Just another week in paradise

 

June 25-July 1, 2012

Caleb stood up on his own this week! He pulled himself to a stand on Allen and then just let go and balanced there for about three seconds. Then he reached forward to hold onto Allen again. Then I got the camera to try to get it on video and this is what we ended up with . . .

Here is another falling video. Caleb was trying to crawl across my legs to get to the coffee table. He was doing a really good job until we starting getting a video of it.

We got Allen in to the doctor this week and it turns out he has pneumonia and an ear infection. He got a shot in his butt, antibiotics, steriods, more asthma medicine and codeine cough syrup to hopefully help him get better. Unfortunately he didn't get much sleep to help with the recovery. Things were really busy at work so he got up at 4:45 am to get in to the office early almost every morning and didn't get home until after 9 pm a couple of nights.

Caleb must have known Allen was getting up and leaving early because he decided that he needed to wake up at 4:30 every morning this week! At least we got to keep Dad company while he was getting ready. I think his poor sleeping was due to his teething. He is getting in his fifth tooth, the top left middle one.

One night while Allen was at the office late someone tried to get into our house. It scared me but after trying the front door for a little while, the person/people left. I called Allen and he told me to call the police. I felt dumb calling 911 because the people were gone, they didn't get into our house but the police officers were nice when they came.

On Friday Allen was not feeling well at all so he worked from home from 6 am - 1pm and then we went out to eat at Chuy's. I love their creamy jalapeno dip! After we got back he took a much needed nap mid-afternoon nap so he could be productive the rest of day. .

What a trooper . . . he has been working so hard even with how sick he has been and then even musters up enough energy to play with Caleb

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Caleb really loves books. We spent at least an hour or two every day, reading/looking at books.  

Caleb will not drink out of a bottle, sippy cup or straw. We have tried multiple times over the past several weeks with different yummy drinks. No luck. But, he sure can chug apple juice out of my glass. When it's water he usually just blows bubbles in it or chews on the glass. He loves apple juice and wants me to give it to him every time he sees it in the fridge when I'm getting his food out. He drinks out of a glass so well, it amazes me!

Reading with Dad

I have decided that I need to harness Caleb's love of chores and release it again when he is old enough to help. Since he loves to walk around the house holding onto my fingers, he leads me wherever he wants to go. He frequently walks me to the closet we keep the vacuum in, sits down, opens the door (if it isn't closed completely) and crawls in, grabs the vacuum and looks back up at me with a big smile.

So... we vacuum at least three times a week. On rough days, sometimes more than once a day. He also loves the Pledge spray can I use when I dust and tries to get it every time we go in the laundry room, which is frequent because he likes to look at the washer and he knows that's where the Pledge is kept.

Even more frequent than his "asking" me to vacuum, are his whimpers to go outside. He walks to the front door and looks up expectantly. When we walk up the stairs, he lunges for the front door. When we're in the kitchen, he walks/crawls over to the back door and waits for me to open it. When we get outside he LOVES to grab the roses (on Saturday he ate a rosebud while Allen was holding him), he LOVES the fire hydrant (not sure why...), he LOVES sprinklers that are spraying water but he will NOT step on the grass. It is too rough and prickly. If I hold him over the grass he will just hold his legs up . . . I wish I had that kind of strength.

How can you say no to a face like that?! I can't. Luckily, he doesn't look so cute when he is crying :)

Caleb knows when he is being silly. One example of that is when he is eating: he will bite down on the spoon as I'm trying to pull it out. While biting on it, he laughs that adorable little baby laugh.

Caleb likes to dribble the soccer ball around our house. It's still more of a kick and chase than actual dribbling, but it's pretty cute and here's a video! (Disclaimer: Allen said he would have at least said excuse me if he knew this was going on youtube/the blog.)

I took a rubber soccer ball to the pool this week and Caleb thought it was funny when I would bounce it. Here is what happened when we showed Dad when he got home from work. This video is worth watching if like to hear babies laugh!

