Overdue....

Ok, I am overdue for a post. I have so much to post about, but by the time I get home and put Kaden to bed, my mind is too tired to think.

First, I want to thank everyone who has voted for Kaden and for those who are spreading the word to vote. Because of all of you Kaden is currently in first place. We still have 8 more days for votes, so if you haven't voted, please do so!!! If you go to my Oct. 15th post it will tell you how you can cast your vote.

Next...
We have had a lot going on the past few days. First of all, Kaden went on a field trip with his early childhood dev. class to the pumpkin patch. He seemed to enjoy it alright. Then we had the Ava Memorial Golf Tournament on Saturday. There was a really good turnout. The weather was a bit on the chilly side...especially for the morning golfers. Thanks for braving it out guys. It was amazing to see all of the support from everybody. Thank you to every single one of you for everything. A special thanks to Matt, Ross, Brian and Sarah (and families) for all your kindness, support and hard work. It has really touched our hearts and we feel blessed to have you guys in our lives. Nate and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

After the tournament we went to the Cow Creek Opry with Nate's family. Kaden really enjoyed it and danced his little butt off. And last, but certainly not least... Kaden will soon be going into the pre-k class. I am so excited for him, but a little nervous at the same time. I know how much he loves his teacher, paras and friends in the early childhood class. This has been his second year in that class, so I know that he is really comfortable there. I worry about how different this pre-k class will be for him. Instead of three hour days, he will be going for 6 hours. There is "nap time" which Kaden will not be interested in at all. This kid does not nap...not even in the car. It has to be completely dark for him to fall asleep. I think he is afraid that he will miss something. So I guess I am going to have to talk to the teacher about the nap thing. This class is mostly typically developing children, so having Kaden in it will be a new experience for that teacher as well. I hope things turn out great. I really think Kaden needs to be challenged more to keep him interested. He is unbelievably bright (I am not just saying that because I am his mom, I hear it all of the time...and yes, I am bragging a little). What other 4 year old do you know that can spell approx. 300 words, that is a guess it could be a little more, maybe even a little less? He is now figuring out how to make little sentences. Today on his "lightwriter" he typed out "all done potty" when he was sitting on the potty. The other day he typed "mommy and daddy wagon" and I said "yes, mommy and daddy pulled you in a wagon" he then typed "CMH, blue" I was shocked. Nate and I use to pull Kaden in the blue wagons at CMH when Ava was there. He loves them. It is so awesome to be able to know as a mommy (and daddy) what is going on in our little man's mind and for him to be able to tell us. He can type out titles of books he wants without use guessing because he doesn't know the specific sign for the words in the title. It is just perfect for Kaden and his needs, I can't even explain how important it has become in our lives. It actually has a name in our house...it's name is Gray. It is the color gray and that is how Kaden started asking for it, by signing gray. So, that is how we refer to it. I will have to video tape how Kaden uses it.

We are actually "borrowing" the lightwriter right now. It is due back the beginning of November. I worry because Kaden is really dependent on it to communicate with others. I think he is going to be lost without it. I am working on funding right now to get him one, saying that they are crazy expensive. I hope that it doesn't take to long, for Kaden's sake. I have already asked to extend the time frame but they told me that the program is for us to decide if we want to buy the item, that they can not really extend it much but stated they would give us two more weeks with it.

Well now I am just rambling. I tell ya, you start on one thing and then the brain keeps on going. Sorry. Well, I will leave you with some (ok, a ton) of pictures and a video of my dancing man.



Here is the video of Kaden dancing. As you can see he really enjoys it and has a few different moves. Sorry the video is so shakey...Kaden and I were really close to each other as I was taping and he kept grabbing on to me. I hope you enjoy watching him as much as us.