Table food! YUM!

Levi had his first real meal of table food. He ate pieces of carrot, roast (a tiny piece), mashed potatoes, apple juice, and squash/zucchini (that was baby food). He loved it! He didn't get choked, so that was a good sign. He clapped when he was done. I had him say "all done", and he said "da. da." So smart.

My niece Mia came over for a little while today. She and Caleb had a blast riding around in his jeep. She kept saying "Iwageko", and she finally went and got Caleb's blue lizard... "I want gecko." She is so fun and we were sad to see her leave.

Funny Caleb story, he told Joe the other day, when they were watching Backyardigans, "That's Pablo. He's a blue penguin. He doesn't wear any clothes." And yesterday, we saw a guy out running without his shirt on. Caleb said, "Look Mom, that guy doesn't have a shirt on." I said, "I saw, Honey, but people shouldn't go around without their clothes on. God didn't make our bodies so everyone could see them like that." He said, "Yes, because if people see that, they will be frustrating."

Happy Valentines Day

From valentine

I remembered this morning that today was Valentines day and I just barely thought to get Caleb something.. of course I forgot to get something for Joe or anyone else. Barely remembered valentine cards for CJ's class on Tues. Those of you who know me well are not surprised by this, since I am one of the least sentimental people I know. Caleb brought me a flower (dandelion picked from the backyard), which he later told me he gave to Daddy, who suggested he give it to me for Valentine's Day. Caleb got a couple of cards with some money, and we finally got him the lizards he wanted from the Zoo (that he reminds me every week Santa forgot to bring him), so he was pretty thrilled. He told me he didn't want to leave them outside though because something might want to eat them. To him, they are real, and there is no amount of explaining that plastic toys are not real which will convince him. Stinking Toy Story.
A note about Levi. He has a virus and a cold, but no Strep or pneumonia or anything, even though he sounds awful. He is in the 5th percentile for head, 10th%ile for weight, and 75th%ile for height. Yep, what I figured. Developmentally on target, but Doc wants me to lose the walker so he will actually make an effort to crawl. Thing is, he loves it, and Doc doesn't have to hear him complain... so maybe it will hang around a little while longer. He is so funny to watch, scooting all over following me around in the kitchen!

From valentine

From valentine

From valentine

Game time

I am proud to say that Caleb FINALLY learned to play a game. By the rules. And not just any game like Candyland or Barnyard Bingo, which of course he could play, but just wouldn't agree to take turns, count correctly, leave other people's tokens alone, etc. So today we broke out the Skip-Bo Junior and he was patient enough for me to teach the game, and we played 3 hands in a row before he wanted to move on to something else. And another thing... he actually agreed that I won a hand (gasp!). I pretty much nearly fainted.
Talking with him today, we discussed that it was his friend Rachel's 4th birthday. He said, "Great! Now she can be on my team!" Apparently, he has "teams" for everything and nothing at all. I have no idea where he gets this competitive nature from ;-/
Oh, one other small milestone. I let Levi have short halves of green beans tonight, and he was finally quiet for most of the meal. Not totally sure that is appropriate for an 8 month old, but I watched him closely for signs of aspiration and didn't see any. He is getting pretty good at using the pincher grip to get food off the tray. He is such a momma's boy. Any time I get him he stops fussing and starts sucking his thumb. Caleb was always content as long as someone had him, but not this guy. He wants ME...ditto.

Birthday Fun.. someone is 2!!

Sat we went to the mall for my niece Mia's 2nd birthday. It was SO fun. Both of the boys rode the carousel. Afterward, my sister, her boyfriend, and my parents came back to our house to "play" (really, we all took about 2 hour naps!). Caleb fif coerece Jonathan, Beth's bf, to play air hockey with him, cars/trains, and showed off his SUV driving skills. That afternoon we went to my brother's house to celebrate his 29th birthday. We gave Mia a shopping cart for her birthday, and not to be outdone, Caleb wanted to bring his to the party, too. I'm sure if hed' known she was getting a guitar, he would have wanted his as well. We will have lots of great "concerts" to post here soon, I'm sure. Oh, I added the pic here because I am beginning to see a lot of my dad in Levi. Lindsay, my sister-in-law, saw it first and commented when he was a few days old that she thought he looked like my dad.

