1-800-222-1222

yesterday was the first (but most likely not last) time i got to call poison control for caleb. hooray! he found out how to squirt the purell and managed to swallow a small pea-sized amount. i wasn't really worried until i read that it said, "if swallowed, call poison control immediately." so i called.
vicky was very nice and helpful. she told me to wipe out his mouth with a wet washcloth (easy for you to say, vicky!) and then give him some milk or yogurt or ice cream. i wish we had ice cream... sigh. but i settled for milk. and surprise, surprise, caleb is just fine.

seeing double

caleb figured out that we own two copies of goodnight moon. i got them at baby showers and didn't realize i had two until caleb had already drooled on one and taken a bite out of the other. so, needless to say, we kept them both. but yesterday, it finally registered with caleb. what did this mean? i had to read them both, of course... at the same time. i would flip the page in both books and read the words. and heaven forbid i was ever on the wrong page in either book!

then, he decided to carry them around the house. both turned to the "goodnight little house and goodnight mouse" page. and again, it was as if the world had ended if something happened to make one of the books be on a different page.

getting ready for christmas

this past weekend, our date night was decorating for christmas. first, we went out and bought two new cds and then we came home and hung a wreath, put up the stockings, set up the nativity, etc. now i just need some stocking holders and a nativity for caleb. what i'm looking for is a nice, unbreakable nativity. maybe wood. something that caleb can play with now, but that is not just for a little kid. something he could even keep for a while. maybe something like this or this. since we don't get a tree yet (nowhere to put it and we travel during the holidays), i've got a bit of a christmas decoration budget that i can spend. i'll keep looking around.

one of the cds we bought this year was barlow girl. i really like it (except for song three, but no one's perfect). i was thinking back to the first time i heard barlow girl. i had heard OF them when i led a group of high school girls for youth group. i thought they were this teen-girl-punk sort of band. then, early on in our time over on this side of the state, troy was going to have a guys night with a good friend from college. they went to a hockey game. what was i going to do? not knowing anyone and not really having anything to do, i didn't want to be stuck at home alone.

i took myself to a concert. a rebecca st. james concert. and who was opening for her? barlow girl, of course. although i ended up leaving part way through rebecca's set, i did buy a barlow girl cd. and now i have three of them. and i'm hooked.

but that's not the best part. the best part is that now, if troy had a guys night somewhere... i would have a bunch of girls to call to have a girl's night. sure, there would be babies to figure out and probably a night home alone going to bed early would be nice... but the point is, i've come a long way from a concert all by myself. and that makes me really happy to remember.

poundin' it out

caleb learned a new trick over thanksgiving. his uncle scroll taught him to bump fists. and he got pretty good at it, too. every time he did it correctly, scroll would go nuts with excitement. so, caleb figured that pumping his fist in the air was just a part of the trick. adorable!

what i didn't figure in, however, was how well caleb would generalize this new idea. see, when i'm nursing him, caleb will often play with my hand. and often we end up giving each other five. only now, whenever that happens, his little fist starts pumping up and down in excitement. not exactly the way to calm down for bedtime! thanks, uncle scroll!

it has been so long

sometimes it just seems easier to not blog than to try and catch up on all the things going on. or to try and explain why i've been absent.

but, i'm not going to do either one. i'm just going to pick up as though i never left. how's that for taking the easy way out?

sneaky little sucker...

i hold caleb on my left hip... probably because that leaves my right hand free and i'm right handed so that makes sense. no matter, the point of saying that is to explain that how caleb is situated makes it very difficult to see his right hand. more specifically, makes it difficult for me to see if there's anything in his right hand.
and lately, there usually is. this is his new thing, just as i'm about to pick him up to go out to the car, he quickly grabs whatever toy he's obsessing over at the moment. and i don't notice. by now, i should know to just look, but i'm usually thinking about things like where i put my keys or how late i'm going to be.
so far he's snuck out of the house with a hanger, bottle of lotion, kitchen wisk, plastic bag, block, silverware, and countless stuffed animals. but the best one was his melissa and doug wooden duck. how did i miss that one!?

weaning?

apparently, i'm weaning some more. i didn't really plan on it, it just sort of happened. once, before putting caleb down for his afternoon nap, we danced together... as usual. but this time, he fell asleep. rather than wake the sleeping baby by trying to nurse, i just put him into his crib and let him nap. the next day, i did the same thing... even though he didn't fall asleep while dancing. we just danced and then he went to bed. again today. after so much disaster the last time i tried weaning him, i was so nervous... but so far so good (knock on wood).

