No Picture to Post but Small Updates

I can't remember if I posted this in an earlier blog....but Caleb's got 4 teeth on the top that came in all at once! He won't really let me get a good picture of it....but now he's got 6 teeth total! I caught him making a weird noise last week and I said to myself 'how can he be grinding if he's only got 2 teeth on the bottom'? Well, he's now got 6.

Florice also alerted me to a new skill that he's learned. He now knows how to blog 'spit-bubbles'. It's cute and kind've gross at the same time since he slobbers all down his chin when he does it. It seems that he needs to be in a zone to be able to do it.

We're also trying to teach him - "give me 5"....and he's done it a couple of times....but each time, I'm not sure whether he just got it by accident or he actually knows what I'm asking.

The walking is also getting better. He can now 'toddle' over to you (so THAT's why they call them toddlers)....and while he's not super stable yet when he's taking steps, he IS attempting them when he doesn't have any hand holds left.

We also got a big box in the mail yesterday from Auntie Michelle, a present for Caleb's birthday (his first one-year birthday present) and while we've put the present under the tree until his birthday, Caleb had a grand ol' time playing in the box yesterday night. We even put him IN the box and he stayed there playing happily with just a spatula. (I don't know what it is with this boy and kitchen utensils - maybe he'll be a chef?)

Present Debate...& Other Misc Notes...

We've mainly been working on getting Caleb to 'self-feed'. He's really good at eating chunks of bananas and Cheerios (when he was going through his Cheerios phase). Currently, he's not a big fan of them. Instead, he's going through a Graham cracker phase. He loves holding on to a big cracker and just munch away on it.

He's also LOVES applesauce. Jay loves it too so I just buy the big jars from Wal-Mart and they go to town on it.

He's taken is first steps this past week, but I haven't seen him take more than 4 steps before he wobbles down to the floor. I'll give him another week and he'll be walking around wrecking havoc on our house.

The most fun thing so far is being able to plan his one year birthday party! We're trying to keep it small and simple, but we'll see.

There's also a debate going on with Jay & I. We don't really know what to get him for his birthday & Christmas! I was leaning towards something like a train set (Thomas is popular so I hear) since this may intrigue him well into his toddler years. Jay wants to get sports stuff (like a basketball hoop for babies thing). Then there's that educational VSmile gaming system for toddlers. Does anybody have it? What do you think?

Since it's only his first birthday and his first real Christmas (last year he was only 7 days old), I'm sure that he'll just be happy with the box and the wrappping paper. If he's lucky, he may even get nice sparkley ribbon to play with.

A Perforated Ear Drum

Here's Caleb wearing a Vancouver sweatshirt! Vicki (my 0ld PwC partner in NYC) had given this sweatshirt to me when I working in New Jersey last year and it's finally now fit him.

We've been out of commission at home. Caleb went to the doctors again since he wasn't feeling very well and had a low grade fever. It seems like his ear infection from the other week never went away and he now has a perforated ear drum (a hole or rupture in the eardrum, a thin membrane which separates the ear canal and the middle ear. The medical term for eardrum is tympanic membrane).

So now he's on some stronger antibiotics and medicated ear drops as well as needing the nebulizer to administer Albuterol for the slight wheezing in his chest.

My Sister's Bruno

Isn't this just the sweetest thing? My sister's dog, Bruno, is one of the "spokes-dogs" for this company called the K9 Biscuit Company.....Isn't he just so handsome??!! This just tickled me when I saw this.

Hey Michelle, could you mail us a sample so that I can have Bruno's picture on display in my cupboard?

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

I'm 28 today!!!

On A Serious Note

I rarely post anything that's truly serious on my blog but I am compelled today to send a message to the "B" family. They have just lost their son and brother, Ryan who was only in his twenties and according to his mom, he was only 2 weeks away from getting his GED. He leaves behind 2 young children who will carry his essence with them as they grow up.

This is extremely sad news that I heard from my old friends in Vancouver. After many different attempts at contacting his mother, I was successful after I found an old phone book of mine. Thankfully, she hadn't changed her number in the 5-6 years since I've called her last. This is the family of one of my old ex-boyfriends and we send our thoughts and prayers to their family after this terrible tragedy. I don't really communicate with anybody from that era in my life but I think of them fondly nevertheless. His mother is raising his two young kids with such courageousness and love that it just breaks my heart.

I also saw pictures of my Kit's '96 class reunion on shutterfly.com and I am again reminded of that no matter how far one thinks they've gone forward in life, we forget that we don't change as much as we think we do. Appearances may change and accomplishments may be gained, but how we think as people and how we care about the people that we call friends never really changes.

I'm fairly certain that few to none of Caleb's blog readers know this family personally or even know of this family but please think seriously of how short life can be and how we should appreciate everybody for who they are and tell your loved ones that we love them.

Cheerios and the 'Giggle-Monsters'

Cheerios!

Caleb's favourite food right now is Cheerios. Of course, this means that we now find Cheerios in the most unlikely of places. He's also developed quite a fine palate. We tried to purchase the no-name oat-O's and the little bugger can actually tell the difference. I guess we'll have to ante up the extra $1.50 a box to make him happy.

He's also very fond of graham crackers (especially if they're covered in cinnaman sugar) and those teddy-grahams also work very well.

He goes through phases. There are some days where he'll eat everything in sight and then other days where he only wants Cheerios and his bottle.

Can anybody believe that he's almost 11 months!!! That's so crazy to me.

The latest accomplishment is that he has learned to giggle. This makes for a very exhausting nighttime bedtime ritual since we just can't resist hearing him giggle so Jay and I turn into the 'tickle-monsters' and chase Caleb all around the house.

Caleb and the Pumpkin

There once was a boy named Caleb. Caleb loved look at his pumpkin...especially when it's all lit up with candles on the inside and smells of cinnaman and nutmeg.

Mommy Dressed Up Too!!

What's extra fun about Halloween? Now that we have Caleb, I now have an excuse to dress up for Hallween too! We dressed up and opened the door for trick or treaters. The most popular costumes of choice seemed to be super heros this year. We saw a couple supermans, spider mans...even a Captain America.

And!!! I got a really good picture of Caleb's first two teeth!! He's such a ham...