Goin' Parkin'

Tonight Caleb got to meet some more of Dad's family. Mom, Dad, Caleb, Poppy and TuTu went to dinner to meet Dad's uncle, cousin and Caleb's cousin Kelton. As always, Caleb was a big hit. People just enjoy seeing and holding a small baby. It is so fun to watch people play with Caleb because he is such a sweet boy.

The rest of the day was pretty routine. This afternoon, Mom and Dad took a walk so Caleb could get some fresh air. We wandered down to a park near Poppy and TuTu's house. We found a nice, shady spot to lay down, but we didn't bring a blanket, so I put my shirt down for Caleb. Mom was unsure of this arrangement, but I was able to finally convice her that we don't have chiggers in New Mexico.

We also spent some time in the swing. When I first put Caleb into the swing, he protested, but as soon as I had him situated and got him swinging, he calmed down and actually enjoyed it. Again, as I put him in the swing, Mom stood to the side fretting. This is going to be our pattern. Dad is going to be much more adventurous encouraging Caleb to take some risks while Mom stands nearby chewing her finger nails and peeking between her fingers.

We had a good time at the park. However, the sun is very bright in New Mexico. We covered Caleb with his burp cloth to keep the sun out of his eyes on the walk back to Poppy and TuTu's house.

The Real Thing

We had a pretty quiet day today. We went our for breakfast then returned home to relax at the house. We all got back out in the afternoon to go pick up TuTu from a meeting and took a quick drive around town. Other than those
trips, we just hung out today playing with Caleb. To cap off the day, we went back out to dinner with Poppy and TuTu's friends, Kali and Riley and their parents.

Kali and Riley's family worship with Poppy and TuTu and are two of Poppy and TuTu's many surrogate grandchildren. Prior to the announcement of Caleb's impending arrival, Poppy and TuTu were close to giving up hope that they would have grandchildren of their own. So in recent years, Poppy and TuTu had "adopted" some of the young children from church and befriended their parents. These children and their parents have become special friends of Poppy and TuTu. Even though their own children are special to Poppy and TuTu, these friends were thrilled for Poppy and TuTu to have a grandson of their own.

Kali and Riley's family are going out of town in a few days and they wanted to make sure they got to see Caleb, so we headed down to Hagerman, a small town south of Roswell, for dinner. We had a nice time and enjoyed our dinner. Kali and Riley are cute and entertained us and they also got a kick out of Caleb. Last night at church, they both crowded around me and enjoyed trying to play with him. They were the same way tonight. I enjoy watching other little kids with Caleb.

We've been here a little over 24 hours now. Caleb has been especially cranky last night and today. We have been attributing that to tiredness, but we are starting to attribute to something else. Babies teeth between four months and seven months, but Mom suspects that Caleb might be teething early. He has been drooling a lot in recent days and weeks and his sucking has become more and more chewing. As quickly as he has developed the ability to grab and hold onto things, he was just as quickly developed the reflex of taking things up to his mouth. Putting that all together seems to indicate that he just may be teething already. So we'll continue to monitor the situation and hope that he doesn't get any crankier.

Houston, We Have a Problem

We made it. 3 planes, 3 states, 2 time zones, 1 missing suitcase and 2 excited grandparents later and we are in New Mexico. The second half of the Caleb 2008 Summer Tour has begun.

We started bright and early (actually, it wasn't so bright, it was dark when we left the house) and headed to Miami International Airport to begin our trip west. The differences between the Fort Lauderdale airport and MIA are so stark. It's amazing to me that at 6:00 A.M., MIA was busier than many airports during midday and we had to stand in line for a really long time to get Caleb's boarding pass and get through security.

Our flight out of Miami was over an hour late taking off
(and we were on the plane for that time). We had taxied out to the runway and the pilot came of the intercom and said we were headed back to the gate. It turns out we needed more fuel. That's the
second time in less than a year I've been on a flight that was delayed because it didn't have enough fuel on it. I guess I'm glad they figured it out both times before the planes got in the air.

Caleb did pretty well on the first flight from Miami to Houston. It was not a full flight, so we were able to get a seat between us and Caleb slept on the middle seat most of the flight. However, our planes got progressively smaller with each successive flight. The flight from Houston to Dallas was a full flight and we were crammed into a row with a stranger. The flight was so full and crowded that I guess they didn't have room to put my suitcase on the plane. At the end of the flight to Dallas, Caleb got pretty cranky while we waited to get off the plane. For some reason, people were very slow in getting off the plane. Caleb was fussy on the flight from Dallas to Roswell and we passed him back and forth several times. Fortunately, no one on the plane threw rocks at us. Once we got on the ground in Roswell, he went right to sleep.

