Catch It

Cale started a new (to him) game this evening: he said Catch it, found the kids' catcher's mitt (with velcro) and soft fabric ball, and yes, started playing catch. He would rather hand you the ball than throw it, but he can throw a ball straight in front of himself when he does throw the ball. He just beams when he catches the ball, which means Daddy made a good throw since Cale doesn't lean over to catch it. But still, Cale said catch it and proceeded to play catch with Karston and Daddy! It's enough to make any Daddy let Cale stay up just a little later, for a father-son game of Catch.

Giraffe

I just learned the most remarkable little thing about Cale! He was on beyond tired this evening after I had washed up and was ready to start the final segment of his evening routine. I tipped him over to get kisses from Daddy and Karston, and Cale waved bye-bye to them. Then we walk away from the reading room and into the hall where Cale turns off the light for me. We go into his room where he again turns off the light. When I remember (unlike tonight), the nightlight lamp is on so we can see. Usually what happens next is that Cale hands me the Boppy, yanks his giraffe off the hook, and climbs up to nurse to sleep. This evening he stepped on Boppy and pointed to the door. I told him we were going to stay in his room. He climbed into the chair and looked at the night stand. I asked him if he wanted his juice, no reaction. I asked him if he wanted a tissue, no answer. He was just looking and murmuring Hmm in his thoughtful tone. Then he ran over and peeked up his crib, and motioned for me to look too. Nothing interesting that I could see (I was afraid that he had seen a mouse or a bug!). Then he moved Boppy and looked at the floor where it had been, at which point I realized that he hadn't seen something go under his crib, but instead he was looking for something ... where was his giraffe? Aha! He was still clinging to his giraffe last night when I put him to bed, and I hadn't put it back on its hook. I showed Cale his giraffe before putting it on its hook, and I got a huge grin! So apparently that silly giraffe schtick I started about two months ago (at first, giraffe would get to "nurse" while Cale was climbing onto Boppy) is now a critical part of his routine. Once he held his giraffe, he was ready to nurse, and he fell asleep right away.

Cale is still saying new words all the time. Yesterday he said Nose! when he grabbed my nose. Daddy heard Cale say food when asked if he were hungry. Cale was trying to open a jar that he held out to me when he said help, but even better than that, when I started to make Cale-allergy-safe chocolate banana brownies (they're more cake-like than you'd think, but Cale says he'll eat them; Karston only tried one bite), Cale ran after me saying help you! Yes, Cale really is that adorable. He only has a few words, and even fewer phrases, but one phrase is a very sincere help you! And he knows the difference between asking you to help him, and asking to help you. And that's just one day's worth of new words. He doesn't use all his new words on subsequent days, but given that he understands everything we say, I think his vocabulary's (going to be) fine.

Preschool Parent-Teacher Conference

I was really surprised that parent-teacher conferences start in preschool, and that all of us parents just quake when the preschool director says she wants to see us. It's preschool! Lighten up! I think we're all scared of her because she's right, and she's honest (by which I also mean refreshingly direct). This conference was individualized, and for the parents of rising kindergarteners.

In this parent-teacher conference, Ms Hardee said Karston's fine motor skills are outstanding (we both laughed because that's so obvious, but it's on the skills list). Karston should practice drawing top-to-bottom and left-to-right to prepare for writing. He also needs to be able to work on an activity without individual attention. He does solo craft activities at home while I make dinner, but at preschool he won't draw without an adult coaching to him. Almost everything else, he's in good shape to do well in kindergarten, and to do well on the end-of-year tests (like the face drawing test).

I am still offended, just in general, not about his preschool, that little kids (K-2) get actual factual homework! I don't think I can face assigning "homework" to Karston, although that would count as kindergarten preparation. I think he should get outside and play too!

Phrases

Yesterday's new word was book. Cale walked up to the bookshelf with children's books, pointed, and said Books!

Today he had two-word phrases for us. I asked him rhetorically, Who needs a diaper change?; he looked me in the eye and said I do. I was so impressed, I made him say it again for Daddy even though he gave me this look of "you heard me the first time, so what's your problem?" Several times this afternoon after grabbing his juice sippy, he announced I juice before sucking down some juice.

Pediatrician

I noticed we hadn't scheduled an 18-month checkup at Cale's previous checkup, so we went this morning. Cale is now 33 inches tall, just 4 inches shorter than Karston although Karston looks taller than that. Cale weighed 23 pounds, 0.8 ounces with a hat size of 19 inches. (Those specs are 50th percentile, except his weight is the 10th percentile on my charts. That seems odd given how much he eats and how round his belly is, so I don't think he really should weigh any more.)

He got a mostly clean bill of health, except that he had some fluid behind his eardrum. It's not an ear infection, but if it doesn't drain on its own, we need to do something about it. Not only does that fluid increase his chances of an ear infection, it also muffles his hearing. Muffled hearing could explain why he hasn't been talking as much (if he can't hear well, he doesn't know what language sounds to imitate!), and since that's a skill he should be working on now, we may need to clear his ears for him. I suspect he started talking less when his ears filled up, and I am looking forward to that road block removal.

His doctor wanted to see his ears in a couple weeks. Since at his age he gets his flu shot in two doses a month apart, we'll do both follow-up items in a month.

Blow It Out

Now that we're past Halloween, Daddy and Karston brought in the daddy pumpkin, took off the press-on face pieces, and carved it. When they were done, they put two LED "candles" in it, set it on the kitchen floor, and turned off the lights. Cale walked over to see what was going on. Oh, he saw the pumpkin! He immediately got on his belly in front of it and elbow-walked until he was nose-to-nose with the pumpkin. After studying it intently, Cale went "puff" on the LEDs. He was sure they were candles, and Karston's birthday candles made a huge impression on him. He spent quite a while trying to blow out these candles. (We didn't have these LED candles that you can blow out.)

Tip Toe

Cale's done this a few times in the past week: he says tip toe and then walks around on his tippie toes with a huge grin.

Word of the Day: Apple

Cale was listening to me when I told Amy last Wednesday that he was talking less now because he was so effective at pointing and grunting. (Karston often translates his cries. He'll calmly say, Cale wants juice, like he did this morning. Karston's usually right, too.) The very next day, Cale ran up to me with a plastic fish and said FISHIE several times very clearly. Cale also said pat, pat, pat à la Little Einsteins while patting himself shortly after that. I'm sure he knows I want him to learn to talk.

Yesterday at the grocery store, Cale pointed to the hot dogs and said emphatically Haa Daww. Trailing consonants need not apply, but that was hot dog. He said it again when we gave him hot dogs for dinner last night too.

This evening at Opa and Grammy's while I was holding him, Cale said APPLE! as soon as I picked up an apple. He only took a few bites, but he said apple at least as many times as he chomped on the apple.

For a long time, Cale's vocabulary was in a holding pattern with Mama, Dadda, juice and okra (favorites), Emma (our dog), toy, and the poly-functional this. Then he added Here go, shoe, a mumbled version of Toodles and Cheers when watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, cracker (replacing most consonants with t's for tatter; like most small children, he's better at vowels), and then Up there, but not much more.

Now new words are popping up! Fun!

State Fair!

We went to the NC State Fair today (on Daddy's birthday, no less, with gorgeous weather)! We walked all over and had a great time.

In the North Carolina agriculture building, Karston and Cale each had a sample of fresh peanut butter. After Cale cleaned his popsicle stick of peanut butter, he looked looked up at Stan longingly, and pointed woefully at the empty end of his popsicle stick. Yeah, he got a fresh peanut butter delivery for that cuteness! Who needs words? I was proud of Karston who did the taste test between regular and unsweetened (no molasses) because he picked unsweetened as the tastiest! He's right, the jar of unsweetened just-peanuts peanut butter we brought home is mighty tasty! At the fair, Karston ate french fries, chocolate ice cream, peanut butter, and drank chocolate milk. Cale, of course, ate everything we offered him, and he really wanted that chocolate ice cream too! (Milk allergy said no.)

Both boys loved the merry-go-round, so we'll need to take them to the Christmas carousel again this year. I had to pry Cale's fingers off the pole when the ride was over because he wanted to stay on that horse forever. Karston wanted to ride it again, and the second time, after he made sure I was hugging him securely, he even let go of the pole to wave to Daddy! Karston and I went on another spinning ride (spinning apple chambers on rotating arms ... which inaccurately reminds me of school when I learned that the polhode rolls on the herpolhode), but it wasn't as good as the merry-go-round. Most of the rides were for children over 42" so we skipped those.

Karston wanted to play one of the fishing games. Since Cale looks up to his big brother, if Karston had a fishing pole, Cale had to have a fishing pole! Karston caught two, Cale caught one, and Karston selected a plush pink pig as his prize. I asked Karston if his pig could fly, so of course the answer was YES. Pigs fly when you ask a kid if the fun new stuffed pig can fly.

After all the playing, the kids conked out in the double stroller (thankfully, we brought long not wide). We went to kid-boring exhibits, and then trekked over to the petting zoo. Karston had been asking to go to the petting zoo at the fair for several weeks, so we went. We woke Karston up, he was groggy, but he thought animals were worth waking up. I stayed with the sleeping Cale. When Karston and Daddy came out, Karston was over his grogginess and was excited to tell me all about the animals. He got to feed the animals! The cow slobbered, the goats wanted more food, and the animals nibbled food right out of his hand! So we left the fair very much on a high note.

