Learning Emotions

Caleb LOVES books! They often discuss deep topics such as dogs throwing a party at the top of a tree, or peer pressuring/annoying someone until they eat funny colored breakfast foods, saying good night to anything visible or Baby Goofy catching and losing the fish he and all his Disney pals were going to eat for lunch. However, on occasion, one book or another will mention concepts like "happy," "sad," or "surprised." We've been working with Caleb so he understands just what his favorite characters are FEELING. This is what he gets out of our mini-lectures:

Happy. He's wearing Dad's shoes, duh. What's not to be happy about?


Is it bad to say that my son's "sad face" is one of my favorite things?

And, of course, love. Though you can't see their faces, I assure you, Caleb LOVES baby Andlie (and all babies, but we won't tell Andlie that!). :)

Happiness

My Funny Little Buddy

Caleb is getting more and more hilarious all the time! I do not know where he comes up with these things, but he is a sponge right now! All of a sudden, he knows several shapes, numbers and letters and will frequently point them out. He likes to count the number of items he has. How many sticks? "One...two!" He likes to collect sticks and pine cones on our trips to the park. I just love how big and fun he is getting. Some moms are Baby Moms. They love the baby phase of sleeping all the time, cuddling, dressing them up in their teeny things. Maybe it's because Caleb never slept or liked cuddling. Maybe it's because Caleb's teeny tiny baby-dom was sort of trumped by Jonathan being in the hospital and then post-hospital recovery. But, I'm pretty sure I like Caleb more and more as he gets older. He understands so much. He can communicate fairly effectively and he can be so sweet, helpful and affectionate. He gives the best hugs, the sloppiest zerberts (on your cheeks...or anywhere else he can find skin---your hands, arms, wherever), and he is super helpful. He puts things away, throws things in the trash, gets me a diaper when we need a clean one, helps me unload the dishwasher and generally just loves helping out. And though he CERTAINLY has a mind and certain habits of his own that we don't always love, he is really a pretty obedient child. I can ask him to come back toward me when he's getting too close to the road and he comes back. He folds his arms for prayer (for the most part), sits down and behaves. He still shrieks and isn't perfect. All I'm saying is that I'm grateful for my boy and how much more fun he is getting to be as he gets older and bigger. Babies just cry all the time! For no reason! They don't have any cool tricks. They can't give "high fives" or "rocks". They don't give hugs or kisses. They don't splash around all silly in the tub and have inside jokes with their daddies. The long and the short of it is: toddlers rule and babies drool. Am I alone in this? Does anyone else out there like toddlers more than babies??

Christmas #2

The beautiful Christmas tree. We had to keep ornaments (especially candy canes) about 4 feet or higher due to the 9 children six or younger who were at my parents' house on Christmas day. Caleb was not too fond of the unavailable candy canes.

Caleb really got the handle on unwrapping things this year. "What next, Mom?"


This is our nephew Caden who is the cutest little construction worker we ever saw. The best part of this story is that everyone else was opening presents and no one could find anything with Caden's name on it. He kept asking where his present was and trying to remain calm I told him I was sure he had something under the tree. Most of the other kids had their presents unwrapped when we finally found his present (unnoticed before because it was actually humongous!). It was this huge black and decker set with something like 72 different pieces he can put together when he's building. He's definitely a little manly man.

Christmas #1

Thanks, Mom and Dad Wright for the wonderful Christmas gifts and time together. Caleb loves his "kruck!"



Our amazing gingerbread house complete with sugar windows, icicles, awnings and a functioning door. Thanks, Marita!



Then, on the way from Hiko to Reno (on our way to California) there was a TON of snow! We had to drive slowly because apparently snow plows don't make the stretch of highway between Hiko and Rachel, NV a priority! :) Jonathan thought I was a dork for taking pictures of the cows, but literally we had to slow down to wait for the cows crossing. Could this be why the plows aren't busy here? There are more cows than cars?

'Member how Thanksgiving was two weeks ago?

This was my first ever Thanksgiving where I was the boss and it was fun! I sort of expected to ruin at least one thing, but everything turned out, so I was really THANKFUL. Thank you especially to Barbara for all your Thanksgiving tips, to Jonathan for making a dynamite pie crust, to Marita for making the delish gravy, rolls and 2 pies....okay, so I know it doesn't sound like I actually did anything at all, but I promise I did. :) I just had good help. That's what a good boss does, right? It was also great to have Mom and Dad Wright as well as Mandy come visit us. Caleb LOVED having all the attention.

That's a good looking family!

That's a good lookin' spread!

That's a good lookin' bird!

And a good lookin' chef!

Thanks for coming! We loved having family come to see us. It meant a lot that you'd cram yourselves into our tiny little apartment just to share some time together. Love you!

More coming soon...

I just downloaded all the pictures from Thanksgiving to the present, so more fascinating, adorable posts are coming soon. Until then--Christmas cards and more pressing, so if you haven't already sent me your snail mail address, you're going to want to do that. I have comment moderation on my blog, so you can put it right into a comment and I'll not post it, or you can e-mail me...either way. Send in your addies soon so I can get you our card. Love ya!