Ears, Teeth and a Visit from LaLa

I took Caleb to Dr. Koenig's office on Thursday, 1/25, for a follow-up visit on his ears. Dr. Koenig took one look in his ears and said they looked like a trainwreck. He referred us to an ENT. Actually, his words were, "I'm going to send you to see one of my friends who cuts holes in kids' ears." So...we're going to see an ENT on Thursday, February 1st. In the meantime, he's on yet another antibiotic. We're also giving him ear drops and infant Tylenol about every 4 hours to ease the pain.

On Friday, February 2nd, we have his 9 month well-baby visit, so we're going back to see Dr. K again.

On Sunday morning (1/28), Caleb's top two teeth finally broke through. He seems to feel a little better now, but he's still pretty cranky with his ears. He keeps patting the side of his head and it is so sad! I, of course, am a little spazzed out about the fact that his baby teeth are coming in all spaced out. Seriously - we're going to start a fund for braces now. It's inevitable. I thought that maybe the fact that he ended up with straight hair meant that he also wouldn't inherit his parents' teeth, but I was wrong!

My mom came to visit this weekend. She was so excited to see Caleb crawl. He also showed her his new sense of independence. He gets frustrated when toys won't do what he wants them to do and his lack of coordination means that his toys often don't do what he wants them to do. (He gets his impatience with inanimate objects from his father.) While Mom was here, we went to the mall. She made veggie soup for us on Saturday night and it was wonderful! She left on Sunday morning, just in time for us to make it to church. We had a great visit and I'm looking forward to going down there in early March.

The sounds coming out of Caleb's mouth these days crack us up. I don't know if it has anything to do with the ear infections or not - but in addition to the almost constant "DADADADADA" we're also getting lots of squealing and what we are calling "singing." However, I think he may have gotten my musical abilities so don't start thinking American Idol just yet.

Yesterday after church, we went out to lunch and had our first not-so-fun experience in a restaurant with the little man. He was sitting in the high chair and fell forward and bumped his mouth on the table edge. That led to a lot of screaming. He also refused to sit and entertain himself like he usually does - so we passed him back and forth between bites of our food. I'm hoping it was a result of the ear/teeth combo - not a sign of things to come. I have discovered the wonderful world of Gerber Puffs. They are quick-dissolving finger foods that Caleb loves. Those alone will buy us about 20 minutes of happy baby time in a public place.

It's a busy week for us - 2 doctor appointments in addition to the usual buzz of life. I'll try to update after the appointments.

Crawling

Oh. My. Gosh. My. Child. Is. Crawling.

This afternoon, Caleb decided he wanted a toy that was out of his reach. He proceeded to pull himself forward with his right arm and dragged his legs behind him (army/combat crawling). His left arm just got stuck under his body, but he managed to go forward anyway. I grabbed the camera and shot a short video, which you can see at www.dropshots.com/haleyvillines. Since then, he has continued to practice and has gotten much much better...and faster. He has decided that independent movement is a pretty cool thing and he spent about 30 minutes tonight scooting all over his room on his belly. He kept heading for Dewey and also for Dewey's chewbone (yuck!), but we redirected him most of the time. He scoots pretty fast on the hardwood floor in the living room and can hold his own on the carpet too. He went from one side of his room to the other and even pulled some books from the bottom of his bookshelf to play with. Holy moly...We are in trouble!!!!! By the way - that left arm still gets in the way sometimes, but he's working on it. I suspect he'll have it all figured out by the end of the day tomorrow.

A Change of Plans and A Couple of New Developments

Brrrr - it's cold! We've had an ice storm and we're expecting 2 more waves of it before it's all over. Normally, that would be just fine on a weekend. We would stay home and be lazy and enjoy every minute of it. That wasn't really our plan for this weekend, but that's what we've ended up doing. Until the weather forecast turned ugly, we were planning on Jan coming in on Friday night. We were going to do some shopping and play with Caleb on Saturday and then my parents were flying in on Saturday night. Caleb's baptism is scheduled for Sunday morning, so everyone was going to be here for that. Change of plans! Jan watched the forecasts for a few days and then decided on Friday morning that she just didn't think it would be a safe trip. Mom and Mr. L. decided this morning that they were afraid to try to come in as well. Even though everything is pretty clear right now - things could get nasty by tonight or tomorrow.

