Today's Calebisms

In the car on the way to daycare...
Caleb: Mama, look! The moon AND the sun!
Haley: Yeah, I see. That's cool, huh?
Caleb: Yeah. They are playing together so nicely.

In the car on the way home from daycare...
Caleb: Mama, look! (A lot of them start that way...) That truck has 2 cars on it.
Haley: I see. That's a transporter truck. It carries cars a long way.
Caleb: That's crazy!

In the car...

Caleb: Mama, look! That cow is green.

Haley: What?!?

Caleb: Oh...I just kidding you, Mama.

At home, while Caleb is eating dinner...
Caleb: This one is upside down. (I have no idea WHAT was upside down.)
Haley: That's funny.
Caleb: I know. I just trying to make you laugh. Ha! Ha! Ha!

The Weekend from...

I have never been so glad to see a weekend come to an end! This has been one of those rare weekends that I would like to erase. Since I can't have do-over, I'd like for it to just be over. You know how they say, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy?" Well, at our house, it's pretty much if Mama or Daddy or Caleb ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. When one of us is in a funk, it affects the whole rest of the family. I take responsibility for the funk that has hovered over the Villines house this weekend. Mama wasn't happy. Nobody was happy.

Friday afternoon, I went to get my hair cut after work. This appointment has been rescheduled 4 times since the original date which was during the ice storm. My appointment was at 5:00 and I was supposed to meet Rudy and Caleb afterwards for dinner. The last time I got my hair cut was my first appointment with this guy (who shall remain nameless) and he did a fantastic job. I left there so happy! Friday was a different story. When I sat down, he asked me how much I wanted taken off. I told him that I'm trying to grow my hair out so he said he'd only take off about a half of an inch. Then...I asked him to "shape it up." My hair grows so thick at the bottom, so I need some thinning every time I go in. He started cutting and cutting and cutting, but he told me he was just shaping it up. When he dried my hair, I was pretty stunned at how much shorter it was. I tried to tell myself it was because of the way he styled it, but I wasn't convinced. I met Rudy and Caleb for a wonderful dinner at Chili's and then we came home for some R & R.

Saturday, we got up and got ready to go to Fayetteville for Rudy to teach a trumpet lesson and all of us to go to the Razorback game.. That's when things got ugly. As I dried my hair, I realized that there were gaping holes in the shape. No matter what I did, my hair was just not looking right. The closer I examined the problem, the worse it got. My curls can cover a multitude of sins, but this could not be covered. I was so angry that I cried, hit the countertop and pretty much had a temper tantrum. I know that sounds stupid, but the first thing that people see when they look at me is my hair. That has been the case for as long as I can remember. People remember me by my hair...and my hair was unpresentable. I finally realized that we were going to be late for Rudy's lesson, so I slung my sunglasses on my head, slapped on some makeup and we left. We got about a half mile away when Rudy realized he had forgotten the tickets. We turned around and came home. When we got to the school where Rudy was supposed to teach, he realized he had forgotten his school keys. Quick thinking gave us the idea for him to teach the lesson in the music building at the U of A, so we headed to campus. Caleb and I drove around for a little while, then went to Chick-Fil-A to get lunch. I let him play for a little while in the play area, then we picked up our food and met Rudy back on campus. We found a place to park for the game and then ate our lunch in the car. The basketball game was horrendous. The Hogs just don't have it this year. Kentucky scored first and never looked back. Caleb was a good boy during the game despite his missed nap. We sat behind Lauren and Bella Pratchard, so Caleb was glad to see "my fella" (AKA: Bella). We were glad when the game was over! On the way home, I called the anonymous hair stylist and told him that I needed to come back in for some repair work. He apologized and scheduled me for Monday afternoon.

When we got home from Fayetteville, I decided to tackle the mountain of laundry that we accumulated during our busy week. Rudy went for a run and Caleb "chilled out" watching some TV and playing. The hits just kept on coming as I knocked over half of the spices in our pantry and had to clean up all of that. Thank goodness most of them were closed. I did manage to keep the glass bottle of soy sauce from hitting the tile floor, which was a minor miracle. I somehow managed to make a yummy dinner without spilling, burning or ruining anything and we were all in bed...early.

