopper along the baseboard - the little spring type that makes funny noises when you hit it.  He was content to play with that for a few minutes.  I kept watching him every few minutes when I realized the little white rubber tip that goes on the end of the doorstop was gone!  I jumped up and checked his mouth.  It wasn't there.  I checked his hands, under his belly - I called for backup and his mommy started to panic.  I thought to myself, "Surely he couldn't have eaten it!  Could he?"  I then came to the realization that this was Caden that I'm talking about and thought, "Sure he could have!  He eats ANYTHING!"  Chris then found the rubber tip - it had rolled under the door to the pantry and was just out of sight.  Whew!  Trip to the ER averted!!

Earlier tonight, I was holding Caden on the sofa, while Chris was kneeling on the floor just in front of us eating something from the coffee table.  He was just barely out of Caden's reach so I took Caden's hand and pretended to be sneaking up on Chris.  Caden would get real quiet and as I used Caden's hand to start rubbing Chris head wildly, Chris would snap his head around and "yell" at Caden.  Caden thought this was the most hilarious thing he has ever witnessed.  He laughed wildly every single time we did this for about 3 minutes.  Full out belly laugh.  It was classic.

Nadia is doing well in school thus far.  Last week she scored an "A" on her algebra exam AND her psychology exam!  I'm really proud of her!  She's doing fantastic.  Keep up the good work sweetie!!

*Disclaimer:  permission was requested and obtained prior to writing this blog entry.

One of the many - MANY benefits of having married my beautiful wife, are the smiles she brings to my face from time to time.  Occasionally, she says something that just doesn't sound quite right.  I have the delicate task of correcting her, without coming across as "making fun" of her.  It's a tricky balancing act - one that I have mastered over the years. 

Her slips have decreased in frequency over the years, but she still has some good ones left.

Since Nadia has enrolled in classes this semester, I've been granted the privilege and the honor of proofreading her papers, essays, etc.  A few days ago, I was proofreading one such paper and came across a sentence which began:  "First able...."

As is often my approach, I tried to gather context clues and decipher what she was trying to get onto the paper, but I was not successful.  I then asked her, "What are you trying to say here?" 

She exclaimed, "I tried to put in "firstable" but spellcheck said it was wrong!  It made me change it to "first able" instead!"

I responded, "Well, 'firstable' is incorrect - but I'm still not sure what 'first able' means either."

She said it a few times aloud, "firstable" - "firstable" - "firstable"?

I then realized what she was trying to communicate:  "First of all..."

I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't help it.  She has always thought when she's heard someone say "first of all" - they were saying "firstable".  I guess after saying "first of all" a few times, it does sort of sound like "firstable".

I explained to her why we say "first of all" and she understood.  We shared a laugh.

I continued with the proofreading...the next sentence started:  "Secondable..."