About Caleb: He LOVES to stand up on a chair and 'help'/watch me cook. This involves multi-tasking on my part to: make sure he doesn't fall off the chair, or try to put his hand in the mixing bowl, keep all eggshells/butter wrappers/peanut-buttery measuring cups/anything off-limits out of reach. But a spatula or an empty box or the mixer being turned on keeps him satisfied. Of course, NOW I can't even stand at the kitchen counter because he believes Mama's probably playing with some fun machine up there(i.e. standing mixer, bread machine, coffeepot, etc).

Thankfully, he understands "all gone" when things no longer are there.

Mama stands against the kitchen counter. Caleb runs over shouting, "Mama, mama!"
Mama bends over and lifts him up to see.
"Uh-oh", says the mama. "The bread machine is all gone!"
Caleb looks at her and puts his hands up in a "I don't know" gesture, shaking his head.
"All gone," Mama repeats,putting her son down. Satisfied he's not missing anything, he runs off.

(This includes food items in bowls...which often must be hidden from sight because once he's seen the container and knows what's in it, there's no forgetting while it's still in sight). Caleb thinks:"I see that blue bowl and I know there's Crispix in there!"

About three years ago I started to rewrite a story I had written back in the eighth grade. The basic characters were great, some of the setting was salvagable, and minor points of the plot remain. I am about 10-15 pages from finishing. Hard to believe after writing here and there for so long. But the more I've been adding to it, the more excited I've become about seeing it to the end. I think having Caleb, and soon enough, Tobias, has been a great influence in my perseverance. I've placed the goal before me to finish the actual writing of it (not editing and revising) by the end of October. Considering that's next week, it's a real deadline. Depending on what my evenings bring, I think I should be able to do it.

So what's it about, you ask?

It's about two children finding their way in a world that is not their own...with help from some of the locals. Sound familiar? There's no lion. No witch. No wardrobe. But there is enough similarity to many of the great fantasy books written for children/adults because those basics are what make great stories. I hope to pass this on to friends and family to read if it passes the test of my tough editor (Brian).

Caleb story of the Day: We have a playroom downstairs for Caleb. Just a room with durable carpet for him to run around in (especially on these rainy, cold days when we can't go outside). Well, we went odwn this morning, only to find a large, black roach hanging out in the middle of the room. Not acceptable. I was barefoot and I didn't want to use any of Caleb's toys to get rid of it, so I used a stick Caleb had brought from outside last time we were down there. I prodded it toward the edge of the room and smashed it in a little space between the wall and the floor.

Caleb watched this all. End of the roach.

Fast forward to about 10 minutes later, mid-play. Caleb carried a bucket of legos over to me and I pulled out a little black scotty dog that came with his "On the farm" lego set. He took the little dog from me, ran over to the wall, and set it in the crook of the floor and wall. "Hmmmm," I thought. "What's he doing?" He then went and got the stick and poked at the dog.

Just like Mommy had done with that other "little dog", right?

My mother-in-law recently sent us a copy of Dobson's book Bringing Up Boys which is altogether fascinating, helpful and disturbing. He offers loads of statistics that would scare any mindless mom (or dad) out of bringing up a boy. However, I am confidant that Brian and I will not only do OK with our boys, but we'll delight in the process. Dobson is right about a lot of things when it comes to our little boy--he likes to climb and throw and wiggle and poke at things.

Caleb has been high-stepping around the house lately.

He says "brah" in a sort of drawn out way for "bread". And at his last Moog appointment, they said he's on target language-wise (with 10-15 words in his spoken vocabulary) for a normally-hearing 14 month-old. We're glad for that (but not surprised). In case you're not usre what he says, here's a little list. IMagine him saying these things in context:

ball
woof woof (as in, that's what the dog says)
hat
bread
outside
bye bye
mama
dada
nigh night
hi
baa (as in, that's what a sheep says)
up (more like uuuuuu, with no p)
all done
more

But I'm amazed at what he understands...which tells me his listening vocabulary and ability to discern words and ideas are great. You can say, "Go get the _______" and he'll go get that certain thing. Puppy, pacifier, book, ball, bear, cup, stick, train, etc.

I can't wait until he can say full sentences and we're able to talk in complete conversations.