Buddies

In a rare (only?) appearance on the blog of someone other than Caleb, here is a picture of Caleb and Marissa riding in their double stroller. Since they spend so much time together, I guess I can make an exception.

Riding in Style

I have previously mentioned that Nanny is keeping Caleb and another baby, Marissa, during the morning. If she wanted to take the kids outside the nursery, she had to push one in a stroller and carry the other. Marissa's mom went out and got a two seat stroller so that Nanny doesn't have to carry one of the babies. Caleb got his first ride in the two seater today.

Today was a big day for Mom as she resumed classes for her Master's degree program. For the next few weeks, she'll be in class on Wednesday nights. For her to take class, I've got to leave work a little early so I can get hom to take car of Caleb. After I got home, he slept for a little while in his swing.

After he woke up, I loaded up Caleb, the diaper bag and my things for church and headed out to grab some dinner. Caleb sat in his car seat while I ate dinner. I gave him a teething ring to play with, but he was half out of it and didn't show much interest in it. After I got my order, I dropped my bottle of water struggling with the car seat, the diaper bag and a tray of food. I also had a hard time getting into the church building with everything. I have a new appreciation for Mom for doing this every day.

Mom's class got out before bible class was over, so she headed over to the church building to get Caleb so I could attend a meeting after class. After visiting for a few minutes, Mom took Caleb home to get him to bed. When she got to the house, she found him playing with the strap that we use to tighten his shoulder belts. Frankly, I'm amazed it took him this long to discover that strap because it sits at his feet every time he's in the car seat.

Catching Up

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Yesterday, we got some rain out of the far western edges of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hanna. This past Sunday, we had some really heavy rain and breezes out of the eastern side of Hurricane Gustav as it moved around the Keys into the Gulf of Mexico. As I write, two more storms are lining up behind Hanna potentially taking aim at South Florida. It could be a really busy September.

The whole time we've lived in Miami, I am struck by just how far a way the effects of a tropical storm system can be felt and now that we have Caleb, I am struck by how similar a baby is to a tropical system, at least with regard to how far out the effects of a particular action can be felt.

As you may recall, we went out with friends on Sunday night and were out past Caleb's bedtime. We figured it would be OK since we could sleep in on Labor Day. Caleb did remarkably well and did not fuss much and seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Even though we did sleep in a little yesterday, the late night apparently started to catch up with him tonight.

We were out with our usual Tuesday night group having coffee. He slept on the way to Starbucks and only woke up when we set his carrier down. As we visited,it was well before his bed time but Caleb started to get cranky and was obviously tired. Once we finally loaded up and came home, he went right back to sleep in his carrier. When we got him home, we debated whether to give him a bath or just let him sleep. In the end, we decided he would wake anyway as we changed his clothes and he would end up awake in the middle of the night hungry if he did not get his bedtime snack. So after bathing and eating, Mom laid him down and he was out almost immediately.

Chik-Fil-A Rocks!

I was washing dishes this morning and I got a little cut on my thumb when I was washing a vase that has a chip in it. Mom put a bandaid on my thumb and I put some pressure on it to try and make is stop bleeding. Putting pressure on it actually made the blood stain on the bandaid get bigger. I wasn't sure how deep the cut was nor how much it was actually bleeding so I drew a circle around the stain to see if it was growing. Throught this weekend, Caleb has laughed whenever I loosely cover his face with my hand. I had him this morning and I was playing the game with him. I covered his face with my hand. I pulled my hand away and saw a blue circle on his cheek which had apparently transferred from my thumb to his cheek.

Our main activity to the day was lunch at Chik-Fil-A at the mall. Chik-Fil-A had a promotion today for college football. Everyone who showed up in football themed apparel would receive free chicken strips. As a family, we all got on our Miami clothes and headed out for a cheap lunch. After lunch, Caleb and I were sitting together and Mom was able to take a picture of us showing off our loyalty.

