Rocking Horse

Caleb's been really into calling things horses and sitting on them so I thought it was time to get him a rocking horse. His friend, Jasper, has a wooden one at his house and Caleb loved it. I was happy to find two that were almost exactly alike on craigslist for 8 and 10 dollars. Since I got ahold of the 10 dollar one first we bought that one. I told Caleb we were going to go buy a rocking horse and he totally knew what was going on. About five minutes before we reached the house he fell asleep. Even though he missed the actual purchase, he still points to the horse and says, "buy." He merrily rode the horse most of the day but by the time I took a video of it, he wasn't in the mood to ride and wanted to see the camera. I kept thinking I'd get another video but since I haven't yet, I'll just post these. (I bought the horse about 2 weeks ago.)

First Snowman

Caleb was soooo excited about the snowman after we'd (I'd) made him. During the making of the snowman Caleb was more interested in hitting and kicking the snow and brushing the snow off the nearby bushes. However, he proudly and happily showed Andy when he got home from work and told his Dad about the eyes, arms, etc. of the snowman. He still will say, "make snowman" from time to time. I wasn't able to get it on video but Caleb will squat down next to the snowman and say, "hi!" to him. It's so cute.

Playing

I decided to take some videos of Caleb playing. These are from a couple weeks ago.

Nice Doggy

Caleb loves animals. However, he often loves them too much and likes to see them react so he starts hitting, kicking, or otherwise tormenting the animals without understanding what he's doing. We tried to work on it with him when we were at my parents' and when we visit those with pets. On his own he started petting his stuffed animals and saying, "nice, nice." Hopefully, it will continue with the real thing.

I love how much Caleb talks now. It's still all one or two word phrases, but it's so fun! Today I was working on David (his cousin's) Christmas present (that, sadly, Alisa, I don't know if I'm going to get done in time...) and I thought I'd try to sew with Caleb in the room. He was fascinated with the sewing machine and watched saying, "Up, down, up down, up, down." When I would stop he would ask me to make it go up and down more. :) It was so funny.

He also has started saying "skateboard" all the time. He leaves off the 's' in the front and board is more or less board and he can say the whole thing. He finds things for his animals to skateboard on as well as things for himself. It is so funny!!

Another funny one is Boise State. He knows Boise State. I really don't know how he knows and I guess I can chalk it up to how excited Andy acts around Caleb when he's talking about Boise State football or something. But he knows!! It's uncanny to me, a person who barely could identify Micheal Jordan and is really not at all interested in things like that. He knows their logo, their colors, the blue football field. When he sees any of them he says, "Boise State" pretty darn clearly. Everyone says your kids turn out different than you... :)

He always talks about Dad and work. Either Dad is at work or Dad is working out or anything to do with Dad and work, like the clothes he wears the car he drives, etc. He says, "Dad's work" so many times throughout the day! (I should keep track sometime--it would be interesting.)

He's also learning new words so quickly! I'll show him something and tell him the name and if he's interested he's learned it! I couldn't do that on my mission and I think it's amazing!

Putting up the Christmas Tree

We put up our tree Saturday after Thanksgiving. Mike, Evie, and Daniel had left in the morning and that evening we went downtown to see the tree lighting in the Grove then came home and set up our own tree. Caleb loved helping Dad set up the tree and played with all the ornaments and the nativity my Grammy made for all the grandkids. As you can see Caleb knew this was very serious business. I didn't get a very good picture of the tree all put up. I'll try to take another one and post it.

Milking it

Recently Caleb has started fake falling or he hits his hand on the table then gets this hurt look on his face and says, "kiss" as he holds out his hand. It's really pretty funny. Then during lunch today he started hitting his elbow on the table and saying, "elbow." I didn't even know he knew that body part. Then after a while of hitting he asked for a kiss. Funny kid.

Glasses

So a while ago I was putting dishes away and Caleb was sitting at the table. I was talking to him and in the course of the conversation (monologue, I suppose) I mentioned the word "glasses" in references to cups made of glass. As I said this I wondered if it would cause confusion since Caleb has known the word "glasses" for eye glasses for some time. I told him it was funny and that glasses meant two different things. I tried my best to explain to him and I guess it worked because ever since when he sees glasses on the table he points to them and says, "glass(es)," and then to my glasses and says, "glasses." It's really cute--but can be a distraction from eating. :)