Levi's 8 month album

Levi's pics from 2010

Obviously, these are pretty old, but I wanted them on here for my sake. In case anything happens to my files. And to remember how tiny he was not that long ago. I am pretty proud of these shots. Oh, I just want to squeeze him!

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Levi's Christmas pics with the Polar Express bell

So, I tried my hand at doing my own Christmas shots. I started with some other originally, which I may go back on and post, even though they are old. I think they turned out really well, for my second time. He kept rolling over or falling over, so it was harder than it seems!

Caleb''s comments

So today, Caleb told me that God is orange. hmmm... Then he told me he found it on the computer. Now it makes sense. He also said that when he is 4, he will be a big boy and leave his "duckie" (or "pet" as his teachers must call it) at home instead of taking him to school. He has been a lot better with Levi lately, giving him kisses and trying to talk to him, tell him what he's doing. He lets Levi sit in the bean bag in his room and watch him play. And I haven't had to tell him not to hurt him lately, so that is good.
Speaking of Levi, we just went to the Dr. for his 4 month appt (17 weeks). He was only 11 lbs, 14.5 ounces. 25 1/4 inches. So that is the 60th percentile for length, and the 5th percentile for weight. Also, his head is in the 3rd percentile! I looked up Caleb and he was 12 lbs at 18 weeks. Last night, I was making a face and talking to him and he chucked. It was a little belly laugh where his stomach actually moved. I would say "ee-ee-ee" and he just giggled. It was adorable. He now sleeps about 8:30-6am (sometimes later) and eats about 5-6x per day. Not great naps... maybe 2 or 3 30minute-1hour long naps. Tonight he sat with us at the table in his high chair. He let us eat a whole meal without complaining too much. I think we might try cereal tomorrow. He also sat in his swing all by himself and watched Caleb play ball for awhile before dinner. He is such a happy baby, a joy to us all!
Oh, and Caleb ate his first real serving of vegetables in about 2 years! I have tried putting cooked or raw spinach in SO many things, and he always turns up his nose. Tonight he refused to eat his green beans, but he really wanted some cake. He said, "I think I'll eat some cake in the morning." We said no way. He said,"Well, what are we having tomorrow night for dinner?" (He wanted to know if he would eat it all and earn his cake then!!) We said we didn't know. So I said he could have salad instead. I put ranch dressing and cheese on it, and the boy at almost all of it (about 12 leaves). I was thrilled.
And yesterday, on Granna's birthday, Caleb told her as seriously as he could, that there was dinosaur "poo" in the backyard. It was a yellow dinosaur. He must really believe everything say, because he told me there was poo in the backyard, and I said (trying to be fun) "What animal left it, do you think? Think it was a dinosaur?" "Yea, I fink so," he says. Guess he thought I was serious. Even today, he said he saw a dinosaur footprint in the sand. A T-rex. He is really getting an imagination. Granna said that he was playing "School" with the little people and they played for about 30 minutes with all the events he does in preschool.

Random funnies

So I keep thinking about our last trip to the zoo. I hesitated to post anything about this because I can't think how to do it delicately but still convey the hilariousness of the event. We got a little more than we bargained for while viewing Mr. and Mrs. Tortoise.... that's right. As we were coming up on them, I said, "Joe, is that the lion?" (roaring)... Nope. It was Mr. Tortoise ("Sea Turtle" as Caleb calls all turtles). For like a full 5 minutes (seemed like). It was not only hilarious to view the event (which I'll admit I never realized how 2 animals with hard shells would go about such a thing), but then to see the passer-by-er's expressions when they realized what was making all the racket. That was killer! One guy even came back with his camera with his wife yelling at him the whole time. But then the funniest part was when Caleb said, "Mommy, the sea turtles are talking." M-hmm, I replied. "What are they saying?" No comment. Later in the car on the way home, he kept on, "I didn't know that sea turtles could talk, did you". No, I didn't. On a side note (sweet one), last night in the car, Caleb was watching Levi, and he said, "Mommy, I think Levi is praying. Because he has his hands folded." Sure enough, he did, although Caleb wasn't sure how seriously he was taking his prayer since his eyes were open.

