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.