Let Freedom Ring

Patriotic family picture on the fourth of July, with Caleb looking at Dad instead of the camera.

Allen trying to get Caleb to look at the camera . . . and we caught him mid-snap. We were literally rolling on the floor laughing when we saw the picture! We told Caleb we'd explain why it was so funny when he's older.

And then Caleb was done sitting and still was not going to look at the camera.

July 2-8, 2012
Bumbo fun this week:

-Caleb tipped it over on its side while reaching to get more puffs or his apple juice and bonked his head. 

-Caleb has figured out how to pull the tray off.

-He hits the tray and watches the food bounce off of it and laughs.

-He splashes in the spilled food on the tray and sticks his face in it.

Caleb is still as fascinated with hands as ever. He imitates how I make a fist, one time with the thumb out and the next time with his thumb in. He often grabs my hand to open and close it for me, alternating when he shoves my thumb in before closing my fist around it. I think he's going to be a hand surgeon if he keeps this up.

Caleb's hand fascination now.

Flashback to Caleb's hand fascination at 9 weeks old.

Flashback to Caleb's hand fascination at a few days old.

Top right picture: Flashback to hand fascination in the womb.

His new hand discovery of the week is that his fingers fit nicely up Mom and Dad's nostrils. He sneak attacks all the time too! You'll just be playing with him and then . . . BAM! you get hit with a sharp, pokey fingernail as high up your nostril as it can go, which is pretty far!

I think last week I wrote about how Caleb likes to push his forehead up against Allen's and my foreheads and then talk. This week he did it to himself in the mirror (sometimes hitting his head against the mirror harder than he anticipated, I think) and he also did it to Grammy on skype!

The fourth of July was different this year without family to celebrate with and since Allen ended up working 7 hours. He was supposed to have a half day on July 3rd, but that didn't happen either. We did watch half of Independence Day that night before we got too tired to stay up any later (it was probably only 10 pm). 

We're so patriotic . . .

. . . in our red, white and blues.

Luckily, when Caleb and I were on our morning walk on the 4th, my friend Cathryn was on her run and stopped to talk for a minute. When she heard we didn't really have any plans, she invited us over for their barbecue. Allen took a break from working around 1:30 pm, so we went to the pool for an hour before heading over to the barbecue. She had made tons of delicious food! I was so stuffed when we left . . . and she sent us home with lots of leftovers! Being with friends and eating good food made it seem more like a holiday than just any other day. 

Picture of what we made with the delicious leftover burger and bacon... mmm!

We had planned to go watch fireworks with some friends but Caleb was exhausted by 7 pm and wasn't going to last until they started at 9 pm. We heard the fireworks and went on our roof but couldn't see enough to make it worth staying up there, so we went back downstairs for Allen to work and me to input our budget info from June. Even though Allen had to work, it was still fun to have him work from home so we could spend time with him while he worked. 

Thursday morning Caleb decided he didn't want to nurse. Then again around noon, would not nurse. A few hours later, would not nurse. I went to activity days and he was happy to play on the floor, watching all of the girls do their skits. On the car ride home he was screaming and tired and hungry so I thought he would eat when we got home and fall asleep . . . no such luck! By that point, I was so full that I was hurting bad and having him just scream and fuss and not eat was frustrating. He eventually fell asleep but my pump does not suck as well as Caleb does. Dang nursing strike caused a plugged duct that was painful, red and swollen for the next few days. 

Luckily the next morning Caleb ended his nursing strike, but only when I would let him nurse sitting up all the way and would only nurse on the side with the plugged duct if I let him stand up. I did get a picture of that to show Allen but it is inappropriate for this G-rated blog. :)

It's not summer without delicious watermelon. Here is Caleb "eating" watermelon for the first time.

Caleb likes to be chased. He will crawl to the computer (because he knows I will come grab him before he gets to it) and when he gets close, will look back to see if I'm coming. If I'm coming to get him, he will turn back toward the computer and squeal as I get him. Sometimes when he sees Allen or I coming to get him, instead of running away, he crawls as quickly as he can toward us. 

Caleb likes to try everything, but as you may have seen in the video of the watermelon, he usually spits it out if it's a new texture. He only choked on the lettuce once in ten minutes of gnawing on it. 

On Saturday we went with the primary children from our church to perform a patriotic program at a senior center. The kids from our class did a great job singing Texas, Our Texas, with words that help indoctrinate the upcoming generations about the greatness of this great state and pass along the state pride. :) The old folks loved all of the cute kids and the songs, even the ones who only woke up for the finale.

Afterward Caleb, Allen and I went to a pool that we hadn't been to that was near the senior center. Here is a video of Caleb talking as he walks under the fountains. 

Caleb has been a talker for a while. He'll just talk and talk and talk, but almost always just vowels and gurgling. This week he perfected babababa. He usually says it with his tongue sticking out, so it's more of a bla-bla-bla, but still really cute. Except when it's really loud during the sacrament. And if I try to cover his mouth, he thinks that means keep making noise because at home I help him do a little indian (native american) yell, "ah-ah-ah-ah" by covering and then uncovering his mouth. (I was trying to be politically somewhat correct, but I think referring to that as an native american yell can probably be construed as racist anyway.) 

Anywho... so, when I cover his mouth, he doesn't know that it means be quiet. He thinks it means, yell louder! Oops. Unfortunately the binky was in the car (that's the usual plug to help him be quiet) and Allen had the car keys in his pocket on the stand, since he was the organist that day. Luckily, with a little bit of sign language, he knew to go get the binky from the car and come find me in the foyer after the sacrament was over.

In summary, Allen had a really busy work week, as can be seen by the fact that he worked full days on his day and a half off and during the weekend. This week I actually got to use some of my skills too! A woman in our ward hurt her back and had heard I could help. She came twice this week and we're making some headway on it.

This one may take a while since it has been hurting for several years and just recently got bad enough to go to the doctor, which she's been avoiding since she thought her only option would be back surgery and kept putting it off. This injury is requiring a lot of problem solving on my part, which is fun when we make progress. Her thirteen year-old daughter comes and plays with Caleb while I'm working on her mom's back. She is great with him! He, however, has been a momma's boy and keeps wanting me to hold him while he plays with her. This is very good for Caleb. He needs to be separated from me more. He does really well with other people if I'm out of sight, but if he can see me or hear me, he thinks he needs me.

One thing I forgot to mention last week: we were at the store and Caleb started fussing so I went to pull him out of the cart and he wasn't coming out. I looked down and he had some how gotten his leg in little slat next to the big leg hole! It took Allen and I close to a minute to maneuver his little leg out of there. I was just glad that Allen was there with me so I didn't have to ask a stranger to help me get Caleb out!