Although Caleb was asleep, all was not right with the world. My bag did not get off the plane with us. We talked to the gate agent in Roswell and she said it should come in on the last flight of the day and they would send it to us. When it didn't show up by time we were told it should show up, Mom called to check on it. That's when she found out that it did not make it out of Houston (supposedly). As of this writing, we're still waiting on it's arrival.

The bag was full of my clothes, thought that's not really the problem even though I would like to put on some fresh clothes. The big problem is that the base for Caleb's car seat was also in that bag. I can go with clothes. Caleb's car seat it a little more crucial. We told the airline and they gave us a loaner. Caleb is still in an infant seat and they gave us a multi-use car seat for bigger children. It took me quite a while to figure out how to get the thing installed. Once we got Caleb strapped in, he was swallowed up by the enormous seat. The seat also sits straight up and Caleb was sleeping, so Mom had to hold his head up the whole way to Poppy and TuTu's house. We got this picture a little later in the day when Caleb was awake and alert enough to support his own head.

Shortly after arriving at Poppy and TuTu's house, Caleb got his weekly bath. We went out to dinner for some good Mexican food and then headed to church where Poppy and TuTu enjoyed showing Caleb off for the first time. We saw several special friends who have been looking forward to seeing Caleb for a long time. Just like in Tennessee, I'm sure this was just the warm up for the big show Sunday.

Our time here today was short, but eventful and after such a long day, everyone headed to bed early. We need our rest for another fun filled week on the summer tour.

Repeat

Tuesay, July 15, 2008

The theme of this post is probably going to seem repetitive, monotonous and like a bit of deja vu. That's because it is. I try to be imaginitive, but I'm limited by my source material and Caleb just hasn't given me much else to write about.

Tonight, prior to our bible study, we went to eat at a Chinese place near the Starbucks where our bible study is located. I met Mom and Caleb there after work. Generally, Caleb has done well and allowed us to continue to enjoy eating out.
However, he was exceptionally good tonight. When I got to the restaurant, he was in a good mood. I played with him for a while and he sat in my lap while I ate my egg drop soup. Before the entrees came, Caleb went back in the car seat. He sat there quietly through our whole meal and entertained himself. Before I arrive at the restaurant, Mom said Caleb was fascinated with his rattle socks and was trying to reach out and grab one of them. Unfortunately, he didn't figure out he had to somehow make his foot and hand work together at the same time.

Toward the end of the meal, I put Caleb back in my lap. Our waitress brought us three fortune cookies, so of course I gave one to Caleb since it is bad luck to open someone else's fortune. Caleb immediately took it and began to examine it and squeeze it. He actually cracked it open, so we were able to retrieve the fortune. (I don't remember what it said).

I also gave Caleb the fortune, but Mom was worried it would go in his mouth. At one point he crumpled it in his fist and it could not be seen. Mom got really worried, but I knew where it was the whole time.

By this time tomorrow, we'll be in New Mexico having all manner of adventures and hopefully I'll be blogging each day if I can remember all of the equipment. I hope the change of scenery will give me something else to write about.

Music Man

As I predicted, once Caleb makes the correlation between the musical cat on his jungle gym and the sounds he hears, we are going to hear the music alot, and probably grow tired of it.

We use the jungle gym alot. It keeps him off the tile and it keeps him entertained when we need a break or just one of us is home with him and we need to do something like cook dinner.

Since we returned from Tennessee, it has become apparent that he likes the music the cat plays. If you spin the ball and he hears the music, it usually makes him smile. It has become obvious that Caleb is gaining more control over his arms and hands. On Sunday night at our life group, Mom gave him a teething ring. He grapsed it with both hands and it went straight into his mouth. So we know that he is learning how to control his hands more. What we are really waiting for is for him to reach out and grab something that we have not practically put into his hand (I know I'm going to regret this statement in the coming months and years) and we are waiting for him to make the correlation between his actions and the consequence.

Tonight, I was sitting on one side of the couch playing a video game. Mom had Caleb on the other side of the couch in the kitchen and she put him down on the jungle gym while she stepped out of the room. I couldn't see Caleb, but I could hear him cooing and kicking. Within the first couple of minutes after Mom left the room, I heard the musical cat play three times. I paused my game and walked around the couch and I saw Caleb holding his hand right in front of the cat. I called Mom into the room and he played the song several more times. Mom got this picture of Caleb before he grew tired of the game. We heard the songs several times last night, but we are just so thrilled with Caleb's achievement that they do not bother us yet.

