February 13

Sorry I've been absent the past few days - we've been so busy, I haven't even had time to think about picking up the camera.

On Friday morning, our realtor called to say someone wanted to see the house that afternoon. Since that was only our second showing in 3 months, I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was - and how filthy the house was. So I spent all morning and afternoon making sure the house was spotless. Saturday morning, I worked my once-every-six-weeks job supervising the ACT, and we spent the afternoon being a family. So. No pictures.

Today was about to be another no picture day (church, long nap, errands), but I knew I couldn't ignore my blog for three days in a row. So I give you:

Bedtime Photos

There are several items that Caleb has to say good night to each night - a miniature duck and faucet that broke off of a toothbrush holder (it looks like this sink toothbrush holder, only broken and more choking-hazard-y), a porcelain angel night light that his Great-Grandma Spain sent, and this silver elephant that was a place card holder at Chris' sister Grace's wedding. It's a random assortment of favorites, but Caleb remembers to say good night to them every night.

I missed the duck, faucet, and angel, but here's Caleb's "good night" to the elephant.

Inspection.

Adoration.

Kiss!

And this is his "Daddy's-smearing-diaper-cream-on-my-hiney" face. Because I know you needed to see it.

So. I'll do better about keeping the blog updated (and the house clean), if you'll pray that the person who saw it Friday (or anyone, for that matter!) will want to buy it. Ok? Thanks.

February 10

I didn't take any pictures of Caleb yesterday, which was disappointing because it was his 19-month birthday. But at this point, I don't think it's that big of a deal anymore. He has a cold, and the past few days he's been in the faucet-nose stage. That just doesn't make for attractive pictures: either he has twin rivers running down his face, or his little nose is raw and chapped. So I skipped it.

Today, though, I have these two offerings.

Caleb's fascination with hiding is holding strong. Here, he's happily tucked between the night stand and window in his bedroom, playing with a toy firetruck. (I like to keep all those cords out in the open, so he learns about the danger of strangulation early. Kidding. I should probably address that.)

This was when Daddy got home from work. It's always a bright part in our day, but Caleb seemed especially happy to see Chris tonight. He clung to him like a baby monkey!

A couple of things I've been meaning to tell you:

• For the past 2 weeks, Caleb has been asking for his GREAT Aunt Maggie at random moments. Tonight at dinner, for example. He wasn't very friendly when he saw her in person, but she must have made quite an impression on him!
• Chris and I always pray with Caleb before bedtime. But for the past 3 days, he's insisted on praying before naptime. And it's not just random praying - he wants to pray for specific people! As soon as he realizes it's almost naptime, he says, "Pay! Pay! Mimi! Daddy! Namaw! Denny! Amin!" (In case you can't tell, he's asking to pray for my sister Emily, Daddy, my Mom, and my sister Jenny, then saying amen.) I have no idea why he chooses those people. I can only assume he's being led by the Spirit.
• He says, "Appreciate that." It sounds like "peeshat" (which looks kind of vulgar as I type it). It started because when he asks for something and I don't give it to him, he says, "Nicey!", to indicate that he's asking nicely. I respond, "Yes, Caleb, you are asking nicely, and I appreciate that, but you can't have that cookie." Now when he wants something, he cuts to the chase and says, "Tookie! Tookie! Nicey! Peeshat!" It's pretty funny.

That's all for now.



February 8

This makes my heart happy.

Caleb and I were visiting with my mom when Ryan came home from school. Ryan didn't do any of the normal 13-year-old boy things; instead, he sat down to read with Caleb.

The moment was so sweet, I didn't want to interrupt it with my camera. (I was squished in on Ryan's left side, to the right of this picture. ) But after Ryan read two books, and gave an encore reading of one, I decided it would be OK.

I don't have much else to say, except perhaps a contented sigh.



February 7

Chris took my car into the shop today (I'd been ignoring some nasty fumes that were invading the cabin, but Chris drove it this weekend and started to fear for the safety of his family), so Caleb and I were homebodies. Meaning: I stayed in my jammies all day. Nice. But somehow in all of the homey goodness, I only managed to take pictures at breakfast.

Luckily for you, today was the day Caleb attempted to feed himself cereal.

He wasn't supposed to feed himself cereal. His spoon-using skills are still questionable, so I only let him practice on less messy foods. I feed him the cereal myself. But I needed a cup of coffee, so I pushed his bowl of cheerios out of his reach (or so I thought) and stepped away.

I turned around from my coffeepot to find this:

As you can see from the drips, Caleb had already made a few attempts before I noticed. I'm a little slow before I have my one cup of half-caf in the morning!

However, he did a remarkably good job!

(Well, except for the fact that he hasn't grasped the concept that the spoon must remain level to maintain its contents. He didn't make much of a mess, but that's because he didn't really get much on the spoon in the first place.)

