Following the Falkins: May 2010

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Life with John Caden

Here's what John Caden's been up to over the past few weeks.

Several months ago I started making our bread from scratch (grinding our own grain, etc). John Caden loves to help. Today I found out just how much he loves to help. We didn't have a chance to get the bread made in the morning, so I decided I would just get it done quickly during the kid's afternoon quiet time. As soon as I turned the mill on, John Caden started calling out, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" and never stopped. (During their 45 minutes of quiet time, the rule is they must each stay in their rooms and play quietly and Mommy doesn't come in until quiet time is over). John Caden broke my heart when at the end of quiet time, I went in and asked him why he kept calling out--he said tearfully, "Cause Mommy, I was just wanting to help you make our bread." :( I was so sad and so amazed that he recognized all the noises to know exactly what I was doing. Lesson learned: I will never make bread without him again (I should have been having my own quiet time anyway)!

It is said that hindsight is 20/20. In our case it would have been worth a lot more! If only I had stopped and realized the significance behind John Caden dropping this towel at my feet a few weeks ago! I was busy in the kitchen preparing a meal to take to a family at our church and Tim was working in our home office--each thinking the other was keeping an eye on John Caden. When John Caden brought me his bathroom hand towel I asked why he was bringing it to me in the kitchen--he mumbled something, dropped it at my feet and ran. I remember thinking to myself, "That's odd," but continued scurrying around. It was when I opened the door to the basement to get a box to put the meal in and I heard a raging waterfall that the towel made perfect sense--it was his subtle way of saying, "Mommy, I've made a mess and I need you to come help clean it up." Unbeknownst to us, John Caden had gone into our master bath, turned both sink handles on and pulled the stopper. By the time we discovered it, (we're thinking at least 1 1/2 hours later) our bathroom, bedroom, closet, Anna's room, and basement had been flooded. Six fans, 2 dehumidifers, new carpet pad, and $300 later it's thankfully just a story for his books.

Another thing John that Caden has gotten into is noise---loud noises. Tim is determined to make a drummer out of him and with a gracious gift of a drumset from one of our friends (thanks Scott!), he's well on his way.

And it's not just drumming loudly that he enjoys, but he also loves to sing at the top of his lungs. Here's a video clip of him singing our bedtime songs "Jesus Loves Me" and "He Will Rejoice"--it's truly just the way he sings--it's become quite normal to us.

And lastly, being a boy, of course John Caden loves to eat. This past Monday the kids and I had the opportunity to go down to Tim's office and have a lunch date with Daddy. Unfortunately for Tim, John Caden needed to use the restroom twice during the course of our meal, so it seemed that they spent more time in the restroom than at the table. I was truly sorry that Tim didn't get a lunch break that day, but it kind of reminded me of my lunches at home with the kids. There are no lunch "breaks" for moms, are there??!! :)