Right This Minute

* Loves his Carterbabes, fireworks, being outdoors, Mario [Marno/Marko] from Super Mario Brothers, Toys in McDonald's Happy Meals, and his sand box.

* Could probably be the President, Vice-President and Secretary of the largest Katy Perry [Purry] Fan Club in the world.

* Might not know very many nursery songs, but I'll be darned if he can't identify a current top 40 hit in two notes or less. His faves right now include: anything Katy Perry, especially Last Friday Night, Firework, and ET, Adele's Rolling in the Deep, Nikki Minaj's Super Bass, One Republic's Good Life, Foster the People's Pumped Up Kicks, Britney Spears' I Want To Go, and the list goes on. We are constantly switching radio stations in the car to find him a tune. We often end up listening to the same songs over and over, but hearing his little voice from the back seat makes it worth it. "All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, better run the kicks, run the kicks." I didn't say he knew the words perfectly...

* Has expanded his daily food choices just a bit. Now cheesesticks [string cheese], chicken nuggets, anything pizza related, goldfish, pancakes, grapes, carrots, and granola bars are usually fair game. Anything chocolate trumps all of the above. He is also a big fan of "nuggets and fries," which means he wants to get said nuggets from Wendy's or McDonald's. When ordering in the drive through, he'll roll down his window in the backseat and start repeating the order as you say it. If we're driving along and he sees anything with the McDonald's arches, he'll start yelling, "Mommy! Mommy! Nuggets and Fries!" He likes do-nots (doughnuts) and candy water (Sprite). Sometimes he asks for black candy water. Ha!

* His favorite colors [in order] are pink, purple, green, and warnage [orange].

* He loves prinpisses [Princesses].

* First thing in the morning he always requests to watch "TB." He likes pretty much anything on Sprout, Nickelodeon, and Disney. He doesn't really have a favorite show because one day he'll want to watch Spongebob, and then the next it's iCarly. You never know what he'll like best. One go-to show is Tom and Jerry... the old school version. In fact, he gets pulled in to all the old Looney Toon shows.

* One funny thing he's been doing involves the way he tries to communicate the phrase "do not". For example, if he's eating broccoli and he decides he doesn't like it, he'll say, "Mommy, I like broccoli." I'll say, "You do?" and he'll say, "No Mommy, I like broccoli." It's not until I look at him that I realize he is shaking his head no in order to communicate the "do not." It makes for some very confusing times.

* When he gets up in the morning, he usually let's me know that the "sun woke up" too.

* He recently went through this phase that anytime he was mad at you or was upset about something, he would scrunch his nose and look just like a Chucky doll. If I was trying to discipline him he'd get an upset look on his face and the scrunching would involuntarily begin. It was hard to not turn my head and laugh.

* He loves to inform people that "Carter eats boobs."

* He's really good at identifying his colors, numbers, and letters.

* He continues to be a whiz at the computer. He can navigate around many kid websites all on his own such as Yo Gabba Gabba, Disney, Sprout, etc. He is really good with a mouse or touch pad, and just loves to be on the computer. Sometimes he'll call me over to help him with a game, and when I'm at a loss for understanding what is supposed to be done, he'll grab the mouse back and say, "No Mommy! Like this!"

* When he does something mistakenly he'll say to himself, "Oops, Try Again." He'll even tell Jeff and I "Oops, Try Again." Like if I drop something out of my hands, I hear a giggle and "Oops Mommy! Try again!" I think he gets it from his computer games. If he clicks on the wrong thing a lot of them say, "Oops, Try Again."

* He tends to be very shy around other kids. When at the playground, he'll go running up to go on the slide, but if another kid crosses his path, he freezes. You can just imagine the coaching I had to do the other day at a McDonald's play place. Kaeden would go up this tall tower excited to play, and just as quickly come running back down because he'd see other kids at the top. He did it like 20 times before I was like, okay kid, let's go.

* He's at that age where I think he says "Mommy" 80,000 times in the span of a minute. Sometimes I don't even think he realizes he's saying it.

* He has a difficult time pronouncing words that begin in "sp". The "sp" turns into an "f". Sadly, some of Kaeden's most favorite things in life begin with an sp. He likes to "fin" around in my mom's office chair, loves running in the "frinklers", doesn't understand why "farkles" are for girls, loves "farklers" on the 4th of july, laughs while "fanking" Carter's booty, and is usually helpful in grabbing a burp cloth when Carter "fits" up.

* He is talking so much more every day. It's amazing being able to communicate with my little boy. And it's such a treat as more and more of his personality is revealed through his words. *Hoping not to jinx it*, but Jeff and I were talking the other night about how we've really seen a change in Kaeden's behavior in the past few weeks. I know a lot of people say that the three's are harder than the terrible two's, but so far Kaeden has been getting easier and easier. We think his language skills have a lot to do with it. He still challenges us as we all learn to set and respect boundaries, but the tantrums are quickly disappearing.

* The kid loves to dance and sing. Especially when he's copying music videos on the Disney Channel or Nikelodeon.

* Whenever he's saying something that he thinks is particularly awesome or interesting, he'll use his little pointer finger and point it up right near his face.

* He sleeps in his big boy bed, and actually prefers to go to sleep in there. He was sleeping in there through the night, but after a short span of night terrors [yes, they sucked], he now wakes up every night [almost like clockwork], runs into our room, and insists in getting in our bed. He's fully asleep and generally terrified while doing it. We're at a loss on how to correct the situation.

* Whenever a toy is advertised on TV he'll stop me in whatever I'm doing and tell me, "Mommy want that." I'll act interested in the item and say, "Oh, well maybe when we have monies." And that usually stops the begging. I'm pretty much screwed when he figures out that I do have monies, I just choose not to use them on every item he asks for.

* He's started this thing when we ask him to do stuff. He'll say.... "Ummm.... naybe yayer." Meaning "Maybe Later." At first we didn't understand where he picked it up from. Then we realized how much we say it to him. It's by far our favorite phrase of his. If we find something that he doesn't currently want to do, we'll keep asking him over and over if he wants to do it, and he'll sincerely answer each time, "Umm... naybe yayer."

* He's an amazing big brother.  I've been so surprised how willing he is to share things with Carter.  Carter will grab a hold of something that I know is very important to Kaeden, and I have not once heard Kaeden get upset or complain.  Even if Carter destroys the item in the process.  Kaeden will just look at with Carter with the item, and accepts that he has it.   It makes me so proud!