August 31

Blah, blah, blah, fun day, played, visited Aunt Sally, read books, blah.

My child had a poo big enough to clog the toilet, napped a grand total of 30 minutes this afternoon, and is currently upstairs screaming as Daddy tries to put him to bed (early).

Blah.

There was a  cool rainbow, but my photo turned out...

blah.

Better luck tomorrow?

August 30

Has anyone noticed that it's almost September? Because it is...

This evening, Caleb was really interested in Daddy's tie. He felt pretty cool when Daddy put it on him!

Then we remembered that Caleb has a Caleb-sized tie of his own!

He's very concerned about how he looks.

My men are so handsome!

(and slightly ridiculous.)

August 29

I had a busy day today, so Caleb and Daddy were left to their own devices for most of the day. This is what happened:

Chris taught Caleb to read the newspaper.

But he decided to forgo any educational toys in favor of the salad spinner

and a plastic container.

In case you're wondering, yes, Caleb went all day wearing only a partially snapped onesie and shoes.  Because apparently, that's how men do things.

When I got home and Caleb finally woke up (poor kid has a cold today, so he slept a lot!), we went to the pool.

Caleb's newest word is "plane". He gets excited when he sees them now, because he has a word for them!

I am officially in love with this picture, and with the two boys it contains.

August 28

I am a babywearing mama. Attachment parenting is definitely not my thing, but I'm a big fan of wearing Caleb. Really, who doesn't want to be snuggled close to Mommy/food? Caleb and I have put many, many miles on my homemade ring sling.

But today, we moved up a rung on the babywearing ladder. We got an Ergo. And we love it.

My back and shoulders love its ergonomic design.

Caleb loves that it allows us to do this:

August 27

If you think this child looks slightly guilt-stricken, you would be correct.

But he certainly did enjoy destroying my flowers today!

I suppose they were just so bright, and soft, and accessible...

And he certainly was pleased with his work!

(Note the flower petals littering my patio!)

Luckily, I wasn't too attached to them, anyway.

August 26

Blogger tricked me into redesigning my blog today.

I really didn't mean to do it; I was just playing, and then all of a sudden I couldn't get my blog to look the way it did before.

So. What do you think?

What I'm thinking is that my world will never be the same, because my boy can do stairs now. I know - most kids do stairs way earlier than this, but Caleb is a late bloomer in all things gross motor. Today, though, he climbed up the patio stairs, like it was no big deal at all.

His motivation?

My phone. The camera. Strawberries.

See? Just chilling on the stairs, like he does it everyday, with his mouth stuffed full of strawberry.

He's such a big boy!

August 25

It's a symphony of sneezes in our home right now, and I feel like Mother Nature is pulling a cruel trick on me. The lovely weather lures me outside, only to deliver a swift suckerpunch in the form of sneezes. And how can I deny my poor baby the chance to luxuriate in such weather?

I can't.

So I suffer. But this is my reward.

At first he wasn't sure how to go about eating the watermelon, but he knew he loves it, so he perservered.

This is how he always sits in grass - one foot in the air!

Love this one.

Look at that drip of juice coming from the melon. He was absolutely covered in juice; luckily, the watermelon was his dessert after dinner. Bathtime came next!

How sweet is he?

And? These photos are a perfect fit for this week's You Capture Challenge.

Awesome!

August 24

What a beautiful day! (If only my allergies agreed.)

We couldn't waste the gorgeousness that was today, so when Caleb woke up from his afternoon nap, we visited our favorite swingset. It's our favorite because it's just two swings, alone in the woods. No one is ever swinging, so we never have to share.

And we can see butterflies and dragonflies, which are apparently both "ball" to Caleb.

We had so much fun! Half the time, I swung on the swing next to Caleb, which tickled him to no end.

Exploring the grass, with cell phone in hand.

Don't you love his sweet new kicks? I just know these will be his walking shoes!

August 23

Today was a fun, fun day. I suppose most of the day was a Do-Nothing Monday, which was mostly why it was fun. Plus, Caleb was especially cheerful today.

I've made a list of his current words. I realize you're probably not interested in how verbose my child is, but I need to record this somewhere more permanent than a sticky note which I will promptly either lose or use as a coaster.

So.

 These are all words that he will say unprovoked, in the appropriate context. Several of them may not be intelligible to the general public, but when you watch him, it's clear what he's saying. 

shoe
eye
nose
no-no
mama

dada

pa

outside

window

ball

thunder

boom

dog

woof

hammer

Mimi

purple

bee

banana

flower

hat

cow

moo
bubbles
bottle

Today, he placed a lot of emphasis on "outside" (it really sounds like "ah-sh", but when you watch him say it, it's way clear), and "hat". He really likes hats.

