Caleb @ 4 1/2

I haven’t posted a Caleb update in a while, so I figure it’s time, but I really don’t even know where to begin.  He’s learning so much and doing so much and just…growing up.

Here’s a picture of him on Monday with Coach Eric, his Happy Feet coach.  We signed him up for Happy Feet at his daycare.  Coach Eric comes once a week and teaches the kids soccer skills through stories and games.  They don’t actually play soccer, but they learn some fundamentals.  Caleb really likes it.  Rudy was off on Monday for Martin Luther King Day, so he went to watch Caleb and take some pictures for me.  He said that Caleb had a few lapses in listening and got frustrated when the task was hard, but that he did okay.

Last week, I was wrapping a gift for a girl in Caleb’s class and wanted him to write his name on the card.  I drew a line for him to write on and told him, “Write your name on the line.”  This is what he did.  He wrote his name ON the line.

Caleb is learning so much at daycare.  He can write his name and all of the letters of the alphabet.  He knows the sounds that the letters  make and can rhyme words.  He is also enjoying making art “projects” by gluing together anything he can get his hands on.  His cubby at school is always full of stuff he made in the art center.

He had his 2nd dentist appointment on Monday.  The dentist gave him an A+ and told him that his teeth looked great.  Hallelujah!

Caleb really likes music.  He went through a phase where he wanted to listen to rock & roll a while back.  There’s not a lot of rock & roll that’s appropriate for kids, though.  We got him listening to country and he sleeps with a radio on in his room that’s on the country station.  He recognizes songs now when we’re in the car and tells me “that’s on my radio!”  He can even sing along with some of the songs – when we least expect it.  Rudy told him that the song “If He’s Anything Like Me” makes him think of Caleb.  Now if the song comes on at night and Caleb isn’t asleep yet, he comes in the living room and tells Rudy that “that song that makes you think about me” is on.  Rudy usually goes in his room and they listen to it together.  Pretty sweet.

Please excuse the scratch on Caleb’s eye in the following pics…a little basketball incident with Daddy’s fingernail.  No need to call DHS or anything.  It was pretty funny to hear him tell everyone, “My daddy did it” when they asked what happened to his eye.

Football is his other big interest.  He wants to play football with his daddy all the time.  They tackle and run and bring half of the dead grass in the yard inside with them.  I love watching them spend time together.  We use football as a way to get him to do a lot of things.  Rudy told him that broccoli would make him a good football player because it would make him strong and give him energy.  One day, Caleb came home from school and asked for broccoli for his snack.  I asked him why and he said he needed to eat some so he could play football. 

We got Caleb a Wii game for Christmas called Mario Kart.  It’s a racing game.  When we first tried it out, Caleb was horrible at it.  He couldn’t keep his cars on the road and came in last every single time.  Even I could beat him and I’m REALLY bad at it.  Now, he loves it and most of the time he comes in first or second on the races.  He would play it all night if we’d let him, so we limit how much he can play.  It’s usually an activity that he gets to do while we’re getting dinner ready or something like that.

We’re still working on Caleb’s emotional toughness.  He tends to whine a lot when he’s tired and sometimes when he’s not.  He gets his feelings hurt easily and sometimes cries instead of speaking up for himself.  I really don’t know how to address it other than to tell him to “shake it off” or to ignore him when he whines.  Honestly, this is the one thing that I worry about when it comes to him going to kindergarten next year.  I’m nervous about him being emotionally immature.  I know he has the academic skills to be ready.  I’m just not sure he has the maturity. 

Caleb LOVES his little sister.  He wants to play with her, hug her, kiss her and talk to her all the time.  He’s pretty sure he’s going to marry her.  (We’re pretty sure he’s not.)  He says that he can’t marry me, so he’ll marry Nola.  I’ve been amazed at how well he has even shared his toys with her.  He knows what things she can damage and what things she can chew on without hurting.  He’s also pretty cognizant of the things that can hurt her.  He’s good about picking up things that are dangerous and even says that he’s picking them up so Nola won’t get hurt.

Sometimes I forget that even though language is one of Caleb’s strengths, he still has his Calebisms that remind me that he’s still four:

• Last week when it snowed, he wanted to go sledding so badly.  I told him that the only way he’d be able to go sledding was if it didn’t melt and he and his daddy could go after school.  As the sun came out, he told me that God didn't want him to go sledding because God doesn't like snow. God only likes plain grass. That's why he sent the sun to melt the snow.  (sounds logical to me)
• He always says gave instead of give.  (“Mama, are you going to gave me a bath tonight or is Daddy?”)
• After dinner, he always wants “bizzert.”
• turquoise = “toy coys”
• Rudy has taught him several phrases that always crack me up:  “I’m gonna’ take you down to Chinatown” and "bring it on, Donkey Kong” are a couple of my favorites.
• When Caleb does something independently at my mom’s house, she always teases him and tells him that she thinks he must be 5.  He giggles and reminds her that he’s 4.  Last week, he buttoned and zipped his jeans by himself for the first time and told me, “Mama, I think Lala may be right.  I think I’m 5.”

(Did I mention he has learned to climb trees?)