Mom also needed to do some shoe shopping while at the mall. As we were leaving the mall, Mom decided she wanted to cary Caleb. When she picked him up, Mom discovered that Caleb had had an incident with an overflowing diaper. Earlier this week, I had used the additional onesie in the diaper bag, so we ddn't have a change of clothes for Caleb. Instead, the poor boy had to ride home in just his diaper. As you can see it bothered him tremendously.

We got Caleb cleaned up and headed out to a barbecue where we enjoyed some good food, some nice fellowship with folks from church and Mom and Caleb got to go for a swim.

We had a fun day today and hope everyone had a nice Labor Day. It seems appropriate that today is Labor Day since Caleb was born five months today.

Cosmopolitan

Tonight, our life group from church decided to go out for some fun and chance to hang out together. We started the night at a bowling alley on South Beach called Lucky Strike. After bowling a few games, we headed to a German Restaurant on Lincoln Road. While we were at dinner, Caleb played with his toy bar. His arms are getting a little longer and he is getting stronger. He reached up with both hands and solidly grabbed the toy bar and started pulling himself up as if the bar is chin up bar. Now we have to keep an eye out for Caleb pulling the bar down and smacking himself in the face.

We ended our night at an ice cream parlor called Frieze. Caleb ended up being the center of attention as we all stood in a circle around his stroller eating our ice cream before breaking for the night and heading our separate ways. Caleb seemed to enjoy the atmosphere.

Tonight was an interesting experiment for us. Although we are working hard to keep Caleb on a schedule, we have always acknowledged that our lives will not always be conducive to the schedule on a particular night. Since tomorrow is Labor Day and a day off for both of us, we decided to do an experiment and see how Caleb handles being out past his bedtime. We were pleased with how he responded. He was obviously tired by the end of the night and quickly fell asleep once we were in the car, but he did not get overly cranky and he did not have a meltdown or tantrum. So we learned that, at least for now, we have a little freedom to enjoy our time out with our friends.

Plastic Man

I am amazed by how flexible Caleb is in the hips and how strong his abdominal muscles must be getting. He wore these little tennis shoes today. They were hard to get on, so Mom left them on until bedtime. At some point during the day, Caleb realized he had these shoes on and became fascinated with them. He enjoyed playing with them because he was able to grab the laces and untie the shoes. Of course, he wasn't completely satisfied because he couldn't get the shoes into his mouth which is his goal with any object within in his reach.

In fact, he will go to great lengths to get something into his his mouth. We have noticed in the last few days that Caleb is trying to sit up. When he is on his back, he can hold his head up and can even get his shoulders off the ground. Tonight, he was in his bouncy seat playing. Mom had given him one of his rattles and he dropped it at his feet. We were shocked when he leaned comepletely forward in an effort to get the rattle back into his mouth. He picked himself up on his own and ended up completely doubled over. All he has to learn now is how to sit upright so that he doesn't end up with his face in the ground.

Opposite Day

When I came home tonight, Mom was busy getting dinner ready and Caleb was nearby in his bouncy seat. When I got to where I could look at him, he was busy chewing on his pacifier, but rather than sucking on the nipple like a normal baby, Caleb had it turned around and was chewing on the ring. I tried to say hi to him and get him to acknowledge me with a grin, but he was far too interested in the pacifier to pay me any attention.

After dinner, I took Caleb into the nursery to change his diaper. He has been drooling excessively lately and so his the front of whatever he is wearing gets soaking wet. Since it was pretty close to
bath and bed time, I didn't bother putting any clothes on him.

We took him into the living room laid him on the quilt to play. Mom gave him his crocodile rattle, but in honor of the Miami/Florida game next week, we're calling it a Gator this week. Mom protested because it is obvious the rattle is supposed to be a crocodile, but sports passion trumped scientfic accuracy this time.