He'll often point to where Chris' hats hang and say, "Hat. Hat. Hat." until I get him one.

Today, he did it once and I gave him this Cardinals hat.

Later, despite the fact that he still had the Cardinals hat, he asked for another hat. I suppose he could see it hanging there, and he wanted it. So I gave him the "Retired Sexy Senior Citizen" hat.

Then the child had two hats, but he went right back over there and asked for another hat. There were no more hats hanging there. I have no idea what he was thinking.

I often have no idea what he is thinking.

Then he read a book.

August 22

Why don't baby books have a place for "Baby's First Tantrum"?

Because today was definitely Caleb's first official tantrum.

Don't get me wrong; the kid has fussed and whined before, and even thrown a good fit here or there. But I have never before experienced anything of this magnitude over something so silly. The tantrum was so long, I had time to get my camera and take some pretty sweet shots.

We were eating dinner, like normal, except that we were eating an hour earlier. Caleb took a long, late nap this morning, so the afternoon nap didn't happen. We decided to roll with it, and put him to bed an hour early. That meant at dinnertime, he was tired and fussy.

3 bites into the meal, he decided he wanted my glass of milk. No other milk would do, even an identical cup of his own milk. He wanted MY glass. Fussing ensued. Finally we got him settled down, but then he decided he wanted to go outside.

How do I know this? He started crying and signing "more" and pointing toward the patio door. He also kept saying "ah-shy". (Yep. My kid says "outside" now.) We calmly explained to him that it wasn't time to go outside; it was time to eat.

Did I really expect that to work?

After about 10 minutes of him crying and signing "more" and saying "ah-shy" and explaining and attempts to distract him, the tantrum finally ended when I began singing my famous green bean song. (It's a jazzy ditty, with lyrics that include, "Green beans, green beans; Mommy loves green beans...")

And then, all was well with the world.

August 21

I feel like we crammed an entire awesome weekend into one day today! I guess that's what happens when your toddler (note that I am not calling him my baby anymore) wakes up at 6 am, raring to go.

We started the morning with from-scratch banana brown sugar muffins, then Caleb tried on (and loved) his sweet new shoes, then a short bike ride, then CALEB STANDING UP ALL BY HIMSELF FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! (I didn't get pictures; I was too into the moment. Sorry.), then a trip to the AT&T store (where they replaced my dead phone, despite the fact that my warranty ran out 5 days ago - thanks, guys!), then a visit with Grandmother and Grandad, then a nap for all of us, then playing outside in the water, then yummy salad dinner... It was a good day.

peek-a-boo!

This was my favorite photo of the afternoon.

And this was Chris' favorite.

And? We get a whole other day to play, because it's only Saturday. This is a good weekend.

August 20

It's another early-post day; we're getting together with some friends tonight. It feels like all of a sudden we're leaving Caleb a lot more often, and I'm torn between being totally stoked about getting out more, and feeling guilt that I keep asking my Mom to babysit.

But I'm so blessed to have a Mom who is willing to watch Caleb, despite the fact that she's not always feeling up to it. I appreciate her so much!

Caleb and I had a super-fun day today.

He ate a plum,

sampled some new freeze-dried fruit snacks,

 and played with my phone, which mysteriously died today.

(Can you tell he loves my phone?)

(I swear the phone-dying has nothing to do with the fact that I dropped it in the toilet yesterday. Nothing, I tell you!)

August 19

I can't think of any words today, so I'll give you pictures instead.

And then he found a butterfly!

It was a happy, butterfly kind of day.

August 18

Caleb was ridiculously goofy this afternoon.

We spent a solid 30 minutes rolling around on the couch, giggling, flopping, tickling, snorting...

Caleb was laughing so hard he was drooling.

These photos really don't do justice to the level of fun we had this afternoon. Most of the time, Caleb was sandwiched between my body and the back of the couch, so he was totally protected and could flop around like a wet fish on nitrous oxide.

But to take these photos, I had to leave the couch. Apparently, a less-protected Caleb is also a less-manic Caleb.

I'm laughing right now as I think about what fun we had. I wish you could have seen it!

August 17

Most of the time, I love watching Caleb's investigations and explorations of his world. It's so fun to imagine his thought process as he evaluates different objects and situations.

 However, lately I've begun wondering how much longer it will be before he stops exploring everything

with his mouth.

But then he gives me a look like this,

and I forget all about the germs.

Go on, kiddo! Keep exploring!