He's a Convert Now

We got new outfit for Caleb to wear to worship services that he wore last week in Tennessee, but we didn't get a good enough picture for me to showcase in the post about last Sunday. He wore the outfit again today and Mom made a point of taking a picture of Caleb wearing it before changing his clothes this afternoon.

In case your wondering, this is a guayabera onesie. A guayabera is a linen shirt that a lot of Latin men wear. When we first started seeing them down here, we referred to them as Cuban shirts before we learned the proper name due to the number of Cuban men that wear them. We have since learned that they are not limited to use by Cuban men, but are instead worn by all types of people includeing gringos (myself included). Guayaberas range from very casual to very formal with long sleeves and french cuffs. It is quite common to see several at worship on Sunday mornings.

Due to the prevalence of guayaberas, we knew we had to get one for our little boy the first time we saw a store that carried them in onesies. We decided that Caleb needed something new to wear on our upcoming trips, so Mom went and picked one up on here way to get me last Tuesday before going to the airport.

Wearing a guayabera is a symbol of assimilation into Miami culture, so I got one a while back because we want to embrace the culture down here for as long as we are here. And it makes perfect sense for Caleb to be part of the Miami culture since this is his birthplace.

Today was the first time Caleb wore his Guayaberra to worship service in Miami. He got a lot of compliments from Latinos and gringos alike. As one acquaintance said, (a gringo from Texas who has lived here many years) you are now officially converted. Even though they are not the same color, a guess we will both have to wear our guayaberas some Sunday in the near future.

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Saturday, July 12

Other than Caleb's poor nighttime sleep habits, we are starting to get back into a normal routine around here. Of course, that seems a bit frivolous since we are going to throw that back out the
window next week. Today was filled with a bath, hang out time, rest and playtime. It was a nice, relaxing family day.

We were in the nursery and Mom laid Caleb down on his back with his neck and head resting on the Boppy pillow. When Mom came back into the room, he had completely slid of the pillow and onto the ground. He thought the whole thing was pretty funny.

Later on, whle we were fixing dinner, Caleb fell asleep in the bouncy seat. This is remarkable because he has rarely ever fallen asleep in the bouncy seat, so this must be an indicative of just how tired he is.

We have a few more days to relax, but then we start the process all over again as we head to New Mexico.

Excuses, Excuses

Following this post are all of the posts I owe everyone after no posting for nearly two weeks. There are so many new posts tonight that they all do not fit on the same page, so be sure and click on the older posts link at the bottom of the page so you can read all of the new posts.

I had fully intended to continue my daily posts from Tennessee, however, that proved problematic from the day I arrived and my early attempts at posting turned into a comedy of errors.

On Tuesday night when we first arrived, I did not get started until after midnight (1:00 A.M. here), so I was exhausted. Granddaddy still has dial-up internet at his house. They live outside the city limits, kind of out in the country, and he claims that faster service is not available out there. But I decided I would try to post anyway. I was never able to get the photos uploaded to the Blogger site. It was taking so long and I was so tired that I dozed of at least three times. I finally gave up and went to bed.

On Wednesday when we went to Lunch with Uncle S, we deliberately went to a little coffee shop that has wireless internet access. I was able to connect with a faster connection, but for some reason was still unable to to get the pictures uploaded. I again gave up after numerous efforts.

I next called the public library and found out that they do not have wireless internet. Uncle S finally suggested I post from his house since they also have wireless internet. When we went to Naples a few weeks ago, I forgot to pack the chord that attaches the camera to the computer to download all of the images. I was extra careful to make sure I packed that cable on this trip. As I settle into at Uncle S's house, I began to look for the power cord for the computer only to discover that it was not in my bag. Sure enough, when we got back here earlier this week, there the cord sat on my desk. I had pretty much sapped all of the battery power on my initially unsuccessful attempts to post. I had the ability to download pictures to the computer but not the ability to run the computer. (Don't ask how aggravated I was when it occurred to me that I needlessly schlepped the computer through airport security twice.

I am now caught up and, barring disaster, I intend to maintain daily posts, even next week in New Mexico. So welcome back, keep reading and please leave your comments if you would like.

Thanks,
Dad