A Wonderful Thanksgiving Week

This past week Mike, Evie and Daniel were in town (Andy's parents and younger brother). We've been talking to Caleb for over a week before their visit asking him if he was excited to see Grandpa Mike and Grandma Evie. Mike is already a word in Caleb's vocabulary indicating both microwave and microscope (thanks to a picture book). (Actually, I'm sure there are slight intonation differences and it's not just "Mike," but it's close enough for Mike to be an easy word to say.) So Caleb started saying Mike before they even got here. Then on Monday I kept telling him Grandma Evie, Grandpa Mike and Uncle Daniel were coming. They got here during his after nap snack so he was rested and fed and SUPER happy to see them. He hopped on his little scooter car and showed them the toys in his room. I really wish I would've taken videos (or even pictures!) that day, but alas, I was very bad with the camera all week. However, if you can imagine Caleb playing so happily with all of them and showing them his toys, you may be able to picture it. Andy had lots of work to do so Monday night we all had dinner at our house and crowded into our already cramped dining area on our wobbly chairs and ate chicken pot pie and quiche. Daniel even tried the quiche and liked it until he knew it had spinach then it was a mental block and he just stirred it around on his plate.

We had a great week although we really didn't do anything that exciting. Tuesday morning Evie and I went shopping and looked for toys at Toys R Us--Caleb's first experience in the store. He was pretty good. We also ran a couple other errands and Caleb was pretty tired and hungry by the time we were done. We all went home to rest up. Caleb actually woke up but I was so tired I laid down on my bed and he was playing and I woke up! Luckily nothing happened while I was asleep. Tuesday night we headed over to Nampa and ate out at a Mexican resturaunt. Most all Mexican resturant food makes me sick but I was really hungry so I decided to give it a try and ordered one tamale (usually I order a plain quesedilla or a side of something that's not heavy) and then I ate a ton of chips with bean dip. I think it was probably the chips and dip that did me in. I woke up at 3:00 am with indegestion and couldn't sleep the rest of the night. Luckily it went away and all was well, but I need to remember no Mexican for me! Andy's Grandma thinks I'm unamerican and all of Andy's family loves Mexican food so it's really pretty ironic. The tamale was good though. I should learn to make tamales. I can eat Mexican food made at home--just not out to eat.

Wednesday we were going to head over to Nampa and help out but didn't get there till sometime in the afternoon. I'm not sure what we did in the morning...

Janell doesn't get to see many movies so she told Daniel that while he was here they were going to see movies. I think they saw three. On Friday they took Grandma (and Mike) to see Australia and Grandma loved it. I'm glad they could get out and do something fun and memorable. They also watched Caleb that night so Andy and I could see the movie as well. Caleb was a good kid for them and we enjoyed the movie.

Thursday was a great sucess, despite all of Janell's worrying. We at over in Nampa (obviously not enough room in our apt). Evie and I got there in the late morning and Andy and Mike went on a bike ride. Both of them have this habit (Andy has ever so many of his Dad's mannerisms) of stopping be it hiking, walking, biking, etc., to tell you whatever it is they want to say. When Andy and I are hiking together I always want to keep walking and he wonders if I'm listening to him and I think, "Can't he walk and talk at the same time?" Anyway, Andy and Mike had a great bike ride and some wonderful conversations which made it so they didn't get back until after 4:00. We had planned to be sitting down eating then and Evie was worried they were stranded with broken legs on the mountainside (no cell phone reception). However, it all worked out and they arrived with a great appitite and we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner. Oh, and while we were waiting we broke out Cosco's chocolate cream pie that was to die for. Caleb had some of everyone's and didn't eat any Thanksgiving dinner... Andy just couldn't say enough about how good everything was and how much he enjoyed Thanksgiving this year. I think it helped to be around his family, go on a bike ride with his dad, talk law with his dad, and get some work in over the week as well.

On Friday while the rest of the clan went to the movie Andy, Evie and I went on a hike up by Bogus Basin. It was really pretty.

That's about all I can think of. We didn't get the basement organized or anything done for Janell and Grandma, but we all had a fun time. Sorry I was so bad about pictures...

Spirit of Christmas

Last night Caleb and I went to visit some people in our ward and we spent quite a while at one house where I visited with the mom and Caleb played with her five-year-old boy. They had lots of cars and trucks and Caleb LOVED it! In fact he cried like crazy when I really thought we'd stayed quite long enough. The little boy gave Caleb a cardboard box to take home and Caleb stopped crying and happily carried his box to the car. Then as I was putting him in the car seat the little boy came running out and gave Caleb one of his matchbox cars. I told him that Caleb would bring it back next time we came to visit and Elijah said that he didn't want it back but that he wanted Caleb to keep it. This family doesn't have a lot of material things and I was so touched by Elijah's generosity and I want to remember that moment.