Threes about me

amy did this little thing and i thought it was cute (and am currently trying to be quiet while caleb falls asleep) so thought i would do the same.

Three jobs I have had in my life: Mexican folk dancer, insurance specialist, kindergarten teacher
Three movies I would watch over and over: Ocean's 11, Lord of the Rings, Miracle
Three shows that I watch: Survivor, Amazing Race, The Office
Three places I have been: Illinois, Italy, Oregon
Three of my favorite foods: Italian, french toast, chai
Three places I'd rather be right now: with troy, near a waterfall, reading at a tea/coffee shop
Three things I am looking forward to this year: Caleb learning to talk, a night or two away with troy, meeting hanell's baby
Three jobs I would love to have: hard to know, never having done them... dog walker, speech therapist, professional mentor

caleb's first "pet"

when caleb found out he could pull around his "pet" doggie just by holding on to the leash, he was hooked! he loves it. the first day, he probably pulled that little doggie around for half an hour... course the "leash" he found to use was a USB connection for an ipod that probably wasn't the best choice. we have since switched it to yarn.

this morning, we played a slight variation of the pet game... we played fetch. caleb would throw a ball and the doggie (controlled by me) would go and get it. another half our (at least) of fun! just wait until we get a real dog!!

i'm not really a baker but...

check out this cake i made for community group a few weeks ago. mom sent me the recipe! isn't it beautiful?! it's not hard... but it is time consuming. although, i definitely did make it harder myself by not thinking to borrow a second round cake pan and having to do it in stages!

up

caleb says "up". very intentionally. he says it when he wants to be picked up. or, if he's in someone's arms and wants them to stand up. or if he's in his room and wants to go into his crib. it's a very useful word. also very hard to deny him when he asks so sweetly! "uuuup!"

bombarded

i didn't grow up having a whole lot. if i needed new clothes or shoes, i waited until christmas or my birthday. then i put the important things on my list, and what i got had to last me until the next time i got gifts. this was fine by me and taught me a lot about what is really important in life. my family got along well and welcomed people into our home. friends would stop by and were made to feel a part of the family. i never felt lacking in any way.

that way of living has followed me throughout my life. i've never even had a clothing budget... gasp... it's true. not because troy won't let me but because i wouldn't even know what to do with it. buy clothes, i guess :) even now i will save up a list of things i need and ask for them for christmas or birthday. and i'm really happy.

but sometimes, it feels like i shouldn't be. recently, we went over to the mall (an exceptionally yuppie mall, in my opinion) to get out of the rain and have a place to hang out. i was overwhelmed. everywhere i looked i felt as though i was bombarded by a "look like this", "wear this", "smell like this", "eat this", "have this" attitude. there has to be a balance. i want to look nice and put together. i want to feel good about myself. but i don't want to get sucked into that consumer mindset. i feel like i get pulled from one extreme to the other. i really admire people who are able to find that balance. and it's something i'm working on.

favorite things, part 2

walking. even though a lot of his motion is still sideways, he loves practicing his new skill. he'll carry things from room to room... just because he can.
dogs. the sounds they make, books about them, commercials with them, pictures of them, seeing them on walks, etc. if he's having a bad day, just take him to see some dogs and life is good again.
breakfast with daddy. if caleb wakes up early enough in the morning (which, thanks to the time change, is a regular occurrence now), he gets to eat breakfast with his daddy while i take a shower or whatever. this is the one time during the day that caleb gets to eat sitting on a lap instead of in his seat. and he gets to take bites off of daddy's spoon. and taste new cereals. yum!
getting his way. and if he doesn't, he'll cry, wave his hands around, and/or make a sound like this, "wee-a, wee-a, wee-a", or this, "ehhhhhhhhh".

how is this possible?

here's my sister's 20 week pregnancy picture.

and here's mine (from when i was pregnant with caleb... no news here)

halloween

last year, caleb was only a couple months old at halloween, so we just put him in a pumpkin and called it good.

this year, however, we decided to be a little more proactive and actually get caleb a costume. obviously, we had to choose a dog since they are one of his favorite things and since he makes such a good dog sound. we found a costume at costco and even though it wasn't the best dog costume ever, we were pretty happy with it.

fast forward three weeks... we go to put the costume on caleb for a halloween party and IT DOESN'T FIT! it's too short. a few weeks ago this wouldn't have been an issue, maybe just a little uncomfortable. but now that he's walking, it's miserable (as you can tell by the picture).

thankfully, though, a friend was done using a bee costume and we were able to put caleb in it for a little halloween photo shoot.

