Ice Ice Baby

Caleb discovered that Mama's Tea Cup has yummy ice inside of it, so his new word of the day was 'ice'.  Bryan and I decided to have a little bit of fun with his new word :)


Ice Ice Baby from Betsy Pickett on Vimeo.

A Boo Boo on Caleb's "Delbow"

Caleb was helping Bryan with some yard work and he fell and got a scrape on his elbow.  It is his first boo boo that officially requires a Band Aid.  Dr. Daddy took care of cleaning him up and putting on the Band Aid, which Caleb asked us to take off at least 100 times during dinner.  "Boo boo off, boo boo off pease".  He also said "boo boo delbow" since it was on his elbow.  I'm pretty sure he's one of the few children his age who doesn't like getting a Band Aid!

Mama's Tea Cup

Caleb has developed a recent obsession with my favorite drink, Sweet Tea from Bush's Chicken which is a Central Texas favorite.  I only let him have a couple sips since I know it's not the best for him.  When we drive by Bush's he says "Bye tea" and when we are in the drive thru he refers to the employees as "tea" too, greeting them with "Hi" and "Bye" (they have a 4-lane drive thru and walk out to your car).  Caleb calls the styrofoam cup "Mama's Tea Cup".  Here's a cute video of our little man enjoying my drink.

Mama's Tea Cup from Betsy Pickett on Vimeo.

Calebisms

Caleb has been saying and doing a lot of funny things today, so I want to document them here so I don't forget how fun he is at this age!

• Caleb cannot stand for a door to be open - a bedroom door, the microwave door, the back door or the "tee tee door" as he called the toilet lid today!
• Tonight when the microwave was running Caleb stood in front of it and counted "3, 2, 1, beep! beep! beep!".  I was surprised to hear him count backwards!
• This afternoon Caleb and I played in the backyard.  As we sat and bounced a ball he looked at me and out of nowhere said "Coopa mine fund" which translates in Caleb-speak to "Parker is my friend".  Caleb hasn't played with or seen Parker in almost two weeks, yet he is still talking about him!  I'm pretty sure I need to call Parker's Mommy to set up another play date.  
• I've been trying to teach Caleb that the word truck starts with T.  He currently says "cuck" for truck, so I've been very exaggerated in sounding it out for him --- "T-t-t-t-t-truck".  He will repeat after me "T-t-t-t-t-cuck".  
• Caleb has developed a recent interest in the TV show Handy Manny.  He likes to try to sing part of the theme song which says "Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, Handy Manny" but he says "Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, Meeen-gah!" and he is so proud of himself.  I guess "Meen-gah" is his way of saying Manny.
• I have been pumping Caleb up for his birthday celebration on April 10, his actual birthday.  He is eager to tell you that he will be two, that he is having a car party and to show you how he will blow out the candles - which right now is to blow gently through his teeth.  I'm pretty sure that will not be strong enough to blow out the candles but we'll just have to wait and see at his party!
• And lastly, tonight when I was putting Caleb to bed we did our usual routine of reading a few books, turning off the lights, saying prayers and singing a song to Jesus before he was rocked a bit and put in his crib.  Tonight as I turned off the lights he said "ooooooh, dart!" which was "ooooh, dark!" and sang his own song to Jesus when it was his turn.  The song went a little something like this (oh, how I wish I had it on tape!):  "Jeeeeeesus, Jeeeesus, Jesuuuuuus, Momma, Dada.... (insert other people's names)..... Jeeeeesus, Jeeeesus (slight pause)..... E-I-E-I-O Jeeeeesus, E-I-E-I-O Santaaaaaaa, E-I-E-I-O Santa shoes, E-I-E-I-O!".  It took everything in me to not laugh at his sweet little song to Jesus!

Caleb cracks me up all the time and is amazing me with how much clearer his speaking is, how many new words he says each day, how well he follows directions (most of the time!) and how much he is listening to what we say.  I can tell that the coming year will be a fun one with him!

Noodles

On Wednesday night I made Chicken Marsala for dinner.  I didn't expect that Caleb would like it so I fixed him something else to eat.  Much to our surprise, he began to request noodles from our plates while we were at the table.  "More ooods pease" was how he chose to ask for 'more noodles please'.  Caleb scarfed those noodles as fast as he could!  Unfortunately spaghetti noodles are kind of difficult for him to eat so about half of them ended up in his lap!

Shoveling it in

A noodle-filled lap!

