Caleb's Cousins

All of the Rosener cousins are in Utah these days (and by Rosener cousins, I mean Caleb's cousins on my side of the family). In case you don't know them all, pictured above are Caleb, Nora holding Eliot, Agnes, and Sara. It was tricky trying to get a good picture of all five of them. Caleb and Sara were the hardest. They just didn't want to sit in the picture and each wanted to sit in their mommy's lap. But since neither Holly or I wanted to be in the picture, we just kept tossing them back into the pile.

Then, after we changed outfits, we decided to take some of each family. Well, Caleb has no siblings, so that meant just a picture of him by himself. Suddenly, he turned on all the charm. The photographer was planning on snapping a quick one of him standing before he could run away. But Caleb sat right on down where he was supposed to be and smiled up at her. Why he couldn't do that when his cousins were in the picture too, I don't know.

For your Birthday, I tried to put some of my feelings about you into words. Apparently there is not enough web space. Even if there was I don't think I could portray exactly how I feel. The following was the best I could do.

Simple Truths

The glisten in your big brown eyes
Brings light to my life

The touch of your slender fingers
Cools, and warms, and fills

The smile upon your tender lips
Makes my troubles flee

The way you love our little boy
Brings tears to my eyes

The look of longing on your face
Draws me to your kiss

The closeness of your soft embrace
Makes anywhere home

How I survived without you
Is a mystery

When I think about the future
All I see is you

You are my joy, peace, breath, hope, love
The simple truth is I need you
For Eternity

I wish I could be with you on your birthday. I am there in heart and spirit. Just know you are loved more than any silly poem can say. Happy Birthday!!!

In case you are wondering- this is your husband :)

Heritage Park

Today we went to This is the Place park. The general idea of the park is that long ago, when the pioneers crossed into the Salt Lake valley, Brigham Young looked out over the valley and announced, "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on." Someone marked the spot where he said that and a monument, and now park, are in that location. The park is basically a little village full of old pioneer buildings. There are different crafts you can do and pioneer-like things to see.

One of the things we got to do, which I don't have a picture of, was go on a pony ride. My niece, Agnes, got on first and seemed fine. So Caleb and I approached one of the other small horses (they really looked too big to be ponies). He was fine being near the horse, and even pet it several times, but would not for the life of him get on the thing. He screamed bloody terror and grabbed onto me tighter than he ever has, when I tried to put him on the horse. Needless to say, we didn't do a pony ride at that time. After Caleb freaked out, Agnes thought better of the idea and wanted off too.

We tried again a little while later. I thought maybe the saddle had been too hot and we chose a different horse that had a cloth over the saddle. We pet the horse for a little bit and Caleb seemed to like it. Then the horse turned to look at us and Caleb started freaking out again. I let the horse smell my hand, and it nibbled on me a little. Caleb thought that was fun and reached out for the horse again. So I put him on its back. Still a no go. Since we were the only ones there at the time, the guy in charge turned the machine on for us (there are four horses attached to a pole and when the machine is on, the pole moves and all four horses walk in a small circle). We did one circle, and Caleb still wasn't a fan. But at least he wasn't clutching on to me. So all in all, I think he did reasonably well. After Agnes saw Caleb do it, she wanted to try again. She was still scared, until the horses started walking and then she thought it was fun. She even went again before we left the park.

They had a watermelon contest going on. Caleb and Agnes entered the 12 and under contest. They weren't supposed to use their hands to eat the watermelon and they were supposed to wait till the offical "go" before starting to eat it. Needless to say, neither child followed either rule. A kid across the table from us started to protest, but soon realized how ridiculous his complaints were. As if my one year old child could possibly eat an entire piece of watermelon before the older kids, even if he did get a ten second head start. I think by the time the contest was over, Caleb ate all of three bites.

He sure did love munching on that watermelon for the next hour or so. It was so hot out, so it was nice for him to have some sort of liquid going back in him. And that kid loves watermelon.

After the first failed pony ride attempt, we went into the "petting zoo." Caleb didn't want anything to do with any of the animals. He just wanted to keep eating his watermelon.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one who wanted to eat his watermelon. This cow totally attacked him. Seriously, Caleb nearly got run over, but I pulled him back. Sadly, he dropped the watermelon in the midst of the chaos and the cow got the rest of it.

Another fun thing that we got to do was go on a little train ride around the pond. (There was another big train that went around the entire park, but the kids loved the little train more.) Caleb wanted me to hold him the whole time, so I didn't get any pictures of him on the train, but Agnes sure thought it was fun.