We're sad that everyone couldn't come for Caleb's baptism, but we completely understand. Unless something changes overnight, we're still planning to go ahead with it. We'll take lots of pictures and share those with everyone on Shutterfly. On a happier note - Caleb is trying so hard to crawl. A couple of times in the past few days, he has managed to pull himself forward with his arms. It's called "combat crawling." Lots of babies do it - especially those who are in the higher weight percentiles.

Also, our little love bug has gotten very affectionate. He not only lays his head on our shoulders to give us hugs, he also leans toward our faces to give us kisses. Of course, these are open-mouth, drool-soaked, off-the-mark kisses, but they are so very sweet to us!

A Vist from Ms. Amy

Amy Alexander, Caleb's parent educator, came to visit last night. She brought lots of fun toys and was so impressed with Caleb's development. She said that he is doing great - especially in fine motor - and that we have nothing to worry about developmentally. I asked if we should be concerned about him not crawling yet and she said no. She said that he is ready to start being held in a supported stand near the couch or the recliner. Rudy tried it later and he did great. Aaagh - that means I have to move everything off of the bottom bookshelves soon!

Christmas, Big Boy Bath, A Swing, Noodles and More

This is the first chance I've had to update my blog since way before Christmas. There's so much to tell! This is going to be a long one...

Our last day of school was December 21st. We went out to dinner that night and then came home and had our Christmas celebration together. It was so much fun to watch Caleb rip paper off of boxes! His eyes would get big every time he saw a new toy and (of course) they all went straight to his mouth. We gave him a shape sorter, a ring stacker, a set of mini playground balls, some Roll-a-Rounds (clear plastic balls with little toys inside), new spoons, new bottle nipples and some new pacifiers. He also got some building blocks from Todd, Tammy and Elle and a pop-up toy, puppet and musical book from Jerry, Sherry and Rebecca.

We left for Arkansas on the 22nd. Caleb was a great traveler again and slept most of the time. He really hates it when the sun comes in the windows and gets in his eyes, but he was a trooper anyway. We made it to the Voises in Rogers on Friday afternoon and had a great visit and dinner with them. The Voises gave Caleb a different set of Roll-A-Rounds and he loved them. Jan and Chris came in too and we all spent the night there that night. Before bed, Jan helped me give Caleb a bath. Since we didn't bring the baby tub, Caleb got to take his first big boy bath in the real bathtub! He loved splashing in the water!

On the morning of the 23rd, we loaded back up and drove to Spiro to see the Morrises. We enjoyed our time with them and then went to Jan's new house in Ft. Smith for the night. She took us out to dinner to celebrate Rudy's birthday and we did our gift exchange there that night. Jan and Chris gave Caleb some stacking blocks, some clothes and PJ's and a learning placemat.

Christmas Eve morning, we loaded the car again and hit the road for Hot Springs. We made the trip down 71 and 270 and finally made it to Hot Springs that afternoon. It was good to know we would be out of the car for a while. We went over to Pepapa and Anna Joyce's house for our annual Christmas feast of prime rib, green bean bundles and twice baked potatoes. There is always way too much food there! Caleb got another ton of Christmas gifts: a "baby grand" piano and a stuffed reindeer from Pepapa and Anna Joyce, rubber duckies from Jimmy and Kim, a winter hat from Julie and Chris, a long-sleeved bib from Becca and Jimmy (and Maddox) and a book and LeapPad from Harolyn and Brad.

We stayed in Hot Springs from December 24th until December 28th. Christmas Day was very low-key. We stayed in and relaxed all day long. Mom and Mr. L gave Caleb a bunch of clothes, Green Eggs and Ham with a Sam doll, a Curious George and some other toys. He also got a pop-up toy from Joyce and Bob. He ended up with more stuff than he could even play with! He is such a lucky and blessed little boy!

