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?)

The Bad and the Good of Late October

There is nothing on this planet that makes me cringe as much as a whiny child. Guess what...I now have one. Since Caleb's surgery on the 10th, he has whined like there is no tomorrow. It makes me crazy!!! Let me back up a little and please excuse me if I whine.

The last time I posted, we had had "A Strange Day." That was the start of what turned out to be a nasty bout with bronchitis for me. It's now 11 days later and I'm still coughing. We were supposed to go to the Pumpkin Patch with friends on Sunday (10/12), but I spent the day in bed with fever. I spent the nights of the 13th and 14th laying awake and coughing. I actually went to the guest room so that Rudy could sleep. On Wednesday, the 15th, I went to the doctor and ended up with a ZPac, which helped but didn't knock it out totally. I also got some fabulous nighttime cough medicine. If hydrocodone had a fan club, I'd be a member. It turned out to be the only way I could stop coughing long enough to sleep. Caleb has also had a cough for quite a while. We thought the antibiotics after his surgery would solve the problem, but he's still coughing and now his nose is running too. Aaaggh! Silver lining: he doesn't have a ear infection! Rudy was a super-dad during all of this. He took full responsibility for Caleb while I had fever and continued to take care of him most of the week since I was feeling so crummy.

I had the day off on Friday, the 17th and it was a busy day! I took Caleb to school and came home to do laundry and pack for our trip to Hot Springs. We also had the carpets and living room furniture cleaned to rid ourselves of the remants of having an indoor dog and potty-training a toddler. Yeah!!!! After the Sears guy left, I called Stacy and met her for a quick trip to the Hammonds center craft fair and lunch. We went to get Caleb at school and came home to meet Rudy. Not long after he got home, we hit the road for Hot Springs. We made it there without any trouble. It was one of Caleb's easiest trips in a while! Hallelujah!

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Hot Springs. Mr. L was at deer camp, but came home on Sunday morning before we left. Rudy played golf at Hot Springs Village with Chad on Saturday morning and Mom played with Caleb while I slept in. Unfortunately, Caleb hasn't taken too well to sleeping in the "big bed" with siderails at Lala's and one of us ends up having to sleep with him. Again...thank goodness for hydrocodone. :) Shortly after I got up, Aunt Harolyn came by to see us and then Pepapa and Anna Joyce came over. Caleb and Mom spent some time outside collecting acorns for Pops to feed the deer. I went shopping while Caleb napped and got an outfit to wear Saturday night. When I got home, Rudy was there and got ready to go over to Little Rock. We went to dinner and then to UALR for the Air Force Band Concert. Our friend, Chris was playing a trumpet solo, and it was our first time to see him play professionally. I think the last time I saw Chris play was at our wedding 10 years ago! After the concert, we all went over to Chad & Ronni's house for a little bit and then Rudy and I drove back to Hot Springs. When we got home, Caleb was sound asleep in Lala's bed. I'm not sure which one of them enjoyed that snuggle more.

On Sunday, Mom treated me to a special birthday lunch! She made my favorites: crawfish ettoufee and chocolate pie! Yum! After our early lunch, we hit the road for home. We made a short stop in Ft. Smith to see Jan and her friend Sue, then came home.

Of course, in our family, it seems that someone always has to be sick. Rudy woke up during the night Sunday with a stomach bug. He went to work on Monday, but came home early after a trip to the doctor. He was officially quarantined to the bedroom until this morning.

