Category: Ally (Page 6 of 8)

Dear Caleb,

It has been far too long since I wrote you a letter… but the time has just been flying, and I’d rather spend my days playing with you, than writing about it.  (Sorry to all our faithful readers!)  You are now 21 months old…only a mere three months and you will be two!  These last three months have been busy ones, and a memorable time for all of us…

We survived our move from “the big city condo” to the “house in the ‘burbs”!  Thanks for all your help with the packing!  It was sad to say goodbye to the place we first called home.  Our last day there we went to pick up the final items and you shut yourself up in your old bedroom and didn’t want us to take you out.  By the time we left you and I were both crying.  I know you probably won’t remember it, but that will always be the place we first brought you home to.

 

I will miss how close it was to get anywhere, and all our wonderful walks to town or the park.  But it is wonderful to finally have a yard of our own, and not worry about downstairs neighbours! 

 

You love the fact that you get to go outside and play with all the neighbour kids.  (Sorry that you got run over by the little motorized kids hummer yesturday…but you held your own and handled it like a champ and got some big hugs form one of the older girls!)  I’m so excited that you get to grow up in a neighbourhood full of playmates, green grass and room for you to run around (even if it is snowing out!)  Yup – before we got our lawn you were playing in a snow covered dirt pile!

 

You also love that we have a garage.  More specifically – a garage door.  You favorite thing to do is watch that door open and close.  You also love to clean sweep your kitchen cupboard.  Daddy and I thought it would be good for you to have your own cupboard where you could get your own cups, plates and bowls.  We didn’t intend it to be for you to get out ALL of your cups, plates and bowls!  You also love to climb up on all the new furniture.  And stairs are no problem for you!

 

You still love to play with your cars and trains.  More recently however you have gotten into arts and crafts- definately mommy’s son!  You absolutely love to play with playdoh, you love to draw and you love stickers.  Everyday we sit at your little table and you play contently with your art stuff…. and everyday I pick playdoh out of the carpet!  But it’s totally worth it!  Having a family room for all your toys is great…even though we still seem to have toys in the living room!

You also still love to play with the phone and babble away.  Just this past week you’ve finally started to say something when someone is really on the phone.  You do your chicken and cow conversation:

Mommy: Hi Caleb!  Are you having a good day today?
Caleb: Cuk cuk cuk, moo!
Mommy: Yes chicken say cluck, cow says moo.
Caleb: Cuk cuk cuk!
Mommy: I have to go back to work – have a good afternoon
Caleb: mmmmmmmmooo cuk cuk
Mommy: I love you
Caleb: Cuk Cuk Cuk Mmmmm (blowing kisses in the phone)

 

The last few months we’ve also been busy with Kindermusik – which you were really starting to like.  We also had our first few visitors, and last week we celebrated daddy’s 30th birthday.  We had around 50 people over.  You loved getting cake.

 

We’ve also had speech therapy sessions.  In January we went for a hearing test – which was normal… after fighting with you about wearing the headphones!  And we got waitlisted for Speech services.  But Mommy followed her instincts and figured out it was a motor planning issue – so now you are seen by Mommy’s work – some speech now and you will start to see an OT soon.

You have adjusted well to our new home and the longer commute.  As a family we are adjusting to our new routines and your therapies.  I still get sad sometimes that you can’t call “Mommy” when you need me, or get fustrated when you can’t tell us what you want.  But I know one day those words will come.  Until then, your beautiful little face keeps me going everyday.  I love you cuk cuk!

 

Love,
Mommy
XO

PS – In February I won some CDs from a radio station because I wrote a Haiku about you:
Your beautiful smile
A laugh, a hug, a snuggle
Gets me through my day!

Dear Caleb,

You are 18 months old today…that’s a year and a half – already!  The time has sure flown by.  It seems like only yesturday you were this tiny baby I was cuddling to sleep in our bed…oh wait that really was yesturday – except you were a restless toddler who refused to go back to sleep in his crib!  Yup – you still have nights where only sleeping with mommy will ensure any of us will get more than a four hour stretch.  It’s been 18 months – you’d think we’d be used to this by now, huh?!

But for the most part you have been a joy and delight to us.  You do sleep through the night a fair amount.  And you eat most of your veggies and help out with chores – putting laundry in your basket and plates in the dishwasher… you are already one up on daddy!

And you have the most adorable personality…

You definately know what you like and don’t like these days.  For instance you hate having your diaper changed, your face and hair washed,  being forced to stay still, waiting and snow… yup you really didn’t like the snow we recently had!

You also love many things.  You love your boots – that can be seen in almost every picture here!  Right now you have an obsession with watching the Disney movie Cars – Car has been one of your first words.

You are also in love with ranch dressing (all that dip dipping) and oranges.  One day you stole the box of mandrines off the kitchen table and we caught you trying to peel and eat one!

You also love to play with the phone and pretend to make calls to people.  When the phone rings now you are the first to go running for it.

You are a very busy little boy – so full of energy, and always wanting to be a part of everything we do or always trying to include us in your play.  I love coming home to you everyday after work and getting my hugs and kisses (even the wet ones).  You truely make my day, and even when it’s been a hard night and stressful day – thinking of you can always put a smile on my face.

Thanks for making me feel like the luckiest and most loved mommy ever!

Love,
Mommy
XO

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