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.

brushing his teeth

i was in our bedroom folding clothes when i hear a strange sound coming from my closet. i knew caleb had crawled in that direction, but this sound was one he hadn't made before. it was a sort of buzzing. not unhappy, but not particularly excited, either. what could he be up to? i went to find out.
my adorable little monster! he had found one of our extra sonicare toothbrush heads and had put it in his mouth. the sounds, of course, was him brushing his teeth.
that's when i decided to go ahead and get him his own little toothbrush. we brush his teeth every morning after breakfast and every evening before bed. first, he opens his mouth and i brush a bit, then he gets his turn. sometime we even make the tooth-brushing noise. and at the end, we always have to lean over the sink and spit! have i mentioned he's adorable?

first steps

caleb has taken his first steps! woo-hoo. they were relatively unstable and resulted in falling down, but i am so proud of him!!

imagination

i love to watch caleb's imagination grow. it seems to come out most clearly in the kitchen. last night, for example, i decided to make some chocolate pudding to celebrate the premiere of survivor (which, turns out, was moved to next week. total disappointment!). but what was caleb to do? i pulled out a metal bowl and a wooden spoon, showing him how to make an awesome "gong" sound.



next thing i know, i see him stirring the spoon around the bowl, stopping every so often to "taste" his masterpiece. maybe he'll grow up to be a chef. or at least love cooking like his daddy.

because sometimes when you take a good picture, you just want to show it off

we went to the zoo. i took this picture. i love it.

first tower

this is caleb's first "all by himself" tower. he built it on the rubble of one of my towers. just like seattle. sort of.

the blocks were our birthday gift to him. they are these wonderful foam blocks. bite-proof... very important. and neighbor-proof... even more important. right now he's still mostly interested in knocking down our towers. which is funny since he loves to build towers out of everything else. food, toys, diapers, stuffed animals, etc. but he'll get there.

girl's night

there is so much in my life for which to be thankful. today, though, i'm thinking of a few in specific.

i'm thankful for four beautiful (inside and out) women: annie, lexi, marcy, and marilee.

i'm thankful for sons who slept (or at least pretended to sleep) long enough for us to get away and for husbands who stayed home with them because they know it's important for us to have nights out.

i'm thankful that the five of us were put in the same issaquah group even though really only three of us live in issaquah and so probably shouldn't have been so blessed.

i'm thankful that at least one of us had the foresight to bring a camera.

most of all, i'm thankful for the One who connects us.

now, anyone else need a nap?

how caleb feels about weaning

notice the tear and runny nose and red puffy eyes. enough said.

weaning...

i'm weaning. as of today. yesterday i nursed caleb four times. today, three. i think it was harder for me than for him. of course. should have known. i'll stick with this 3x a day routine for a week or two. and then we'll go down to two.

will he ever stop growing up?

trip to the zoo

(mountain) lions, (sleeping) tigers, and (bronze) bears... oh my! yesterday we took caleb to the zoo. it was a small zoo, but the size was perfect to fit in to the space between his two naps. the best part for me was seeing all the macaws out and about where i could have just reached out and touched them. the best part for caleb, i think, was seeing all the bronze statues of animals spread throughout the zoo. he played with the bear and the giraffe mostly.

the size of the zoo lent itself to a few funny moments. the map, for example... it had a "you are here" star. but the point of a map is that we could find where we were while moving around. fortunately, the zoo was so small, the star was never really too far off! also, things were labeled as "the world of camelids" as represented by alpacas... four of them. and the "world of macropods" as represented by one wallaby. :)

i think we'll definitely go back. the good thing about the size is that we could see everything very easily. and it would be fun to sort of get to know a couple of the animals. i can see it being a place where caleb would have a favorite lemur or parrot or something. and we could go visit every week. i think we would like that.

three cute stories...

1. caleb can dance. he dances while standing up. he bounces his knees or shifts his weight from foot to foot in differing rhythms. and only to music. it's adorable!

2. caleb and i were cleaning up a few things in my bedroom when he spotted a picture of troy and i. he looked, pointed, and said, "DADDY!". he sure loves his daddy (unless, of course, his daddy tries to take him away from me).