Sunday night, I went to bed at 9:30, thinking I would get a good night's sleep to prepare for a busy week. No such luck. Caleb woke up at 12:00, crying. I put him in the guest bed with me and we both went back to sleep. He woke up at 2:00 and whined/cried until I had to get up at 5:45 to get ready for work. I put him back in his bed at some point during all of that and he cried so hard, I thought he was going to be sick. So, I started the week on minimal sleep. This week is parent-teacher conference week for me, so I knew it would be busy. I left school at 4:30 on Monday and picked up Caleb. We went to the grocery store and then came home for dinner, bath, play and bedtime. I admit...I bought him a new movie at the store so we could have a low-key night. It worked. I put him to bed at his regular time and then had some work to do. It was midnight before I could get to bed. Of course, Caleb woke up at 12:30 screaming. I thought I was going to cry, but my Mom abilities kicked in and I sucked it up. He kept saying that his ears hurt. I gave him some pain medicine from his surgery and he went right back to sleep. Again...I love hydrocodone. We both slept most of the night and made it to school on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday was a LONG day for me. After school, I had parent-teacher conferences until 6:45. On Monday night, I had called our fabulous superhero babysitter, Kelly and worked out a way for her to take care of Caleb for me on Tuesday night. She came by my school and got my carseat, then went to Caleb's school to get him. They went to an early dinner at McDonald's and then came home to play. Rudy was still quarantined. When I got home, Caleb and Kelly were playing happily. Caleb told me he had to go potty, so I took him. My heart sank when I realized that he had diarrhea. I just knew that he had gotten Rudy's virus and we were in for another few days of misery. After a few more trips to the bathroom, I finally got him to bed. I called my principal and told her I wouldn't be at work on Wednesday and settled in for another long night. I got to bed at about 10:15 and, as expected, Caleb woke up at 2:00. Again, he told me his ears hurt. I gave him more pain medicine, took him to the bathroom (no diarrhea!) and we climbed in the bed. The pain medicine wasn't as effective this time. He fussed and cried and whined for over an hour while laying in the bed with me. He finally fell asleep around 4:00. We got up at 8:00 this morning and he played and watched TV while I dozed on the couch and counted down the time until his nap. After lunch, I finally got him in HIS bed for a nap and started some laundry. Then I hit the bed and slept like a rock until Rudy got home. Rudy woke up Caleb and took him to his follow-up appointment at the ENT. I went to school to get some work to bring home. I'm not sure why - it's not like I've even looked at it tonight! I guess I just needed to get out of the house and that made me feel productive. When I got home, Caleb was playing and Rudy had dinner almost ready. It has been a pretty good night. Rudy has felt so much better and enjoyed playing with Caleb tonight. He put him to bed not long ago and we've agreed to let him cry a little longer tonight before going to rescue him.

Everyone is going to school tomorrow. Rudy and I both have parent-teacher conferences and I have someone coming to my school to watch Caleb and another teacher's child. Good heavens, I hope it's a better day.

Now...for the update from the ENT. Nothing. He told Rudy absolutely nothing. He said that Caleb's ears looked fine. He wasn't worried about anything. He suggested a steroid for the inflammation that may be causing the ear pain, but Rudy turned it down. Caleb doesn't handle steroids well. We'll just keep giving him Tylenol and Motrin. Rudy said that Dr. Lee considered another round of antibiotics, but decided against it. I guess we're just going to have to ride this storm out with a test of patience.

Caleb's whining is ridiculous, but I don't know how much of it is because he doesn't feel good and how much is him being a pain. He will throw a holy fit and whine and cry, then look at me and say, "Mama, I not crying anymore." Usually, when he whines, I ignore him or tell him that I can't hear his words when he's whining. When it's the middle of the night, I tend to cave a little quicker. I'm just too tired to deal with it at 2:00 in the morning. I know I shouldn't get him out of his bed and sleep with him in the guest bed. I know that goes against every logical parenting rule. But...usually that cycles through about 2 or 3 nights every month or so. Not a big deal. Now, this has been going on for almost 2 weeks. It's not just getting old - it's old already.

I know I've written a lot of negativity in this post, so let me finish with some positives.

• Caleb has learned some pretty amazing things the past few weeks at school. He's starting to pretend a lot and his language has exploded once again.
• There is a child in his class that likes to try to scare the other kids by talking about ghosts and monsters. With Halloween coming soon, we've been tying to tell him that ghosts and monsters are pretend. When he starts talking about them at night when he goes to bed, I spray some air freshener that we call "monster spray" and he seems okay.
• As usual, he sings a lot. The new favorites are "Where is Thumbkin" and "Old MacDonald."
• Yesterday, Caleb walked into the living room with his blanket wrapped around his shoulders and told me that he was a princess. I thought that was pretty funny.
• Last Monday, he told me that it wasn't raining, it was just sprinkling.
• With all of the fall decorations out right now, he likes to point out all of the "squarecrows."
• When he is in the car with Rudy, Caleb likes to "help Daddy drive" by pretending that he is holding a steering wheel. He actually turns it the right way most of the time.
• He also likes to tell everything "Happy Birthday" - especially Taco Bell and the cows that we pass on the way home. That's a game that he and his Daddy made up one day and he's holding on to it.
• Caleb has started playing with his toys by "making them talk." He'll hold an Elmo figurine and say, "Hi, Elmo" then, "Hi, Caleb."
• Caleb's sense of direction seems pretty impressive to Rudy and me. He knows which way we turn to get places and if we don't go that way, he gets upset. He can also guess where we're going based on which way we're going.
• And, to make things truly positive...I would venture to say that Caleb is now fully potty-trained. He goes days between accidents. When we were in Hot Springs, I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said no. He then went into the bedroom, closed the door and wet his pants. I asked him why he did that. He said he "want to play, not sit on the potty." That's a pretty good sign to me that he can control his bladder. He's just being two.