As we were leaving, Karston said he wants to go again next year. (He knows it's annual!)

Wake Up Jump

This morning at 4:14 am, I woke up when Daddy said Karston??? and I wondered why he said it like a question. Karston said, Hi Daddy, I came in here two times before, but you didn't wake up, and I wanted you to sleep in my bed. OK, so that's why Karston's here, but why the question? Then Daddy asked, Karston, were you jumping? -Yes Daddy! I was jumping next to you.

I can just imagine the early morning fog in a darkened bedroom, and that thought, Is that my child jumping just in front of my nose at the edge of the bed? There are some aspects of parenting you just can't expect in advance, and I think this is one of those!

Nineteen

Cale has added some new moves: when you mention dancing, Cale will grin and carefully step around in a circle. So when Mickey Mouse says it's time for the Mouse-ka Dance at the end of a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode, Cale starts dancing if he wasn't already.

I gave Cale a haircut yesterday. In the front, because he wouldn't hold still, it's ... ah ... not my best work, but at least it's out of his eyes. In the back, because he would hold almost still while watching Karston or Daddy, I did a respectable job. At least he's got enough inherent cute to overcome a bad hair cut.

I think Cale is regressing on his vocabulary. He's learned that point and grunt is faster than adults trying to figure out what he's trying to say. He still babbles all the time, providing his own running commentary, voice-over narrative, and laugh track to his playing. But words? Pointing is faster.

The other regression recently has been sleeping. Cale used to sleep through the night, then he needed 5am cuddles, then 4am, then wide awake around 5am, and now he doesn't sleep well at all on his own. However, he's also been eating just about non-stop during his waking hours, sometimes eating more in a day than I do, so I think he's having another growth spurt. This cheers me up, because he goes back to his good sleeping habits after the growth spurt, so I should be allowed to sleep through the night again some time soon. I'm looking forward to that! I don't mind getting up at 5-something in the morning anymore, but I'm happier about it if I've slept.

Cale has started playing with Karston more. Early childhood play is more adjacent than together, but we've noticed that they play together now. More fun!

And all this just in the past month, between turning 18 months old and 19 months old.

Cousin Mike

We went to the coast this weekend because cousin Mike was in town. We all had runny noses and weren't at our best, but we were happy to see Mike. This morning, Karston woke up quickly, stood up tall in bed, raised his arms, and announced Next time cousin Mike is here, I will be this tall!!! Those were his first words upon waking up this morning.

Hunchback of Notre Maison

One of Cale's goofy new tricks is to walk around with his shoulders hunched so far forward that his back curves a lot. I call this his hunchback look, and he always has a huge smile to go with it! He hunches his shoulders for his "sneaking up" walk, but you can see a grin that big coming for quite a ways.

Peek-a-boo, on the other hand, has been foremost in his book of tricks for a while. Monday Cale walked smack into the cabinets because he was playing peek-a-boo with no one in particular, covering his eyes while walking. Oops! Better watch where he's walking!

The Allergy Cry

Just in case other parents are wondering, I can describe Cale's cry when his intestinal allergies are hurting him. He cries like I've abandoned him, when I'm actually hugging him closely and cuddling him. The inconsolable, abandoned cry is the allergy cry. This morning's crying was accompanied by some really smelly gas, also pointing to intestinal discomfort as the cause of crying.

I'd rather sleep, but not this morning I guess.

Eighteen Months!

Ah, a year and a half! Cale has been walking for three months now. I actually can't remember when Cale couldn't walk now. He's so confident, he loves to walk and run. When he's tired, he still falls down for no reason, and he cries because his pride is hurt. What I like about the walking milestone is that a child's features really begin to develop. Instead of the pudgy baby face (which is adorable, don't get me wrong), you can catch glimpses of what's to come. I'm sure it's because all that exercise causes new toddlers to lose weight and to put on muscle. (A testament to walking?) In fact, Cale even regressed in diaper sizes. We moved up to size 5 diapers just as Karston potty trained (so they were in the same size diapers for an instant!) so the diapers could fit comfortably around Cale's big belly and chubby baby thighs. He's still got quite the belly, but he has slimmed down overall, so we've gone back to size 4. At first I was worried that he would quickly return to needing size 5, but it hasn't happened since he started walking. Good exercise! (Actually, it's exercise because Cale runs when possible, and he throws everything into it.) Anyway, the walking has caused Cale to look like a sweet little person, not like a sweet baby anymore. What I remember with Karston is that he seemed very much like little person (also sweet) by the time he was 2. Part of it is the facial features coming clearer as the baby fat recedes, and part of it is having an opinion at your kneecaps everywhere you go. Cale wants to wear his Spongebob Crocs all the time now, and he likes to try on all the other shoes too. He likes Karston's sneakers with the velcro fasteners because he can get them on all by himself, and he manages to shuffle around in my slippers too.

Cale hasn't added too many words. He says Here go as he hands you something. He's hilarious when he says Hmm in a thoughtful pondering tone he must've picked up from adults, while wandering around looking for trouble. He tries to say cracker but it comes out more like tah-toww. Like most children his age, he definitely knows the word NO, and he likes to practice it over and over again, not always with intent. More when he's practicing than when he means it, it comes out as a meow sound. What's funny is Karston following him saying Yes right back to him. Cale loves cats! He loves our Linus, Mimi's Plain, and Opa's Kitten. In turn, these cats are more patient with him than I would ever expect. He can scoop them up any old way, carry them, and chase them while screeching with joy. He also practices saying his own name, very Southern drawl style, Kay-ooh-ayy-ell.

Cale's pattern recognition is expanding. He used to know we were starting the bedtime cycle when Daddy put on Boppy and started reading books. Now when Cale's tired, he goes to Daddy's closet and selects a sleep shirt for him to put on first. (Unfortunately sleep tee-shirts aren't on hangers, and Cale is disappointed when Daddy doesn't put on the nice Hawaiian shirt he picked out.) He's always so happy when he can tell a routine has started.

He's gotten a lot better at feeding himself. In fact, since Cale likes food, we're more likely to be trying to get a spoonful of food into Karston's mouth, since he's not fond of eating. In fact, Cale strongly dislikes being fed. He'll peel a banana and eat it, he'll eat rice with a spoon, he'll gobble crackers and cereal by the handful. He's a good eater, and he likes variety. He will switch between different foods and flavors at the same meal, and he seems to prefer the spiced food that we eat instead of the plain food we prepare for Karston (since Karston, if he will eat, certainly prefers single foods without toppings, sauce, or seasonings).

My how time flies; Cale is a great guy!

Juice

This afternoon a neighbor with two girls about a year older than our two boys came over to play. Our house was LOUD, but the kids were so into playing and running that they needed only the smallest bit of adult attention. Maria read the paper and I made dinner, in fact. The youngest girl asked me for some juice, so I listed her choices of papaya and pineapple. She looked downright worried. I remembered we had a pack of small bottles of grape juice in the pantry (white grape, non-staining). Oh yes, grape juice would do. And we realized that we have so consistently selected "fun" tropical choices to offer our boys that they think mango, passionfruit, pineapple, and papaya are normal juice choices. Hey, the last two have digestive enzymes that might help bad tummies!

Cale and Karston weigh about 22 and 27 pounds. The not-at-all-fat girls who are a year older weigh 33 and an amazing 56 pounds! So a 5 year old neighbor girl weighs TWICE as much as our 4 year old Karston! At least he's eating better most days, more variety of better food.

James

This weekend we went to the coast with friends whose son James is 3.5 months older than Cale. You might expect that Cale would be most interested in James, but actually Karston was all about James. During naptime: when is James going to wake up? Luckily Karston slept for much of the drive home (Daddy and Cale are staying a half-day longer), but when he woke up, there was an hour of Where's James? to play. Once Karston was more awake, he told me James was in a black truck with his parents, and he'd like to play with James again soon.

Splashing

We went back to the state park today. Today the boys were less interested in walking the trails themselves, so we decided to take an easier hike than we had originally planned. Karston wanted to go on the trail with the swinging bridge, so we picked that one. Well, not too far past the bridge, you loop back to the river again ... at a wide, shallow spot! Oh my, there were so many kids splashing in the ford! We had no idea this was The Spot to take your kids on summer days!

The trail has a turn and hill just before the ford, so the people already splashing in the ford can't see you coming. One woman who was putting her dry shoes back on remarked to Daddy that she saw something bright on the trail and had no idea what it was at first. The "bright" item she saw was the light blond hair on my boys, blazing in the sun. I think she saw Cale first since he was standing tall in the backpack on my back. Daddy didn't think towheads were that unusual (nor do I, not that it's very common to be as blond as these), so he had no idea what to say. "It's called hair" didn't seem right.

The kids were more interested in trails and hiking on the way back: the ford energized them.

Cale on the Trail

We made Cale-safe blueberry pancakes for breakfast this morning. Cale loves blueberries in all forms! He lit into these pancakes, which were a rich golden color from the natural apple cider from the farmers market, quite happily.

