Caleb turns 5!

Another September and another year older for the boy. I was feeling even more nostalgic about it this year. Since he missed the birthday cut-off for kindergarten, this will be his last year spending most of his time with me. I can't believe he's five! I look at his baby pictures and think, is that really him with those big serious eyes taking everything in and that quick smile and of course, how ticklish and quick to giggle. My baby boy is really not a baby any more. He's a full blown little boy complete with fascinations for matchbox cars, legos, dinosaurs and super heroes.

This year has been full of some huge changes and the boy has come through them with flying colors. Grammie M lost her battle with cancer last fall. It was devastating for our family but we were able to make some great memories in those last weeks. In the midst of losing Grammie, Caleb managed to master the potty. This was huge considering that we were spending lots of time driving to and from Latrobe/Derry without any real schedule. Part of me likes to think that God showed a little mercy on me by having Caleb finally get it. It made a horrible time just a tiny bit easier.

There were questions about Grammie and lots of talk of heaven and God. Caleb was my little sunshine through it all- quick to offer a hug and always surprising me with an unprompted "I wuv you, Mommy."

Preschool was another change for him- 3 mornings a week and with new teachers. This year he was able to read and once the teachers were able to print up a schedule for him, the transitions went more smoothly. It also helped that he had a couple of buddies in his class. Andrew and Brandon were visiting from Canada and spent the fall semester in class with Caleb and on many, many outside play-dates.

Caleb continues to love reading and we're up to beginning chapter books. Mercy Watson is still a favorite but we've expanded to The Magic Treehouse books and beginning Marvel comics. Caleb loves Captain America and Ironman but Superman and Spiderman are also pretty high up on his list.

While he excels at reading, he struggles with writing and because of that struggle (I think) he resists it more. His poor teachers had quite the fight to get him to participate in the morning art activity and we have a very incomplete alphabet book but he's trying little by little. I'm not going to ask more of him 'cause this is only preschool.

At preschool, he continues to love music and movement and story time. This year also brought classroom jobs. He seemed to really like passing out napkins and door holder is always a popular job. The jobs have carried over home a bit too. He loves to be given "jobs" to do. If asked to pick up toys, whining will begin but if I simply say "I have a job for you" there's no whining and the task usually gets completed.

Caleb is still our policeman but we've also seen him improve with playing too. He spent one afternoon pretending to be a conductor for a train and taking us all over the country. Sadie is pretty successful in getting him to go along with her adventures. We've even had some issues with Margot (Sadie's imaginary friend) playing with Caleb instead of Sadie. You never know what's going to come up this house. Most recently, there have been lots of battles with evildoers.

This spring we started getting Caleb services to deal with some of his Asperger's issues. Stephanie and Thao came to our house and began working with him in June. They worked on getting him through transitions and used to doing tasks that he doesn't really like. They were really good with him and helpful for us, figuring out how to navigate with Caleb's struggles. The move interrupted things for a bit but I still think the time was helpful. Now at the new house, we've just started with a new TSS and BSC and they're excited to work with Caleb.

Over the summer, we bought and built a new house. This was probably the best way that we could have handled moving. They broke ground at the end of April. We were able to come of out and check it out through all the stages of building. This seemed to really help Caleb get use to the idea of a new house. Once we discussed that there would be potties and that they're toys would be at the new house, they were very excited. We've been in the house for almost 2 months and Caleb has loved it. No tantrums, no sleepless nights, and we now have drive-way dump-truck luge for entertainment.

The little boy is growing up and surprising us with new things everyday. Happy Birthday Monkey-Man!