This morning, Caleb slept until 7:00 and Rudy got up with him. THANK YOU, RUDY!!!! I dozed in and out until 9:00, alternating between sleep and listening to the boys laugh and play. It is my favorite sound in the world. At 9:00, Caleb decided I had slept long enough and he came in to officially wake me up...with his recorder. He blows that thing so loud!!! I got up and resumed laundry, hung out with Caleb and read the paper. Rudy took his car in for an oil change and came back with a programmable thermostat. (Trying to be a little greener...) We made the decision not to go to church this morning because it was such a busy week and weekend. We needed some time to be together and not have to be "on." After lunch, Caleb went to his room for a nap that didn't ever happen. I finished the book I was reading and Rudy installed the thermostat. Finally, I decided to face the facts and started getting ready for our evening. Guess what?!? My hair still has massive holes in it. I gave up pretty quickly and put on a headband to mask some of the damage. Caleb was excited about going to see Bob the Builder. He even wanted to take his hard hat...which was a good thing. They sold them at the show for $30!

Here are Caleb and Rudy at the show. Notice how thin Rudy's face is getting! I'm really proud of him for sticking to our plan so diligently. He is my motivator and my accountability.We had great seats for the show - first row of the balcony. That was about the only great thing about it. I bought Caleb a $25 t-shirt that was too big, so I took it back and exchanged it for a toy...a $25 light-up toy! We made it through the first half of the show. Caleb stared blankly at the stage for the first 15 minutes, then he sat in my lap, then he wanted to stand up, then he sat on the floor, then he.... You get the picture. He wasn't impressed with Bob the Builder LIVE! and neither were his parents. When the lights came on for intermission, Caleb said, "It's all done." Rudy and I decided he was right. We left without looking back. We headed for dinner and then headed for home. No more Bob the Builder for us. The sad thing is that it was supposed to be the Backyardigans, which we love at our house. Caleb watches that almost every night. When the Backyardigans show was cancelled, the WAC replaced it with Bob and offered us the same tickets for that show. I accepted and hoped that Caleb would decide that he liked Bob. No such luck. He likes the idea of Bob, he likes his Bob books and he likes to use his Bob toys to help Daddy "fix" things, but he doesn't really like the show. I can't say that I blame him.

So...it has been a crummy weekend at the Villines house. From a bad haircut that led to a bad attitude to a day filled with clumsiness and stupid mistakes and ending with a waste of money on a show that was a disappointment - it was just one of those weekends. We're starting a better week tomorrow. Rudy and I both have professional development days, which means no students. Rudy and I have a date night on Tuesday - back to the WAC. This time, we're seeing Avenue Q, which has gotten rave reviews and I'm really excited about it. We're even going out to dinner...just the 2 of us! I don't have any nighttime work commitments this week and Rudy only has one. I get to go back to aerobics on Thursday, which kicks my tail, but makes me feel better inside and out. Maybe my hair will get repaired. Hopefully, we'll all stay healthy. It HAS to be a better week.

Thawing out...

I have been posting a lot lately, but haven't been keeping up with my usual log of what we do. Let me backtrack and get this down so I don't forget...

Once the ice storm was over and done with, we missed 4 days of school. That pushes us to a current "last day" of June 2nd. That's tolerable...I just hope we don't get another storm. We're leaving for Florida on June 13th and I don't want to push it too close! The storm damage was devastating for the entire Northwest Arkansas region. There are trees down everywhere and power was out for a lot of people for a long time. We were so fortunate not to ever lose power beyond a flicker. I've heard of some people who lost power for over a week. The area is looking better every day, but there are still signs of the damage everywhere. Huge trees came crashing down under the weight of the ice. There were limbs and power lines blocking the roads for days. Everything was shut down Tuesday and most of Wednesday. When Rudy went to get Grandma from her powerless house on Wednesday afternoon, the roads were tough to navigate, but they were passable with extreme care. On Thursday, everything was still frozen, but people were starting to stir. We decided we HAD to get out of the house. We were all going absolutely stir crazy! So...we bundled up and went to Chuck E. Cheese. It was the only place where we could get a decent meal (surprisingly good pizza) and Caleb could burn off some pent-up energy. Plus, it's big enough that we weren't all piled on top of each other the whole time. Grandma had never been to a Chuck's, so it was a very different experience for her! :) We stayed for a while and then came straight home so Caleb could get a nap. Grandma was with us again on Thursday night and we didn't do much. We watched the Razorback game and tried not to succumb to the cabin fever. On Friday, Grandma's power was back on, so Rudy took her home. After that, he and Caleb packed up and headed to Ft. Smith to spend the weekend with Jan. Of course, I don't know all the details of their trip to Ft. Smith. I do know that they had a great time with Jan on Friday night. They also went to Spiro to see the Morrises on Saturday. Rudy told me they were doing better than he had seen them in a long time.