After putting a good breakfast in the boys, we went to discover a nearby state park. The first discovery was how close it is to our house ... close enough we should have visited long ago! Cale was hilarious on the trail: with every toddling step, he grunted, hooted, or otherwise made sound. I decided, after laughing, that this was great trail behavior so that both parents could locate Cale on the trail without looking. Karston was showing off how fast he could run, also good for audible locating. I didn't expect both of them to walk the trail the entire (short) time, but they did. Good hikers! We'll be back soon!

Pancakes

My favorite Farmers Market had a pancake breakfast this morning, with a side of reading children's books about pancakes. So of course we went! The vendors are so sweet there! At the very first booth, the gentleman let Karston select a zinnia (orange), and the lady asked me if we knew about the pancakes and books. Oh yes, I said, that's why Karston's here. then I had to explain that actually Cale is allergic to milk and eggs, so he can only eat the pancakes I make special for him. Oh dear, she said, and very sweetly offered me some edamame for him. So then I had to say soy was on Cale's list of allergies too. She agreed that it's fortunate I cook (bonus that I enjoy it).

Then we discovered The Worst Thing In The World, according to Cale: pancakes that he's not allowed to eat. Oh, he cried! So we walked back to the car for juice and less temptation. One of the other shoppers, who was either very cautious or had overheard my allergy conversation, tried to distract Cale with his car keys. Brave man, to let a DangerBaby like Cale touch his keys, but Cale wasn't interested in jingling keys this time. So after having me read the ingredients, he offered Cale a chunk of the artisan flat bread he had just purchased. Cale cheered right up for that treat! Keep in mind, we had all just eaten, not that that matters to Cale. I'm not sure of the decorum of hugging strangers at your local farmers market, but everyone there was so sweet to our boys!

Karston ate half of a huge pancake, and we enjoyed green beans with dinner.

Bruise

Just one bruise on Cale's leg after that massive Whump. Tough kid!

Mama!

Cale went to a car show late this morning with Karston, Daddy, Opa, and Grammy. When they came home for naptime, on the final turn before our driveway, Cale started chirping Mama! Mama! Mama! Of course, once he saw me, he ran off to play with toys, but I heard he was glad to come home to Mama.

Whump!

Last night, a sad-but-funny thing happened. When Cale cried in the middle of the night, I brought him to bed with me and cuddled us both back to sleep. Cale was asleep, but still very squirmy, so he was rolling all over the bed. I placed a pillow barricade on one side, and me on the other. Well, on one particularly active roll, Cale rolled up and over the pillow, and WHUMP! he fell off the bed. I was pretty sure I knew what the Whump that woke me meant, and Cale's cry from the floor cinched it. I scooted across the bed surprisingly quickly, especially since I'd been asleep. Even so, by the time I got to him, Cale was asleep again. In fact, his breathing was more even and he was less restless. My first thought was to bring him back to bed, but after looking at him for a while, I decided to leave him where he was sleeping better. Plus he couldn't fall off the floor. So I built another barricade so that no one could walk near him and accidentally step on Cale. Then I happily went back to sleep for an uneventful rest of the night.

Here Go

As you know, small children love when they know what comes next. This evening when Daddy got a beer, Cale happily ran to get a beer huggie. (That's what comes next, Daddy gets a beer then he puts it in a beer huggie.) When Cale ran back to Daddy holding up the beer huggie for him, he distinctly said Here go. More words! Cale is so expressive with pointing and grunting that I wasn't sure when he was going to expand his vocabulary. He seems to pick up more from adult conversation than I would expect, but he doesn't seem to want to contribute to the conversation yet. He's happy swinging from the refrigerator handles to let us know he wants juice, and he's happy pointing to the TV screen when he wants to watch a cartoon to wind down. Who needs to talk? So I was thrilled that he had something to say!

All Trained

Some milestones you can't see at the time, only in hindsight. We started bugging Karston in June to finish potty training, and he kept putting us off for the entire month of June when not a single poop went in the potty. On July 1st, he started using the potty for all elimination, and only one poop went in the pull-ups instead of the potty that week. He's been perfect ever since. It's as though turning four flipped the potty training switch. Karston didn't have any problems even while we were in Wisconsin without his travel (folding) potty seat to reduce the size for his tiny hieny! Now I understand what my mother meant: I can plead all I want (or not!), but he's only going to potty train on his schedule.

When we started this journey, I felt very lost about how to start potty training. Now I understand why. You just start explaining what you're doing when Cale walks in. Then once Cale knows that by heart, you hold him over the potty. (Monday he peed mere seconds after Daddy stopped holding him over the toilet. He needs more body awareness yet.) Cale's really excited when he gets to flush, so I think we'll have some motivation there. Other than explaining and then letting him try ... well, that it how it works. Since 18 to 24 months is considered the ideal time to start (unless you practice elimination communication before the child is six months old -- also good, but the early months were a rough period trying to get a handle on Cale's multiple allergies and go back to work), I think we'll start on Cale while we're home for the winter holidays. We've started the explaining now, and once Cale learns a few more words, I think he'll be ready.

Seventeen ...

I can't believe my little baby Cale is already seventeen months old (and about 21 pounds)! He's been walking for just over 2 months, and in fact he's been running for most of that time too since he really wants to chase after Karston. He's sure that's where the fun action is! He went from walking to confident walking to running in no time. Cale knows he's supposed to wear shoes to go outside, so he will often bring you his shoes ... then your shoes one at time ... often more than two shoes ... you know, just to be sure you have enough shoes to wear that you will take him outside to play! He loves to chase our pets outside, kick up the leaves, splash in the water, and play in the sand. Outside is wonderful!

About two weeks ago, Cale started initiating games of peek-a-boo, where he's the first one to cover his eyes. He's always so happy when we start to play peek-a-boo with him, so when he moves his hands slowly away from his face he has an enormous smile. It's great! I don't know how long he's going to like this game, though, because sometimes he will cover his eyes first and then wander around hoping someone will say PEEK A BOO! That approach is destined for boo-boo as much as peek-a-boo.

Cale also loves the game of flop, where he flops on top of Karston, and then Karston wiggles out and flops on top of Cale, and so on. Cale almost always starts the game of flop with Karston, and he almost always loses once his larger and heavier brother gets excited. A few weeks ago, we had lunch with Missy who said that her brothers also played the game of flop, but that it looked too painful to her. I agree, Flop looks like it devolves from game to painful quickly. Must be a "brothers" thing.

Cale still adores taking baths, too. When he hears the water running, he now starts pulling at his clothes and he's very helpful when you take his clothes off. But he's also impatient, so before you set down that outfit, he's already tugging at his diaper or running towards the tub. He has also learned about the post-bath Naked Run from Karston, so he expects at least one naked lap through the house between his towel drying and his fresh outfit. If Karston finishes the bath at the same time, Double Naked Run is twice as fun for Cale! We have to be careful, though, because he has his bath before bed, and when Cale's tired, he falls down for no apparent reason. Usually his rear end is padded with a diaper, but not on a Naked Run. I still remember Karston's pained surprise when he fell on his bare bottom during an early Naked Run.

Cale's still a great eater too, eating everything in sight without regard to his allergies. On those days when his mouth is faster than my snatch of the allergens, we get through the night with gas drops. Cale is also very fond of his water sippy at night, something we've done for about three weeks now. When he wakes up in the night, he's almost always either gassy-fussy and needs gas drops, or he drinks his water and conks out again. For the most part, Cale is great sleeper. Yes, we feel fortunate! That's why I'm so pleased to have simple solutions for the exception nights of poor sleep. However, growth spurts and teething don't have easy fixes, and Cale just needs to be cuddled those nights.

Cale hasn't added a lot of words in the past several months. He's getting better about pointing to what he wants (and in the morning before breakfast for the past week, he points to the TV to watch cartoons *sigh*), and we all know that swinging from the refrigerator door means that he wants his juice, so I can understand why he doesn't feel the need to add more words. He talks about Mama, sometimes Dada, and most often Emma our dog. Karston and our kitty both get distinctive squeals of joy so they don't need names. Cale still asks for juice (or zeus) and okra. Yes, all the boys in this house love fried okra, and I still can't stand the stuff. More for them!

Cale's still holding at 16 teeth; those final molars haven't come in yet. Still, 16 teeth when he was 16 months old is a gracious plenty.

The Dietician

Daddy and I talked to a registered dietician today about Karston's eating for the research study with a goal of healthy weight from a healthy diet (Karston may be in a distinct minority for needing to gain weight). The take-home points for us to try are:

1. no more bribing -- I didn't like it anyway, and it takes forever to get him to eat two bites of good food so he can have a potato chip


2. announce meals in advance -- After we take a bath, we're going to eat dinner.


3. "this is it" -- Karston can eat what we're eating, or he can eat a pbj, and that's it (and no cajoling or bribing)

So we'll see how that goes.

Home Again

Whew, after a whirlwind trip, we're home again! We got to see all of the Smiths, even though we left shortly before the Smith reunion this afternoon. The boys had a great time! Karston woke up this morning and asked what fabulous adventure were we going to have today: the adventure of coming home! The Milwaukee airport is great if you arrive early because the boys did not want to leave the play area. And luckily the return flights were less harrowing than the first leg of our departure ...

Fish Day

The big day, Fish Day!

