caleb's favorite things

in no particular order...

• being tickled. when he wants someone to tickle him, he'll tickle himself with his hands and say "tickatickatickaticka"
• his backpack. this was a birthday gift from his uncle david and aunt heather and cousins. until last week he thought it was kind of cool to hide things in it in his room. but now that he can walk, nothing is more fun than walking down the hallway with his stuffed animal in his backpack!
• doggie-lamby. yeah, there's a whole story behind the name, but suffice it to say that this is his "lovey" or whatever. he takes it everywhere and always sleeps with it. and he gets mad if i forget to bring it in the car with us.
• cell phones. flip phones in particular, but any little phone with numbers and a screen that lights up will do. he has figured out how to do things and call people with my phone that even i can't accomplish.
• his new "sic". his uncle jeff and aunt sandy sent him a new cd where every song has his name in it. oh man! we're back to wanting music on as soon as he wakes up in the morning.
• sneaking. when troy turns the water on for caleb's bath at night, he comes crawling/walking to me so we can go hide from troy. he even says "ssss" and puts his finger to his lip so we can be quiet.

caleb's words

i guess i'd better post caleb first words because, although i would like to think i'll never forget, life has a funny way of moving ahead.

"sic" = music
"dye-dye" = bye-bye
"daddy" = daddy
"boooon" = balloon
"boo" = peek-a-boo
"djack-djack" = backpack
"nigh-nigh" = nap, sleep

he's got other things he "says" just not so much in words. like, he has a certain sound he makes when he drops/throws something on the floor and wants it picked back up. and he makes lots of animal sounds, which also then are the names of certain stuffed animals. speaking of animal sounds, he has a new one as of today... frog... it sounds like "row row".

the cutest thing i've seen in a long time

caleb wearing footie pajamas and a backpack, toddling down the hallway.

caleb is walking

crazy, huh?! before friday he was taking one, maybe two, steps now and then. on friday night, he took three or four in a row. saturday morning, he started walking. seriously. all of a sudden, he just walked eight or so steps. and he keeps doing more and more. he can turn around while walking, walk down the hallway, etc. i always had a hunch that once he decided to walk, he would really take off. but i had no idea!

spokane trip

we spent a long weekend in spokane this month. it was crazy-busy but very worth it. we were able to see everyone we wanted to see. saturday was spent watching some "punkin' chunkin'", which, if you don't know what it is, you really should watch a youtube video of it because it's hilarious. we also did our traditional homemade calzone (that we introduced and got all our friends addicted to) and game night. we played some scum and then learned a new game, agricola. sunday and monday we also spent with friends, eating some good food, playing some fun games, and watching kids play together.
every time we go back to spokane i am reminded how blessed i am to have those friends. there we have a community of friends where i can hang out with the girls, troy and hang out with the guys, or we can all hang out together. and there is fun and honesty and connection. i love it. it's hard to leave and come back home sometimes. but i finally feel like i'm starting to develop that connection with a few people here. and spokane always reminds me that it's worth working hard to find.

day at the farm...

we love corn mazes. specifically, we love doing corn mazes with our friends, dustin and sara. this is year five (i think) for corn mazes with dustin and three since sara's been joining us. i think so far we've done alice in wonderland, finding nemo (where we won goldfish), huskies vs. cougs, dinosaurs, and this year was aliens. it was great! these aren't just little kid corn mazes, either. they take us at least an hour to get though... and that's with using a map!! last year caleb was in the baby bjorn and this year the back pack. he seemed to like it... or at least let us have our fun.

he definitely liked looking at the pumpkins afterward. we even let him choose a couple of gourds to take home. they entertained him for a couple of days while he tried to stack them on top of each other. but once he pretty much figured out that wasn't happening, he gave them over to me to use on my dining room table.

when it was time to head home, it was later than we had planned so i hadn't brought anything for caleb's dinner. so obviously, we stopped at McDonald's! caleb had his very first happy meal. he ate 3.5 chicken mcnuggets, all but 3 slices of apple, and about 1/2 the apple juice. and he still enjoys playing with the toy in the bathtub. he was so funny while he was eating... it wasn't enough to just have one nugget, he had to have one in each hand. and he would alternate bites. after a couple bites of chicken, he would open his mouth, which was my cue to put a piece of apple in. funny boy!

wow... it's been a while

and i don't totally know why. it's not like nothing's been happening. one thing that's been going on (which is also the excuse i'll use for not blogging) is that caleb is pretty much down to one nap a day. he still really needs two, but you try telling him that. the problem is that he doesn't make up the extra sleep he needs by sleeping in or making his one nap longer. so he just gets more and more and more tired. which means he wakes up earlier and earlier. until finally he gives in and takes two naps for a day or so. and then we start all over again.
we have actually gotten into a little routine where i try to lay him down for a nap. he doesn't sleep but at least gets some alone time. then we go out and do something fun. and he falls asleep in the car on the way home for about 15-20 minutes. which is crazy since he usually can't sleep in the car. shows just how exhausted he truly feels. then we get home, eat lunch, play, and then he takes his 1.5 hour afternoon nap. i would really like that nap to get longer if he's only going to take one. sigh. i know this is a transition time, but i'm afraid it's going to be a very long one :)
anyway, my goal today is to spend a bit of time catching up on all the fun things we've done and i've neglected to blog about.