Here's a photo of Caleb wandering through the corn field. It only lasted two pictures worth. But I guess that's for the best since my battery was flashing warning signs at me anyway, threatening to die.

There were a bunch of different crafts and activities for the kids to do. We were so hot and tired being outside, that by the time we decided to do some of the crafts, we just got them to go. Most of them were already made, and the kids just got to color them. We figured we could color them just as easily at home, where there's air conditioning. The best things we got were a little wooden treasure box on a keychain and a wooden flute. The kids also got to help pound ink on the old printing press. Caleb loved that -- he loves to bang on things. He also loved the wooden train they had in the play area.




All in all, a fun, but very tiring day. I think we would have called it quits a lot sooner if we hadn't paid so much money to get into the place.

Happy Pioneer Day!

Back in Utah

Caleb meets his new cousin, Eliot Felix Read, already a month old.

Caleb and Agnes love Nana. Especially Caleb. In fact, he might love Nana more than he loves Mommy.

Sweet loves from Agnes. Agnes tends to love like Caleb's friend Teak -- you know, the tackling kind of love. But sometimes she can be gentle.

Our favorite Pioneer Day float. (We saw them on display at the Expo Center -- I took other pictures but Caleb wouldn't pose. He didn't want to do anything except have Nana hold him.)

Shoes

Caleb and I found these shoes the other week at Toys R Us. I've been looking for some sandals for him since he was outgrowing his other ones. It has been so hard to find him a pair. I don't understand why. For one, it's the middle of summer. For two, we're in California!

So, at Toys R Us, we stop to look at the shoes and were going to buy this really ugly pair, since there just weren't any real options. In fact, all the shoes on the boy side of the aisle, were closed toed actual shoes. But then I thought that maybe they had some shoes not out on display. I grabbed this box that said size 5 and opened it. Inside where the above shoes.

I looked to see if maybe they had a size 6, just so he'd have a little room to grow, but this was the only pair of sandals they had. The only box that was randomly in the pile of shoes, the only ones not on display. Taking this as a sign, I figured we ought to buy the shoes. Well, lo and behold, the shoes are a size 6, even though the box said size 5. We totally lucked out.

Caleb loves them. They have velcro, so he plays with them all the time. Plus, they light up, which he loves. He plays with them all the time when he's not wearing them and gets excited when he actually gets to wear them (since that means we're finally leaving the house).

Little Drummer Boy

Caleb got his first drum for Christmas. He loves to bang on things. Anything really. Usually, with his hands, but often using markers as sticks.

Here he is banging on an upside down pot with two markers. After a little while, his left hand lost interest in its marker and I tried to give it back to him so I could take his picture. Despite my efforts to put it in his hand "correctly," he kept holding it the way it's pictured below. When I showed Brandon the pictures after he got home from work, he was impressed that Caleb was even holding the drumsticks the right way. Apparently my one year old son knows more about how to hold drumsticks than I do. :)

Love Yertle

Yertle once had much more hair. We wonder if Caleb wanted his best buddy to look a little more like him. He sure loves that turtle!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Caleb trying to blow the kite up.

Great Grand Adventures

Last week, Caleb and I had lots of fun hanging out together. Our outside adventures only encompass so many activities, but last Wednesday we did them all! We played at the pool (where my child still thinks he doesn't need to be held in the middle of the pool, but since we were the only people there, we played more on the steps and I could pretend I was laying out while half in the water still), rode our bike, and played at the park. To top it all off, Caleb even got a bath that night!

Here are a couple pictures of him with the bike. He was so excited to go on our bike ride just as soon as I got his helmet out. The bike isn't very stable once he's in his little seat, so still no pictures of us on the bike. I didn't even have to try and get him to smile, he was too excited not to smile!



Pictures at the park:




These two are a little blurry since he was so far away from me and I zoomed way in. But I think they are so cute and they show Caleb in his "natural habitat."



Even when it was time to go home, he was so excited to get on the bike again!

I've Got My Eye On You

After the failed eye comparison between my boys, I took these of Caleb while he was eating (back on July 14th). I'm still not sure they capture what his eyes really look like. I'm starting to wonder if it's possible to capture it with a camera. But I sure do love his eyes. It's one of my favorite hobbies, staring at his eyes and trying to decipher what color they are and how best to describe them. My last attempt was a California ocean, but Brandon thought that was an ugly comparison.

Love those eyes!