This morning, we watched the Fish Day parade with cousin Jenny and her daughter Lola, and with Karston's entire NC cousin family. Even our friend D'nardo and his family showed up! Cousin Dana was part of the motorcycle brigade leading the parade. The parade highlight, of course, was watching the Shriners in those funny little cars! (Cale fell asleep in the backpack; so much for a parade.)

This evening we hiked over near Saint Mary's Gardens and watched the Fish Day fireworks. We could have gotten closer for a better view, but I think we did better farther away. Karston thought some of the booms were too loud despite lots of sound blocking by the intervening trees. Karston did enjoy the visuals, though! He was the one who convinced us we had to go out again, so he could watch fireworks. Cale enjoyed the first few fireworks, but then decided it was dark, he was comfy on my lap, and *yawn* he'd just fall asleep right there. When Cale wants to sleep, it doesn't matter how loud it is.

Bay Beach

For today's excursion, we met up with our NC relatives (yes, I know we could do that at home) and cousin Mike, and went to Bay Beach in Green Bay. What a great amusement park! Even though it tried to rain on us a few times, we had a fabulous time! Karston enjoyed the carousel (twice) and the train ride. Of course he also enjoyed chasing the sea gulls while we were eating lunch, so he's not too picky about his fun. The bayside view was fabulous, so we watched the rain storms roll in before dashing to shelter just in time.

Wisconsin is having a cool summer, and this morning was particularly crisp. Karston asked us repeatedly, Is it winter here? and even is Santa going to come soon? I know it's a cool Wisconsin summer, but it's hardly winter. However, summer in NC is much hotter, so I understand how Karston could think this dramatic temperature change meant winter.

Is it winter now?

All Cousins

This morning we went to the new playground on the bluff in Port Washington. I have to say, it exceeded expectations for everyone in our family! Very nice. Cale liked the musical toys since he likes to pound, and he liked trying to catch up to Karston. Karston saw so many wonderful play areas that he was moving quickly! Karston didn't want to leave, ever.

This evening we met all of the Schmit cousins at Kathy's for a cookout. We realized all of the first cousins were together for perhaps the first time since they were kids. Pretty great that everyone would come together like that, really makes us visitors feel special. Karston and Cale think Kathy has the greatest backyard! I think the sandbox was their favorite, but they both enjoyed climbing and swinging too ... and we didn't mention the pool because they would not have gotten out of the water and we would not have been able to have adult conversations.

A Tale of Two Flights

We flew to Milwaukee today, by way of Cinncinnati. The first leg of the flight was grueling: the kids were so full of energy that we chased through airports and snagged them all over the plane (ok, just within arm's reach of our seats). They had more squirming in them than is really fair to discuss. My only moment of peace was when I went to the bathroom in the Cinncinnati airport. As soon as I turned the corner and couldn't hear him, Cale started to scream. Apparently he even went for seventeen seconds of screaming without pausing for breath. As soon as I rounded that final corner on my return, I knew that was my baby screaming so I jogged back to the fray. We're sure everyone, not just Cale, was glad that I came back as quickly as I could and that it wasn't soon enough.

So of course they both fell asleep as soon as we got on the second plane. Boom, they were out, we could breathe, and suddenly the world seemed bearable and even civilized again. No comparison.

Once we got to Milwaukee, we headed to cousin Chris' house for a quick sandwich (build-your-own, perfect to let me avoid allergens without driving everyone around me crazy asking about ingredients) and then saunter over to the park for an open-air concert. Once again, the boys ran around like dervishes, but in an open park it didn't beat us down the way it did on planes and in airports. So the first half of the day was painfully excruciating, and the second half was pleasantly relaxing.

More Pointy ...

Cale's upper canine teeth have been slow to come in; they're still just points between his front teeth and his molars. This morning, I felt the lower left canine tooth's point, and this afternoon the lower right joined it. I mentioned that Cale seemed out of sorts to his pediatrician, but she couldn't find anything wrong. She did say that canines can be very worrisome teething. The picture now is a double whammy: a growth spurt, and all four canine teeth pushing through. This is why Cale isn't sleeping as well, and wants to cuddle calmly.

Doughnut Math

Karston didn't want to eat breakfast this morning, even though we made banana-blueberry-guava pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse. (Cale ate two pancakes.) Finally Karston said he would eat doughnuts, so Daddy gave him some. A while later, Karston asked me for more doughnuts. Since the goal is calories, I opened a new four-pack of miniature doughnuts for him; since he had already had some although I didn't know how many, I only put two in his elephant cup from the circus. Karston looked in and said, Mommy, that's not enough. I want four doughnuts. Put in two more!

That's 2 + 2 = 4 right there; pretty good concept!

Black Butterfly

The boys really wanted to play outside this evening, and were out a little later and darker than usual. Karston was chasing fireflies when Look, a black butterfly! It's so pretty, it makes my heart go (hands clasped over heart) thump, thump! Chasing fireflies is an excellent summer evening activity, but enjoying natural beauty is even better!

No Allergies

Karston was stalled for a long while on potty training. #1 was ok, overnight was ok, but #2 was keeping him in diapers. Karston doesn't have a regular elimination schedule because he doesn't have a regular eating schedule. Other than avoiding refined sugar after 8 pm, we just do what we can to cram calories in whenever he's willing to eat. Cale eats twice as much as Karston on most days; Cale eats more than that when he's on a growth spurt like this week, and Karston eats less than that on his poor appetite days. Karston seems to eat more when he drinks mango juice, especially when it's not 100% juice but something with HFCS. That's the opposite of what I intended to feed my children, but I'll do what works. Anyway, we're on a streak for total potty training! The key is that he wants to wear underwear now ("like Daddy"), and we keep track so we can start to bug him about 24 hours later (unless he hasn't eaten much, in which case we wait until after a real meal). This would be so much easier on a schedule! Fabulous prizes for success are also helping.

Today's fabulous prize was Karston's first-ever ring pop, the lollipop on a ring! Blue raspberry! Karston was dancing for joy, and probably dancing from the sugar too! Then he came over, Mommy, does this have allergies in it? As the mother of a child with multiple allergies, I read all labels, so I knew the answer: no, it doesn't. So Karston, the proud owner of his first ring pop said, Here Cale, try this! He knew to check for allergens, and he shared with his younger brother spontaneously! Sure, Karston had most of his ring pop, but Cale sure did follow him around looking for more licks, and Karston kept sharing (and singing and dancing). Cale discovered lollipops from Karston, although he doesn't get them as often since he eats well, and he loves 'em.

Water

This morning, Cale could hardly wait for me to get out of the shower. He took one step into the shower, but wasn't thrilled that his foot got wet. We know talking to young children builds their language skills, so I had a conversation about it. Look at all that water in here! And it got your foot wet, I'm sorry. Oh, where did all that water come from? Cale looked up at me very seriously, somewhat quizzically, and pointed to the shower head.

Yes, yes that is how the water got into the shower stall. I'm not going to explain rhetorical questions to my fifteen-month-old, but nor did I think he was following me that closely. Cale understands a lot more of what we say than we give him credit.

Swimming and Fireworks

We went to Opa and Grammy's to swim and then have a birthday lunch with family. Since Karston's birthday falls on a holiday, he gets to spread his birthday out. Plus he can always see fireworks for his birthday! Karston started talking about seeing his cousins as soon as we told him they would swim at Opa and Grammy's too. I'm not sure what made him happier, seeing his cousins, swimming, jumping on the trampoline, getting more presents, or getting to blow out candles again and again! He lived it up for sure. Cale enjoyed kicking around in his baby float until he got splashed, he enjoyed trying to jump on the trampoline a few times, and he puffed with Karston to try to blow out those birthday candles.

This evening we went to see fireworks at the Poulton's. Karston liked seeing the fireworks, but he said they were too loud (they weren't particularly loud). Next year we should bring hearing protection for him. At least this year he got into the fireworks; when he was a baby, he wanted nothing to do with it. So I was quite surprised that Cale enjoyed the fireworks! He did jump in my arms, startled with each explosion, but he laughed and clapped and pointed to the fireworks too!

FOUR

Karston is four! He blew out his candles last year, but this year he wanted to blow them out repeatedly. We only lit his four candles four times, explaining that we were done at four because he's four. He accepted that logic better than the argument that our smoke detector couldn't take much more (and nor could we).

We started telling him his birthday was coming a few weeks ago, and brought it up again yesterday. He's made the association between birthdays and presents because after we mentioned his birthday last night, he started putting toys in a bag saying he was Santa Claus and he was bringing presents. Direct from birthday to presents, although a bit fuzzy on the origin.

I'm not even sure where to start, but we've all had a wonderful four years together!

Helpful

This evening while we were getting ready for bed, I said Cale and I would sleep on the air mattress tonight. (The room's bed is just too hard for my hips and side-sleeping.) Daddy said, Oh, we'll need to inflate the air mattress some more.

Cale understands a lot more of what we say than we give him credit. He toddled right over to the air mattress as soon as he heard that, he put his mouth to the valve, and he puffed!

Oh.