3. apparently, caleb cares about fairness. the other day he was playing near the bookcase. when i looked over again, he had pulled off one book from each of 6 shelves. he was being very particular about which books he wanted and making sure to only get one from each. funny boy.

special lunch

even though caleb's party wasn't going to be until the 31st, i wanted to something special for caleb's actual birthday. so, that morning, i took him to his favorite toy store where we played with the trains, balls, beads, and stuffed animals.

it gets even better...

for lunch, we went to jamba juice! yum!

birthday boy

a little over a year ago i was having one of the worst days of my life (august 29th... the day i was introduced to pitocin) and one of the best days of my life (august 30th... the day i was introduced to my son).


what a year. he has learned so much, grown so much, changed so much. so have i.


and this weekend we got to celebrate him! some family was in town for the party which made the celebration seem more real. some friends also came by and i think caleb enjoyed seeing so many of his favorite people all in a room together. we had cake, balloons, a great time!

happy birthday, my little monster.

book recommendations

i want people to stop recommending books to me. i know they do it to be kind... to share with me books that they have really enjoyed. they know i'm a reader and that i'm always on the lookout for my next read.

but i never know what to say when i read their "favorite book" and think it's boring. or, even worse, i hate it. everyone has their own taste in books, but i still feel bad about having to say "it was ok" to something that they have read 10+ times... in the last year.

it always makes me feel better, however, when i go onto goodreads and see that others have given said book low ratings as well. i may not share the taste of a particular friend, but at least i'm not the only one.

all that to say, if you know a good book, please mention it to me. but don't hype it up like it's the greatest thing since Ben Hur (which is amazing, by the way). cuz maybe i won't think so. and then i'll feel guilty. and books should leave you feeling anything but guilty.

and megan, if you're reading this... this does not apply to you and the books you recommend to me.

obsession

have i mentioned that caleb likes dogs?

some friends bought him a dog stuffed animal for his birthday. since they weren't going to make it to his party, they gave it to him last time they came for a visit. he LOVES this little puppy. that night, he couldn't stop hugging the dog and "woofing" at it. and while i was nursing him before bed, he would take breaks to bark... i suppose he was letting me know what he was going to be dreaming about.

the next day, he woke up from naps barking. and all he wanted to do was play with that puppy. peek-a-boo, hide and seek, keep-away, catch, chase, etc. you name it, and he would play it... with his dog.

throwing food...

how do i stop caleb from throwing his food on the ground? i'm trying to introduce more and more finger foods to him and, while he still has issues with anything that isn't dry, he's getting better. i think quesadilla (with soy cheese) finally won him over and now he's willing to try some new things! but, he throws a lot of things on the ground. i've read a couple of places to just not make a big deal about it and he just loses the opportunity to eat the food he throws. that's fine for some, maybe, but he doesn't care. he only throws stuff that he's done eating. if he wants more, he's smart enough to keep it on his tray.

any other suggestions?

wish list

it's just over one week until caleb's birthday. i can't believe it. there will be much to report, i'm sure, about his party, but i just thought i'd post his first birthday list because i had so much fun at the toy store figuring out what my little man might like.

ride-on/push toy
blocks
bath book
flip phone
doggy stuffed animal (preferably black lab)
bath toys
stacking/nesting cups

more sounds

i mentioned in a previous post about caleb making the occasional dog and lion sound. i'm happy to report that those two have continued and he's adding to his repertoire. he now does dog *almost* on command. and lion when looking a picture/toy. he's also done horse (a very high-pitched "heeeeeeeeeee") and goat/sheep (a loud "ehhhh").

he's freakin' cute!

jamba juice

caleb had his first jamba juice last weekend. and he LOVED it. i didn't want to overload his little tummy with something new since it would be his first experience with citrus. so after about 4-5 straws-full, we decided he should be done.

he had other idea.

this is his current sign language capabilities... "light" while reaching for something means "i want that", "turn it on", "give me please", etc. "light" while reaching for something with eyes closed means "i need that NOW or i'm going to get very angry". and that's what he was doing at jamba. but we held firm. probably he would have been fine with more but once we said he was done, we had to stick to our guns.

again, he had other ideas.

troy was holding him and drinking his jamba (i know, rubbing it in the poor kid's face!) when, all of a sudden, caleb reached for the straw, yanked it out of his daddy's mouth, and stuck it in his own mouth. and do you think something as insignificant as a bent straw would stop him? no way! he got a mouth full and was VERY pleased with himself.

face your manga

i heard about face your manga on pomomusings. and while i don't know adam's face well enough to compete in the contest, i thought i could try doing my own face. it's not quite right (actually, i think it might be a little cuter than i actually am), but i like it. i love that i get to wear purple (my favorite color) and i don't love that none of the short hair styles are curly. what, do they think curly girls only have long hair?

if you want to try your own, go to http://www.faceyourmanga.com/ it's fun. and easy.

