Category: Monthly letters (Page 5 of 7)

Dear Caleb,

Okay, the mommy gulit is setting in!  I didn’t write you a 16 month newsletter… so instead I am combining and writing you a newslletter for the last two months.  You are now 17 months old, about 22 pounds… and you keep me on my toes.  You are always, always busy and always active – so really it’s not entirely my fault that I have not been able to sit down at the computer and update the blog!

You are always running these days!  Infact sometimes it’s hard to get a good picture of you!

 

You are definately Mr. Independence now.  You love to do things for yourself – eating, trying to get dressed and undressed, helping yourself from the fridge.  You’ve also recently started making your own phone calls.  You dial, and then walk around with the phone up to your ear – we have no idea where you learned how to imitate that!

You still love your bath, and playing at the playground.  But you also have a new love – flet pens.  You love to draw, and you love to take the caps off your pens and hide them around the house.  We are very happy we bought those markers that only color on special paper… otherwise we’d be repainting the condo!

 

You are also still our very social little guy.  You love being with other kids.  We recently had a big playdate with all your friends from our prenatal class.  You loved running around with them – although sharing was a bit difficult.

 more pictures of the playdate available at http://www.ellsweb.shutterfly.com/

Right now you are taking a baby dance class every Saturday.  You are still unsure, because all the other kids are older; but you love sitting in the middle of the parachute with them and singing the ABC’s.

Yes, you try to sing the ABC’s – the only understandable letters are B, E and Q.  You also try to count: “uh, oo, eee”.  Your understandable words are still limited.  You say a fabulous “CAR CAR”, “DADDY” “MOMMY” and “BYE”, and also have a whole little language of words that only mommy understands.  You also have a few more signs that you use: more, milk, all done, up, no and bye.  You definately understand lots.  You follow directions about giving kisses, waving, and bringing items to people or rooms.  And you can point to your belly button, nose, and ears.

We recently celebrated Halloween.  First with a trip to the pumkpin patch – you loved running around in the mud picking out the perfect pumpkin.  We carved it into your favorite character: Elmo!

  

You were the cutest little lion.  Although you hated the lion hat we made you wear.  We went to a party at the Rec Cneter and you had a blast.  After dinner we went out to the Bonfire in Oak Bay, and on the way back to the car you decided you wanted to trick or treat with the older kids.  You marched right up to a door and got your treats!  We went to six houses!  We also had fun at Tracy and Brendan’s Halloween Party.

 

Next month you will be a year and a half…already!  We can’t wait to see what the last half of your second year will bring.  We know it will be one fun Christmas!

We love you little lion!

Love, Mama

XOXO

Dear Caleb,

You are now 14 months and 20 pounds -yay! Unfortunately you are still too underweight to have your carseat turned around -but oh well, you are safer facing backwards anyway. And you have definately grown taller. Everyday I look at you and see a more of a little boy than a baby. Your baby days seem so far away… especially since you are now WALKING!

Yes, you have finally decided that the lightening fast crawl you have just isn’t as fun as walking on your two little feet. So you have been working hard all month at walking. What started as a few steps to get some ice cream has turned into more and more steps everyday. You often wander around the house pausing at the odd piece of furniture or wall to adjust your balance – and then off you go. You love to stand up. And you love to have us walk you around.

You also love to climb on things. Apparently while I was out a few weeks ago, daddy found you standing on the toilet emptying my make-up bag. And you seem to think that it’s fun to try to ride your tricycle by standing on the seat. I am in trouble when you start to run aren’t I?!

You also have an obsession with walking up and down stairs. Many times now I have followed you up to the fifth floor of our building and then have to break my back walking back down with you. You also love to walk in and out our balcony door, and wander around the deck. If you could you’d be out there all day!

You love your water table, the swimming pool, your turtle pool, the water park, playing in the sink, and playing in any puddle… but you have decided you hate your bath. You whine and cry and scream… (did I mention you have a very loud scream!) We have become experts at soaping you up and rinsing you off in less than a minute. We may have to start bathing you in your turtle pool!