The Crab

We had a tasty dinner (I had mango crab cakes, yum!) with an outstanding view and a great breeze this evening at the Tower Bar. When we came down the stairs to pick up our double stroller, Karston noticed two holes in the ground in the natural area (rocks and plants) around the tree base. Karston grabbed Mary's hand to go investigate with him. (He's fascinated with holes in the ground right now. I would make jokes, but he wouldn't get them at this age.) Karston bent over to peer down the farther hole when a hermit crab scuttled out just into view! Karston screamed loudly, impressively loudly, AAAH! A CRAB! I'm sure the whole restaurant knew that Karston was surprised by a crab. In fact, the cook came out of the close-by kitchen to make sure he was ok. Karston also quickly jumped behind Mary and peeked around her knee at the crab who scuttled back down his hole. He pointed to the closer hole, Mary, what's in that hole? She replied, I think that crab's friend lives next door to him. Karston very confidently said, Well that crab is no friend of mine!

We're still laughing about that. Eek, a crab, no friend of mine! You never know what you're going to hear, and sometimes it's quite funny.

HFM

Cale hasn't been sleeping well for the past week. Motrin, started Sunday night, seems to help him sleep. To add to the fun, I was coughing last Friday night: from nasal drain, to sore throat, to cough.

So for his fifteen month birthday, Cale got a fever. He woke me up at 4 am to tell me he didn't feel well. Luckily, infant Motrin took care of that fever, but I took him to see the doctor this morning (Cale weighs 21 pounds 14.3 ounces, and has a normal temperature after the Motrin). She says he probably has Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease (with pictures) because that's going around; sometimes the only sign is 2 or 3 days of high fever of 101 to 103 °F. In a nutshell, it's caused by several virii including several types of the coxsackievirus (an enterovirus) and symptoms include a rash on the hands and on the feet and in the mouth, fever, sore throat, decreased appetite, or irritability. It's more common in children, especially under the age of 10, because adults have an immunity to any of those virii if they've been exposed. Other than that, it's highly contagious, so I expect we'll all get something (unless we've had that particular virus before).

We're hoping for a fast recovery, before we fly to Key West on Sunday!

Pointy

Cale's upper canine teeth just poked through. His gums are swollen around these two teeth, the points have just come through, and Cale is gnawing on everything in sight. Teething is one of Cale's few reasons to be fussy and to wake at night (along with illness and growth spurt). I hope these sharp teeth come through quickly!

One fish, two fish ...

After dinner, I said I would tackle the mountain of dirty dishes if Daddy took the kids out to run off some energy (he loved that idea!). So I'm a little sorry that I missed this one, but at least our kitchen is much cleaner now.

Daddy, Karston, and Cale put on their life preservers and went in the pedal boat on our lake because Karston wanted to fish. Karston and Daddy brought their fishing poles. Cale sat between them in the boat, and he kept climbing over to grab Daddy's fishing pole. So Daddy let Cale hold the fishing pole. Twenty seconds after Cale started holding his fishing pole, it started to wiggle! Cale caught a fish! The routine here is that the fish-catcher (almost always Karston) and Karston get to touch the fish before we release it. So everyone touches the fish before he swims off, and then Cale gets to hold the fishing pole again. But whoa, whoa, what's this? Another fish on Cale's pole!

Cale held the fishing pole with a line in the water four times, and he caught three fish! I didn't know he was going for the title of world's youngest fisherman or I would have sent him out fishing before he was 14 months old, but it seems as though catching three fish at his age should be some sort of record. I'm sure he's the youngest person to catch fish from our lake. He's a talented child, and I think he loves fishing as much as Karston!

Whooping Cough

We took the kids to the doctor (yet again, for the third or fourth time in a week or two), and Karston has whooping cough. If you listen to the "Sound of a child with whooping cough WITHOUT whooping" link, that's exactly what Karston sounded like last night just before he threw up. Karston's symptoms match a pertussis diagnosis quite well, so Dr. Goldbach made a savvy call.

What I learned from some online research is that you can get whooping cough even if you're vaccinated, but you get a milder case (so even if it doesn't prevent all pertussis, the vaccine is still a good idea); the vaccine also wears off over time if you don't get a booster. Adults are a "reservoir" of pertussis since we get milder cases, and the transmission rate within a household is 75 to 80%. Most pertussis is mild, and goes largely undiagnosed and unreported. Most people with whooping cough don't make the whooping sound; only about half of the infected children do. Whooping cough has also been called the hundred day cough (ick!).

So that means this week, both kids are on an antibiotic that tastes vile. Poor kids! However, it's the only way to keep Cale from catching whooping cough, and I don't want him on this ride.

Ear Infection

The past two nights, Cale has woken himself up coughing and he clearly feels just awful. And when Cale can't sleep, I can't sleep so I rushed through breakfast to take him to pediatric walk-in this morning. Cale weighs 21 pounds 5.6 ounces, and he has another ear infection. So that's what it means when Cale can't sleep at night but he's not teething, on a growth spurt, or suffering from his allergies. Poor guy! At least he's very agreeable about taking medicine. Cale will take any medicine, even if it's nasty-tasting, if you offer it to him. He might need a juice chaser and small dribbles, but he'll take it. On the other hand Karston just won't take medicine, no matter how sweet-tasting, no matter how many chocolate bribes I offer.

As it turns out,

milk allergies are often the underlying cause of repeated colds and ear infections (ref),

so sneaky milk could explain the ear infections.

Nutrition

We signed Karston up for a research study on nutrition. To kick off the study, Karston was measured this afternoon: 26.8 pounds and 37 inches tall. I hope Karston won't skew the study too far into the weeds of poor eating habits! I do hope we learn something effective for better eating: how to encourage him to eat more food, and to eat healthier.

When It Rains ...

As if Cale fussing, coughing, and waking all night weren't enough fun, Karston had a fever with heartburn (seems like an odd combination to me) yesterday. He didn't want Motrin either. This afternoon I left work early because Karston said he would only take Motrin if I gave it to him. So after I gave him some medicine, I drove right back where I had been to take him to the pediatrician.

At the doctor's office, Karston weighed 27 pounds (even, no ounces!). Dr. Starnes said Tylenol should be easier on his tummy than Motrin. I never would have guessed that since Tylenol (acetaminophen) often gives me stomach cramps while Motrin (ibuprofen) never does; however if it works that way for most people, it's worth trying. She says he looks fairly healthy, so just see if this clears up within two days.

Unfortunately, Karston wouldn't take anything at all this evening, from anyone. I tried for a while after a long time of coaxing Cale to sleep. Now that Karston's asleep anyway, Cale has coughed himself awake and now he's sad. I'm the revolving door of mommy comfort! If I can have that with a side of sleep for myself, I will feel better tomorrow.

Cale Walks!

This morning we rode the carousel at Northgate! The kids love it!

Cale decided not to take a nap this afternoon. About 3pm, Cale was still hesitant about walking. Around 4pm when we encouraged him to walk, he took off! Two Fridays ago, he took his first two steps for Amy, fell down, and wouldn't try it again. But three days later, on Monday, he was enjoying going down the slide and taking two to four steps to Mommy before jumping in my arms and asking to slide again. He did that four times, so it wasn't a fluke! We've had two weeks of Cale taking a few steps unassisted before reaching for one of us and falling into our arms. Later this afternoon, he walked six feet unassisted with a huge proud grin. I can't believe a young child who spiked a fever Friday afternoon that didn't break until last night (and I'm sure he still feels awful although he's been remarkably agreeable considering) is mastering a complex new skill less than a day after his fever dropped.

Poor little guy just woke up to tell us he feels awful; he wasn't as recovered yesterday as I hoped. His sound is somewhere between a cry and a groan. Yet he was determined to learn to walk instead of taking an afternoon nap!

So one month after his first assisted steps, Cale is well on his way to unassisted walking!

Stairs

About three weeks ago, Cale told me that his favorite activity was to climb up and down our carpeted stairs. He did this for 45 minutes, with me right behind him to prevent falls, while Karston napped until I was bored. This evening Karston and Cale were playing very happily downstairs, so we rushed upstairs to wash up before the bedtime routine. I finished first, and as I was headed down the hall to go back downstairs to the boys when who did I see crawling down the hall towards me but Cale! He had a very proud look on his face too! He went up the stairs all by himself, and then had to find someone to see his boast in action! Independent little fellow.

Cale bounces quickly: two days ago, I was unusually tired and Cale was running a fever. Today he's not running a fever and he feels better, except for a slight cough, so he's already tackling new skills like stairs.

Egg Math

Karston really enjoyed hunting for Easter eggs this year. He keeps staging egg hunts throughout the house with the plastic eggs. This afternoon he also had an empty egg carton as part of the game. First he put his plastic eggs in the egg carton, and then he announced Mommy, I'm going to boil these for five minutes as he went around the door. He came back a second later, and I said I prefer hard-boiled eggs, but those take ten minutes. Karston came back with a quick answer, OK, I will boil these for five more minutes.

I assume having five fingers on each hand for ten total makes this easier, but he knows 5 + 5 = 10 already!

Fearless

For Mother's Day, I learned that Karston is fearless. In fact, I almost wish he weren't so brave because if he had a sense of self-preservation then I wouldn't have to worry about him every second. Daddy has been reading some Scholastic books to Karston, and one was about being afraid. Not only was Karston not afraid of the examples, he said I want to go on a roller coaster! when he saw that one.