Friday night, I went to a birthday party for a co-worker. I volunteered to drive so nobody else would have to, but it ended up just being Jodie, Loren and me. Fortunately, Loren is a great parallel parker or we never would've gotten the big ol' Acadia in that parking spot on Dickson! We did a Chinese fire drill in the middle of the street so he could park. It was amusing to us - probably not to the people who were waiting on us, though. :) I swear someday I'll learn to parallel park. Maybe when I'm driving a smaller car. Maybe. Probably not. After we spent a few hours at the birthday party, we came back up to Rogers and tried to go hear a band play, but they were already packing up. We ended up going back to Jodie's for a while and I didn't get home until 2:15. Seriously. When's the last time that happened that didn't involve taking a toddler to the emergency room?

Of course, I slept in on Saturday. I had no responsibilities and I took full advantage of that. When I got up, I took care of a few things around the house, then got ready to go meet Stacy for our scrapbooking night. I started at Hobby Lobby, where I bought some supplies for less than I would've spent on them at SSD. Then, I headed for SSD, where I set up camp for the night. Once Stacy got there, we went out to get pizza for her birthday and then back to SSD to actually crop. I tackled the pages that had been looming over me for a while: Caleb's birthday. They turned out great and I'm glad to have them finished. Now I'm only 8 months behind on my scrapbooking! Ugh... Stacy and I stayed until they practically kicked us out at midnight. I came home and couldn't get to sleep, so I ordered those 8 months worth of pictures on Shutterfly. That took me a few hours. I finally managed to get a little bit of sleep before Caleb and Rudy got home.

On Sunday, 2/1, we had Jeremy, Lauren and Bella Pratchard over to watch the Super Bowl. Caleb was so excited to meet Bella. He kept asking us, "When my Fella gonna get here?" We spent most of the day preparing him for sharing his toys and being nice. Unfortunately, our preparation did not include a successful nap. We enjoyed having the Pratchards over and the kids played great. Caleb was cranky and threw a couple of pretty good-sized fits. He had a couple of attitude adjustments and then shaped up a bit. Just as the adults were about to eat dinner, Caleb had to go to the bathroom. I took him in and found out why he was cranky. He had diarrhea. OH NO!!!!! We apologized profusely to the Pratchards and hoped beyond hope that it wasn't something contagious. They graciously stayed for a while...until Caleb's 2nd trip to the bathroom told us it wasn't a one-time fluke. Fortunately, I've heard from Lauren since then and nobody else got sick. It must've been something he ate. Thank Goodness.

We made it through the week while looking forward to the next weekend (isn't that usually the case?). I have an intern working with me for the first time. Emilee started on Monday and so far, I love having her there! It's such a crap shoot when you agree to take an intern, but I definitely got a good one! Hallelujah! When I walked into my office Monday morning, there was a huge trash can in the corner and my furniture had been moved across the room. Apparently the ceiling had leaked from the ice and I was pretty fortunate that a lot of my materials weren't ruined. It took a couple of days to get things back to normal, but we finally made it. Now we're waiting to get new carpet in the office since it got soaked. Can you imagine walking into your first internship site and finding the ceiling leaking and a nasty trash can in the middle of the room? It didn't scare her off though, so I knew she'd be fine. :) Rudy had a band concert on Thursday. Caleb and I went to Westside night at Chuck E Cheese. He now officially loves that place.

On Saturday morning, Mom and Mr. L. got to our house around 10:30. They came for a 24 hour visit. Caleb LOVED having them here almost as much as Rudy and I did. After Caleb's lunch, he and Mr. L. took a nap together while Rudy went to workout and Mom and I went shopping. We hit almost every furniture store in NWA before we found the entertainment center that I wanted. Here it is...isn't it pretty???? I just love it!
When we got home, the boys were watching the Razorback game - which turned out to be as disappointing as most of the rest have been. After the game, Rudy cooked the amazing steaks that Mom and Mr. L. brought from Hot Springs. Yu-um. I am so grateful that Rudy enjoys cooking and is so good at it. We had a lazy Sunday morning until Mom and Mr. L. left around 10:30. After that, we had a pretty lazy Sunday in general.