When Allen builds a tower for Caleb to knock down, he won't just knock the whole thing down. He systematically knocks down one level at a time.

It may not looks like a great picture, but I just love the way his little feet look when he is up on his knees. Every time I tried to take a picture, he would turn around and try to get the camera. I love his little feet and bum in crawling position!

Caleb stopped being such a picky eater this week. He ate peaches, pears, chicken noodle soup (thick baby-style), real rice, in addition to his normal sweet potatoes, peas and puffs.

One day I wanted to watch a movie and the only way to get Caleb to sit still to watch 10-20 minutes of it without chasing him around is to give him food. So I pulled out the goldfish and he kept chowing down on them. *Time out*

Side note: He eats goldfish one at a time and doesn't put the whole thing in at once. He holds it in his hand and bites one side of the tail off, then the other and then slowly gnaws at the rest until it is gone.

*Time in* After a few minutes, he pooped so I was took him upstairs to change his diaper and when I laid him down, he started laughing and I saw that the roof of his mouth was a solid chunk of goldfish! I stuck my finger in there to try to scrap it off and it was at least half a cm thick! Every time I stuck my finger in there was dangerous; his teeth are sharp!

Caleb understands more than I realize. Sunday morning we were letting Daddy sleep in (until 7:15) and then I said, "Let's go get Daddy!" And Caleb immediately pulled himself to a stand so I would walk with him and he ran to our bedroom door.

Another thing he is good at, is untying things. One morning I found a piece of yarn on the floor and found where it came from... untied the yarn in his quilt! He also likes to untie my shoes.

He loves his Dad. When we've all been downstairs together and Caleb starts to walk up the stairs with me, he always stops at the landing to see if Dad's coming before we go up the second half of the stairs.

We are still down to one car, with Allen's being out of commission, and Al usually has to drive to work, which leaves me car-less. It isn't a big deal because I have nowhere I need to go, except on Thursdays. My daily routine consists of: 1- walk and/or run in the morning (with the occasional stop at the park), 2- pool in the afternoon and 3- get the mail in the evening while we are anxious for Dad to get home and can't stand to wait inside any longer. Sometimes we even walk about a mile to hopefully meet him driving home, but usually we turn around and get back home before he does.

Other than those three activities, we clean/play around the house, eat, and, if we're lucky, nap. The pool is only half a mile away so even when I have the car, I just walk. But on Thursdays our pool is closed for cleaning so I need to go to one of the twelve other pools that our pass gets us into . . . that means, there is no  pool on Thursdays if Allen drives, which means we're in for a long day, since it's too hot to take Caleb on a walk or to the park in the afternoon. 

104 degrees + lots of humidity = no afternoon walks anymore

This week Allen drove on Thursday. And when my day started at 4:30 am with a crying baby and no pool trip to look forward to, I knew I was going to try to have to get creative to keep Caleb entertained all day inside the house. And then there was a tender mercy! My friend Cathryn, who has a baby a couple of months older than Caleb, texted to say she was going to the pool and then gave us a ride. That just made my day so much better! And made me a happier wife for Allen to come home to. It's the little things . . .

Saturday we did a lot of yard work and our trusty Civic pulled out two stumps for us! Our neighbors were impressed at the power of the little engine that could. We got the second one on video. The first one broke a strap so it would have been a more exciting video. The second one broke our shovel.

Another little thing that I loved this week, was the torrential downpour on Saturday. We were in Walmart and kept hearing loud thunder every few minutes. After checking out, we saw the group of people waiting to go out to their cars. We debated waiting for a few minute to see if it would let up some, but we decided to just go. We were soaked within seconds. Allen ran with Caleb to the car as I pushed the cart and splashed in puddles along the way. It was fun! I love the warm rain and how hard it pours. It just makes me want to tip my head back and laugh.

This is a new toy we got at Walmart. I think it's the first time we have actually bought Caleb a real toy.