When Daddy asked me what I wanted to do in the evening for my Mother's Day, Karston said I wanted to go swimming. So of course that was what I wanted to do, and we all suited up for the hot tub. Both kids were in their floats bobbing around when Karston said he wanted to swim. I thought he meant Jeni's game where he leaps from her arms to my arms and back again, so I showed Daddy how to play. That was a good start, but he really meant that he wanted to learn to swim. The hot tub is shallower and smaller than most pools, we were both there, and Cale was happy in his float. So we showed him how to float on his back, but he said he wanted to learn dog paddle. (I don't know where he picked that up, but he remembers everything interesting.) Cale didn't like the splashing (when he wasn't the one splashing), so we hopped out and I hovered after Cale and I were dry. Karston learned that bobbing up really high also causes him to sink low, and that came with a big gulp of water. Ick! He coughed that out, and threw up ... and insisted to swim some more. Many times he went under for a second before Daddy lifted him up, but he kept going. He even threw up again, but didn't want to stop. Finally when he was clearly worn out, I scooped him out with his favorite towel. Karston was sure he should keep going, but he could barely stand. He's not afraid of the water, not discouraged by swallowing water or by throwing up, and not willing to slow down when he's exhausted. I could wish for more caution, but Karston is one brave child!

Sand Bar

Late last week, Daddy's cousin Mike and three of his friends came to visit us. Friday, everyone (except me and Cale) went to Wilmington to ride to Swansboro on Joe's boat. Karston loves riding on Joe's boat, and talks about it for months afterwards. (They did this same trip last year too.) Since this low tide was exceptionally low, Joe's boat got stuck on a sand bar, and they had to wait (and wait) for a tow.

Daddy and Karston came home last night. Karston had a great time playing in the bath, and when we checked on him, he was bunching up the washcloth, stranding his boat on it, and calling Help! I'm stuck on a sand bar! I need a tow! Karston thought this was the greatest bath-time game ever! I'm sure we'll hear many more variations on this theme. Guess what event stuck in his mind?

First Assisted Steps!

This afternoon when Karston went potty, Cale had a moment of wishful thinking, and thought it was bath time! After all, we did tell him he was getting a bath in the evening, and bathtime starts with Karston going potty. I was helping Cale stand up after a diaper change, and he started to charge, so I held his hands and we ran to the bathtub! Although he had assistance from me the whole way, Cale took his first steps today. And these weren't hesitant steps, either! He was running!

I helped him walk after dinner and that beloved bath, and Cale was already much steadier at assisted walking this evening. I don't think he intended to run to the tub this afternoon, but this evening he enjoyed a few short, purposeful strolls. I know I've been saying it for a while, but I think Cale's just about ready to walk!

Chasing

Cale gets some strenuous exercise (and then sleeps well at night) when he and Karston play at Mimi's house on pretty days. When we dropped Karston off at preschool this morning, Ms Jan was telling us that they were a sight to see, with peals of beautiful laughter echoing through the neighborhood. The game is Chase: Karston drives his Big Wheels up the ramp and Cale chases after him in his walker. Yes, Cale hauls himself and a walker that weighs almost as much as he does up that ramp! Then Karston turns around and free-wheels down the ramp (easy) while Cale turns around and chases him some more (hard). Yesterday afternoon when we picked them up, we watched a few rounds of Chase. Karston lifts his feet and zooms down the ramp; Cale powers into it, little legs pumping fast, and chases him. Cale has very strong legs after a number of weeks of this! Cale eats well, sleeps well, and is surprisingly strong.

An Easter to Celebrate

Easter on its own is always reason to celebrate, but the last two have been especially special. Last year, of course, Cale was less than a week old when we celebrated Easter. This year it's a completely different reason, but we're still thrilled: Karston pooped on the potty! He knew when, he ran, and he didn't sit for long. His reward is a small football, and he loves it.

In more traditional Easter activities, Karston was adorable in his preschool Easter parade on Wednesday and he will still sing his "In My Easter Tie" song for you. He was not, ahh, just not very competitive at his preschool's egg hunt that day, though. The Easter bunny stopped by to hide two eggs for Karston to find that also happened to lead him to breakfast. This afternoon we joined Nadia and Tasha for a church Easter egg hunt, and he was much more intent on collecting many plastic eggs this time. In fact, his basket was overflowing! He enjoyed most of games there too.

Down

Cale just gave me a huge grin, as if to say Watch this Mommy!, crawled to the one-step edge between the living room and the sunroom with kids' toys, turned around at the edge, extended one leg, and confidently slid down into the sunroom. I've never seen him enter the sunroom on his own! He used to go forward until he crawled over the edge, did a face plant, and started to cry. Or he would crawl there, and cry with outstretched arms until someone helped him down. But now he goes by himself!

He's very proud of himself, and he laughed when he saw the surprised look on my face.

Lunch with Pictures

This afternoon we met Larry and Jen for lunch, like the old days, except Jen brought Nadia and Tasha because it's not the old days anymore! We all have kids now. Tasha jumped into my arms when she saw me, and said Beach? She really enjoyed the beach, even though we didn't expect it to "click" for a newly-two year old child. She gave me a picture that she and Nadia worked on this morning of us playing at the beach. I think we need to go back!

Uh-hunh

Cale seems to use the same baby words that Karston used, so Ha-da means play and Ah-da means again (so if you're playing with Cale and some aspect is really great, he says ah-da and we do that again; ha-da is to get you to start playing).

This morning before lunch, we went to the beach. (We thought about going to the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, but the kids didn't seem like they were ready for it. So we went to Emerald Isle instead.) Mostly I kept Cale in the shade since he can't run in the surf but watching the older kids would tempt him to try as hard as he could. However, when Nadia, Tasha, and Karston switched from chilly surf to sand castles, Daddy brought Cale over to join the fun. Daddy asked Cale, Ha-da? Ha-da? Cale gave him a wondering look, said Uh-hunh quite distinctly, and with a big grin, started playing with his daddy. First step from declarations to conversations!

We had lunch at The Bogue House (very tasty food, although Karston announced he doesn't like sweetened applesauce which is good news in my book) and met Rusty the town manager. He's a very happy person, good lunch company.

Measles Vaccine Rash

Measles Vaccine Questions and Answers says

Transmission of the measles vaccine virus does not occur from a vaccinated person, including those who develop a rash. No special precautions (e.g., exclusion from school or work) need be taken.

Nice to know Cale isn't contagious even to those who aren't MMR-vaccinated!

Doctor Update

Cale and I went to pediatric walk-ins this morning because he's got a rash.

On Friday, March 20th he had vaccinations for MMR (measles mumps rubella) and varicella (chicken pox). Cale is allergic to eggs, but just the uncomfortable kind of allergy, not worse. I would rather skip the anxiety of childhood diseases and take the vaccines! Cale also started a 10-day regimen of amoxiciliin for his ear infection. Cale is so agreeable, even when sick, that we were surprised he had an ear infection!

Starting Thursday, March 26th, Cale's morning diapers have not been as full as I would expect and nor does he need as many changes during the day, but he's also not eating and drinking as much as usual either, so it probably balances out. Daddy had his electric blanket on and Cale needed extra cuddles, so I don't know when Cale got hot, but he didn't cool down when I did when I got out of bed. However, Cale's palpable fever went down 10 minutes after we gave him a dose of Motrin, so it wasn't too worrisome. His diaper rash started looking bad today, and he rarely has diaper rash. However, rates of diaper rash double while on baby'mox, so I'm not surprised.

By Friday, March 27th, Cale didn't have a fever, but his diaper rash continued to get worse. He's still not eating well (only one 4 oz jar of pears total for Saturday and Sunday! he's been known to eat 18 to 20 oz per day before!), and he started to refuse to take his amoxicillin Saturday evening.

Sunday, March 29th, Cale had his last dose of amoxicillin in the morning. Sunday evening, my friend Jeni let me know that her kids' amoxicillin usually goes bad before the 10 days are up, and she's had bad results from continuing to give it to them anyway. So we made it to a strict 10 days, and Cale's not going to finish the bottle as I had originally planned. For the first time ever, Cale didn't want me to put cream on his diaper rash, so it must really hurt him now. He started getting mild red bumps on his trunk this afternoon. Another unusual symptom for him was that he was tugging on and scratching at his ears today, so I was concerned about his ear infection.

This morning the bumps had spread all over his body, and were an angry red instead of mildly red!

So we went to the doctor, and she said his bumps look more like measles. (The other choices would be chicken pox or amoxicillin rash. We're all hoping he's not penicillin-allergic, so we're hoping it's not amoxicillin rash.) I will give his a dose of Benadryl this morning to see if the bumps subside then resurge when the Benadryl wears off, and then we'll know. His ears are better, just some fluid on one side, so he's fine to stop the amoxicillin. His diaper rash looks like typical candida albicans, so I'll continue to treat it like that. If his rash gets worse and gets crusty then it's probably a bacterial infection (skin staph) so we'll treat it as such right away if it gets worse. I'm happy to know what to look for, for the worst case. And I'm happy to know this rash is probably just a mild reaction that won't bother him as much as it does me.