You have also decided to become fussier about the foods you eat. Some days you refuse any vegetable, some days you won’t eat meat. Something you loved a week ago, you now hate. Feeding you dinner is becoming as bad as washing your hair some days.

Some of this “grumpiness” is also because you have finally cut your fifth tooth… and believe it or not it’s a molar. Four front teeth and a molar and nothing in between! I have a feeling you have quite a few more teeth coming and that is why we have been dealing with hurricane Caleb the last week or so!

You have also become super clingy to me again. You don’t seem to want to go to daddy anymore – poor daddy. I enjoy all my extra cuddles from you, but would appreciate being able to go to the bathroom without you wrapped around my legs screaming “mama”!

But despite all the grumpies and screaming and whining… you are still so much fun, and so darn cute! Lately you have been imitating what you see us do – you try to brush your hair and mine, you like to feed Elmo and Cookie Monster with a bowl and spoon, you try to feed yourself and you try to feed us, you try to water the flowers and you are great at fitting lids on containers and helping put things away in drawers and in the dishwasher. We love you to pieces and love watching you learn all your new skills everyday!

We love you little monkey!

Love,
Mama
XO XO XO XO

PS – We are hoping to find you a backyard soon. Our condo is for sale and we are house hunting. I am going to be one tired mama if we buy a house with stairs!

Dear Caleb,

You are now just over 13 months old, and you are totally on the go! I didn’t get a chance to write a monthly newsletter on the third, or get an eeyore picture, because we were away in Whistler (which you absolutely loved!)

One of the hardest things happend this last month – I went back to work! You took it much better than I did and you have lots of fun with your Great-grandparents Wong and your Grandma Ell. Unfortunately this means we have limited time together… but it is fun time! We spent a Saturday on Salt Spring Island, we have been going out to the park and for special little trips for ice cream, and of course have fun spending time together as a family.

You have become quite the climber lately. You love stairs. And even though we don’t have any… you somehow find a way to climb up on everything. The other day while I was out, daddy turned his back for a minute and then found you standing on the toilet in the bathroom dumping the contents of my make-up bag.

You really are into everything! Whenever we are cooking in the kitchen and open up the fridge, you somehow get inside the fridge within five seconds- even if you were two rooms away!

You also have a fascination for noses, mouths and ears. As you fall asleep you love to tug on ears. And you love to point at noses. In fact you love to point at everything. You have become so aware of your world and want to know what everything is. You always point and seem to ask “What’s that?” with your eyes.

You also have a few words now. You can say “daddy”, “mom”, “mah” (more) “dat” (that), “ah da” (all done) and “nana” – which means banana, now or no. And sometimes you also say “tay coo” (thank you)! Your favorite sign continues to be “all done”. You are very good at using that when you don’t want to eat any more!

Speaking of eating, you are becoming very independant and adventurous. You still have your fussy picky eater days. But we can now take you out to resturants and order something for you off the menu. And you are learning to use a spoon – but fingers still seem to work best for you!

Your other big acomplishment recently, is your ability to stand independently. You can stand for longer periods of time, and even wiggle your hips and bend at the waist. You have gained great balance, but still need to build your confidence for walking. The last few days you have taken a few steps towards me, and towards a cup of ice cream! Somehow, I think I might be writing soon about your adventures in walking!

I love you little trouble maker! Thanks for loving me right back! And even though we have some mornings that are difficult and you cling to me and cry when I am leaving, my sadness is lessened with the thoughts that I am loved by you so very much!

Love,
Mommy
XO

Dear Caleb,

You are now 12 months old… that’s one year old! Happy birthday Caleb!

This year went by inncredibly fast. It’s hard to believe you have grown so much and gained so many skills in this one short year. When you were born you weight 7 pounds and 7 ounces and you were 19.5 inches long. You are now 29.5 inches long and weigh 19 pounds. Eeyore has shrunk!

You are definately a toddler now. You love to walk around – with support and any day now I know you are going to let go of our hands and just run off to play with the big kids.

