Caleb Cooking

since Caleb is not so much into eating, we've decided to try to encourage him in helping us prepare the food with hope that he might be more interested in eating it then. the eating hasn't really changed but he does seem to really like helping in the kitchen. it started a few weeks ago, i can't even remember what i was making, but i had Caleb come in to help. we pulled up one of the chairs from the dining room and he stood there and helped. he wasn't too into actually doing anything but loved being able to see all that was going on. a few days later, i was getting supper ready and on his own, he pulled the chair to the doorway of the kitchen. i brought it in the rest of the way and he jumped up to help peel and cut potatoes. again, he was hesitant to actually touch anything but we counted the pieces of potatoes and he put the last piece in the pot.

now this is becoming a common thing and sometimes i have to say no to him. last friday, i was making chicken nuggets and he wanted to help but i thought having him so close to hot oil was not the best idea. he seemed to take it well- no tantrum or anything and was content to help set the table.

this morning we had a special treat. pancakes! we never have pancakes on a tuesday morning but when Caleb got us all up at 6:15 we had time to kill. andy started stirring them up in the kitchen and Caleb was right there to help. i walked in with Sadie to here Caleb saying "i'm mixin' mommie." andy even let him try flipping a pancake and he was good at that. we did learn that the stove is hot (just a small burn on the pointer) but we survived and it didn't keep us from enjoying the yummy pancakes. :-)

Some Funny Stuff

We have a new worry with Sadie. we've been noticing that she really loves putting things around her neck. it started out with the teddy bear ears, Caleb's sunglasses, then we saw her walk around with Mr. Potato-head's eyeglasses. they all get put around the back of her neck like you would wear a scarf. of course, noticing this, i pulled out some fun, fuzzy yarn and knitted her a little curly-cue scarf. she ignores it. lately, we've started to get more concerned about this because she's started wrapping things like yarn, electric cords and phone cords around her neck. mostly they end up on her shoulders, but i am concerned that she's going to end up strangling herself - so i'm really keeping my eye on her.

she's such a little momma though. she's taken on the job of caring for caleb (not that he can't take care of himself). she'll bring him his sippy cup, sits next to him when he plays and hands him toys or puzzle pieces. she even brought him pieces of his breakfast the other day. she loves her baby and carries her around and pats her on the back. it's so fun to watch.

it's been interesting to see that about this age, caleb became fascinated with cars and she's become so interested in her baby. she still plays with caleb's cars but definitely favors the baby.

caleb continues to amaze us with his memory. he's been able to memorize a new picture book in only a couple of days and we've figured out that he doesn't need to rely on pictures to spark his memory. we returned I Stink to the library weeks ago and he still will randomly start reciting it. he's got Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel memorized, and has been working on the Cat in the Hat. i guess that's not really accurate. he's not setting out to memorize them. it seems to just come to him. it's wild and very exciting not to mention helpful to have him be able to sit and "read" to himself.

we've also been having fun conversations with him. if he's not interested in doing something he says "that's not a good thing".

oh well, can't remember any more right now and oscars are starting

What A Trip!

Well, we did it! Caleb, Sadie and i made our first trip across the state to visit the NJ grandparents without Andy. it almost went really well :-) many have questioned my sanity and asked "why would you do this?" and i really didn't think it would be that difficult. in all honesty, the actual car ride out wasn't difficult at all- a little hectic keeping one eye on Caleb while chasing after Sadie crawling away at the Wendy's in Breezewood -but we were able to eat and then had a nice visit with the Groshes so the trip really wasn't bad.

the fun began saturday night....

Sadie ate too much (or that's what we originally thought) and got sick twice in about an hour so she had to sleep with me for the night. she was thoughtful in getting sick at about 11 pm when we were all just going to bed, instead of doing it in the middle of the night. then Caleb got sick in the morning. we kept them home from church but still thought they had just eaten too much- we were trying to be positive. then Caleb got sick after dinner and the fever started and we realized, they had picked up some kind of stomach bug. monday and tuesday were spent cleaning up messes, nursing fevers, making trips to CVS and figuring out if we needed to see a doctor. (these kids never get sick like this) by wednesday, Caleb and Sadie were much better but i came down with it and i had been planning on driving home on thursday. that was not going to happen. wednesday evening, Andy called and the wonderful husband he is, bought a bus ticket and rode out overnight to drive us all home thursday. (oh and g'ma came down with it wednesday night and was sick all thursday).

it was not the trip i had planned and i still feel so bad. i had intended to go out because at the last minute, Andy's mom was not able to come out here to visit for her break. this meant that she probably wouldn't see the monkeys until April. i had hoped to give her a nice visit and help out but it didn't quite turn out that way. oh well. it's made quite the story...

more sadie words

just a quick note- today she started blowing kisses and said nite-nite to daddy.

we've also started calling her bootsie. broke out her rain boots from christmas and she loves them. insisted on wearing them all afternoon even though she can only take about 2 steps in them before she falls down.

Development update

oh, i had one more thing to update on Caleb. kind of a milestone in learning. at dinner the other night, he saw a picture of himself and declares "that's me" first time, we've heard him use "me" to refer to himself so that was pretty cool.

and he has memorized I Stink but that's nothing new. what we were impressed with was that while looking at the book, he started pointing to the words and asking Andy what they were. we're thinking that he might be making the connection that the groups of letters are words and those words tell the story. seems like a good first step towards reading so that's exciting.

alright- that's enough

Naps and Super Bowls!

First off- Congrats to the NY Giants and their Super Bowl win!! while i will always be a die hard steeler fan (who has very limited interest in football if there is no black and gold on the field) i had to help my husband cheer on his team. he grew up just down the highway from Giant Stadium so how can you blame him. i tried to get Caleb to join in rooting for the Giants but he only cries out "go Steelers". G'ma Jody was even good enough to indulge me and mail us a Giant's shirt for Caleb to surprise daddy. well, the boy refused to wear it. Sadie, however, happily put it on for a bit on Friday (long enough for me to get a picture). then, it was still out in the living room yesterday morning so she insisted that she wear it over her pjs- all morning. so maybe Andy will get a Giants fan out of one of them. :-)

We're happy to report 2 successful days of napping and a much happier Caleb. ever since the cold a few weeks ago, he's been really resistant to napping and i don't know what to do with him. i put him in bed, he gets out and plays. i put him back in bed, he screams and cries. this goes on for the 2 hours or so that he used to sleep. then i give up and try to remain patient with the cranky toddler for the rest of the afternoon/evening. naptime went like this yesterday but fortunately i had Andy to help out. after we had enough, i decided to try one final strategy. i put him in bed (had my book with me) and sat down on the futon and read to myself without saying anything to him and only glancing up to give him the "i mean business" look when he seemed to be trying to sneak out of bed. he made 2 attempts to get out and then gave up and went to sleep.

We planned on using that same strategy again today but we didn't need to. Andy took him up, read stories and put him in bed. he went right to sleep. it was wonderful! i'm hoping that now he'll be used to that routine again and naptime will be easier this week. i need their naptime just as much as they need their naptimes!