MCO Rock Band Party

Bryan and I are blessed to be part of a ministry at the medical school called "Medical Campus Outreach" or MCO.  We have participated in the weekly Bible Study for the past 2.5 years and found immense support and friendship as we endured the challenges of medical school, work and Caleb's adoption.  Now that we are out of medical school (I like to refer to it as 'we' went to med school... ha!) we are helping to lead the ministry.

On Tuesday we went to dinner and then had a Rock Band party at our house for the medical students who were not on spring break.  Many of them had never played Rock Band before and we had a great time!  Caleb stayed up past his bedtime but loved socializing with everyone and managed to trick several people into being his playmates for the evening.  Once he realized that our friend Kyle would play cars with him, Caleb would stand next to Kyle and repeat "Down please, down please!" to try to entice Kyle to sit back down on the floor to play cars again!

It was great to spend time with friends and to entertain in our home where Caleb has all his toys, snacks, etc.  We love spending time with the medical students and encouraging them to live their life for Christ and Christ alone!  We are so grateful for the friendships we have in MCO!

The group during an incredible performance!

Bryan Pickett on drums, Caleb Pickett on drink swiping

Helping Daddy with the drums

During one of the songs Caleb went in his playroom with Crystal and did a small piano solo.  I guess he was feeling inspired!

During my second turn on drums, I rocked out to "Wanted Dead or Alive" and ended up with a blister from the drumsticks.  I guess that's what happens when you hit 97% of the notes while rocking the drumsticks.  ;)

Fun Around the House & A Few Calebisms

Today Caleb and I went on a walk and to the park with another resident wife and her son, Parker, who is a month younger than Caleb.  I think Caleb really enjoyed running around with him at the park and pretending to chase one another!  Caleb was calling him "Copper".  I guess he is switching the 'k' sound with the 'p' sound in his name. 

Yesterday afternoon at snack time I caught Caleb feeding goldfish to Sophie.  He now refers to all goldfish as "tweet tweets" since I sometimes buy the Target brand goldfish which are actually shaped like birds.  When I corrected him for feeding Sophie he said, "Sorry Mama, Sorry Sophie" and then as he got off his chair I also heard him say, "Sorry Jesus".  

Yesterday evening (in an attempt to just get out of the house!) Caleb and I went to drive thru Lion's Park to look for ducks.  Unfortunately there were none to be found.  Caleb kept announcing "no cuts" which was his way to say "no ducks" and also reminded me there were "no cats" at Petsmart when we went over a week ago.  

Here are a couple pictures of my funny little man playing around the house.  Caleb is becoming more interested in helping with sweeping and also enjoys 'clean up time' for his toys.

Caleb enjoys playing with a talking Caterpillar truck that he got from Gran Jan and Papa.  Sadly he plays pretty rough and the dump truck portion came off.  I thought these two pictures were funny since it seemed that Caleb was trying to 'fix' the truck himself :) 

A new dump truck attachment for the truck.  The orange one belongs to another dump truck in his collection.

I guess the sheep needed a ride somewhere.

Video of Caleb & Nellie laughing in the car

Here's my third attempt at posting this video!!

Caleb and Nellie were cracking each other up in the car on the way back from Waco.



Caleb & Nellie from Betsy Pickett on Vimeo.

Zoo Trip with Nellie

Today we visited the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco for the first time.  My friend Mallory and her daughter Nellie went along with us.  Bryan is working a 30+ hour shift today and Mallory's husband was out of town at a conference, so it was the perfect time to do something fun together on the weekend!  We set out early and got to enjoy all the animals at the zoo.  We even managed to fit in some shopping at Gymboree in Waco (we don't have one in Temple) and lunch at Jason's Deli.  Caleb and Nellie get along so well, and it helps that I love Mallory's company too!  Both of the kids (and the Mommies!) were wiped out by the time we got home.  It was a fun way to spend the beautiful morning!

Loaded up in the strollers and ready to go to the zoo!

Posing in front of the zoo sign

The best tiger shot I could get

The orangutan who scared Caleb & Nellie. He was eating celery and reading the yellow pages!

Mallory and Nellie watching the orangutan

The large, beautiful lion

Caleb & Nellie with the lion

Caleb checking out the rhinos

Getting a closer look

Taking a little break

I'm thankful for stroller straps!  Wild Man was trying to bust into the gibbon exhibit.