Your little personality has fully come out, and you know what you like and what you don’t like. Food can sometimes be a battle now, as you have realized you have some favorites and that’s what you like to eat. Veggy botty, peaches, avacado, tomato sauce, banana and cheese are your favorites -and if you could you’d live off these foods alone!

You are also a sensitve little soul and if someone gets into your space, or does something you don’t like, you tear up and sob. It can be very heartbreaking to watch.

However, this has also made you so much more cuddly. You love to give out big hugs. You wrap your little arms around our necks and bury your head on our shoulders… and it is the best hug in the world. Everyday I look forward to my cuddles with you. You also love to give kisses.

And your other funny new skill… blowing raspberries. You love to blow raspberries on my arm or tummy or cheeck… and recently you started making blowfish faces on the glass deck! So now we have lip prints everywhere next to your fingerprints!

You still love be social with everyone, and being involved in everything we are doing. Your daddy has you trained to love Time Horton’s as much as he does, and you have develop[ed my love of pickles! We can tell you are going to be a very well rounded child!

You are becoming such a little boy! You also love playing at the playground. You love to ride on the baby swings, walk along the playground ramps and especially love wagon rides. You also love hanging out with your little friends. It’s been wonderful to watch you develop relationships with others and see how you interact with them.

It’s been such a wonderful twelve months. We adore you and all the things you can do. Thanks for making our lives so wonderful!

I can’t wait to see what new adventures happen in your second year of life, as you follow in your daddy’s footsteps, and learn practical skills from daddy and creative arts from mommy… and develop more into your own little person.

We love you so much!

I’m so sad to have to leave you and go back to work. But even though I may not be there to wipe away your tears and hug you every hour, please know that your mommy loves you more than anything, and our hours together are going to more special than ever!

I love you Caleb!

Love,
Mama
XO

Dear Caleb,

You are now almost a year old… you are eleven months old today.

Already when I look at you, you look like a little boy to me instead of a baby.

Everyday you seem to be discovering new skills that are taking you father away from babyhood and into toddler land. I don’t know if I’m ready for this yet. This is our last month together before I go back to work. I know you’ll do great without me… but I don’t think I’m ready to let you go yet.

You love to stand up now. Sometimes you are even brace enough to let go of things and stand freely for a few seconds. You also love to cruise along furniture- you can move yourself around the bathroom without once getting down to crawl. And you love to walk around holding our hands. Sometimes you even try to run (especially if you are trying to chase ducks in the park). But you are still quickest at crawling – and you are super fast. I know that if you hear the sound of the dishwasher or the dryer door opening, I have about 2.4 seconds to finish up my chores before you have crawled over and are grabbing hold of my leg to stand up beside me and help.

You are such a big help to daddy and I. You have also figured out how to remove all the child safety locks off the cabinets and empty out the contents, how to clear off a shelf in five seconds, how to grab the mouse off the desk and click it until you start downloading webpages, and how to pull all the plastic containers and small appliances out of the kitchen cupboards.

This month you have also developed real taste preferences, and definately have favorite foods – cheese, kiwi, bananas, veggy booty… and not so favorite foods -baby cereals, bland flavors, lumpy textures… to which you will shake your head “no” to.

You are very good at shaking your head. Anytime someone says NO to you or you are caught doing something you shouldn’t be – you shake your head NO. You have also learned some sign language – you can sign “more”, “banana” and a combination of eat drink and water. You understand when we sign to you, and get very excited when we sign “bath” or “banana”. You even yell NANANA! (Did I mention you really like bananas right now?) I’m still waiting for you to start signing “milk” – it’s a sign I’ve shown you at least a thousand times… yet banana I did three times before you started trying to sign it!

Speaking of milk, we introduced cows milk to you… and you are drinking it out of a bottle!! You seemed to have forgotten your inate hatred of the plastic nipples and will now happily suck away. You only take a few ounces at a time, but it’s a great start. You also love to drink water out of your sippy cups. YAY!