canadian olympics

i love the olympics. a lot. it's one of my favorite things. this time we've been watching most of the olympics on CBC, the canadian channel. while the reporters and commercials aren't as good, i love it. i love that there is more coverage of the games than "special interest" stories that no one's really interested in. i love that they show a wider variety of events and don't just focus on the U.S athletes. and i love that the events are actually live when possible instead of live for the east coast and three hours later for me. it's pretty ridiculous that i can watch michael phelps win gold on CBC and then turn back to NBC and hear "and coming up later in the show, we'll go live to the water cube where michael phelps swims for another gold". how can it be live when i've already watched it? who do they think they're fooling?

but one funny thing about watching CBC is the "Bell olympic moments". honestly, even if this station wasn't better anyway, i would watch just for this. once an evening, they announce the "olympic moment" from the day before that the people of canada have voted on. and it's just hilarious because it's always two really important olympic moments and some random canadian olympic moment. for example... day 1 choices: a)michael phelps begins his quest by winning his first gold medal. b) china wins gold in weightlifting. c) kyle shewfelt (candian gymnast) comes back from an injury. guess which one was the winner? that's right... c.

let's try again... day 6 choices: a) swedish wrestler walks off podium and drops his bronze medal in protest. b) france swimmer takes gold in men's 100m freestyle. c) candian gymnast adam wong finishes 15th in men's all-around. and guess which one wins? C again.

don't get me wrong, i think it's awesome that the candian olympic teams are getting better and better and placing higher than ever before. i was totally cheering for adam wong to do well in gymnastics. but seriously, is that the most important olympic moment of the day? personally, i don't think so. reminds me of the survivor "game changing moments" that are something like, "so-and-so finds a coconut on the beach". right...

please

if you happen to have two children and happen to take them to the library. and child 1 happens to be content snuggling on your lap while you read, please, PLEASE make sure you know what child two is doing. because it's possible she could be terrorizing a cute little baby and that baby's mother.

"google-whack"

i read about this game this morning and decided i had to play...


basically, what you do is try to put together words so randomly that google only has ONE search result for it. the funny thing is that once you blog about it, then there are two results... which means the more people who play, the harder it gets :) fun, right? you can read a bit more about this at http://www.googlewhack.com/. it used to be that people could actually find 2 word "google-whacks" but i'm not sure that's possible anymore.


i want to see who can do this in the fewest words. but i don't actually know how to do the "mr. linky" thing so you'll just have to leave a comment if you participate. or i can try to figure it out. i guess i should learn someday... whatever.


here's mine: muskrat potato shadow nihilistic curling participle festering miller pastiche liposuction peters Piccadilly warehouse Jamba


14 words. how about you?


**ps... i tried to learn and include a mr linky. but then gmail pooped out on me and i need my confirmation code. sigh.

why did we wait?

yesterday marked 6 years of marriage for troy and i. one conversation we had revolved around why we waited so long (5 years) to have a baby because, while it's the hardest thing either one of us has ever done, we love being parents. we were joking about the fact that if we had had kids right away, we could have a kindergartener right now. and why didn't we?


part was practical... troy had one more year of college left and i, well, what can you really do with just a b.a. in psychology? i think part of it was selfish, too. i wanted troy all to myself. i wanted to just enjoy being a wife for a while. the biggest thing, though, i think was because troy knows me so well. he knew that i have a hard time believing i can do something until after i've already done it. i know some stuff about me. like that i'm a pretty good friend, and that i'm good at games. but that's because i've done those things before.


what i didn't know, was that i'm also a good student and a good teacher. looking back, i know i would have loved being a mom anytime it had happened. but the lessons i learned about myself through getting my master's degree and teaching kindergarten were so valuable and i believe they have made me a better mom and hopefully a better role model for caleb. i hope now when i tell him he can do something if he sets his mind to it, he'll believe me because i know, from experience, that it's true.

happy anniversary

i knew you were the one when you ...

described yourself using the very words i used to describe the man of my dreams

wrote me a thank you note at the end of first semester

listened to me cry about why it was so hard for me to trust people

understood how important the promise of "forever" was to me

cared about getting to know my family and loved sharing about yours

learned to play guitar just to fulfill a bet

still wanted to play games with me even though i beat you (sorry, but it's true)

spent the whole day with me and we didn't run out of things to say

told me you wanted to talk to my dad first before starting to date me

talked about your dreams for the future and God changed mine to match

told me "our story" over and over and over, just because i liked hearing it

designed a ring that was more beautiful than one i ever could have imagined

stood in the church and held my hand while we worshipped


you are my love. you have been these last 6 years we've spent together and i know you will be forever.