First time on a horse at Derry Ag Fair



Soccer Skills



The Big Blizzard- we finally got him to play outside with gloves and a hat



Getting Our Christmas Tree



Halloween '09

Caleb Turns 4

What a year! Lots has been going on with my little man and we're so proud of him. This time last year, he started going to preschool for the first time. Of course he loved it! Caleb went to Shadyside Presbyterian Church Nursery School and we have been so happy with the teachers, staff and other students there. He went Tuesday and Thursday mornings- just long enough to give Mommy and Sadie a little girl time. While preschool was lots of fun, it was not without it's challenges. Caleb was expected to be potty trained for school and while we all had those expectations and tried very hard to meet then, it just wasn't happening. We did manage to make it through most mornings without an accident and continued to work on the potty all year. We also had some troubles adjusting to the classroom and getting used to being with so many other kids. Fortunately, Caleb's teachers were so understanding and came up with some ideas that really helped him find his way. Can't say enough good things about them :-)

He went from wanting nothing to do with the craft/art projects and painting to completing his projects right when he got into the room. He continued to love music time and story time and even participated in both the Christmas and Year End programs. We were able to make some friends and even got to go to a few birthday parties. All in all a great school year and he's really excited to go back.

Other developments for Caleb...

He's mostly potty trained or rather, half? He is very good at #1 but not #2. It continues to be a frustration but there has been progress.

He has gotten very good at dressing himself even though the outfits are somewhat comical at times. We're still working on buttons, zippers and snaps.

Caleb continues to enjoy helping around the house. One of his favorite chores is putting away his clean clothes. He knows which drawer they go in and while they don't necessarily stay folded, they're in the dresser and not on the floor so I'm not going to complain. He also loves vacuuming. He doesn't really do it but anytime I get out the vacuum he has to get out his toy vacuum and clean the rug with me. It's really cute and sweet that he wants to help.

The biggest news this year has been his learning to read. Now Caleb has been able to recite books from memory almost since turning 2. About this time last year, he started recognizing the word Stop and would point it out any time he saw it. Around Christmas, he became really interested in the sounds that the letters make so we started talking about that more and more. That was about the extent of what we taught him. In the spring he started putting it all together and would go through the books he had memorized (mainly Curious George) and would read from memory but would break down the sounds that made up each word. Somehow it all clicked and since about 3.5 he's been going through books non-stop. His favorite stories now are a series about a pig named Mercy Watson. He reads them over and over. They're short chapter books but even Sadie loves them. Mercy has become another member of our family. We've also read through Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and recently started reading Despareaux.

He's starting to get into more non-fiction books so we've been on the look out for easy readers that are more fact-based. I have to admit, it's been hard finding books that can give him the information that he wants but not over do it.

With his learning to read, he's also gotten his first library card. Last week, at the library with Daddy, Caleb was so excited to go to the librarian to ask for help finding a book and was even more excited when she found the book for him and let him check it out. (It was a Mercy Watson book of course)

Caleb continues to love puzzles but it's been a little tougher lately. It's been harder for us to find puzzles that challenge him but that he can still do. In short, there aren't too many 100 piece puzzles. Tons of 25 piece and tons of 500 but not much in between so he's turned his interest to Legos, which are kind of like puzzles to him. He's really enjoyed the couple of sets that he has. He usually needs a little help from Daddy to build it the first time but then he reads over the instruction booklet and starts figuring it out on his own. He also loves to play games. Right now the favorite is Candyland but he's also been having fun playing a game called Chicken Cha Cha Cha and Hungry Hungry Hippos. He and Sadie have even managed a game or two on their own but Sadie has a much harder time focusing on the game (big surprise) :-)

Another new development...Caleb loves bowling! We went for the first time on Labor Day and even with all the music and crazy lights, different shoes, and strange people, he went along with it and had a blast. We went to Funfest. There they had everything set up so that bumpers would come up for Caleb and Sadie but would disappear for Daddy and I. They also had little ramps so that the kids didn't have to try to throw their balls but simply put them on top of the ramp and pushed. Caleb would cheer his ball down to the pins and then would have to run back to check his score before taking his second turn. We're definitely planning on doing this again :-)


We're working on coloring a bit more. He still prefers to scribble more than draw but we have discovered that he loves Connect the Dots and he's pretty good at them.

