Cannon Update and Stuff

Cannon is really turning into his own self. He just seems to be growing up so much, which is why I'm attempting to write it all down.

Here at the top 11 things about Cannon:

1. He has the memory of an elephant. He doesn't forget things or places, ever. For example, we went to Khols one day and he played with some Thomas trains there. This was about a month ago. Then last week we went again and as soon as we pulled in the parking lot he asked to play with Thomas! Things like this happen a lot. He is also really good at remembering names and faces.

2. He is incredibly social. He LOVES people and children. He makes friends with everyone, even strangers at the grocery store. People notice him too, with his curly hair and smiles. He will play with any kid, but he really likes boys that are a little older than him because he likes to wrestle and run. I have noticed that he makes friends with girls too. Florida offers free (some schools charge) preschool to four-year-olds regardless of your income. We will definitely be enrolling him, not because I think he needs academics, but because he would have so much fun playing with other kids his age.

3. Despite being so outgoing, he likes his private time too. Often times he will go to his room and read every book on his bookshelf. He likes to have some quiet time and time alone each day.

4. He is slowly starting to give up naps. Last week I attempted to get him back on his regular sleep schedule and put him to bed a lot earlier. He ended up sleeping 12-13 hours at night, but didn't want to take a nap everyday. He's not ready to give up naps all together, but a couple times a week he'll go without one. We just have to make sure that he goes to bed a little earlier on the days he doesn't nap. I'm fine with him not taking naps, as long as he's happy. Yesterday he didn't take one and we ended up going to the beach. Today, he protested one, but ended up falling asleep. Some days he'll just play in his crib for an hour or two. We've been putting him to bed around 7:30 and I love it! He used to go to bed at that time, but we somehow got away from it. I realized that I need my time in the evening to relax.

5. He loves trains, school buses, and motorcycles!

6. He is caring towards others. We are starting to get past the stage of "MINE!" Well, not completely. It has peaked, which means it's going to get better. What's mine is mine, what's yours in mine-that's still his philosophy. But I have seen some positive moments that make me hopeful. On Sunday I stayed in his nursery of a bit to help the teachers. Cannon had three cars and was deep into his play. His friend walked in the room, but you could tell that he had reservations about being there. Cannon immediately ran over to him and gave him one of the cars he was playing with. It made me feel good that he would think to do that without being prompted. I thanked him for sharing and told him that it made Aiden feel happy. I have never pushed Cannon to share or take turns, because that stuff comes with time. I don't like interrupting other children's play so that Cannon can have a turn and likewise, I wouldn't want someone interrupting Cannon's play. When I see that Cannon wants something someone else has I will tell him, "Wait until he's done or choose something else." This has worked pretty well. Or if someone is trying to take his toy I tell him to tell the kid, "I'm still using it." He's still working on that one though. If a kid tries to take a toy from him, Cannon will usually give it to the kid after he is finished playing with it. I love to watch moments like that.

7. Cannon and I bond over chocolate milk. It's our secret addiction. Really, it's slimfast. I LOVE slimfast, not because I'm trying to lose weight, but I like the way it tastes and it's a good quick snack or addition to a PB&J. I ask Cannon if he wants chocolate milk and we both get so excited we can hardly contain it! He has his choice of two special cups, specifically set aside for chocolate milk. We sit at the table and drink it together. He moves his straw when I move mine. We only treat ourselves a couple times a week, but it's heaven for a few minutes.

8. When it comes to eating vegetables, he is hit or miss, but I can always count on him eating avocados or sweet potatoes.

9. I love the way he says sandwich (samich) and giraffe (gee-raf).

10. He is very sentimental about his old baby things and clothes he's outgrown. Recently, I got rid of some of his baby things that I don't think we'll need when the next one comes along. He was so excited when I got them out of the closet and he seemed to remember them. I had to prepare him in advanced that we were going to give them to a baby who needed them. We had to talk about how he used to use them and I let him play with some of the stuff for awhile. In the end he was okay with it. I know he inherited that gene from me, because Ryan doesn't give a second thought to throwing things away.

11. He loves to give kisses! He is famous for giving unsolicited kisses. One night when I was putting him to bed, he just kept kissing me! He wouldn't stop! I loved it.

That's all that I have for Cannon. Now onto the rest of us.

We got our Christmas tree on Saturday. I really didn't want to spend very much money on one and I had set aside $25 expecting to probably only get a Charlie Brown tree. We went to a lot just up the street from us. The trees were fresh from Wisconsin and they all looked healthy and full. We found one for $29. It is a little bit short, but it is full and nice looking. It exceeded my expectations for that price so we are pretty happy with it. I knew we couldn't have a big tree in our little place anyway. I was super excited to decorate it! Ryan is a bit of a bah-humbug when it comes to holidays, but he happily goes along with my plans anyway. I thought Cannon would get excited about decorating, but he seems to have his dad's laissez-faire approach. He hung a couple of ornaments, but really just wanted to play with the nativity set. This works out because he leaves the tree alone, a stark contrast from last year. However, he does like the lights and asks that they be turned on all the time. Actually, he know about the plug so he turns them on himself.







Cannon does know about presents and is getting excited about that part! I have been ordering a lot of his presents from Amazon. Each time a package arrives he gets so excited! I open it alone and then hide it upstairs. He always goes upstairs to look for it and then laughs! I know he's going to be one of those kids that finds his presents. Speaking of finding presents, I found something that Ryan got me. I wasn't trying to snoop, I was actually looking for something else. Besides, I am the type that likes to be surprised. I didn't tell him, but maybe I will after Christmas.

Also on Saturday, we were invited to have breakfast with Santa at the YMCA in Palm Harbor. Cannon eagerly waited to sit on Santa's lap and then proceeded to tell him lots of stories including, "Daddy is home sleeping," which was true. I was impressed with the breakfast spread and then afterwards there were Christmas crafts. Cannon did a couple of simple crafts, but then he saw the big child care room and that's all he wanted to do! They said he could play in it and I sat in the corner for an hour and a half while he played. That's another indication that tells me he will enjoy preschool. I meant to take pictures, but I left my camera in my car and I didn't feel like going back and getting it.

On December 2, Ryan's work had their annual Christmas party and the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. We got all dressed up and hit the town! Ryan has never been to the aquarium, but I have been there with Cannon. They had the whole thing rented out just for us. They set up tables downstairs for eating. For dinner they had a salad station, pasta bar, and prime rib. Really good food! The best part was that we had full access to the aquarium so we didn't have to mingle with people we don't know. I did get to meet Ryan's boss and a few of his co-workers. They had the dessert station next to the sharks. So we got to eat our cake while watching the sharks. We were so needing a date and we had a great time. Afterwards, we went and saw the new Twilight movie (Ryan's suggestion). We figured that since we had a sitter, we might as well put two dates into one. My friend Jessica was so nice to keep Cannon overnight. She kept Blue too. Cannon slept in Ayden's room, so that makes it his first official sleepover with a friend. Jessica even made breakfast for us when we came to get Cannon in the morning!


We felt like real grown-ups going to a real party.

I bought an overhead projector for $25 on craigslist. Cannon loves to play with it and now he calls it Shadow. He loves to watch his shadow dance and he likes to move the light. I have been reading this blog, Play at Home Mom and they do lots of neat things with their overhead projector. That blog is so inspiring to me. I wish we had a playroom in our house!




Blue always has to be part of the action too!