What a Difference a Smudge Makes

I've been extremely frustrated with my camera lately (as you may recall from the post about Brandon and Caleb's eyes). It's just a point and shoot type camera that I desperately wanted so that I could take it with me everywhere, as my normal camera is a big ol' bulky digital SLR. When I first got my "purse camera," I absolutely loved it. I was blown away by the quality of the images it produced. Sure, the response time is not as fast as my "good camera," but I was expecting that.

Then one day, the battery light started flashing. I noticed that the image quality radically dropped. I didn't think much of it, attributing it to the low battery. But even after I recharged the battery, the quality didn't improve. No matter what settings I changed on the camera, the pictures always turned out with this sort of film over them. It drove me nuts. To the point that I hated the camera and was about ready to take it into the shop to see if they could fix it.

Caleb and I had many great grand adventures today, of which I will post once I go through all the pictures. I'd hesitantly taken my purse camera with me. Sure, it's small and fits nicely in my pocket, but it seemed almost pointless lately to even use the thing, as crappy as it's been behaving.

I snapped a few photos of Caleb at the park, but as usual, was disappointed with the results. I turned the camera off, and in the process, tilted it up without even thinking. Something caught my eye. I turned it back on again. The lens zoomed back out and I stared at it, shocked. There was a layer of film on the lens. A smudge covering the majority of the lens. And it's a tiny lens too. About the size of...well, the size of Caleb's fingertip.

I used my shirt to clean it off. The results nearly took my breath away. Suddenly, after two months of misery, I love my little camera again! (Though I do feel rather stupid that this is what the problem was. Two months of crappy pictures that I could have fixed in one second if only I'd noticed it sooner. Sadness.)

The last picture I took before I noticed the smudge. Such a cute boy. It's heartbreaking that the image isn't better when he's so stinkin' cute.

The very next picture I took. Not Caleb's best pose, but I mostly wanted to see if really my broken camera was magically fixed. That's some good spit I've got!

Bicycle Try #2

Ever since the failed bicycle venture, my bike has been taunting me. It hangs out in the bedroom where I have to look at it every day. It's worse than not having a bike, knowing that I have one but can't ride it since my son hates it.

Today, Caleb and I found an infant helmet that actually fits him. Mommy got a helmet too. We wore them around for a while, first in the store, then again later at home. After dinner, Caleb picked up his new helmet and wanted to wear it. I put it on him and when he didn't complain, but actually smiled at me, I thought we ought to try the bike again.

We only went for a short journey, just down to the next corner and back again, then once around the apartment complex. The whole time, Caleb kept saying "Wee!" over and over again. It was so cute. He never once got scared or fussy and the helmet stayed in place. The air was cool and it was so nice to get outside for a while.

Hopefully this isn't a fluke incident but the first of many happy bike rides to come!

Swimming Daredevil

Caleb is getting more and more adventurous these days. His absolute favorite thing to do is to climb up on things. Usually, this means the box that his little bicycle seat came in. Lately, he's discovered that he can climb up onto the couch, though it's still quite a stretch for his little legs and isn't manageable in some outfits.

We went to the pool today. The weather here has been beyond gross lately. Three digit temps mixed with super smoky air. Caleb and I have been hiding out in the apartment going a little crazy. Today was nice though, so we ventured on over to the pool. At first, I put him in his floatie, but after a little while he was done with that. So I took him out and was just holding him. Well, it didn't take too long before he was done with that idea too.

He didn't want out of the pool. He simply wanted some freedom to do his own thing. Unfortunately for him, he has no idea how to swim. (Nor does he have any idea that this is a necessarily knowledge if Mommy is supposed to let go.) He was very brave though and would swim about with me barely holding onto him. He kicked whenever I told him to and would splash the water.

While we were sitting on the steps, I was trying to teach him how to blow bubbles in the water. I have no idea how one is supposed to actually teach a child this, since all Caleb managed to do was stick his face in the water repeatedly, often swallowing large amounts of the pool. Even when he choked a little, he didn't cry, nor did he want out of the water. He thought it was really funny to dunk his face in the water and would laugh ever time he did it. Though it probably encouraged him that I was laughing too. But it was just too cute and funny not to laugh.

He also made a lot of friends at the pool. He wasn't afraid to go up to strangers at all, which he normally is. He was still too shy to talk in front of anyone (except for Virginia and Trevor, but they're not strangers), but at least he was willing to play with them.

At one point, Virginia and I switched babies just so I could have one to hold and she could have one to play with (since Trevor isn't so sure about the water -- though he did manage to blow bubbles in it!). While I miss our cuddly swimming days, I love having such an adventurous baby who isn't afraid, especially of water. I think we'll have to start going to the pool more often now. Though, possibly after we buy him a swimsuit with a built in life jacket.