so busted baby!

i was talking with my sister on the phone this morning. all of a sudden, things get very quiet in the living room where caleb is playing. i should have known he was up to no good... he got on top of his folded-up pack 'n' play and was reaching the ipod. he was in music heaven. his grin was priceless. here's a picture of his mischief.

and here's a picture of his face when i reminded him that this was totally off limits.
i don't think he was very pleased with me!

in which i burn my finger and caleb learns a new word**

i love chai tea. a lot. and was delighted to find the little instant packets at the store. it makes me feel like i get to go out to starbucks every single day. i curl up with a cup and have a good 15-30 minutes of pure relaxation. at least, that's what normally happens.

last tuesday, i put caleb down for a nap, heated up my water, and prepared for some quiet time just for me. when i reached into the microwave to retrieve my mug, however, i burnt my finger*. i thought it was just a typical burn... run it under cold water for a couple of minutes and move on with life. no such luck. it kept hurting and hurting and hurting. i even used a bag of frozen vegetables on it and they thawed before my finger stopped hurting.

finally, when caleb woke up, i thought i should go to a pharmacy to see what i could put on it. the pharmacist took a look at it, however, and sent me to a minute clinic. the arnp looked at it, and advised i get an appointment with my doctor. what i thought was just going to need some aloe or something ended up being a second-degree burn! i've now had to keep it bandaged up for the past week and i think i'll have a pretty major scar. yikes!

when i wasn't grimacing about how much my finger hurt, i was a bit worried about how caleb would do in the doctor's office since i would have to be examined and couldn't entertain him. so, i stopped and bought him a beautiful fall balloon (seriously, it's beautiful... i actually got complements on it while in the waiting room). now, he says "booooon" whenever he wants to play with it. while him learning a new word wasn't actually worth the burn, at least it was some silver lining.

*don't worry, i poured the water into a new mug and still drank my tea... while icing my finger!

**the way i titled this post reminds me of one of my favorite books... A Girl of the Limberlost. if you like or ever liked Anne of Green Gables or that style, please read this book. the main character is beautiful, inside and out. and the story will make you cry and warm your heart.

all his favorite things

this morning, before naptime, caleb got to have all his favorite things (except one)... at the same time. i picked him up and cuddled him close, while dancing to his favorite song, and holding his two dog stuffed animals and dog halloween costume and balloon. he was in 13-month old heaven.

visit from nana

we had a GREAT time while my mom was out visiting. and she loved getting to see and enjoy caleb at this stage of life. she spoiled him rotten and of course, he ate it up! we did all his favorite things: walked around the dog park, played at the toy store, drank from a straw at starbucks, looked through books at the library, and listened to tons of music!

when she left, caleb looked a bit confused for the first couple of days. and when he saw a picture of her, he clapped. thankfully it's only a couple of months until we go out there for christmas!

more

have you heard this song? or tasted this cereal/snack?

together, they taught caleb the sign for MORE!

confused sport

caleb got a new toy from his uncle mike, aunt hanell, and uncle luke. it's a three-in-one sport toy that makes sounds and lights up. caleb likes to get his head up really close and stare into the lights. and every time he makes the music go, he has to hurry to stand up so he can dance to the music. i don't know that the toy was really intended to teach him how to dance, but maybe that's just a bonus :)

the funny thing is, since it's all about getting the music to play, caleb doesn't care how it's supposed to work. he just wants the music and lights. no matter what. so although you're supposed to put a ball through the hoop to start it up, caleb has instead decided it's easier to just move the baseball bat up and down inside the hoop. so he'll stand there, alternating between looking like he's churning butter and wiggling his little tush.

games

caleb is getting to be more and more fun. he's loving to play little games with us. here are a few of his most recent:

when troy came in to get him from his nap, caleb would lay back down and grab a stuffed animal and pretend to sleep. so troy would say "goodnight, caleb" and leave again. which of course made caleb stand up and start talking. so troy would come in again and reach for caleb. and it went on and on and on.

yesterday, i went to get caleb from his nap and i ran in there as fast as i could and kissed his adorable little forehead. he laughed and pushed me away... so i ran out of the room, waited a few seconds, and did it again. we played this game for over 15 minutes!

caleb also thinks it's funny to transfer things from one place to another. specifically to places he knows they don't belong. like putting his diapers into the toy drawer. or all of his tractors into the diaper bag. or mommy's flip-flops into daddy's shirt drawer. or the blocks into the tractor bag. it goes on and on. he gets a huge kick out of himself.