Rudy and Mr. L. went to deer camp on the 26th and 27th and Mom and I spent those days shopping and visiting family. It was very relaxing. Caleb was such a good little boy the whole time. He really travels well - aren't we blessed?

We left on the 28th and went to Little Rock. We had dinner at Chad and Ronni Fellers' house with them and with Chris and Starr Wilson. It was the first time we had all gotten our kids together. It was good to see everyone and to meet the Wilson's kiddos.

We left Little Rock on the 29th and finally got to sleep in our own beds that night. We had a great trip, but as always, it was good to be home. It took us a couple of days to get unpacked and get everything back in order, but we did it. We had some friends over to celebrate New Year's Eve and then watched the Hogs play in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day. Unfortunately, they didn't win - but at least we were back in a bowl. It was a great season. It was just unfortunate that it ended the way it did.

We had to be back at work on the 2nd. It was NOT fun to leave Caleb that morning, even though I knew he would be fine at Carrie's. He did much better at it than either Rudy or I did. Carrie was sick on Wednesday, so Rudy and I split a sick day to stay home and take care of Caleb. He was able to go back on Thursday and Friday, so we finished the week as planned.

Rudy has had All-Suburban band this weekend, so Caleb and I have had some fun time together - just the two of us. Last night, I took him to the mall just to get out and move around. I had a couple of things to take back to some stores, and that was a good excuse to get out of the house. Today, I took Caleb to the playground at Bluebird Park. He loved the baby swing! It was his first experience with a swing and I think it will definitely be the first of many. He also liked watching the other "big" kids playing around him.

Tonight, we went to dinner at the Pasta House. For the second time in a couple of weeks, someone actually came up to me and told me that we should think about getting him in commercials or modeling. As flattered as I was, I don't think we'll be taking that route. Carrie told me yesterday that she thought Caleb was about ready to try some finger foods and I had been thinking it was about time for that too. (We've been giving him little tastes of things, but nothing that needs any chewing.) I decided that we'd try something different, so I asked the waitress for some pasta with no sauce. We gave Caleb a couple of small pieces and he entertained himself throughout our whole meal by eating and playing with the pasta. He loved it! I told Rudy that it looks like we're going to have to start keeping some cooked pasta in the fridge for a while. Oh, what a mess he will make!

Caleb hasn't hit any new major developmental milestones recently. I keep thinking he's going to take off crawling any day now, but he just can't seem to get his knees up under him in order to go forward. He "swims" around on the floor on his belly and uses his hands to "steer." Sometimes he pushes himself backwards, but we aren't sure if this is actually on purpose. He can get around in a small area to get to reach different toys, but I certainly wouldn't call it crawling. He's not really even "combat" crawling - it's truly more of a swimming motion.

In the past couple of weeks, our little man has gotten very snuggly. Sometimes when I'm holding him, he almost throws himself against me like he's giving me a hug. Tonight, after I gave him a kiss, he came at my face with his little mouth like he was kissing me back. Who knows if he means to be affectionate, but it's pretty sweet anyway. I'm his Mama and if I want to tell myself that he is showing me love, then that's exactly what I'll do!

Caleb continues to babble just like he has for quite a while. He mostly says da-da-da and I keep trying to tell him that he needs to say ma-ma-ma, but he won't listen. :) He sometimes mixes things up with a /g/ or even an /f/ here and there. He has started to change up his vowels too. Tonight, when I was putting him in his carseat, he said "doo dah" and I thought that was pretty funny. He has really started to use more inflection and sometimes sounds like he's trying to carry on a conversation. It's cute when he "talks" to us and even cuter when he "talks" to his stuffed animals or to Dewey.

This coming week is a busy one for us. Rudy has lots of band activities and Tuesday night is our visit from our Parent Educator, Amy. Next weekend is Caleb's baptism and we have lots of family coming to town for that. Jan and Chris will be here on Friday night and my parents are coming on Saturday night. The Hatches and the Voises may be coming too, but we aren't sure yet. It will definitely be a busy weekend, but it will be joyous and memorable!