The Wood Book

On one of our trips to G'ma Suzie and Papa Joe's, Caleb discovered one of Papa's wood project books (aka The Wood Book). Caleb has been fascinated with instructions, which continues to baffle me because I still have difficulty reading the full direction even when cooking- I read the ingredients and then kind of just throw it all together... Anyways, the boy pours over his Lego directions with more intensity even then he actually plays with the Legos and one of his favorite set of directions is to our Wii Sports Resort video game. He even reads the directions to using the Wii remote game directions are not available.

So Caleb loves directions, of course he's going to love a book that is all directions for making things. It took a couple of trips to start remembering what he wanted when he asked for his Wood Book but would ask for it as soon as we got in the door.

Most recently, we were out there for Father's day and Caleb (while reading the Wood Book) decided that he wanted to make something from the book. Now the book contains all kinds of projects, bird houses, book shelves, tables and chairs, even toys. The boy wanted to make........... napkin rings.

Caleb's Reading

So the boy can really read- granted most of it is just memory but he's also working on sounding out words! I decided it officially counted today because he started reading a book we borrowed from the library that he's never read before and he started right into it. At the library he was trying to read Dr. Seuss, Fox in Socks. Poor guy, Dr. Seuss can be really tough with all those made up words. He made it through most of the book though. It's pretty cool but has also led to a bit less sleeping- he tries to read even when there's no light in his room.

We're in trouble once the boy discovers flashlights and chapter books :-)

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.

Caleb and Sadie Book Picks!!

Hi there. As most of you probably know, we love reading in this family. So as part of our encouragement for others, we thought we would start recommending great, fun, read-together books. I'm starting out the recommendations tonight, while the monkeys sleep, but hopefully Caleb and Sadie will be able to offer their on thoughts on their books in the future.

Sadie's Picks:

Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler and R. Gregory Christie
It's a cute little rhyming book with fun illustrations about a family putting baby to bed. We found this book in the library way back in January and we borrow it just about every visit. It's fun to read and easy to memorize (which can be really helpful when you need a distraction without having a book- reciting books from memory has saved us in the middle of the night and on long car trips).

Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett
Another rhyming book with animals! Yeah! We just found this last week and almost immediately Sadie started requesting "monkey". This story is a really quick read (great for bedtime) and the kids love saying the animal names when we read it. I love the illustrations and at the end we practice being quiet and saying "ssshh" because the little girl is sleeping.

Caleb's Picks:

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont and David Caltrow
Alright, as a mother who happens to also be an artist, I love this book almost as much as Caleb! I think it's hysterical- from the words to the illustrations. This book was also recently discovered at the library and Caleb has already started singing it all the time (we walked through Target today singing it together). It's to the tune of It Ain't Gonna Rain No More and of course, it's about a little boy getting in trouble with his paints. My opinion on this book may change when Caleb discovers paint but right now, I think it's too cute and funny to put down.


Alright, that's all I have for you tonight! Hope you enjoy these as much as we have.

Caleb Video

It's been awhile since I put up video clips... mostly because I haven't been using that camera very much. Here's a clip from February of Caleb "reading" Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. I've mentioned that we've noticed that he's memorized some books. Well, here's what got it all started. I don't have the whole thing recorded because I didn't have that much space and Sadie was also competing to be in the video.

It's been wild seeing how amazing his memory is. With borrowing books from the library, I've noticed he has most of the story memorized by the third or fourth time reading through (depending on how long the book is). It's been really nice because he can kind of sit and "read" to himself- not that we get out of reading the boy stories. He could definitely be the poster-child for the "read to your child" movement.