He also really enjoys Playdoh and drawing with chalk on the front sidewalk.

We still struggle with change but have made lots of progress there too. One recent addition that has helped has been the use of a schedule. We outlined a vague order of activities for the day and Caleb and Sadie get stars when they complete the activity. Things like eating breakfast, getting dressed and going shopping. Caleb looks forward to checking out the schedule each morning to not only see what's going on that day but also to look at what the day is. He's learning the days of the week and loves figuring out if it's a work day or a stay home day for Daddy. I have to say, this might be more demanding if he wasn't reading but I've been having fun planning out our days a bit.

Caleb continues to be a joyful little guy who is almost always smiling and giggling. He is also a very affectionate big brother. It's not unusual to find the 2 of them snuggling in his "house" reading stories together or getting into other mischief together.

It's been a great year and we're looking forward to watching our little man grow more and more! Happy Birthday Caleb!

Caleb Potty Update!

I think we've finally had a break through! for the first time today, Caleb told me that he had to go potty and we're on day 3 with no accidents. the key is motivation. Caleb can be a challenge. in true stubborn fashion, basically from the day he was born, the child will not respond if you tell him he "has" to do anything. we've always had to find a way to outsmart him and convince him that he "wanted" to do whatever was asked. for some reason, i always forget this part of his personality and there can be lots of yelling and butting heads when we're both frustrated. this has been especially true of the potty. people have been telling me for months and months that things will just click, that he'll just get it one day. well, i've been working with him on this since March (?) and recently i've been wondering if he's ever going to get it. (i may even be jinxing myself by recording this update)

well, this week, i did 2 things. the first- i found this great little chore chart dry-erase board at Target with the days of the week and little magnet stars. very cute! a while ago Caleb really enjoyed earning stickers for going potty but we ran out of charts and it got forgotten (although both monkeys every now and then ask for a truck sticker). i thought this board might work- and save paper :-)
the second thing i did was offer Caleb the reward of computer time. i don't know what made me think of it or why i hadn't thought of it before but i offered that if he went all day with no accidents, he could have some time on the computer. he really liked that but i quickly discovered that waiting all day for the reward was a little too abstract for him. so adapting as always, i changed it up to if he puts something in the potty, he right away (or almost right away) will get 5 minutes on the computer.

i can't express how easy this has made things. this boy for a while has been refusing to even try to go and for some bizarre reason, if he knows that he has to actually go, he'll hide and refuse to sit. this usually happens in the morning and this morning, all i said was time to go potty and he happily went up, sat down, did his business and we were able to have a happy day in preschool with no accidents. yeah, and that's another relief. it's not good when the director expresses her disappointment in having potty problems when he was supposed to be completely trained before starting school.

well, i'm keeping my fingers crossed that we have turned a corner and that i won't have to fear the preschool director :-)

and of course, now i can think about getting sadie trained and we will return to a diaper free land once again :-)

Caleb 2008

Another year has passed and Caleb is now 3 years old. No more a baby or even a toddler, he's our little boy and it's been so exciting to watch him grow and change and learn. Here are some things about Caleb...

Caleb has amazed us with his vocabulary and how quickly he jumped from making only animal sounds to speaking in sentences, reciting songs and even books. He loves singing and can often be heard up in his room singing "Take me out to the ballgame" or most recently "Rise and Shine and give God the glory" (a storybook that illustrates the song). He continues to love his books and now at naptime and bedtime brings at least 10 books into bed with him. Andy and I tried to limit the number of books but he would just go over to his shelf and take more, we decided to let him be. I don't know how many nights we've gone to check on him and found him asleep with a book on his chest. Once he can read, we'll really be in trouble. And speaking of reading, he's on his way. He can read STOP and even today pulled letters out of a puzzle and spelled STOP on the table. It's not going to take him long to pick it up. He also knows his numbers and happily counts to 20 when asked. And to think June of 2007, he wasn't really talking at all.