UPDATE: gave Cale Benadryl (roughly 1 mg per kg of body weight so 3/4 tsp) at 9:45 AM.
UPDATE 2: no reduction in redness or bumpiness at 11:30 AM. Measles, not amoxicillin rash! Whew.

Walker

No, Cale isn't walking yet! But this weekend, he came up with a new use for an ordinary household item. We have bar stools at the kitchen counter that are taller than Cale. Cale grabs a stool at about his shoulder height, moves it across the kitchen floor, and then follows it. He isn't walking unaided, but, with a bar stool, he is moving upright in the direction of his choice now! Since he can stand for 30 seconds without support, I expect him to start walking soon!

Cale has been practicing for his Toddler Tryouts this weekend ... I think his Terrible Twos could be a challenge! He's just been determined to get into as many things as possible, the more dangerous the more interesting. He's also been practicing his "mountain climbing" on me this weekend. However, he mellows out when we go for a walk outside, so he could just be stir crazy from all of this rain keeping us inside. However, with Karston and Daddy in Florida, he's also been sleeping better at night. I think evening bedtime with Karston is very exciting for Cale, but I can bore him.

Cruising

Oh yes, Cale is finally cruising. He has figured out that if the furniture is long, he can cruise from one end to the other before crawling to the next piece of furniture. Cale is unbelievably fast at crawling! His hips go side to side, and he really speeds past! When he's exhausted, his arms will go faster than his legs so he'll do a stretched-out belly flop on the floor, and then cry because he knows he can crawl better than that. Watching Cale crawl really accentuates what Karston missed from his bad tummy stopping him from crawling until he could already walk (Karston was never a speedy crawler, and rarely did it). He thinks cruising is pretty fun, and will stop to slap on the coffee table just to let us all know how delighted he is to move around, upright, on his own.

While brushing Cale's teeth this evening, I noticed he has two more! Yes, the poor child had two teeth punch through at the same, and to make matters worse, they're molars. I can't believe he's been fairly agreeable lately! Cale's so mild-mannered, he's sweet-tempered when he's in pain and has every right to be fussy.

Cale 1 Year Checkup

At his checkup this afternoon, Cale weighed 20.5 pounds for 29 inches tall with 18.5 inch head circumference. Those percentiles are 20th, 25th, and 70th. The rule of thumb, or so I have heard, is to double the birth weight at four months, then triple the birth weight at one year of age. Both Karston and Cale were about doubled in weight at four months, but neither tripled at one year. Karston was about 18 months when he reached the 3x mark, so we'll see how Cale does on that time scale. Cale's pretty healthy and normal. He has ten teeth, and is working on #11, which is a bit ahead of schedule. Maybe we'll get this teething over with sooner; rapid teething might explain why Cale chews on everything. I thought teething explained why Cale hasn't been sleeping well lately. However, he did have an ear infection, a better reason not to sleep well, so the doctor sent out his first prescription for amoxicillin. This was my first experience with electronic prescriptions. The prescription went to the pharmacy electronically, and I picked it up at the grocery store around the corner from the doctor (after they saw my insurance paperwork since this is Cale's first prescription). But he's a happy, healthy one year old boy!

ONE YEAR

I can't believe my sweet baby Cale is one year old now! He's a very fast crawler, and he can crawl up stairs (but not down, although he will take the face plant if that's how he gets down to get closer to Karston). He pulls up to stand, and he can stand unaided when he forgets to hold on (if he's holding a cookie, important work for his hands). Cale really tucks in to his food, easily out-eating Karston most days. He makes lots of sounds, but doesn't really talk yet. He laughs at so many things! He loves to play games and take baths, and does his most-est to keep up with Karston. Cale's a great little guy!

Pixie

Cale just came crawling down the hall as fast as he could (I was washing up in our bathroom) to let me know he had made the greatest discovery in the world! He found Karston's Valentine's candy leftovers, including a pixie stick (a paper straw with flavored sugar inside). Since Cale feels the need to have paper in his diet, he started chewing on it. Not only did he get paper, he got sugar! Oh, was he ever excited with this discovery of sugar inside of paper! He crawled as fast as he could to find me, and once he found me, he waved his pixie stick triumphantly over his head! As if to say, Look, mom, it's the best thing ever! This paper has sugar too!

Snow Imaging Ten

This morning we woke up to two inches of very sticky snow, with bare snow-capped branches in a winter wonderland. Cale didn't enjoy snow the first time, so I planned to stay in with him. (I also feel like I might get a sore throat, so indoor air is kinder.) Well, when Cale saw Daddy and Karston suiting up, he started reaching for Daddy, hopped out of my arms to crawl to Daddy... usually that means he's hungry, but he had just eaten. So I put Cale in his snowsuit (before the Abominable Snow Man grew up, he might have been an Adorable Snow Baby too), and then in the backpack. Daddy got quite the workout, toting Cale on his back and pulling Karston really fast on the sled. Our active terrier-mix dog Emma had a blast running around them too. Karston was so happy to wear his new hand-me-down coat that he got from Chris last night, I wasn't sure he was ever going to take it off. Karston says his formerly-primary coat is now Cale's because it little like Cale who's within 5 pounds of Karston so who you calling little?

This afternoon, Karston had his medical imaging referral from the pediatric GI specialist. He was very good for the abdominal ultrasound. I'm still impressed with the high resolution of the newest ultrasound machines! Next was the upper GI fluoroscopy, and as we feared, Karston wasn't up for the barium swallow. Swallowing is, I suppose, too close to eating, and he's rarely up for that. We tried to coax him into it, and I warned him it would get awful if he didn't drink his chocolate milk shake for the camera. Karston held on tight to my hands, and I regret scratching my nose because I can still hear him cry, Mommy, hold on to me! hold on tight! We don't want to repeat that. Despite parental trauma, Karston was a genuine trooper who didn't squirm. He scored a lot of stickers and a blue squeaky dolphin (think rubber ducky, but as a blue dolphin with a really loud squeaker inside). Afterwards, we let him pick what he wanted: green chips. I don't know why he said green chips, but despite the fresh snow coming down, we took him to Bandido's for green chips. He plowed down gummy fruit on the drive over, and then he worked his way through a whole lot of green tortilla chips. Wow, eating! If he were wondering, yes, if he eats like that regularly then he won't have any more appointments like we just had. He also talked me into three Hershey's kisses once we were home. He doesn't seem to have any structural flaws, so that's probably not it. We'll go back to the specialist in just over three weeks to see what's next to help Little Mr. "tummy hurting" Karston.

Just like that, Cale now has ten teeth. The first of his first molars, upper left, took forever to peek out. It was swollen, lumpy, and bothering him. The upper right first molar just popped out without much fuss (not that Cale slept well the past several nights, but that's not too far out of line either). I noticed it while brushing Cale's teeth this evening.

The Party

This afternoon we had a birthday party for Cale, his friend Chris (ok, my friend Jeni's son), and Chris' immediate male line of dad and grand-dad. Cale will be 1 in just over 2 weeks, Chris turned 2 last week, and the dads don't have to admit age. With the season, lots of people were sick (or maybe scared off by the forecast of blizzard at 4 pm that wasn't), so we had extended family and our neighbor Maria with her two girls over. 14 adults, 6 kids, and our basement wasn't crowded.

Baking for the party was interesting because both birthday babies have allergies. The train cakes were yummy even without milk, soy (in margarine), eggs, barley, or oats. However, allergy avoidance led to fairly healthy party snacks! Other than cake, we had fresh fruit and veggies, and rice chips with fresh guacamole.

Karston loves parties! Jeni brought over a hopping ball (a ball with a handle that kids can sit on to hop all around), and Karston hopped most of the afternoon and all evening. He loved playing with the other kids in our basement (he's Chris' height but weighs much less, and he's nearly four, almost twice Chris' age). The inflatable palm tree forest held up to rough kid play remarkably well! Karston asked if Chris' big brother Will (only 5 weeks older than Karston) could stay. Actually, he asked that with both arms wrapped around Will so Will couldn't go anywhere! We had to distract him with the hopping ball. Karston really liked Cale's birthday present of stacking bath cups. Bath play is a big hit around here; a fast bath takes us an hour.

Cale, who also didn't nap but is young enough that that really matters, didn't work the room as much. However, Cale did show me his two new favorite games with Amy, flick and mountain climbing. For flick, once he's eaten enough chips, Cale likes to flick small chip bits off of Amy's knee and laugh. Baby giggles are great, and from the sound of it, so is this game. Cale also likes to climb people sitting on couch mountain. He started sitting on the floor, then pulled himself upright. With some help from Amy, Cale climbed into her lap. Then, standing on the couch, he was just determined to climb over the back to see out the window. And was pretty happy to start over on the floor, ready for more mountain climbing again. Cale really liked his spinning race car toy, especially chewing on the handle, but also watching he cars go around.

Number Nine

Cale's ninth tooth, the first of his first molars, came through today. (Actually, I didn't check yesterday, but I checked Wednesday while waiting for the doctor.) I can't believe he slept seven and a half hours last night, after weeks of poor sleep, with a new tooth. This has also been the longest time between teeth eruptions since he got his first tooth. His eigth tooth came in just before he turned nine months old, and he's more than a week past his eleven months birthday. More than nine weeks without a tooth! Yes, Cale seems to be fast on teething.