at the dog park

today at the dog park, caleb did the cutest thing! we had been practicing our lion and dog sounds in the car on the way there. when we got there, he was doing a lot of "woof-woofing". all of a sudden, though, he starts growling like a lion. i looked to see what was going on, and i saw this...




a bernese mountain dog. not quite a lion, but caleb's only 11 months old... i can see how he might get confused!

friendship

i've been thinking about this for a while, now, and i'm not sure i've quite gathered all my thoughts. but i want to get some of them down anyway. specifically, i've been thinking about friendship in the media... books and tv, especially. admittedly, i'm not a very good person to be writing about this because i don't watch much tv and skip a lot of movies, too (except that i'm a total sucker for reality tv and superhero movies).

i caught a few episodes of high school musical: get in the picture. one gal had a very interesting (and, in my opinion, sad) comment. she talked about the fact that she didn't have very many friends. she thought that had helped her in life because she could be more selfish and didn't have anyone "holding her back". is that really how some see friendship? as something that can hold them back? friendship, true friendship, should help encourage you to be more than you could be alone. to grow and change and feel safe in taking risks because you know that there's someone who will always love you.

contrast that to the sisterhood of the traveling pants books that i've been reading lately (to get ready for the second movie, of course!). there was a wonderful line in the second book. carmen, after having been a brat, tells tibby about it. tibby encourages her to make it right. at the end of the conversation, tibby leaves and carmen reflects that, "a worse friend would have made her feel better." now that, is friendship. that's the kind of people i want in my life. people who love me too much to pad my pride and, instead, help me do things that are hard for me.

such a different perspective on friendship. so much more healthy. and difficult. i hope there are more models like that in the media than the former.

sounds

i took caleb to our favorite toy store yesterday. we went to look at the stuffed animals again. and guess what? when i pulled out a dog stuffed animal, caleb woofed. it was ADORABLE! i tried it a couple more times and he kept doing it. then, i pulled out a lion and he growled! i also pulled out a fox to see if it was just a coincidence. he said "aaglug glug" so i'm not exactly sure what that means :)

i was so hoping for troy to be able to have a chance to see this. and last night, when we were sitting outside on a blanket, a dog walked by. and, sure enough, caleb woofed again. i've heard him make the sound before but yesterday was the first time it was really directed toward a dog.

i love that little monster!

attention span

caleb has a huge attention span... at least, for an 11 month old. yesterday, i just couldn't get this one book out of my head and really wanted to finish the chapter i had started during his nap. so, i picked up the book and gave him a couple of his own books. i read and he read. i loved every single second of it.

10 minutes later, i was done with my chapter (plus an extra one) and he was still reading. i had to call him a couple of times before he tore himself away from his book to look at me. now i know how troy feels when i'm reading and tune everything else out!

obsession

have i mentioned that caleb is obsessed with music? this from my boy who previously couldn't handle too much going on and would start rubbing his ear if there was noise in the background. now, he goes to sleep thinking about music and wakes up thinking about it. while he's nursing, he'll reach his chubby little hand in the general direction of the cd player and make the sing for light (because that obviously means, "i want the music on please mommy"). when i come to get him out of his crib, he jumps up and down, reaches for the cd player, and makes the sign for light. we can't even play in his room because all he'll do is climb over to the bookcase, pull a book off, look at the cd player, and make the sign for light. when we're in the living room, he tries to climb up the table to reach the ipod docking station (and makes the sign for light).

it's not that i'm against music. actually, i love it. but it's not just any music that will do. there's a certain cd he likes... actually, a certain song. it's song number 6 on the red grammer cd. and not only does he solely want to listen to that song, he wants me to hold him and dance with him the whole time, too. which is cute the first 3 times, but then gets a little old (not to mention heavy!). and that cd is not even on the ipod yet, so that makes him mad. i'm at a point where it's actually hard for me to be at the house because i'm constantly either listening to that song or listening to caleb whine for that song. he needs to widen his tastes!

like mother, like son

when i was young, it would take me FOREVER to get ready for bed. just ask my mom. or my dad. or my sister. or anyone who ever told me to get ready for bed. but i wasn't trying to waste time or anything, i just had a lot to do. it was my stuffed animals' fault.