Caleb also continues to LOVE puzzles and I really wish we could find a small puzzle for him to do between with 50-75 pieces. He easily puts the 48 piece floor puzzles together and has even gone so far as to be able to use the picture on the box to figure out where a piece might go without actually connecting it to the other pieces. One good thing is that he never seems to get bored with his puzzles even though he's done them at least a hundred times. He still happily put them together and even likes it when Sadie hands him pieces.

Now we are trying to keep him from being too much of a bookworm. :-) He does love playing outside and with the recent addition of a sandbox to the backyard, he's always asking to go out. He loves digging in the sand and the dirt, looking for wiggle-worms, and running races aroudn the yard with Sadie. When we're out front, he is most often found riding in the Cozy Coupe and parking behing our car to get gas. It's been so fun seeing the kids play together outside and seeing Caleb beginning to pretend and make up games.

The big news this year is that Caleb is starting pre-school. He'll be going 2 mornings a week to a little pre-school in Shadyside. Yesterday was his first orientation day and tomorrow he goes for real. We're hoping that he gets some more opportunities to be with other kids and I'm looking forward to getting him more art opportunities. We'll see how this goes. He did like storytime yesterday and of course enjoyed exploring the new toys and puzzles in the classroom.

Now unfortunately potty-training has not been going so well. We've been working on this, it seems like forever, and seemed to be getting the hang of it in August. Then he started having stomach issues. I got tired of the huge messes and being confined to the house so I started putting him in pull-ups. That was a big mistake. Now his stomach seems to be settling a little but he no longer goes on the potty and I'm left with tons of accidents. We've been trying to watch his diet and had him tested for celiac and now we're just waiting for the results. I'm praying that the pre-school will continue to be understanding about all this while we get it straightened out.

Caleb is still a very picky eater and continues to vomit when trying new foods but we are seeing some improvements. Most recently he's been enjoying corn muffins and peanut butter bread. It's taking a lot of patience and is so challenging trying to decided when to be firm with him and when to let his eating go. But then again, I'm finding that with just about every aspect as these kids get older. I want to be consistant and yet it can be so hard to maintain the energy for being consistant. Then there's wanting to be firm but not so strict that you're constantly battling. Now I look back on the days when they were infants and think "my word, they were so easy."

I still feel so blessed to have this amazing little boy who says the sweetest things and has the most amazing smile. I'm looking forward to all the discoveries he'll be making this year and can't wait to watch him continue to grow.

pretending

the kids have started pretend playing. up until this point, i haven't really seen too much of this but over the past week and a half more and more games of pretend have developed. i think sadie might have started it- she's so determined to do anything the grown-ups do, from potty-training baby to taking her purse and going shopping in the cozy coupe. caleb has always been more of a realist and resistant to any suggestion that things aren't way the seem to be but he's started moving away from that.

friday grandma susie and pa-pa joe brought in a tugboat sandbox for in the back yard. this was a HUGE hit, especially with caleb. this addition to the backyard has meant tons of time playing outside (making potty training easier, since i'm not ready to venture out with him in underwear just yet). caleb has taken on the role of sea captain frequently sticking his head over the side and yelling "aye aye captain" and then jumping out into the yard and having me call out "man overboard" then he runs around the yard trying to stay away from the sharks that might eat him. he even started pretending that he was a shark trying to eat me. i would say "don't eat me shark, go eat some peanut butter" and he would fall on the ground laughing.

today, sadie has been little mama taking good care of her baby. she's finally discovering that baby should have a diaper and clothes on and made several attempts at putting one of her diapers on baby using caleb's changing table. i even had to let her use the baby powder (un-opened) because she knows that's what baby's need. it was really cute to watch and even caleb tried to join in. we almost had issues though. caleb doesn't have a baby and wanted sadie's but he accepted another smaller doll without too much protest.

potty training is continuing to go well. so far no accidents today :-) but we are becoming more concerned that he might be celiac and are looking into getting him tested.

