Dear Callan: A baker's dozen (& then some)

Dear Callan-


I know you probably thought I would stop these shenanigans once you turned one, but I'm thinking I might try to keep it up for awhile longer... maybe until your next birthday. However, if the upcoming months are anything like the last, then I might not make it. I didn't even realize your 13 month birthday had passed until quite a few days later. It's been a crazy month -as you can probably tell by how late this letter is. I started it shortly after I realized you turned 13 months (around the 27th or so) and now on the 3rd of June, I will finally finish it. Sigh. Time is flying by at warp speed and every day/week is going by more quickly than the last.


You are turning into this little toddler boy. All semblance of babyhood is for the most part gone and although that saddens me, it also thrills me to see the world unfolding for you and to see you interacting with it. Your toddle turned into walking and that walking has turned into running. You are climbing and being mischievous in your curiosity and quest to figure things out and to do it on your own. For such a laid back kid, you've got a stubborn streak! Your shrieks of indignation let us know when things aren't going the way you want like if we take something away or try to make you so something you don't want to do. If this behavior is any indication of what's to come, I might not make it out of your terrible two's and three's.


You know your body parts and we're working on animal sounds but you still aren't talking a whole lot. Although you have some words down; mama, baby, ball, papa, banana (well sort of), dada -although these are mostly done to mimic or repeat what someone has said to you. You are picking up sign language though and I think it thrills and delights you when you can tell us things through signs. So far we've got water, eat, cracker, bath, all done, more, brush teeth and help. It's cute to see you sign and a few of them are done incorrectly, but consistently, so we know what it means. Again, some are done when you hear a word, so it's awfully confusing when we ask you if you're all done or want more and you do both sign, but we're getting there. We are going to try to put a few more words in your repertoire but I'm hoping you'll be verbally communicating soon. 


What else... I can't even think... I just know that with each passing day, I love seeing you learn and explore. You'll mimic things you've seen and I love watching you play and seeing how interactive you are becoming with the world around you. I know there are going to be tough times, but we'll get through them.


I love you.
Mama

Purple Monkey Playroom v.3.0

Wednesdays are Callan's alone days with Adelia. I was always jealous that Luke and his mommy got a day together, but I'm also glad that Callan gets that day with Adelia. I think Callan misses having a playmate on those days, but it give Adelia an opportunity to take Callan places that would be extra difficult to do with two. They don't do something special every week, but this week she decided to take them to the Purple Monkey Playroom. She had been there before with him (and I took him once on a play date) and it's a perfect space to let him run around, interact with some kids and play with new toys.

Such a big boy walking to the playroom.

Hm, some farm animals -I wonder how many I can shove in my mouth

For some reason I am obsessed with the bumbo again. I can spend 20 minutes climbing in and out of it. I also like putting other objects in the bumbo and then seeing if I can sit on them.

Ah, hard day at play. Time for a snack!

What a perfect day of fun.

Mothers Day

I am very behind in posting --same excuses, work is crazy, life is crazy and I just don't have time, but if I don't write them down, I will forget and that would be worse. So this past weekend was Mothers day (hope you all remembered to call your moms! And is it Mothers Day or Mother's Day? I always want to spell it with an apostrophe, but I think that wrong...) and we had a wonderful weekend. Friday night, Huge and I went to dinner at Ria, which was absolutely amazing.  I told Huge that it was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. Not only was the food was fabulous, but the service was stellar and so attentive (and Huge is treated like a minor celebrity there since he's done a lot of work for them and knows the chef, manager, sommelier). It definitely brought me back to a time when eating out was an occasion. I would definitely recommend going there (although, it's not cheap, so go for a special occasion or when you have some extra cash to spend!).
Saturday was a busy day with Wiggle worms (more on that later) and Luke's 1st birthday party (again, another post to come later) in the suburbs, so we spent the afternoon in the 'burbs hitting up Ikea and running other assorted errands.

Sunday was Mothers Day and I woke up to a nice surprise. Callan had gotten me a present! He decorated a balloon and gift bag with his hand prints (they're jumbo!) and then framed a picture of us. It was a great Mothers Day gift and I'm glad he remembered it :)

Before we give Huge too much credit, I should note that this was all Adelia's idea -and it's a good thing she did it because otherwise I don't think Callan/Huge would have gotten me anything! I love the picture, especially since we take a lot of pictures together (thanks Huge), but so rarely print them and the hand print bag is something I'll save. I guess Adelia took the kids on the balcony to make the bags and the boys were more interested in throwing things over the edge... guess that water table we wanted to get Callan will have to wait - I can't have them pitching things over from 14 floors up!

Anyway, this was technically my second Mothers Day, but the first one we really celebrated. I don't usually make a big deal over holidays or my birthday, but I really did enjoy having the day that was all about me (and Callan). Thanks Huge, Adelia and Callan for making Mothers Day so memorable.

All the rage

These squeeze bags are all the rage with the kids. This picture cracks me up because of how giant Callan looks and because of Luke's expression -he looks fierce!

Happy weekend!