i loved stuffed animals. a lot. not only did i have a ton of them, they also all had names. in fact, whenever i got a new stuffed animal, there was a routine we had to go through. i would think of a name for this animal and then all of us (my existing stuffed animals, myself, and the new arrival) would go under the covers of my bed and we would have a conference. i would think thoughts and see if the new guy could read my mind. i would give hypothetical situation in which my sister and i were in a fight. and the new stuffed animal had to say which side he/she would be on. and then, assuming they passed, i would find them a best friend (or two). don't worry, they all passed the test.

think that's crazy? i'm just getting started. every night there would be a specific place that each animal would sleep. and they had to be placed in that exact position before i went to sleep every night. first came kim (a cabbage patch doll) with her arm up. next to her was jenny (another doll, with lovely red hair). on top of them, wrapped around kim's arm, was snowball (a bunny) and sea bert (a seal). then i wrapped a blanket around those and got started on the next layers. cubby (a tiger), feline (a cat, duh). i could go on and on, but you probably get the picture. i would do this every night before i could go to bed. and in the morning, when i made the bed, they all had new positions.

all this to say, i loved stuffed animals. and it appears that caleb does, too. he likes me to put him in his crib and then he points (and makes the sign for light) at a stuffed animal on his shelf. i get it for him and he plays for bit until he's ready to point to the next one. we also love to go to white horse toys and look at all the amazing stuffed animals (he likes the croaking frog and the black lab the best). my parents would have loved a store like this for times when my birthday list read "a goat stuffed animal" (which i got, by the way, and named edelweiss).

"light"

caleb makes the baby sign for light! hooray! but why? i've done "light" with him a few times, but mostly we focus on practical signs like eat, drink, all done, and more. but would caleb like to do one of those signs? no thank you. he will choose to do light. and what did i do in response? totally overreact, of course.

so now, caleb does "light" for EVERYTHING. it means, "turn on the music", "give me some food", "pick me up", "can i see that?", "come get me", "more please", etc, etc, etc. if he wants to communicate, he does the sign for light.

at least he's getting the whole using signs to communicate concept. and i'm sure he'll lose some of the generality at some point... right?

moving?

we want to move. we've been going back and forth on this issue for a while, but now it's official. we love our condo, but third floor is not ideal for a mother of a young child. and when the time comes for number two... yikes! how to get two kids up and down all those concrete steps... not to mention a stroller or groceries or anything else. plus, kids make quite a bit of noise. not bad noise, most of the time, but a lot of noise nonetheless. and while there technically isn't anything we can do about it, i feel bad for our downstairs neighbor (as well as thankful that she works full time and is only home on weekends!).

here's the problem... we LOVE our neighborhood. it has amazing sidewalks and trails, a community garden, two pools, tennis courts, etc, etc, etc. it's ideal for raising a family. unfortunately, the prices reflect that fact.

we have, however, found a place we want. we haven't technically seen it, yet, but it's a mirror image of the home of some friends of ours, so i feel like i've seen it. i would post the mls listing, but i don't want anyone getting any ideas and buying out from under us. it's always been a dream of ours to live in community. to just do life with people who have a similar faith and goals and dreams. to have other adults whom we trust be a part of caleb's regular life. to help each other in very practical ways. this world doesn't have enough of that and my heart greatly desires it. i want to grow and learn and i believe Jesus uses others to help accomplish that.

so, we're getting our condo ready to put on the market. it's nerve-wracking, to say the least! and since we don't NEED to move, there's no better time to try to sell. worse comes to worse and i have a newly painted bathroom that i love and new light fixtures. i can deal with that. the goal is to put it on the market beginning of august. so, if you happen to know anyone who is looking for a beautiful 2-bed 2-bath condo in our area, let me know!

thinking about all of this has made me so thankful i know the Lord. i can't imagine trying to do this without Him. i would be so worried and stressed. i love knowing He's got a plan and that i just need to do my part. and there's no other plan i'd rather be a part of than His.

is this normal?

the thing about having only one child is that i never know what is kid, what is boy, what is us, and what is caleb. his feet for example. you know how a lot of babies have sort of an oral fixation where they put everything in their mouths? caleb has that, but with his feet. do you call that "pedic fixation" or something? he likes to explore new things with his toes. sometimes he does this just while sitting up and playing with a toy or other object (that probably shouldn't be a toy but has been claimed as such) in his lap. with really interesting and exciting new items, however, he reverts to laying on his back so that his toes can have full access. it's really cute... but is it normal or a caleb quirk?

blogging...