Zoo day

We got out early and made it to the zoo by 10:30. Amazingly enough, there was hardly anyone there. I "wore" Levi in the Moby wrap, and he did very well the entire time. The train was not in operation, but at least Caleb did not have a meltdown over it. Also, the stagecoach was soaking wet inside, so he was a little bummed. On the upside, we went into some stores we don't usually go in. He wanted desperately to buy about 5 plastic 12" lizards, a green hard had with a light on it, and 3 rocks (2 green, 1 blue -- he made me write it all down). I used the line my mom used on me pretty much anytime I asked for something after Christmas and before my birthday..."Why don't you ask for it for your birthday." I guess he thought we would forget, so he insisted we call Granna right then to tell her about the things on his wish list. We called her, but of course, all she could make out was "zoo" and "alligator" (I think he added that to the plastic lizards). Tonight we attempted another dual bath with the boys... which didn't go as well. Of course Caleb sulked that he had to share "his" tub. Levi tried to faceplant several times, and then when I got the rag soapy, he was stretching out like "stiff as a board", so I had to hold him in a cradle hold with one hand and wash him with the other. Not sure he got very clean. Oh, and Caleb has now added "possible" (or maybe "impossible", I can't tell) to his list of random words he throws into conversations about every hour. Usually something like this, "You know, Mom, it's possible that there's an insect in our GPS, and it's just not teaching the truth." How do you argue with that logic??

1st bath together

Just wanted to document the first bath that Caleb and Levi had together, just short of his 4 month birthday. I didn't get a picture of it because I was the only one here, and I had to keep a pretty good hold on Levi. He seemed to really enjoy it. Caleb, on the other hand, kept insisting that "the sign says no babies allowed in the bathtub". He was quite put out that he was having to share the tub, especially after Levi spit up in the water a couple times. I just told him that Levi probably didn't want all Caleb's dirt getting on him, but oh well. Caleb eventually warmed up to the idea of having a bath buddy, but still felt that it would be better to only get a bath with him when he's bigger (Levi). What can I say, he hates any kind of change! We watched Pinocchio tonight (the live version) and we all really enjoyed it. Early this morning I took a few more things over to the Just Between Friends sale again... let's hope I make more than $30 this time!

P.S. This pic didn't happen this day, but I just like it. If I come across one of them in the bath, I'll add it.

A "Summer shower"

turns into a "torrential downpour". Caleb woke us up at 5:45 am going to the bathroom. Pretty sure he was woken up by the driving rain. Then Caleb hollering for us to come "wipe" woke Levi up. After they were both back in bed, we heard the unmistakable plinking sound of water hitting the ceiling from the attic. So Joe had to go up and put a bucket down where the vent from the bathroom goes out to the roof. Lovely. And the drip ruined the sheetrock that we fixed when we moved in from someone else's leak. Should have known... fix the leak, not just the look. I got Joe to drive us to ladies bible class (where we were 22 minutes late). There was one parking lot we passed with cars 1/2 submerged in water. They were close to a "creek/river", so I guess it flooded. After that I ran 1 mile and went to see a couple kids for work. Levi slept from 2:30-5:40!!! He is the cutest thing. Even if he is tired and grumpy, the minute I put him on the changing table he turns into smiles and giggles. He loves it there. He can be crying at me, and after a couple seconds he just can't help but start smiling and cooing at me. So sweet. Caleb told me today that I could only work for 2 more days. Well, it is Wednesday, so I guess he is right. I told him this morning that before dinner he would need to have his room clean, because then it would be dinner, church, bed and school. He agreed. After church, it still wasn't clean. I told him he had until I got Levi in bed to get it all picked up and whatever was still on the floor was mine for 2 days. He did a good job, but he put a bunch of cars in the wrong place and left his workshop stuff all on the floor. So I took them.. that was a meltdown. But he has started "playing" too much when told to clean up, so I am hoping this way he will really get to it when he is told to clean up. He was sitting there with tears running down his face (since I tool about 20 of his 150 cars).... "but you can only have them for 2 days, okay." It was almost enough for me to give them back. Sweet boy. I didn't have a good pic for today, so this is Levi already mastering the remote control. That's right.. at 4 months old.