18 Month Celebration

For Caleb's eighteen month day, I made him a cherry chip cake. We've been trying the no-sugar thing, but since his first taste (back on Memorial day), I've slowly become more lax on that law. So I figured, a year and a half is still pretty good, why don't we let our kid finally have some cake.

He didn't like it.

No, correct that. He wouldn't even try it. He spit out the one bite I gave him almost the second it hit his tongue and refused to take another bite. And I mean refused.

He did like taking the cherry off the top.

That's gotta count for something, right?

We finally convinced him to taste the frosting at least. He thought that was a lot of fun.

No, wait. The part he thought was fun was sticking his fingers in the cake. Then, he wanted Mommy and Daddy to lick them clean again so he could stick them back in the frosting.

18 Months Part 2

Caleb is such a cute boy these days. He talks a ton (though I may be the only one who understands him). He repeats just about everything we say (including trying to say "anesthesiologist" the other day). Lately he's been very agreeable, answering "yes," "yeah," or "yep" to almost every question we ask him (which has been so nice -- I hated when he said no to everything, as if I was lying to him all the time). My favorite thing he says when copying us is "strong man" -- he also tries to flex his arm muscles when saying this. My favorite thing that he voluntarily says is "bless you" -- which you'll hear if you sneeze, cough, or sometimes even if you yawn. My second favorite voluntary saying is "thank you," which he says when you give him something, but more often when he gives you something (always a sign that he wants you to take something when he starts saying thank you). Oh, and for Brandon's birthday, Caleb learned to say happy birthday, or rather "happy to you" which he now says all the time. (Caleb keeps saying things as I'm typing, reminding me of some of his cutest expressions.)

His favorite activities including climbing, being chased, sliding on the neighbor's slide (he'll often just head for their backyard when they're not even back there so he can play with their toys), and of course, anything sports related. He loves to hit things, whether it's actually playing baseball or using one car to hit another one that's rolling across the coffee table. He also loves to play basketball and wants to play every day, especially since we took it outside. He loves to be outside, even if it just means eating his fruit snacks on the front steps.

He's the sweetest little boy, who is so full of love. He gives Mommy hugs and kisses all the time. Last night, he didn't want to sleep (from about one till five in the morning), so we brought him into bed with us. He woke me up three different times (silly me for dozing off again) giving me kisses over and over again. It was so adorable, I didn't even care that I didn't get to sleep (until this morning came when I insisted Brandon take Caleb into the other room so I could catch up some). He loves to copy his Daddy, which sometimes works out nicely for Mommy; sometimes they take turns giving me hugs or kisses, which is really the cutest thing ever. He also hates it when Daddy touches Mommy in any way because he wants Mommy all to himself. Of course, he does occasionally throw a fit, usually when Mommy is being lazy and doesn't want to get off the couch to follow Caleb wherever he thinks we should go.

18 Months

Look who turned eighteen months today and got to go to nursery for the first time!

I'm told he did very well, shy, but good. That's Caleb for you though. Shy, but good. And no, we did not stay with him. At all.

Babysitting Adventures

When I signed Brandon up for classes at BYU, I thought it would be fun if we both went to his religion class, which is on Thursday nights. The first two weeks of school, I didn't go since I didn't have anyone to watch Caleb. We've been meaning to ask someone if they wanted to do a babysitting exchange, but hadn't gotten around to it. Then at church on Sunday, one of the announcements in Relief Society was for another sister in our ward who was hoping to do a babysitting exchange. So now I get to go to religion class with Brandon and we also get to play with this cute girl on occasion.

So far, Caleb seems to like her. She takes a pacifier, and he loves to put it in her mouth for her. Sometimes it's really hard for him to be patient and wait till she drops it so he can give it to her again. He's also really good at showing her how all his toys work. He's not so sure yet that she should get to play too, but she's only seven months, so I don't think she minds.

After spending so much time this summer with his cousin Agnes, Caleb is afraid of most other kids. He likes to watch them and thinks it's fun to chase them, but if they come near him, he'll scream before they even touch him. The one exception to this rule is Naomi, whom he loves and will hug all night if we let him. She even bit him the last time we were hanging out together because she was done with the hugging and he didn't cry at all. That's true love.

So far he's been really good with our new little friend, Alana. He likes to give her hugs and has been good at being soft all the time. I think it helps that she's so much smaller than him. And that she doesn't move at all. It makes me think that maybe, by the time we finally get around to having another kid (if ever), Caleb might be okay with it (although he hates when Mommy and Daddy touch each other in any way, so we're pretty sure he still wants to be an only child.)

September Fun

I know I haven't posted a whole lot this month, and it's because we've been having too much fun playing now that Daddy's home again. Here's a look at some of the things we've been doing.


9/2 -- Riding Mommy's bike. We've since gotten Brandon's bike fixed and now we go on family bike rides.