sadie's other favorite toy (besides baby) is her cycle-bike. she can't quite use the pedals yet but cruises right along just using her feet to push. i've been having trouble chasing after her because she'll take off going up the sidewalk and giggling as i yell at her to turn back.

caleb can read STOP. i started telling him about red lights when we were in the car and then explained that i had to also stop at stop signs. i explained that stop said stop and he's progressed for pointing out the stop signs when we drive to also recognizing it in other places. while playing at the play kitchen he looked at the microwave and declared "s-t-o-p, spells stop" i thought it was pretty cool. he's also started putting together letters (from puzzles or refrigerator magnets) and asking me what they spell. hasn't made any real words yet but i'm impressed with this start.

we have a 3 yr check up for caleb next week. then it's get ready for the big birthday party.

Potty training successes!!!!

Yippee!! we have a little boy who is finally starting to get this whole going to the potty thing. we managed 3 trips to the potty today and one completely without me prompting and in time to make our deposit with no accidents!!! in case you can't tell, i'm thrilled after weeks of feeling like the boy was going to be stubborn and not interested. to be making progress with a couple weeks left before pre-school starts is a big deal and it's good because i think he's figuring out that me giving him juice all morning is what's making him have to go. he's started refusing to drink now. silly smartie pants who i can just barely keep one step in front of ;-)

well, just wanted to share that news! back to work.

so sorry

i know i've been away for quite some time. we had our beach trip to Ocean Beach, NJ and since getting back, i've been in potty training mode. yes, Caleb will be starting pre-school on his birthday, Sept 9, and they ask that the kids be potty trained.

**************a warning-- the following contains potty info that you may not want to here*************

this is proving to be quite the challenge. we have tried just about everything- m&m's as rewards, a sticker chart, just having him sit on the potty, spending entire days home in underwear, getting Sadie a potty so she can try it too... nothing has worked. yesterday, the kid spent almost the whole day in underwear and had only one accident. sounds great, right? wrong, he only went to the bathroom twice the entire day, once was the accident, twice was in the pull-up at naptime. i was shocked, he went from 3 until 9 without going at all. needless to say, the overnight diaper could not hold all that was in there.

i don't know what to do with him. right now, i'm thinking he can go to pre-school in underwear with instructions that they don't give him anything to eat or drink. it's only a couple of hours in the morning ;-)

ok, enough with the potty.

besides that, we've been all about the Olympics. the kids have really enjoyed seeing the various competitions. we've caught some gymnastics (recorded the trampoline event for sadie), lots of volleyball and swimming, some fencing and some running. the kids perk up anytime they hear the Olympic song intro... we might have to put that on a CD for in the car.

now we're working on planning the little man's 3rd b-day party. hard to believe it's already been 3yrs.

New Things

the monkeys have achieved new things today!! today for the first time Caleb and Sadie walked to the playground- there and back. this was a big step for Caleb who prefers to ride in his stroller over walking any day.

over the weekend, Sadie mastered climbing the ladder to the slide and today she also mastered climbing up the rope ladder at the playground. i was very impressed with her. she seems to love finding new physical challenges and mastering them. each time she made it to the top, we had to clap and cheer for her. even Caleb cheered on his little sister.

you'd think that such a busy morning would wear them out but while Sadie is happily sleeping upstairs, Caleb is singing and dancing in the kitchen. it could be a loooong afternoon.

Sadie's Talking

Thought I should put up an update on Sadie's talking. She's been babbling almost non-stop and sounding very much like an Ewok but she has mastered a few more words.

Kitty is one of her favorites. She loves Polli and squeals "kitty" when she sees her. She also has started trying to call Polli. She clicks her tongue and pats her leg just like we do. It's so cute to see. Polli seems to tolerate her a bit more than she did with Caleb. Sadie also likes getting right in Polli's face to just say "hi" to her. Also pretty cute to watch.

She's also started saying "read"- guess where she learned that from :-) yes, we have another reader on our hands. More and more she's able to sit for stories and loves bringing books to you to read.

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