salmon

a few days ago, i took caleb and ali to see the salmon run. if you've never seen it, it's one of those things that's pretty cool to learn about and way way cooler to get to see. we went last year, too, but caleb was not nearly as interested so it was really more about me and getting out somewhere. this year, though, he thought it was amazing!

it was funny getting to see the big ones up close. he looked at me and said, "fish cute??" in this questioning voice like he knew "cute" was not the word he was looking for. then he changed his mind and said, "fish weird??" again, not quite the right word. so i suggested, "ugly fish!" he looked at me and seconded, "SUPER ugly fish!"

opposites attract

at least for caleb they do. he is really interested in opposites right now. his first introduction to opposites was big and little. we started talking about it by making "great big giant" balls of playdough and "little tiny baby" balls of playdough. and then we had "great big giant" dog stuffed animals and "little tiny baby" dog stuffed animals. for a while, he wouldn't even say "big", he would just make some growling, "great big giant" sound. now's he's starting to branch out to explore other opposites...
tight and loose: we talk about this when getting into his car seat. i'll pull the seat belt tight and then way loose. back and forth. it was fun and he learned tight and loose all right... but now every time he gets into his seat, he complains that it is "tight". i'm creating a monster!
loud and quiet: i read in a book (or maybe i saw it on tv) that the best way to teach a dog to be quiet is to teach them the command "speak". then they just start barking when told to bark. anyway, caleb learned loud and quiet in a similar way... playing the drums (aka hitting a pillow with lincoln logs). he was banging too loudly so we taught him how to play loud and quiet. it's cute now to watch him see just how quiet he can be. of course, he still prefers loud.
over and under: i think caleb's gram taught him this one by helping him step over a blanket. for a while he then wanted to put everything on the ground and step over it. and under is an easy one... what little boy doesn't drive cars under tunnels made of blocks?
off and on: actually, maybe this was caleb's first opposite. off was one of his first words. we must have spent hours with him laying on his changing table and asking for the light switch "ott" and "on".
there are probably more, but that's all i have for right now...

concept of numbers

i think caleb's starting to get the idea of numbers meaning amount. he's been counting for a while... he's pretty good up to 10... but this week he started showing a deeper level of understanding. in the past, when he hasn't wanted to be done with something fun, he's asked for "one minute" or "one time" (one more time). often we grant this request. but this week, he's gotten smart. now he'll ask for "three minute" or "two time". time to start the negotiations :)

progression of the alphabet

i wanted to get this recorded because i know i'll forget as time goes along...
1. A...B...C...
2. A...B...C...D...
3. A...B...C...D...P...Q...X...Y...Z
4. A...B...C...D...O...O...O...P...Qs...Rs...W(pronounced "double")...X...Y...Z

more to come, i'm sure

caleb's sentences

in the last week or so, caleb has started talking in two-word sentences. it just clicked all of a sudden. no more "ball"... "purple". now it's "purple ball" and so on. his favorite is to add "chocoo" (chocolate) in front of anything. smart kid... chocolate does make everything better :) so i hear a lot of "chocoo cookie", "chocoo bar", and "chocoo milk".
he's even tested out a few three-world sentences. so far i've heard "more chocoo cookie", "izzy eat bana" (a friend's dog eats bananas... for real), and "mommy color purple" when caleb wanted me to use the purple crayon instead of the brown one i was currently holding. it's pretty much adorable and fun for me to learn more about how his little brain is learning and processing information. it's cute when his mouth can't quite keep up with his mind.

limits of imagination

caleb has a great imagination. he loves to have his cars drive over to each other and talk about what they like on their toast (jelly, butter, honey, etc) or what kind of cereal they want for breakfast. he tries to put his diapers on stuffed animals and wants to clean their ears with q-tips. cooking is a favorite thing so any spatula all of a sudden whips up some eggs and anything even remotely cup-like needs to be sipped and shared. most recently, caleb has become infatuated with guitars and playing "king Jesus is all" and "pharaoh, pharaoh". so now sticks and forks and anything long and thin becomes a guitar to strum. it's all super cute.
but...
have you ever read "Go Dog, Go"? we don't have the full version, just the kid's board book and caleb loves it (calls "dogo"). he especially loves the pages with "stop dogs stop" and "go dogs go". but here's the thing. he doesn't actually realize there are dogs in the book except on the page where all the dogs are more realistically colored. that page he freaks out because of all the dogs. and the rest, he's totally oblivious. how can a little baby fork be a guitar but a dog, if colored green, must be some sort of silly monster? what a fun mind to get to know!

