Introductions

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Caleb has grown talkative recently. TuTu kept asking me whether Caleb was cooing yet. I kept saying that he gurgled and made other sounds, but I wasn't sure what she meant by "cooing." She said I would know when he started doing. Well, he's been cooing for a few weeks now. We've tried to call grandparents and others when he gets really talkative so they could have the opportunity to hear it. But hearing it over the phone just isn't the same.

One of Caleb's most talkative times is early in the morning right after he wakes up (assuming he had a good night's sleep). On Wednesday morning, Caleb woke up in a good mood, so Mom got him and took him into Granddaddy and Whatshername's bedroom. They got to play with him and hear him talk and see him kick and wiggle. Because it was so early in the morning (Caleb gets up around 6:30 here, so being an hour earlier in Tennessee, it was about 5:30 A.M...as Whatshername said, she didn't even realize there was a 5:30 A.M.), Mom and Caleb ended up taking a nap together before we really got our day started.

Whatshername had been given some baby supplies to keep at her house, but she does not have some larger items that would be impractical to buy because of the rarity they are used. Wednesday is one of Caleb's normal bathdays and one of the items Whatshername does not have is a child tub. So Mom and Caleb took a bath together. Mom passed Caleb off to me to dry him off while she finished her bath. Caleb has not decided whether he likes bath time or not, but he didn't like being dried off after this bath.

After we were all cleaned up, we headed out and picked up Uncle S for lunch. After lunch, we headed over to some long time friends of Granddaddy and Whatshername for the first of many introductions Caleb would have during the week.

We headed back home so that Mom's Granddaddy and Grandmama could come over to see Caleb for the first time. Caleb is their first great-grandchild and they were clearly thrilled to see him. In addition to Caleb's great-grandparents, one of Mom's cousins came over with her boyfriend. This would be the first of many times in which Caleb was in the middle of a huddle of adults. Throughout the week, if you wanted to find Caleb, all you had to do was find the circle of adults looking at the ground and Caleb would be at the center of the circle. In ths picture, Caleb rests in his Great-Grandmama's arms while Great-Granddaddy reaches in to touch him.

This white quilt became by far the most valuable piece of fabric and Granddaddy and Whatshername's house. Any time Caleb was laying on the ground, which was often, he was on this quilt. This quilt, along with Caleb was often part of the center of attention along with Caleb. Caleb is reaching up an grabbing his Great-Granddaddy's finger.

On Wednesday night, we headed to church so that Granddaddy and Whatshername could show off. Granddaddy carried Caleb into the building and through the course of the evening, Caleb met a lot of people, many who have known Mom since she was Caleb's age.

After the service, we went to Uncle S and Auntie M's house since Auntie M didn't get to see Caleb earlier in the day. This is where we first found out what toll the trip was going to take on Caleb. He was clearly tired by the end of the day and over tired. He cried for quite some time and we all took turns trying to soothe him. It seemed that noone was really successful, but he did drift off to sleep at some point, though it is hard to pinpoint when.