And my car is fixed now, thanks to my Superman-husband. It turns out that the last time I had the oil changed, they forgot to put the oil cap back on. Eventually the oil started spewing out all over the engine cavity, causing hot oil to burn away on the engine - hence the toxic fumes. I guess I wasn't imagining it, after all! Now it's all fixed, cleaned up, and good to go!

February 6

Chris is watching the Super Bowl; aside from the halftime show and commercials, I don't care that much. I think I'll be settling in to visit with Katniss Everdeen in Catching Fire as soon as I finish this post. (It's my second time through the series - this time for "Book Club". You really should read them; they're captivating, easy reads.)

Today's highlights:

Caleb moved up from the nursery at church. He's no longer with the babies; now he's with the big kids (18 months - 2 years). We were so nervous when we dropped him off (you all know about Caleb's stellar social skills). Chris said he felt like it was Caleb's first day of school! Luckily, everything went great, and Caleb had lots of fun.

My heart melted when I saw that he had brought home his very first church craft!

(Also, can you see the remnant of his goose egg? Poor kid.)

I had to photograph it to preserve it for posterity.

It says, "(heart) each other as I have (heart) you. John 15:12" and someone helped him put heart stickers on it. There's also a crayon streak that Caleb probably did on his own. It's funny how something so little can make me go so gooey.

Later, we broke all of our rules for Super Bowl Sunday. We turned the TV on for the game, and ate dinner (pizza) in front of the TV. Caleb was clearly pleased.

"Touchdown!"

Caleb somehow doesn't have any toy footballs, so he had to spike a toy basketball instead.

Now he's in bed, and I'm off to my book!

February 5

The blog post I intended to write yesterday involved a detailed (and hilarious) account of how, at 7:35 a.m., Caleb tripped while walking and got his very first goose-egg. It featured an adorable portrait of my little man and his bulging blue hematoma on the right side of his forehead.

Unfortunately, I felt so terrible that he hurt himself that I didn't take any pictures. And by the time I was ready to take pictures, the nasty thing didn't look so nasty anymore!

So. First head wound - over. He's a little worse for the wear, but fine.

Today, we woke up to... more snow.

Seriously? Luckily, with all of the snow we've had lately, I think I've finally managed to figure out Caleb's mitten situation. In fact, the mitten situation was so successful that Chris, Caleb and I were able to play out in the snow for a full hour today! Hilarity ensued; see photographic evidence below.

The snow banks on either side of our driveway are so high now that they functioned as a perfect couch-like resting spot for my boys.

Have I mentioned that Caleb's favorite snow toys are completely inappropriate for snow? 

Inappropriate Snow Toy 1: badminton racquet

Caleb really likes the fact that the racquet makes circles when  it's pressed into the snow. A few snow days ago, we walked up and down our sidewalk, and every few feet, Caleb said, "Circle." I pressed the racquet into the snow, forming a perfect circle. Caleb would command me to make a few more, then say, "Count!" So I counted how many circles we had made. He was pretty excited by our fancy game!

Inappropriate Snow Toy #2: bicycle

Yep. Caleb wanted to ride his bike in the snow. I'm not sure exactly how this game came about, but I'm pretty sure it was Chris' idea. Regardless, today I discovered that Caleb can say "bicycle" as clearly as I can. Pretty impressive for almost 19 months old!

Inappropriate Snow Toy #3: lawn mower

I confess: this was my idea. And Caleb had a blast mowing the driveway once Chris had shoveled it! The whole time he said, "Mow. Mow. Mow." (OK, I couldn't find this link in English, and only the first 3 or 4 seconds are relevant, but this is what I think of every time Caleb gets his mower out.)

Later, I noticed that Caleb was gnawing on the snow on his mittens.

Like any good mother, I went inside and got him a spoon. Why fight to eat the snow off your mittens, when you could eat a fresh, fluffy spoonful?

Caleb seemed to agree.

Yum.

After we went inside, drank hot cocoa, and warmed up, this happened. Caleb put Chris' boot on all by himself and walked from the living room into the kitchen with it on his foot. Hilarious!!!

The end.

February 3

Remember how last night, we went to Olive Garden for dinner?

I don't think I mentioned how much Caleb enjoyed their after-dinner Andes Mints. He. Loved. Them. He loved them so much that we asked our server for a few extra.

Today, Caleb noticed the extra mints on our kitchen counter, and asked for them all day. But at dinner tonight, we totally bribed him with them. You know, "Eat two more bites, and you can have your chocolate!" I know we shouldn't have, but we did. And it worked. Caleb ate his two more bites, realized he really liked dinner, and kept eating it.

Then, it was time for chocolate.

He was so excited for his chocolate, he was actually pumping his fists. It was pretty funny.

Oh boy. Chocolate!

But then the chocolate was all gone. And Caleb asked for... cereal.

