Caleb's party

It seems these days that I am constantly having to assert my authority with Caleb. Tonight it was whether he should be allowed to climb up and over the end of his bunk bed to enter it, rather than up the very cool ladder/staircase it came with. Something tells me I should just give up on things like that.. if he falls, I guess he will learn. When I told him that if he couldn't enter it the right way, he might have to sleep on the floor and we would get rid of his bed, he said, "What you are saying is making me mad." Who has be been listening to, Dr. Phil?? After that, I just tried to avoid talking about it!

I have been working non-stop (between nursing and SLP working) on his CARS party. I really hope he appreciates it and doesn't throw a fit about the house being decorated and people coming over the day it gets here (i.e. last year). He SAYS that he will be happy to have them here. I think if I have him help me decorate, it will go better. I have already let him help me paint one of the cars for the race and some tires, but since he has already broken 2 paintbrushes and I am down to the last one I have, painting is off-limits for him now.

UPDATE: Caleb's party was a blast. We had a Racing sign-in where the kids brought their pit pass and got a driver's license and racing number (for their back -- their favorite number). Then they went "Fishing with Mater", got a tatoo at "Ramone's body art shop", and colored pictures to put on a pennant at the Cozy cone (our living rooms with orange tablecloths hung all around in a circle to simulate th inside of a parking cone). Then we headed outside for a tire roll (really, they rolled a real tire down the track... -- it was very dirty!), threw bean bags through a large inflatable tire, and had the big race, which was the hit of the party. It took some doing explaining the tag-team effect of the race to a group of pre-schoolers, but I had a lot of adult helpers. While the first kid on each team (we had 3 teams) raced, the other 3 kids had a "job" to do on the pit crew. They changed tires (swapped them with others that velcroed on), filled the car with gas (using a watering can), or washed the windshield (with a dry sponge/bucket). Each child got a "Piston Cup" trophy at the end. We also had themed snacks: stacks of chocolate donuts (monster truck tires), Oreos (whitewall tires), pretzel sticks (axles), M&Ms (paint chips), grape juice (motor oil), green Gatorade (antifreeze), apple juice (Dinoco gasoline), and water (Fillmore's Organic Fuel).

Ordinary Tuesday

Took Caleb to school this morning. He was overjoyed, of course. Then Levi and I went to my work, where I supervised my girls for 2 hours. Then I dropped him off and went to make a visit. One of them cancelled so I got to work a little on a "car" for Caleb's party. Then off to get get him from school and back to feed Levi before a couple more visits. Levi had his first veggies tonight... sweet peas! He seemed to like them just fine. Caleb actually ate his beans and fajita steak tacos tonight, so everyone was healthy! Levi got a bath with Caleb tonight, mostly sitting supported in the tub, and got his tiny toenails clipped for the first time, too. It is so funny to me how he LOVES to lie naked on his changing table and coo at me. Just smiles and giggles and coos, until I go to put clothes on him, and immediately he starts fussing. Great, we'll have a streaker. He was giggling tonight at strawberries on his tummy, and it seems to me that he is more ticklish than he has been. I got at least 3 real belly laughs out of him tonight. I had no idea and am pleasantly surprised at how quickly we fell into a real routine of life with a new baby... it is really nice and wonderful.
P.S. this pic accidentally got posted with the one for cereal... I can't get it off. So go down a little to Caleb's comments to see the peas!

Pictures, pizza and the park!

We took Levi for his 4.5 month pics today (this is my attempt at the 3 month pics I missed). We got all of 5 pictures before he started getting fussy. The lady taking them asked if he could roll over yet and I said, "not well." And Levi decided to prove me so very wrong. He would hardly lay still for 1 second before he was trying to push off and roll over!! He was flipping right, left, all over. So that was an exciting milestone, but one I wish he'd waited a couple more days to master. I even walked him around Target to get a nap so we could try again when he was happy about 20 minutes later... nope. Still couldn't get a good smile on that tummy. But I must have worn him out good, because he took a 3 hour nap this afternoon and we had to wake him up! After that we got a hot and ready pizza and took it to the park to have a picnic. Caleb had a blast. It was actually quite chilly out as the sun was setting, so he was perfectly content to head home after about 15 minutes of playing. All in all, not bad for a Monday!