Caleb has started grasping this rattle like a little dumbbell and he can get a pretty good grip on it. Mom said he is starting to get good control of it. I asked her what she meant, and she said he can hold it out in front of him without dropping it. Shortly after saying that, Caleb jerked his hand toward his face and knocked himself silly with the rattle. He looked stunned for a second then when about his business. I told Mom the better description is that he is getting stronger, not better control.

BONUS PICTURE: Not much to say, just another cute bath picture.

Are You Ready For Some Football!?!?!

Tonight was the University of Miami's first game of the season and first game in Dolphin Stadium. The University is trying to create more atmosphere at the games and they are encouraging everyone to wear orange to all home games. In the spirit of the new season, Mom had Caleb decked out showing off his colors today.

We got a minor scare from Caleb last night. When I picked Caleb up from the cradle roll class, they mentioned that Caleb's foot was swolen and that Mom had called the doctor. The doctor told Mom to draw a line around the swelling so we could monitor whether it grew worse. You can see the ink on his foot. We looked at his foot together and I saw a very small bump that made us wonder if Caleb had been bitten by something.

This morning, the swelling had gone up a little, so Mom called Dr. K and she had Mom bring Caleb in. She checked him and she thought it was just a bug bite. She didn't prescribe anything, so Mom took Caleb back to school. The swelling is down tonight, so we are not concerned anymore. Dr. K did warn us that this might be an indication that Caleb is allergic to bug bites, so we'll have to pay close attention to him.

He's Global Now

Nanny is not keeping Caleb by himself. In addition to Mom, another teacher at school had a baby over the summer named Marissa. Nanny is keeping Marissa in the mornings while the other teacher works part time this school year, then she has just Caleb in the afternoon. A couple of days ago, Mom realized that Nanny was taking them outside and she was pushing Marissa in her stroller and carrying Caleb. Caleb is bigger and heavier than Marissa (even though she's only a couple of months younger, she really is tiny), so Mom took Caleb's stroller to school today to make it easier for Nanny. She can push Caleb and carry Marissa who is much lighter.

Dad had a pretty busy day today. I had a meeting after work that made me miss bible class last night, but I had a meeting at the church building scheduled after bible class. I was worried I wasn't going to see Caleb at all yesterday. Fortunately, my first meeting got out early and I was able to get to the church building about 15 minutes before classes were over. So when I got to the building, I went to get Caleb out of the cradle roll class. This is the chair he sits in right now and the teacher hands him things to hold and chew on and he sits and watches her. When I got there, I expected to just hang out with him, but when I took him out of the seat, we realized he had filled his diaper, so I had to change him first. But then I got to spend a few minutes with him before Mom took him home and I went to my meeting.

In each of these pictures, you'll notice Caleb is wearing some little green booties. I have some friends from my days in Gainesville who are now serving in the Peace Corps. They are in China teaching English at a Chinese school. Earlier this year, I helped arrange for our group at church to send some English books over to China so their students could have a library to practice their English skills. They recently sent us a nice little thank you package with several Chinese products. They sent us these knit booties for Caleb. We are so grateful for friends worldwide who love us and love Caleb even though they have only ever seen pictures of him.

Adjustments

Mom and Caleb wrapped up the first week of school today (today being the fifth day of school thanks to Tropical Storm Fay...the first full week of school is this week). The first week of school required an adjustment on Caleb's behalf which he seemed to handle quite well. Of course, being a baby, just about everything in life is an adjustment for Caleb and he just keeps rolling with the punches because he doesn't know any better. I'm sure there will come a time when he doesn't take changes to routines too well, but for now, he handles them just fine.

Anyway, Caleb had a different for the first week of school. Miss J decided she needed to earn a little more and got a different job. Fortunately, Mom had someone in mind who could easily step in and take over. Mom asked the new sitter what she would want Caleb to call her and she said Nanny. So Nanny has been keeping Caleb these first days of school. By all accounts she adores Caleb and enjoys being with him. As far as Mom is concerned, she is adjusting to being away from Caleb for several hours at a time, but I know that the best part of her day is when she goes in to the nursery to feed Caleb and he gives her a big grin.