Cereal? Cereal.

He'd already eaten dinner, and two mints, but he wanted cereal. So we gave him some cereal. And honestly? The kid was more excited about cereal than he was about the chocolate.

His excitement built as he watched Chris pour the cereal, pour the milk, and drizzle a little honey on top.

By the time his cereal was ready, he couldn't even contain himself anymore. He was smashing his face in delight!

And he gobbled up every bite.



February 2

Ok, the "Snowpocalypse" was totally lame. The worst thing about it was that our city has decided to plow every road in our neighborhood except for ours, leaving us effectively stranded. After 2 days, though, we attempted to conquer the 30 feet of unplowed road that has trapped various other motorists. Luckily, we were successful.

Our reward?

Dinner at Olive Garden.

Big-box Italian food has never tasted so good, and Caleb was so happy to be out of the house that he was perfect at dinner.

This is a blurry picture of Chris attempting to work from home. (Remember, the snow had us stranded!) For the most part, Caleb was respectful of the fact that Daddy needed to work. But occasionally, he wandered up to Chris and said, "Daddy! Holdu!"

Our happy boy at bathtime.

And I know that this blog is about Caleb, not me, but in a few months it will be about NewBaby, too, so...

This is me at 28 weeks (hello, third trimester!)

We take a picture in the same place, same outfit, every four weeks. Eventually, I'll make a collage to put in NewBaby's baby book. Caleb has one, and it's a fun tradition for us. Anyway - that's me, 28 weeks, up 19 pounds so far.

Also, Caleb has recently become really affectionate toward NewBaby. He's started wanting to kiss and snuggle with my belly. He even will put his ear on my belly and listen intently, then say, "Heartbeat!" I'm not sure if he can actually hear anything, or if he just remembers when the midwife uses her Doppler to play Baby's heartbeat for us. Regardless, it's really sweet and fun. We are so blessed!

February 1

Happy February!

We were supposed to begin February with a "Snowpocalypse", but it seems to have not materialized. I would like to complain, but I'm withholding judgement until tomorrow morning. We got maybe 6" of snow today, and I'm still hopeful that we'll get another 6 tonight. Really, I just hope that Chris doesn't have to go to work tomorrow. We'll see.

Our snow day project was painting with pudding. I just added food coloring to little bowls of vanilla pudding, then gave Caleb dollops of each color and a silicone basting brush. He loved it!

The first thing Caleb did when I set him down to "paint" was scoop up a gob of pudding and eat it. At that moment, I knew I had made the right decision by giving him edible paint. I can't imagine if I had used real paint...

I was surprised/disappointed that he barely used his hands to paint at all. Perhaps he realized that the brush was a more effective means of getting the pudding in his mouth?

This was the face he made when I tried to take the "paint" away from him. (Please note that all of the neat piles of pudding colors are gone in this photo. He didn't just move the paint around - he put it all in his belly. I wonder if he will have colorful diapers tomorrow?)

The final messy product involved pudding on his face, in his hair, up his arms, and on his high chair tray. It was so much fun, though! 3 hours later, at dinner time, Caleb remembered his painting, but couldn't remember the word for it. He sat in his chair, pointing at the fridge, saying "Blue! Red!" Finally I figured out that he was talking about his paint. When I told him we couldn't paint because it was dinner time, he had an all-out tantrum. I suppose that's a mixed blessing: no one wants their child to have a tantrum, but it's nice to know he enjoyed it so much. Luckily, there's lots of pudding left. Maybe tomorrow?

An unrelated note: happy third trimester to me! It's hard to believe that in less than 3 months, NewBaby will be here. Chris and I were fretting last night about where Baby will sleep and how things will work, and I realized the other day that we'll also need to purchase a double jog stroller . (My research indicates this is the perfect stroller for us; unfortunately, I'm still not sure how we'll afford it. Maybe we could sell NewBaby to pay for it, but then we wouldn't need a double stroller...) I suppose now that we're in the double-digits of the countdown, we should start planning some of these things...

But instead of spending my time worrying about the logistics of NewBaby, I'm focusing on enjoying being pregnant (because the last 14 weeks have been really easy and pleasant), and praying for a healthy baby and a safe delivery. Everything else will work itself out, right?

January 30

All around us, people are anxiously preparing for the "Snowtastrophe" of 2011.

Meanwhile, Caleb is prepared for rain, thanks to his GREAT Aunt Maggie.

Maggie found this adorable raincoat (and coordinating dinosaur that actually roars) for Caleb. It's a little big now, but I think that means it will be perfect for rainy weather this spring, summer, and fall!

Caleb loves the raincoat, especially its pockets, which are hidden behind dinosaurs.

This is my funny bear, roaring like a dinosaur. I'm pretty sure that's even a roaring hand gesture!

What a great gift! Thanks, Maggie!