They Notice...

This picture was taken at our hotel in Miami on the way here...Grenada furniture is not that nice.  :)

I so totally love this kid.  He rocks!!  Some of the other SO's here (significant others) want one of him because he's so helpful and responsible.  He really is mature for his age...sometimes that makes me have to rethink things.  For instance, we've been really clear with our kids that we don't have extra money to buy toys and other "fun" things whenever we want because we're using the money we have to buy what we need.  I still get the, "Mom, can we PLEASE buy this?" a lot, but the other day, Cayden and I were looking at an email I got about Lego sets that were on sale.  Cayden asked if we could get one because it was on sale.  He said, "don't you have $39.99 (ya, that's the SALE price!)" and I said yes, but we are saving it for the things we need like food and to pay for our house.  I offered the idea that he could ask for it for his birthday coming up.  He sat back for a minute, clearly disappointed but not angry.  After a minute of thinking Cayden then said, "Mom, it's okay, you don't have to get this for me for my birthday.  I will just ask Santa for it.  I don't want you to have to waste your money."  (Insert heartbreaking sound here).  Oh My Gosh.  I quickly told him that it's okay for me to spend money on him for his birthday and he doesn't have to worry about that, but he was insistent.  I guess it's good that he sees the value of money now, but that's a hard lesson for me as a parent to have to teach when he's paying such attention to us not actually having extra money.  

He really does great things for me everyday.  Cayden is a wonderful big brother and really looks out for his brother and sister.  If they are ever crying (and he didn't have anything to do with it!) he's at their side rubbing their back, holding their hand, consoling them and it works!  He does that with his friends, too. Cayden has a very sensitive spirit.  He keeps us all in line, too.  He says its "weird" that we tell him not to say words like "stupid" and "idiot" but then we're yelling them at the drivers around us (we've got some things to work on...).  He also saw a painted picture on a little shop here with a woman wearing a thong bikini.  "MOM!  I saw something inappropriate!  Why do people like inappropriate things!?  We shouldn't look at that stuff."  Lol, I love it! YES Cayden!!  You're TOTALLY right!!   

He's smart, compassionate, loving, happy, and a super duper son.  I love you, Cayden!!