The Specialist

Karston finally had his appointment with the pediatric gastroenterologist specialist this afternoon. (Finally! Over three months of waiting!) This morning when Karston said tummy hurting, we told him he would see the doctor today. This evening, Karston asked why his tummy was still hurting after he saw the doctor. Heart-rending!

Overall, my sense is that Dr. Litchtmann isn't too worried about Karston. Karston doesn't "show" well to doctors. He starts off shy, hiding his face in Daddy's lap. Then he warms up, starts laughing and then working the crowd. He's so happy that when we say he often screams at night from his tummy pain ... what we say (crying from pain) doesn't match what Karston presents (extra happy, energetic kid) to the doctor. The doctor's not worried about his small size (nor would I if I didn't think it were a direct consequence of his food aversion that's almost certainly due to his tummy pain). He wasn't even too concerned with the poor eating habits -- but he's going to help us look for the root cause of the pain, so this doctor is reading off the right page.

The positive outcome is that we have an imaging appointment Monday afternoon. First Karston will have an abdominal ultrasound to see that all his organs are the right sizes in the right places. Immediately after that, he'll have a barium swallow (or so they think ... swallowing is close to eating and Karston would rather not) and an upper GI x-ray. We really should see something; if not, the doctor will send a 'scope down to look (requires general anesthesia, can biopsy to check level of esophageal damage from reflux). So, as I expected, nothing got resolved today, but we're on the path to see what's wrong.

Like all of his recent doctor's appointments, Karston absolutely did not want to have his vitals measured, least of all his weight. I suppose he has heard too many times that he should eat more after he's weighed. After much resistance, we learned that he's 26.7 pounds dressed in winter clothes, and 35.75 inches tall. And he looks healthy.

11

Well, Cale's 11 months old now. This is his last "month" birthday before we measure his age including years. He has so much personality! He tells us when he's hungry and if he wants baby food or self-feeding, he wants to make you laugh, he tells me when he wants another bedtime story or when I should hurry up and finish the book. I looked at a picture of Karston when he was almost 10 months. They look very similar! However, Cale has already outgrown that outfit, and the next size up too. Karston had four teeth, while I can feel #9 about to poke through in Cale's mouth. Cale is crawling at high speed, while Karston didn't crawl. Cale must put everything in his mouth, while Karston wasn't quite that fixated. They both think Tinker Toys and wooden trains are great. Cale isn't as interested in Intellitainer as Karston was, probably because he's mobile and that beats a stationary play station. Unless it's his Leap Pad station to which he crawls and then pulls himself up to play with the knobs and buttons. He's come so far and grown so big! Shucks, he's already grown so much and developed more of his own personality in the last two weeks, it's just amazing! This week he learned to drink from a re-usable "juice box" with a straw! He doesn't have the hang of tilting a sippy back (or else he really enjoys having someone else do that for him!), but he sure knows how to suck from a straw. He's been on a kick of feeding himself crunchy food (rice chex), so we wanted more fluids in his diet before the dry food got uncomfortable.

Best Big Brother

Karston really is the best big brother Cale could want! This afternoon, I could not get Cale to take a nap. He was tired, clinging on to me and crying. When I set him in his crib, he shrieked. So I picked him up, and he cried in my ear. After an hour, I was tired of listening. So I strapped a very reluctant Cale in his swing. I pushed the button to start the rocking, but after one rock, the batteries died. Argh! Karston started to sing to Cale and push the swing, and Cale got much quieter. I left the room to get a coin to open the battery compartment, and Cale quit fussing at all.

Karston followed me, No, let me rock baby brudder to sleep! What else to say but sure, you do it? Karston got his xylophone so that he could play music while he was singing to Cale and rocking him. Cale was perfectly quiet when I wasn't in the bedroom, and Karston was very attentive. About four minutes later, Karston found me to announce that Cale was asleep. I checked, and he was sound asleep. He stayed asleep for a decent nap, too! Karston loves being in charge of his brother, and I love having such a good mother's helper! There are moments, of course, when two children are much more work, but there are many oases when the two boys have each other and don't want my full attention. Then, as long as I'm ready to drop everything and run when one calls, I can go to the bathroom (I did!) or cook dinner (I did!) and remember what adults do when we're not chasing children.

Yes, Karston really is this sweet!

Over The Top Circus

This morning, we met up with Jeni, her mom, and her two boys to go the 11 am circus, the Over The Top show. Karston finally settled in to watch the show; then he enjoyed it. I'm not sure he was as impressed as we were at some of the feats! Karston seemed to think if he were watching it, it must be reasonable. He liked the tigers because he likes kitties. Once the lights went down, Cale started watching. He seemed impressed with the aerial acrobatics at the start of the show. He got pretty wiggly after 45 minutes, and he started to nurse just before intermission. By the end of intermission, Cale was sound asleep, and he slept through the entire second half until we left at 1:30 pm.

So if you asked us how was their first circus, we were impressed with the daredevil stunts and we saw all the usual circus bits we would want to see. When we asked Karston, he said it was neat. I think he likes his elephant (the souvenir cup his snow cone came in) better than the show! And if you asked Cale, he'd probably say he slept well despite the noise. And why can't he have more long naps on my lap? We really enjoyed taking our boys to the circus!

After the circus, we were starved, so we went to Cloos' Coney Island. I was sure the one advantage to such a late lunch would be that we could get our food quickly. Before we got married and had kids, we would sometimes have a late dinner and split a pitcher over pinball, and we never had to wait too long. We waited at least 40 minutes for our hot dogs! Yes, just basic, top quality hot dogs! Well, on such a gorgeous, warm day ... everyone else was at Cloos' too. We still enjoyed that too, and both of our boys ate a french fry.

No Nap! No N-Zzz

Cale started to fuss this afternoon, so I picked him up. As soon as he got on my lap, he folded up and promptly fell asleep. So I promptly put him in his crib where he started to cry. He'd much rather cuddle when he sleeps. However, his crying wasn't as loud as usual, so I decided to leave him to cry for a bit. He was quiet three minutes later, although usually that just means he's playing with his blanket. Not this time! He fell asleep in his "let me out of jail" complaining position! Notice his hands on the rails, his head arched back in protest, his blanket kicked off, his legs out of his nest ... sound asleep. So Cale cried out "No nap! No nap!" until he fell asleep in record time.

Snow

It snowed last night, and Karston was very excited to go outside to play in the snow. (By play, I mean that Daddy pulls Karston around on the sled.) Karston could barely stand to wait through breakfast, although he ate unusually well for him. So Daddy and Karston went outside right away, while Cale and I bundled up. Overall, Cale was not a fan of the snow.



This is Cale's first snow, and he did have snowflakes fall on him. (I took him outside for his first rain too, a few weeks after he was born. It was a warm spring rain, falling lightly, and we went back inside as soon as I explained to him what was happening.)

Ten Months with Mobility

Cale is ten months old today! We've already figured out that he will need much more child-proofing than Karston! A month or two ago, he broke a child-proof (ha ha ha) latch on a cabinet door. Luckily he was only wandering around our kitchen in his walker, and he can't open doors from his walker (the walker itself is in the way), but we had to fix it right away. Monday he was clawing at child-proof outlet covers. He will require more safety awareness! Cale is now pulling up, but there's more! Yesterday, Cale started crawling! He improved so much just during the course of the day, too. He likes independent mobility!



Cale would also like me to let everyone know he is now an accomplished tongue clicker! After months of being fascinated when someone else would click at him, now he can do it for himself. Sometimes he clicks to amuse himself, sometimes he clicks to get your attention, and he's always proud of himself when he does it.

Pull Ups

I just set Cale down in his playpen (with bassinet insert, so he's higher) so I could brush my teeth. Cale enjoyed watching, and he reached out to bat my toothbrush several times. Still in sight, I went to the bathroom sink for my post-brushing clean-up. Cale rather quickly pulled himself up into a standing position using the playpen rail so he had a better view of me. That's his first pull-up, at least that I've seen! Cruising won't be too long after, after he's discovered what he can do once he's standing!

On-Off

Karston had a toy dog about 8 inches long that he usually calls Doggie; when turned on, Doggie will walk forward a few steps then bark while moving his head. While we were in Key West, Karston asked for the matching kitty (walks a few steps then sits and meows), so he got Kitty for Christmas. Well, for stocking stuffers, Karston also got a small dog and cat, not quite 3 inches long, that play music, walk in a circle, and then bark or meow.

Like all good children's electronic toys, these critters have OFF switches. Very important feature! Karston has heard me say as much.

So the larger one is Doggie, and Karston was asked what he called the smaller walking, barking dog. Karston quickly replied, My doggie's name is On-Off. Ah, yes, he knows what's important to adults!

Cale Loves Celery

Daddy cut two stalks of celery to eat with his dinner tonight. When he wasn't looking, Cale leaned over and stole one. Best Aquisition Ever! Cale cried if we took away any of his celery (what choking hazard?), he waved it around wildly, and he practised using his eight teeth to take bites. Needless to say, since celery doesn't dissolve like rice chex, I had to do a few finger sweeps and clean up little celery bits. Part waving-around toy, part forbidden (choking) vegetable, part biting practice ... what's not to love?