This week is a crazy one for us! I have parent-teacher conferences. Rudy's band concerts from right after the ice storm were rescheduled to this week. He ended up having to take Caleb to the concert last night (see previous post), but I got a babysitter for tomorrow night. This weekend should be just as busy. We are going to the Arkansas/Kentucky game on Saturday. On Sunday, we're taking Caleb to see Bob the Builder at the Walton Arts Center. I hope he likes it as much as he liked his Daddy's band concert.

Whew - that was a long one, but now I'm all caught up. Until next time...

Everyone's a Critic

Caleb attended his first band concert last night. I'm sure it's his first of many. I had parent-teacher conferences (YUCK!) last night and we were supposed to have a babysitter, but she cancelled at the last minute. Rudy handled the mini-crisis well and decided to take Caleb with him. He said that Caleb sat like a big boy next to Mrs. Ginny and watched the whole concert with great big eyes. He even clapped when everyone else did. When they got home last night, I asked him about the concert and he said, "I saw band!" Tonight, he was telling Jan about it on the phone and Rudy asked him what the kids played. Caleb said, "Music!" Here's what he told me last night and what I managed to get him to tell me again tonight while I recorded it...

Friggit: The Video

I managed to capture Caleb in a great mood tonight and shot a little bit of video. I mainly did it to preserve "Friggit" (see previous post) because I know it won't last long and I don't want to forget it...ever. Friggit.

Today's Calebism

What sound does a frog make? If you ask Caleb, the answer is...

"FRIGGIT."

That's what he says as he hops around like a frog. Friggit. Friggit.

25 Things

It's running rampant on Facebook, so I played along. I secretly love little quizzes and stuff like this, so it wasn't too much of a stretch for me. Here goes...25 Random Things about Me.

1. In May, I will have been married to Rudy for 10 years.
2. I have a 2 1/2 year old son who makes me laugh, melt and cringe every day.
3. I don't like water, but love the beach.
4. B/c I don't like water, I was terrified when I was baptized at age 8. I thought the preacher would drop me and I would drown right there in the First Baptist Church of McGehee.
5. There are weekends where I never leave the house from the time I come in on Friday until I go to work on Monday. I like those weekends.
6. Lettuce and most other vegetables (and some fruits) make me gag. Literally.
7. I am not a shoe girl. I think they are pretty, but I don't like to spend money on them. I pretty much just have the basics.
8. I love to scrapbook. I have made over 25 albums and I treasure them all.
9. I love to blog and read...and read blogs.
10. I have never done drugs.
11. If I had it to do over again, I would choose a different profession.
12. I was the 1988 Desha County Spelling Bee champion.
13. I was the first person elminated from the 1988 Arkansas Spelling Bee. (EDIT 2/10/09: I can't believe nobody has given me grief about the fact that "eliminated" is spelled wrong here. I just noticed it and laughed at myself! Unfortunately, it was not a typo that got me booted from the bee.)
14. I went to camp where Halloween was filmed.
15. I hate math. It scares me.
16. I am atypically organized and get panicked when I can't be.
17. I HATE to be hot.
18. I LOVE roller coasters.
19. Ignorance and arrogance are my pet peeves.
20. I was raised in the Baptist church, but I'm now a member of the Methodist church.
21. I voted for President Barack Obama.
22. I listen to angry rap songs when I'm upset.
23. I believe that God has a purpose for everyone, but sometimes find myself wondering what it could possibly be.
24. I believe that cheese dip was created by Mexican angels in Heaven.
25. I am a lifelong, devout Razorback fan and I have called the Hogs in at least 5 different states.. Go Hogs!

Leg Pain

For the past month or so, Caleb has been telling us that his legs and feet hurt. He wakes up at night screaming and crying. He complains about it randomly during the day. Originally, I wrote it off as growing pains. I remember having those and crying until I finally fell asleep. For some reason, I usually had them at Memmie and Poppie's house. Strange - now that I think about it. However, I remember having them when I was 7 or 8, not 2. I did a little research online to try to get a handle on it. I had never heard of a preschooler having growing pains. What I found on the internet said that it was rare for kids to have them before the age of 3. I found lots of information about juvenile arthritis. I also found some articles about more serious things like leukemia and other cancers causing leg pain in young children. With that seed planted in the back of my mind, I decided to monitor the situation closely.

