A few more pictures from today

An 'early' morning ride..

I was making breakfast this morning, when I heard "vroom vroom vroom" from around the corner. Casey had climbed into his bike by himself, put the straps over his shoulders and was trying to strap himself in. How could I not take him out? So off we went, in our pajamas with our morning hair..




It's only a matter of time before he'll be reaching the pedals, and peddling by himself :)

Have I mentioned how much fun this child is?

A few Easter basket ideas..

I know it's still two months away.. but everyone knows I'm an over-planner :)

FOR THE BASKET :

Sidewalk chalk - Crayola have bunny shaped sidewalk chalk which is really cute, only I'm not sure whether he'll understand he's supposed to draw with them (since they're in the shape of bunnies).. but it's between those and these.

An art smock - Crayola have a cute one, and Bumkins do the Dr. Seuss.. and by then he'll probably be almost ready to start painting!

An Easter themed coloring book.

TaDoodles refills, and jumbo crayons - Always needed.

A language DVD - I've been thinking of starting a language program with him, but since we're already doing the Your Baby Can Read, I don't want to throw too much at him all at once. I'm thinking maybe just a small set of Spanish DVD's like these would be better.

A couple of t-shirts - Because a toddler can never have too many clothes.. and because I've seen some awesome t-shirts in a 2T, which he might be close to fitting into by then!

Then of course the usual socks, BabyLegs, toothbrush (he goes through so many toothbrushes, it's crazy), squirt toys for the bath, etc. We'll probably get him one of those Lindt hollow chocolate bunnies.. but we're trying not to get him too much chocolate this year. He got so much at Christmas, that we still have some left in the fridge, and I'm sure he'll get some from my parents too. Also, I think those Gerber Yogurt Melts are a great alternative to candy, as well as fruity Cheerios.. so we'll probably do those too.


FROM THE EASTER BUNNY :
These are just some ideas I've had - the Easter bunny could bring him something totally different!

A big bag of Mega Bloks - I'll probably end up getting these before Easter.. it does get annoying trying to build things and not having enough blocks, lol.

A potty - I know he's still a bit too young to start potty training yet, and there is no rush.. but I figured introducing it early and getting him familiar with it could only be a good thing :)

I also want to get him a toddler table and chairs set.. but I'd rather wait until we're back in Naples before getting him that, so we'll see.

FYI - Links

Blogroll and links are now located under the 'links' tab, at the top of the page. Just trying this out, in an attempt to unclutter the sidebar :)

Pictures, pictures, pictures..

How many pictures can a mother take of her 16 month old eating potato wedges at KFC? Loads.

You can see his swollen lip in this one.. he fell and hit his mouth on the coffee table :(

At Toys R Us..

The things he is saying ♥

Here is a list of the words that Casey knows so far (this will be an ongoing post, and I'll just add to it whenever he says something new) ;

Mama - 5 months
Dada - 5 months
Mum / dad - around 8 months
'Du' (duck) - 12 months
Hi / hiya / hello - 13 months
'Gog' (dog - but any animal can be a 'gog' .. unless it's a bird, in which case it is a 'du') - 13 months

'Ba' (bath) - 13 months
'Beh' (bed) - 15 months
'Buh' (bunny and book) - 15 months
'Muh' (monkey) - 15 months

Other sounds ;

Vroom vroom - 13 months
Mmmm (yum) - 14 months
Woof woof - 15 months
Mooo (cow) - 15 months
Baa Baa (sheep) - 15 months

He can also shake his head 'no' and nod his head 'yes' appropriately (13 months), and he does this all the time.
If I ask him a question, he'll shake his head 'no' or nod his head 'yes' .. or if I go to change his diaper, he'll shake his head 'no'. He'd happily soak in a wet diaper all day if I let him - he hates having his diaper changed.. he actually hates wearing a diaper at all.. he much prefers to be naked, lol.

Your Baby Can Read & a few pictures..

We're now on Volume 1 (part 2) of the Your Baby Can Read program, and he's going great with it!

He's learning so much.. Volume 1 focuses a little bit on the letter B, so anything that starts with a B (bunny, bear, ball, book, etc) he calls a 'buh'. He's learned to recognize everything from the Starter DVD.. if I say 'cat' he'll point to Cupcake or Oreo, he can say 'dog' and make 'woof woof' noises when he sees a dog, he'll point to his toes if the DVD says 'toes' .. he'll clap when it tells him to clap, and wave when it tells him to wave, and point to his nose. So it's definitely improving his vocabulary, and there have been signs of him actually reading the words too.. sometimes we'll be reading the book, and after seeing the word, he'll do the action before I speak it. He's loving the 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes' song on Volume 1 DVD too!

His new thing right now (not related to Your Baby Can Read) is making 'mooo' (cow) noises. He's learning something new every day these days, and I'm so proud of him!

And just a few pictures from today ;

Definitely need to get refills for his TaDoodles..

Eating Domino's Pizza for dinner..

Bits of our day..

Casey drew on the bathroom floor with a green crayon while I was making breakfast this morning (I still can't figure out how or where he found it, because the others are up on the entertainment center). And he was so proud of himself that all I could do was tell him what a pretty picture he'd made, and redirect him to his coloring book. It washed off easily, so no harm done.

He has this red Mini Cooper that my dad gave him from work, and it seems to be his 'toy of the day'. He's been driving it around the house making 'vroom vroom' noises all day.

This afternoon, he emptied about half a pack of Goldfish crackers onto the carpet, then lay down on top of them so I couldn't pick them up. Well.. I could have moved him if I'd really wanted to, but I let him eat what he wanted (which was almost all of them) then vacuumed up the rest when he was done. Life is never boring with a toddler ;)

I'm a little concerned that his ear infection might not have cleared up completely. He only has one dose of antibiotics left (he actually should have been done with them by now, but we were told to finish the bottle and there is still some left).. but he's still putting his finger in his ear all the time. He doesn't seem to be feeling bad.. no fussiness, his sleeping and eating patterns and behavior are normal, and he's his normal happy little self.. but the fact that he's still putting his finger in his ear makes me think it might not have cleared up properly..

A new month, and a new look..

Caseybrake.com has a new name.. and a new look!

The header was designed by Jessica at The Frilly Coconut Design Shoppe. She was great.. so patient with my constant asking her to change things, and replied almost immediately to every email. If you're wanting a new look, check out her portfolio here. She does headers, backgrounds, buttons, navigation bars, signatures, Twitter backgrounds, entire blogs and more. I'll definitely be asking her to design my next header.. probably an entire blog next time, if I'm feeling like a big change! :)

I was originally going for an entire blog design, but while I was waiting for a spot to come available on Jessica's design list, I played around a bit with fonts and made my own navigation bar, and well.. you know how it is.. when you create something you like and don't want to get rid of it. The header really did need some work though.

Anyways.. I hope you all like the new look! I love that it's so bright.. kind of looks like our living room, which is filled with primary colored Mega Bloks and such, lol.

More drawings..

Drawing in his Sesame Street coloring book ;

He colors with both his left and right hand.. although most of the time he'll use his right.

I think we're going to need to stock up on crayons and coloring books!

Speaking of Sesame Street.. he is loving it right now. I usually don't let him watch any TV, besides his Baby Can Read DVD's.. but I read somewhere that Sesame Street helps language skills in toddlers.. so I've been letting him watch it in the mornings while he's eating his breakfast. He'll sit there and wont make a sound until it finishes, or a break comes on.. it's like he's in a trance.