9/7 -- He thinks he's a big boy now and doesn't need to swing in the baby swing.

9/12 -- Loving Naomi. (And as a sign of his love, Caleb can say Naomi perfectly. He still can't say Caleb.)


9/13 -- Sleeping in his toddler bed (which is a step down from the twin size bed he got all summer and makes it much more uncomfortable when he wants Mommy to lay down beside him).

9/14 -- Caleb wants to do everything he sees Daddy doing.



9/18 -- First time coloring with sidewalk chalk.





9/18 -- Though this is something we do all the time. Caleb's really good at it and he gets so excited every time he makes a basket. We're trying to teach him how to throw it in from a little farther back. Today he wanted to shoot from where Daddy was, a good fifteen or so feet away.

Midnight Golfing

Wednesday, Brandon came up with the great idea that we should go miniature golfing. He called up our friends and they agreed to go, which was a good thing since otherwise I probably would have backed out of the idea. Why? Because by the time we left our house it was 8:22 p.m. What happened to Caleb's bedtime being at 8:30? I probably commented to Cristal half a dozen times (okay, probably more than that) that we were insane to leave our house, with our kids, at bedtime. It's probably the least responsible thing we have done since becoming parents.

But it was super fun. Caleb absolutely loved it. He's been going to bed late all week, and had barely woken up from his nap around six, so he didn't seem to care at all that it was so late. He had an absolute blast. He played every hole, but would usually only hit the ball once, then would pick it up and run it over to the hole and drop it in. He especially loved carrying the clubs around, and insisted on carrying both his and Mommy's (though he didn't ever want to give it back when I needed mine, since he obviously needed two clubs).




The best part is that both Brandon and I (and Jacob too, using Caleb's lucky golf ball) hit a hole in one on the eighteenth hole, which meant that we got coupons for buy one get one free games. So we'll definitely be going again. Oh, and for the record, I beat Brandon by one stroke. :)

Twenty-Six

Brandon's birthday was last week. Caleb slept till a decent hour, which was nice for Mommy (who normally doesn't wake up with the baby now that Daddy's home again), but meant that we were a little late making breakfast. Since breakfast was a tad behind schedule, Brandon opted to skip his first class.

"That's not going to ruin your plans for the day, is it?" he asked me. I assured him I had no plans and all was well. Actually, I had tons to do but didn't want to give him any clues.

Fortunately, he decided to go to his other two classes, which meant that Caleb and I got to run our errands. We went and bought Daddy his birthday presents, and filled our car full of balloons.


Brandon was surprised when he came home and our house was not only clean, but decorated too! Our living room was full of balloons and there was a stack of presents waiting to be opened. Caleb was sleeping though, and I insisted that Brandon wait for him to open the presents. As soon as Caleb woke up from his nap, the boys got to work ripping off the wrapping paper.

Caleb bought Daddy some great toys at the dollar store (which was actually 88 cent Tuesday). Mommy got him Guitar Hero the Aerosmith version. When he first opened it, he thought it was just the guitar and didn't see how it was really a present for him (I've been wanting a second guitar so we could play together), but then realized it was the Aerosmith version and was excited.


But the real present of the day was his chocolate raspberry cheesecake. We had a party that night for him and it was tons of fun. Though, by the end of the night, I asked him if it felt like his birthday and he said no. Just another night of partying.

Bridal Veil Falls

We went up to Bridal Veil Falls two weeks ago (9/4). Caleb had such a blast. He thought it was so much fun to play in the water (even though it was freezing cold). And of course, Mommy loved to take pictures of her cute little boy. Only Daddy lost out, when a bee found its way into his sandals and he lost his shoe in an attempt to get rid of the bee.

Caleb playing at the base of the falls.


Walking through the water.

Posing for Mommy.



The best of our attempts at a family photo.

Next to the Provo River (where Brandon lost his shoe).

No More Baby

On Labor Day, we decided it was finally time to cut off Caleb's mullet. This was Caleb's first haircut. And yes, I cried.

The BEFORE pictures. The last ones ever taken with that sweet baby hair.



The PROBLEM. This kid had crazy hair. Wings. Mullet. Call it what you will, I was constantly tucking those flyaways back behind his ear again. It didn't really bother me, and taming his hair kind of became like a nervous habit. You know, just something I always did whenever he was near, often without even thinking about it. But it was a fruitless effort, as his hair was completely untamable.



The HAIRCUT itself. Brandon used his clippers and at first I told him to do it on the longest length (which was an inch I think) because I so didn't want his hair cut short. His wispy baby hair was hard to cut and an inch proved to still be too long. It broke my heart to see his little baby hair chopped off. He was just bald for so long that what little hair he had became very precious to me.






The AFTER pictures. While I know that his hair looks much better now, he also looks like such a big boy. I miss my little baby. (Fortunately, he's still just as cuddly, so maybe he hasn't realized yet that he's a full fledged toddler now.)