I e-mailed Rudy's mom, Jan, and asked her for some background information. When Rudy was 3 1/2, he contracted a virus that caused severe leg pain. He ended up being hospitalized for it. She said that over the course of a few hours, he went from being fine to being in so much pain he couldn't walk. He still has pain in his knees sometimes and gets leg cramps more often than one would expect. She also reminded me that Rudy's paternal aunt had lupus. In addition to that, arthritis and other similar conditions are prevalent in my family.

Rudy and I talked all of this over and decided that we would take Caleb in to see the pediatrician. We were nervous about it. Then the ice storm hit and I put off making the appointment. Caleb complained about his legs again on Monday, so I called the doctor's office on Tuesday. I was surprised to get an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. Rudy met Caleb and I there and the doctor listened to our concerns. She then examined Caleb and watched him walk. (On a side-note, she seemed impressed that he was potty trained.) She said that she felt like it was probably growing pains, but that she wanted to run some tests to rule-out anything else. She sent us to the lab for bloodwork. Caleb sat in my lap and Rudy held his hand while the lab tech drew blood. I haven't heard Caleb cry that hard in a long time. It absolutely broke my heart.

Once we were finished, Rudy went to get Chick-Fil-A and I brought Caleb home. Caleb devoured his entire meal!

Shortly after we finished dinner, the phone rang. When I saw that it was the doctor's office calling, my heart was in my throat. Then when I realized that it was the actual doctor calling instead of a nurse, my heart stopped. Finally, she said that she had the test results back and everything was NORMAL. She said that his white cell count was normal and a few of the other tests were even better than normal. All I could think was, "PRAISE THE LORD!" It was all I could do to keep from holding and hugging Caleb all night long. I probably would have if he would've let me. Rudy and I breathed a collective sigh of relief when we fell into the bed last night.

God has blessed us so much. Fearful times make us realize the blessings that are too abundant to count. They put the minor difficulties in perspective. They make us appreciate each and every day. For that, we are grateful to our Father, our Protector, our Teacher, our Savior, our God.

Calebisms

Caleb has been cracking us up with his sense of humor lately. He has recently started singing TV theme songs - especially Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins. He also answers the questions that the characters on TV ask. (For some reason, the characters on his shows talk to the audience. It's annoying to us, but he loves it.) He also likes to talk about Valentine's Day and still talks a lot about the "icy" from last week. Here are some of our favorite (recent) Calebisms:

• I can't believe it! (That one is from the Little Einsteins)
• That's my favorite.
• What's the big idea?!?
• Daddy, you chillin' out?
• Not yet (usually when he's told to either get in or out of bed)
• Chwaklit Punnin' (chocolate pudding)
• You exercisin'?
• I not wanna' watch your woo-wee (movie), I wanna' watch MY woo-wee. (He doesn't like anything that's not animated!)
• My new shoes go SUPER-FAST!

Tonight, Rudy put Caleb to bed like usual. About 5 minutes later, I heard his door open. Then I looked up and saw him walking through the living room with his blanket over his head. Apparently, that made him invisible to us and we weren't supposed to know he was out of bed. Rudy and I both laughed so hard, we had tears rolling down our cheeks.

For some reason, Caleb has decided to be afraid of shadows. (Not his own shadow - he's not that strange!) When he gets out of bed at night, he tells us he's scared of the shadows. When he goes to bed at night, he asks if the shadows are friendly or mean. I have been able to control it a little bit by spraying his room with room spray and telling him it will make the shadows be nice...and smell good. So far, it has worked, but I know it will be temporary.

A few nights ago, Caleb started running circles around the couch. He was running like his rear-end was on fire! When he finally stopped, I asked him what in the world he was doing. He said, "Mama, I exercisin'!" Who am I to argue with that?

For Super Bowl Sunday, our friends Lauren and Jeremy Pratchard came over with their daughter Bella. Caleb had never met Bella. Rudy told Caleb that Bella was coming and tried to talk it up, including a pep talk about sharing his toys. All afternoon, Caleb asked, "When my Fella coming over?"

Maybe it's the speech path in me, but I just love the language of 2-year-olds...