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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Yesterday was Bryan's birthday and we had a restful celebration at home. Both Bryan and Caleb are a little under the weather so our original plans for lunch at Salt Lick BBQ had to be postponed. We opted instead for playing at home, long naps for everyone and a home-cooked dinner, and Italian Cream cake & ice cream. Here are some pictures of Caleb helping Daddy blow out his candles. In the middle of me singing Happy Birthday Caleb decided he needed to give Daddy a kiss!




Happy Birthday, Bryan! We love you!!!

Caleb's Latest Antics

Caleb is proving to be a typical toddler - busy, exploring, and into everything! I recently had to finish childproofing all of our kitchen cabinets because I grew tired of finding the colander in the living room!
I've also found Caleb playing a few other places lately, like Sophie's crate! He loves to get in there and play (Sophie does not sleep in the crate anymore). Caleb tries to take whatever toy he's playing with at the moment into the crate, whether it be his toy trash truck or a large push toy. If you look closely in the picture below you can see that while in Sophie's crate Caleb has pulled the spout off of her water bottle and water is gushing out onto his pajamas!


Caleb is also especially fond of the dishwasher and tries to climb on it every time I'm unloading the clean dishes. I keep telling him not to play on there but the second I turn to put something away he has climbed up on it again! I'm not sure what the weight limit is for the dishwasher door, but I hope it's greater than 25 lbs! Caleb thinks it makes a great racetrack for his cars, or in this case his toy ambulance:


Caleb is constantly making laps around the house pushing one of his 'cars'. He is also starting to walk independently more and more. Caleb had stopped making as many attempts at walking after a recent face-plant that led to a bloody lip & nose, but he's finally found the courage to try again and is doing great! He seems to be testing out what he can 'do' while he's walking - like drinking from his sippy cup as he circles the living room or carrying a large toy truck while cruising through the kitchen. It has been so exciting to watch him make progress!
We have noticed that Caleb likes to collect special items in his car to take with him around the house. I decided to take a picture of what he was pushing around on a particular day:

a pair of socks, the lid to an Aggie mug (stolen from the not yet childproofed cabinets!), his toy ambulance, and 4 Leap Frog magnetic letters because you never know when you might need the letters A, C, L or O. Last time I checked he had added his sippy cup, a leaf, and another pair of socks to his loot. He is our sweet, funny little goofball and we enjoy all of the cute things he does each day!!

The other thing that Caleb has started doing lately is signing for 'help'. I have used this sign with him for months but he never tried to do it himself. Over the past weekend he finally started signing for help when he needed it! Most of the time it was after he 'accidentally' pushed his toy car off the couch and wanted me to retrieve it - but hey, it's a start! Bryan and I have both had Caleb sign to us for help (patting his chest with both hands) when his push toy is stuck or when he can't reach something. We are so proud of him for communicating with us using the signs! It sure does make things easier and cut down on frustration for Caleb to know he is understood!

GranJan and Grandpa Come to Visit!

GranJan and Grandpa came to visit us a few weekends ago (Oct 17 & 18) so they could celebrate Bryan's birthday with us and also see sweet Caleb. It was a quick visit but we had a great time! GranJan and Grandpa had just returned from a cruise along the East Coast and brought Caleb a cute backpack from Canada! He was a pretty good sport about modeling it for the camera:



The three boys enjoyed watching "Wheel of Fortune" while I prepared dinner on Saturday night. This show has quickly become one of Caleb's favorites. He likes to guess the letters, although most of the time he sticks to guessing B, C, or T. That night Bryan and I went to an Octoberfest party at one of the staff physician's house while GranJan and Grandpa babysat and put Caleb to bed. It was nice to have an evening out!


We enjoyed the beautiful weather the next day by going to our little neighborhood park. Caleb enjoyed riding on the merry-go-round with Daddy while Grandpa pushed:

And going down the slide with Daddy too:


Caleb also went on the swings with GranJan and Grandpa!

And climbed through the rock climbing tunnel:
On Sunday we also let Caleb try on his entire Halloween costume for the first time and he was so cute!! I'm going to save the pictures of him in his costume for a Halloween post this weekend so you will all have to wait in suspense to see our adorable baby DUCK! :)

Thanks for coming to visit us, GranJan and Grandpa!