caleb's newest word

"loud"

as in "car"... "vroom"... "LOUD"
or
"spoon"... "bang"... "LOUD"

colors

caleb is starting (emphasis on starting) to learn what colors are. actually, i think he gets the concept, just not the wide variety of options. so far everything is either purple or yellow. he's really good at purple (although he does call blue things purple, too) and everything else is yellow. yesterday at the store, caleb was running back and forth along the refrigerated section of juices, pointing to all the cartons that had purple lids. i think he pretty much made the day of several older ladies shopping nearby.
sometimes, caleb even gets the color brown... well, only in one case. if he's holding both his purple frog stuffed animal and his brown doggy, i ask him "what color is your frog" and he says "purple". then i ask, "what color is your doggy" and he says "brown". but if i ask him at other times what color his doggy is, he'll either say "yellow" or "color" :) it's still a work in progress!

expanding vocabulary

i can't believe it! i was just looking back at some old posts and saw the one called "words" from february 1st. i mentioned my list of caleb's words being somewhere around 35 or so. i'm still working on the list and now, a month later, my list is at over 70. no wonder it feels like his communication has been exploding recently.
some new favorite words: lid, walk, paper, Elmo, and pants.

classifying a zebra

caleb has this awesome animal magnet puzzle that he loves. he especially has loved figuring out that all the pieces can stick to the refrigerator and don't have to just stay in the puzzle. one day all the pieces were on the fridge and we were playing a "find that animal" game. we had done all the easy ones (elephant, giraffe, fish, dog, etc) so had moved on to zebra. first, he pointed to the cow... nope. then, the tiger... again, no. finally, he found the zebra. it took me a bit to figure out what he had done. first, he found the right colors (black and white, for those of you who never had a complete animal education). then, he found an animal with stripes. finally, he put them together to find the right animal. what a problem solver!

words

caleb is talking a ton. realistically, he's the only baby i REALLY know, so it doesn't seem all that unusual to me. although, i was prepared for a boy to take a while to talk, i guess i just didn't have to wait all that long. a lot of what he says, probably only troy and i would understand. but more recently, i've had people from the nursery or at stores comment on his verbal abilities and ask me how old he is.
i've started to compile a list of all the words he knows. some of them sound a bit similar to innocent bystanders, but they are best understood in context. so far, my list is at 35, and i'm sure there are some that i'm forgetting. some of his favorites are: mama, daddy, please (cuz it gets him so much good stuff), more, music, doggy, hi, sit, up, no, yeah, all done, all gone, fish, and cracker... just to name a few.
it's made me think about the whole nature vs. nurture debate. i tend to attribute a lot of it to nature. i know i was quite the talker quite early and he seems to be a really "emotionally intelligent" (as one friend put it) boy. he just "gets" communication. he likes to listen to others and does his best to participate in whatever they are doing. on the other hand, though, i had a friend over last week who commented on how much i talk to caleb and how many words i give him throughout the course of a couple of minutes. maybe it's the teacher coming out in me, but that's just how i am around him. also, i know i try really hard to pay attention to what he's saying and reward his efforts. i assume this builds up his confidence to keep trying. it also helps that, so far, he's not showing any perfectionist tendencies when it comes to talking.
all that to say, it's probably a lot of both. and i'll be interested to meet our new little one and see how he/she develops verbally. maybe it will answer some questions. maybe it will just raise some news ones. we'll see...

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".

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!

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.

more

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

together, they taught caleb the sign for MORE!

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!!

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!

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.

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!