Another wonderful change in you has been your sleep. You now sleep through the night most nights. If you wake up, and we have to go to you, it’s usually because you have gotten yourself wedged inthe corner of your crib, or you are stuck in some ackward sitting position. It usually only takes a few minutes to settle you back down to sleep – and you are able to do this without boob! This is such an incredible difference compared to the 4 plus night wakings – each time needing me to boob you back to sleep- we had going on a few months ago. I’m so proud that we have managed to get to this point together. I also think it’s adorabley cute that you like to sleep on your tummy with your bum in the air!

You also nap better- and without my having to hold you the whole time. You are starting to move to one nap a day – right int he middle of the day. I still have to give you cuddles, but once you are asleep you’ll go down in your crib and stay asleep for hours. One day last week you slept for four hours – I called your dad worried that you were never going to wake up!

We celebrated your first Easter this last month. You had so much fun with the egg hunt, and you were a very cooperative little bunny.

We also did a family first – we climbed up Mount Doug with you in the Kelty carrier backpack. You loved it – you fell asleep half way up the moutain!

I’m so sad, that I have to leave you and all the fun we’ve had this year… the playdates, walks, trips to the park, swimming, movies, shopping, baby games classes, mother goose classes, babytalk groups… it’s going to be hard to cram all that fun stuff intot he weekends – especially since I’ll have to share that time with daddy too. But I promise that I’m going to try to make this last month of Caleb and mommy time the very best it can be!

I love you baby… little boy!

Love always,
Mommy
XO XO XO

Dear Caleb,

I once read in a book that it takes babies up to 40 weeks to learn how to sleep well and sleep throughout the night. Well, Mr. Textbook baby – you have hit the ten month mark – approximately 40+ weeks and you now sleep much better. Hooray! You are now ten months, 19 pounds and around 29 inches long. You sure have grown! And you are into EVERYTHING!

You are now moving aorund the house at lightening speed, either following us, crawling away from us, or chasing something you have thrown or rolled down the hallway.

You also love to stand up. You seem to have sprouted up and grown these super long arms that can reach everything. Nothing is safe!

And now you are trying to stand up while letting go of things. Why do I feel like waking is just around the corner? You also love to dance- and you shake your little booty to your Learning Table songs.

Your new favorite games include:
“what can I swipe off the coffee table / top shelf / sofa?”
“how many loud objects can I bang on the laminate flooring?”
“what happens when I push all of these buttons onthe t.v.?”
“how many long distance phone calls can I make by randomly pushing buttons on the phone?”
“how many wipies can I swipe out of the box before mommy comes back form the bathroom?”

You are also very good at shaking and nodding your head, and love to make an ah wa wa sound when we move our hands over your mouth.

And you have finally learned the most important word ever: “Mama”! You scream it at the top of your lungs “MMMMMMaaaamaaaaaaa”. You yell it when you are mad: “Mmmmmoooommmmmmm” and when you want your milk, you turn your little head into my cheast and pant “Mmm ma mmmm ma ma mmm”. I love it!

And you finally have learned to like love avacado! You would eat a whole avacado if I would let you.

You would also eat a whole banana in one sitting if I’d let you. Some other favorite foods include: kiwi – which I do let you eat all of, pasta, cheese, yogurt and bread products. Just like your daddy you get excited when we got to Tim Horton’s. But, instead of a double double, you are thrilled with your plain bagel in the paper Timmy’s bag.

You have also been reintroduced to oats and thankfully we’ve had no reactions this time. So now you readily enjoy Nutrios (a healthier cheerio), and I usually find little collections of these all over the house.

You still love the water. We go swimming once a week with your friends, and you love being in the bath. You also love to brush your teeth. You have three and a half now!

You also got your first haircut this month. Everyone thinks your baby buzz cut is adorable! Daddy did a great job.

Daddy and I still love you to pieces and love watching all the new skills you are learning everyday! We love you Snuggle Puppy!

Love,
Mommmmmmmmaaaaaa

XO