He Rolls!

He has been trying for some time, but now at 5 1/2 months Caden can roll from tummy to back! We figure his being slow to roll is a combination of sheer girth (18 pounds is a lot of weight for little muscles to move), a marked dislike for tummy time, and his contentment with watching the world around him. Now he thinks life is great, because as soon as mommy puts him on his tummy, he can roll over and get on with whatever he was doing before.

No rolling pictures, but here's some others:

He really does smile!

We've been trying to get a picture of this for a while. If Caden falls asleep in his carseat, he keeps a deathgrip on the toy rings. It's like he's riding on a bus. Love it!

Cereal

Caden had cereal for the first time today. We made it pretty runny, so I don't know if he even realized it was anything besides breastmilk via spoon. But he was all for the spoon concept, except for the part where mom or dad hold the spoon.

Caden ready and eager to start

First bite: already going for the spoon

The messy game continues. Half of the cereal never made it to his mouth, because he would knock it out of the spoon in an attempt to grab it.

Done with food, on with playtime!

Caden still won't smile for the camera. As soon as the little orange light goes on, his smile turns off.

Spring Fest at Purdue

Formerly known as the "Bug Bowl" at Purdue, each spring they have a large outdoor festival where different clubs and majors have different booths with activities for kids and adults. Activities range from the Entomology department's "petting zoo", complete with tarantulas, foot-long millipedes, and bright blue caterpillars, to the "Hort" club selling all sorts of plants and flowers to all other sorts of things. We declined to enter the cricket spitting contest or the cockroach races, but we did find some things for the whole family to enjoy.

Picture of Caden with his current form of sitting up. Most of the time he ends up bent over with his head on the ground, unable to sit back up.

Caden and Mom in front of the sheep. These lucky sheep hadn't yet taken part in the sheep-sheering activities.

Caden and Daddy with a baby duck. I know it looks like Caden is scared, but really, he had been upset right before this, and the baby duck made him stop crying.

Not only was the duckling giving Caden duck-billed kisses, he climbed all over Caden and Jess. We had to keep him from diving off Jess's shoulder. Again, Caden wasn't scared of the duck- he was just mad his binkie was not available.

Caden in the t-shirt he got for "answering" a science question (via Mom)

Mom touching a tarantula for the first time. And I used to own one!
(Long story made short: gag gift from friends because I absolute hate spiders. It was banished to the basement and I never once did a thing for it. My poor mom)

Caden didn't really care about the huge millipede in Dad's hand- he wanted to grab the camera

Happy Easter!

We had a very simple Easter, but it was just the way Easter should be. Caden did get a little Easter basket (more so we could say that he got one than anything else), but my very favorite was the swim towel I made him to match his new swimsuit. I wish I could say that I am "crafty", but most of my attempts are failures, so I was proud that this one turned out. I'm so ready for summer! Good thing we are still having 70-80 degree weather out here. I had to turn on the A/C today!!
By the way, it's not that Caden doesn't smile. He just doesn't smile for the camera. As soon as we pull it out, this is the face he puts on. He will stop mid-laugh and stare/glare at it. This is why almost all of his smiling pictures are taken from the side with him not looking at the camera.

Summer Weather

That Maple Syrup post made me feel cold every time I looked at it, so I needed to add some warmer pics. The last couple of days have made it into the 80s here. I had to pull out some shorts from Caden's bigger sizes so that he had something to wear. He loved not having to be so covered up!
This is Caden's golf outfit from Grandma Rose- I think he's quite the handsome little man

Caden will stand at the couch like this for pretty much as long as we will let him. Now, how do we get him to roll over...?

He loves his "nakey time"