i blog. there, i admitted it. the reason i blog is something i've denied for some time now. i started blogging because our family lives far away. very far. i though, "i'll start a blog. that way, family members can read it and know what's going on with their grandson/nephew/cousin/etc. without me having to call everyone or send out mass emails." did it work? no. does any family actually read this blog? only very rarely. but yet, i keep blogging. and that is because i am addicted. i love blogging. i love crafting blogs in my head throughout the day (just like MommyTime recommends), love finding the time to sit and put it all down "on paper", and i love being a part of the parenting blog family.

and it's an awesome family. some people's blogs i read because i know them and love them. and i want to read about what's going on in the life of their family. other blogs i read because i can't help it. either they are amazing writers or incredibly funny or refreshingly honest or particularly interesting. one thing they all have in common: they're moms. i often feel quite inadequate when i read the blogs of others. i know i'm not a great writer and don't have a specific voice or anything like that. but still, i enjoy it and if i was doing this for readers, well, i would have given up long ago. but i do this because i can't help it and, in some ways, it helps me.

cruising...

i love watching caleb "cruise" through the house... he goes from the couch to the love seat to the coffee table and back. over. and. over. in his bedroom he goes from the crib to the exersaucer to the footstool to the glider to the bookshelf. over. and. over.

for some reason this new phase has also been accompanied by the "open all the cabinets just to see if i can" phase. sometimes he takes things out of said cabinets. often, he just likes to open and close them. over. and. over.

repetition seems to be a theme with him...

community...

i've been learning a lot about community recently. especially about how much i need it. how much we all need community - people who love us and help (read: force) us confront our need for change.

sometimes i don't like learning about this. in fact, a few days ago i actually told troy that we needed to switch churches. i was (mostly) kidding. see, our church is great. it challenges me not just on sunday mornings but all through the week. my community groups are full of people who actually want to be involved in my life and help me become a better reflection of God. and sometimes i hate that. sometimes i wish i could just be alone. that i wouldn't have to grow and that i wouldn't have to help anyone else grow. it's scary... i don't want to lose friends or make things uncomfortable. but really, what kind of friend would i be if i let someone i love go down a path that isn't healthy for them. not a very good one.

besides being scary, though, community is also amazing. one of our factors in switching churches last winter was that we wanted to be at a place where caleb could learn about community. that he could learn how the body of Christ loves and serves. and the best way for him to learn about it was to see us participate. and i think that's actually happening. we have friends we can talk with, pray with, serve, and just be. these are the kind of people i want caleb to grow up knowing. and i love that. it's amazing how quickly i've felt cared about and i have never been around people who were so amazingly transparent. it makes me feel like i know them, even though it's been such a short time.

i know this isn't always the case. in fact, a lot of people have felt the opposite of love from christians. and i have, too. but for me, rather than make me run away or get bitter, it's made me crave the real thing even more. and now i'm getting a taste of that. which is scary. and beautiful.

visit from a friend

this past weekend my friend, sheri, and her son, edward, came for a visit. i've been friends with sheri since my freshman year of high school and i was glad to finally meet her son. it was crazy having two young boys in the house, but that made us get out and do lots of fun stuff (swimming, tea, toy store, dog park, etc.).


one thing i definitely learned, though, caleb is a boy who likes quiet and calm. i had sort of seen that the weekend before with troy's parents, but this weekend underscored it. he doesn't like to have a lot of noise in his world and gets stressed out when around too many people for too long. it was amazing what even just taking him into his room for some quiet mom and caleb time did to help him.


sometimes i was a little disappointed with this part of his personality. until i realized, i'm the same way... i just hide it better. at some point caleb will learn to deal with his discomfort in ways other than crying. for now, though, i'll keep pushing him and exposing him to different situations, but try to always take into account his sensitive and quiet side.

helping fight a forest fire... sort of

yesterday, we had quite the adventure! troy and i decided to get out of the house and take caleb for a walk. as we were heading down a trail near our house, we see a bunch of smoke and a kid comes running to us, asking if we have a cell phone to call 911. here's the story...

this kid, steve, was riding his bike and saw some teenagers light a firework. when they saw him, they got spooked and through the firework into the amazing greenbelt area we have out behind our condo. steve saw it catch the grass on fire so he rode back to a woman he had passed earlier and they dragged a hose from the community garden to try and put it out. once it became obvious that it was spreading too fast, he went looking for more help. that's when we came along. after calling 911, troy went to help direct the firefighters and i stayed with steve and the woman (holly). eventually we had two fire trucks and it was quite the adventure. i had to stay around for quite a while to give a report to the fire investigator. steve is totally a hero for getting help so quickly (in fact, the fire fighters said had the trees caught on fire they probably would have had to evacuate the condos). the firefighters even let him help put the fire out with foam once it was all under control.