The best Mommy & Caleb pic we could get!

Enjoying the scenery on their zoo date

Group shot of our Mommy & Me trip!

The kids loved riding together and playing with toys!  Caleb was not so sure about Nellie putting the teething ring on her head.  

Young love.

Playing in the Rain

We've had a gloomy, rainy day today but managed to make it fun for Caleb!  Today he tested out his raincoat and rain boots from my parents.  When we first put the boots on he acted like he couldn't walk and stood frozen in place.  Eventually he figured out he could walk -- and even RUN -- in his rain boots.  Here are some pictures from our adventure outside.  

Backyard Picnic

Last week Bryan had the day off on Wednesday.  We decided to enjoy the beautiful weather by having a backyard picnic at lunch!  Although it stinks when Bryan has to work night shifts or weekends in the ER, we are blessed by the times when he is off in the middle of the week and we can enjoy great family time!  


I believe that Caleb loves his Mommy & Daddy equally, but he realizes that most of his day is spent with Mommy since Daddy works long hours.  I love seeing how much our son loves his Daddy.  It is one of the sweetest things to watch.  Caleb craves and adores his time with Bryan; if they are watching a little bit of ESPN together or playing and I try to join Caleb says "Bye Mama!" etc to let me know this is his guy time with Daddy!  I treasure our family time together, not just because Bryan gives me a break no matter how tired he is - but because it is such a blessing to see a wonderful father/son relationship and to see Bryan be such an outstanding father every single day.


Here are some pictures from our last family day together!

Enjoying the sunny weather with Mommy.  We are SO ready for spring!  My sweet boy loves to be outside all the time!

This is Caleb giving his Daddy a "hug", all while saying "ohhhhhh" which is what he does when he is showing affection.

Exhibit A:  Why we are still using a sippy cup.

Caleb pretending to drink out of one of our empty glasses.

Caleb cleaning the plates.  He loves fresh fruit!  His other favorite snack recently is the Target brand 'goldfish' which are shaped like birds.  I think Target calls them Chickadees;  Caleb calls them "tweet tweets".

And on this farm he had a....

Caleb just woke up from his nap and I'm listening to him talk over the baby monitor.  This is what I just heard:

"E-I-E-I-O, Santa Santa Ho Ho Ho, E-I-E-I-O". 

Apparently Santa is spending the rest of the winter vacationing on Old MacDonald's Farm.

Mommy's Shoes

My funny little man thought it would be fun to try on Mommy's shoes tonight.  He is at such a fun age!

A Visit from Granny & Daddy Bob

Last weekend my parents came to Temple for a visit.  We all had a great time with them, especially Caleb!  He loves playing cars, trucks and choo-choo train at their house here.  Caleb was able to play with Granny aka "Din" and Daddy Bob aka "Bob Bob" while I did some errands or relaxed on their couch!  My Dad took Bryan to an Aggie basketball game on Saturday while Mom, Caleb and I did some lunching and shopping up in Waco.  I was thrilled to get some great deals on clothes for Caleb!  Bryan and I were also able to go on a date and attend a meeting for the Medical Student Ministry we are a part of, so it was a very helpful visit all around!  Thanks Granny and Daddy Bob!!  


My parents and I took Caleb to church at 5pm on Sunday evening while Bryan was working a day shift in the ER.  Lately we just go straight to sitting in the cry room and don't even give the main sanctuary a try.  Caleb is too chatty to sit out there at this age, plus he likes to clap and cheer after every song that we sing!  While in the cry room Caleb peered over the windowsill and out into the main part of the church.  He saw the crucifix and yelled out in a surprised tone, "IT'S JESUS!!!!" as if he was shocked to see Jesus there.  During the closing song he also spent most of his time saying "Bye Jesus!" over and over again.  


One afternoon my Mom was reading some miniature ABC books to Caleb that he received from my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jim.  While reading the "Z" book, a very tired Caleb found the word zucchini to be absolutely hysterical.  I captured some cute pictures and video of Caleb laughing over that book with my Mom.  I'll try to post the video soon once I figure out how to do everything on this new computer of mine!

Here are some more pictures from their visit, including our trip to a local park.  Caleb wanted to spend most of his time there running around in the open space instead of playing on the playground equipment!

Going down the little slide with Mommy

Exploring and playing with Daddy

Going down the big slide with Daddy

Running in the wide open space with Granny

Practicing his driving skills

I love how Caleb sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating!