Caleb: 17 Months

17 months. Before I was a parent, I wondered why when I asked a toddler's age I got the answer in months instead of years. I mean really, couldn't you just say "1" or even "1 and 1/2", but "17 months"? Really?

Of course, now that I'm a seasoned veteran (hahahahahaha!)I know it's because the 12 month old who had barely figured out how to put food in his own mouth, hadn't even learned to point yet, wasn't walking and didn't sign or use language in no way resembles my almost-one-and-a-half year old. In fact, my 17 month old doesn't even really resemble my 15 month old. We're steadily moving from older-baby/pre-toddler into full blown toddlerhood.

We were so excited at 12 months when Caleb started standing without holding on

17 month olds say, "See you later, alligator!"

This month, Caleb has really begun to assert his independence. He doesn't want his diaper changed, he doesn't want his teeth brushed (toddler toothpaste to the rescue...), he thinks he's hot stuff because mommy lets him walk around with a water sippy cup instead of confining him.

Clearly thrilled about being allowed to walk around with his sippy

He loves imitating us. Here he is pretending to be mommy

Now pretending to be daddy

Back to mommy again

It can be very challenging at times, especially when something that is usually a "yes" becomes a "no" (he wants to go outside when it's pouring, for instance). However, it is really exciting to see him becoming his own person. I know this is all part of the process (and I will keep repeating that to myself as I take deep, deep breaths...)

Caleb's language skills have taken another big step this month. Although his clear words are still limited to "ball, 'ello, and uh-oh" his babble is beginning to resemble "real" words more and more often. So many times he is clearly trying to say "more" (Mo!), "all done" (A-doe!), etc. He also says "yeah". He also started saying "moo" when he sees a cow. It's sooo adorable!

We've seen a huge leap in his understanding as well. When reading Go, Dogs, Go (for the 1000th time) he pointed to the page with the boat and water and started signing "bath". When he sees the banana in his "b" book, he signs "eat". If we talk about "night-night" or say "are you sleepy?" he pretends to sleep on the spot. He also waves bye-bye when people leave and signs bath when he's ready to start his bed time routine. It's so incredible to go from having to carry him and make choices for him to being able to say, "Are you ready for night nights?" and have him run into my arms and start sucking his thumb. Or have a tantrum. He is a toddler after all : )

Caleb, are you ready to go night-nights?

What happened next was not such a Kodak moment

Our little daredevil continues to be fearless in the face of danger. While at the playground with my parents, he decided he was a big boy and could climb the giant ladder to the slide all on his own. He did frighteningly well with Daddy spotting him.

Reaching the top

Worth the effort

This month also has the distinction of bringing a bittersweet milestone. My little guy has officially weaned himself from day time feedings. We're down to one short nurse in the morning and one longer one before bed. It's amazing how much my feelings and goals towards nursing have changed since we got the news we'd be having a baby.

Before he was born, I definitely wanted to nurse for a year. Afterwards, during those hard first weeks of nursing that felt unending, I just wanted to make it to 6 weeks, when I heard it got better (it did!). Then, as his first birthday rolled around, I knew neither of us was ready to wean. I hoped it would happen naturally sometime between his first and second birthday. Obviously, that's exactly what's happening...and yet I'm still a little sad. If had told me a year ago I'd have this response, I would have been a little surprised.

There were several times during the first year I felt a bit "trapped" by the feeling that I couldn't be away from Caleb longer than the space between feedings (3-4 hours) without pumping, which I am terrible at. However, I find that nursing a toddler is actually lots of fun. I can miss a feeing and it was no big deal since he's quite proficient with his sippy cup and cow milk. He needs to be held so much less, so those cuddle times are extra treasured. He's also a huge daddy's boy these days, so it's nice to feel needed.

All that said, I am really excited he feels ready to take this step, excited to see yet another sign my baby is growing up and increbily humbled and thankful that we've been able to nurse so long.

This month also included a wonderful visit to Florida with friends and family, but you'll have to wait to read all about it in Thanksgiving- Part I : )

Halloween 2011

As I mentioned in the pumpkin patch post, our last Halloween was pretty much non-existent. No pumpkin, no candy, no fall parties. We did put Caleb into an adorable cowboy onesie his uncle and aunt had picked out for him. Halloween isn't a big holiday for us so I wasn't too disappointed, but I did want to at least host trick or treaters this year.

A photo from last year. Notice the adorable smile for his Papa.

Well, as you already know, Caleb suckered me into we picked out a very large pumpkin! So of course, we just had to make use of that huge blank canvas and carve the coolest Jack-O-Lantern I've ever had. David found the pattern online, I sketched it and David and I both carved it (ok, so I only did the nose!).

Caleb inspecting the blank canvas

Practicing his jack-o-latern face

What's in there Daddy?

Finished product

I bought candy (and, fyi, I only went over my grocery budget by a few dollars this month, even with candy! So excited!), roasted the pumpkin seeds and prepared for trick-or-treaters. Sadly, most of their parents weren't willing to come up our big hill, even for candy! Fortunately, because of the snow, there were plenty of parents taking their kids house-to-house in cars so we were able to get rid of some of the candy that way.

We also temporarily acquired a friendly cat who walked up and jumped in my lap for a pet and a cuddle. I thought the cat was acting weird, David informed me that I'm just used to anti-social cats...After a while I warmed up to our furry visitor, but he decided to go back to his home (where ever that is) after 15 or 20 minutes of lap time.

Although our little guy slept through the trick-or-treating festivities, we did get to dress him up for a friend's Halloween party. Why yes, we do force our nerdy-ness upon our adorable toddler : )

Captain Kirk in the seat of power

"I am the Captain. You will obey my orders!"

At the control panel

It's been a chocolate kind of day

It hasn't been a bad day. There have been some awesome moments. Still, as I write this, I'm thrilled that it's nap time and noshing on some dark chocolate. It's been that kind of day.

First, a little background information. We keep a towel along the bottom of Caleb's door these days because if he sees any light coming in underneath it, he knows we're awake and wants to join the party.

Well, we've all been battling a GI bug since earlier this week, but as Caleb hadn't had a dirty diaper all day yesterday, I hoped it had finally finished it's course.

Imagine my trepidation then, when an unpleasant odor reached my nose, by Caleb's door, despite the towel...Blessedly, the diaper (somehow) managed to contain it all.

Not a great start to the morning, but we had big plans to get to the library today to avoid incurring fines (one of my goals this year). Caleb and I were dressed and ready to walk out the door at 9am, opening time. Perfect.

That was, until Caleb spotted the car seat. Apparently, he's a little traumatized from spending the better part of 2 days pinned there. After much scratching, flailing, screaming (on his part) I managed to buckle him in with plenty of soothing reassurances (on my part) that it would be a short trip and he would have so much fun.

We arrived, and I'd just gotten him strapped into the front-carrier, books unloaded, diaper bag in tow, when another kind patron saved me the trip up the stairs with the simple words, "The library is closed today. In-services."

Cue the mom guilt. My little guy hadn't had any fun and I had to stuff him into the car seat yet again. After a flustered call to my friend Jen, I came up with the idea of taking him to the park. We weren't exactly dressed for a windy 40 degree outdoor play session, but I figured we could at least get 20 minutes in for the poor kid.

I figured wrong. In less than 10 minutes his un-mittened hands were bright red and freezing cold. I hated to do it, but it was time to make a retreat. More biting, scratching and flailing. I even had a bad moment where I wondered how on earth I was going to get him home if he didn't settle down, as I was the only one in the park on such a blustery morning. Fortunately, a little sippy cup distraction calmed him. I couldn't blame him for being upset.

We headed home, bundled up appropriately and spent an hour outside. At which point, I noticed little guy was stinky. Very stinky. Caleb isn't a big fan of diaper changes and today was no exception. After settling him down with a book, I got to work. Mid-wipe I see a book come sailing in my direction. Splat. I'm sure you can guess where it landed. Good thing I didn't like that book anyway.

Still, I wouldn't trade a single second of life with Mr. Adorable for anything. Even chocolate.

I'll be back to blogging about all the fun we've had over the past couple weeks soon!