Our Favorite Date

This is the second year in a row that one of Matt's coworkers has given Matt a gift card for Matt and I to go out to dinner at Taste of Texas. It is the yummiest steakhouse I have ever been to, but quite pricey. We were so excited to get the gift cards again this year and looked forward to the night we could use them with great anticipation. Saturday night Matt's mom agreed to watch Caleb so we could enjoy a fun night out. The restaurant did not disappoint!

Our steaks (the garlic butter on the steaks makes them look less appetizing, but trust me, they were good)

Matt and I after our bellies were full to the max (and the baby in my tummy was very happy as well!)

Potty-Training Progress

So far, potty-training with Caleb is a lot easier than I expected it to be (I know every kid is different). I've heard that it's not something you should try to force if the kid is not ready. That's exactly what I did, so I was worried that this would be "attempt #1". Caleb has sat on the potty since he was about a year old while we would read stories. On the rare occasion, he would actually do something in the potty, but it was all by chance. So Caleb has been comfortable with sitting on the potty for a long time now.

For Christmas, I bought Caleb some "big boy underwear", but once he had a few accidents in them, he would always ask for a "baby diaper" and didn't like the underwear. We persisted with going on the potty several times a day with me trying to catch him at the right time, because he definitely has begun to understand the connection of doing something good yielding a reward.

Once he had a success, he got a sticker on a sticker chart, a small treat, and he could call anyone he wanted to (which usually was Grandma or Grandpa) so he could tell them what he did. This worked really well, and we have now gone 2 weeks of Caleb being able to go #1 in the potty almost every time. We had a few days of regression at the beginning of last week, but he gets very excited to tell me when he has to go. He has started to wake up dry from naps and bedtime frequently as well. (I once heard advice that you don't start potty-training until your child can wake up dry...that definitely would have been a lot longer down the road for Caleb.)

We still have a few more glitches to work out and areas where I would love some advice from those experienced moms who read my blog! We have not made headway on #2, which I have heard from a few different sources is usually mastered first. Caleb will run and hide anytime he needs to go because he knows that I will stick him on the potty if I see him trying to go. I'm not sure why he's scared to go #2 in the potty. Also, Caleb is scared of sitting on the potty unless he has his potty seat which makes going when we're out and about really difficult, and he's definitely too small to stand. Any suggestions on these issues?

Some pictures completely unrelated to this post of Caleb playing baseball with his daddy yesterday.

Rockets Game

Caleb's First Basketball Game:

Big Changes

Caleb has had several big changes happen in his life in the past few weeks. In addition to potty-training/big boy underwear (hoping to have done by the time baby #2 comes), he has now moved rooms and moved to a 'big boy bed' (a mattress on the floor for now).


The transfer was earlier than we had planned (we thought we'd just wait till the new baby arrived), but Caleb had learned a new trick to prolong bedtime as well as make Mommy and Daddy very angry. Bedtime has always been difficult for Caleb. We have had a couple of good phases over the past 2 years where it hasn't been too bad, but in general, Caleb has an aversion to sleeping that we, as his parents, just don't understand! He learned that if he stood up in his crib and shook it really hard that it got a fast reaction out of Matt and I, and we were quickly in his room (which is what he wanted!). In shaking his crib, he would physically move it where it would rub up against the wall, and we were also concerned that the crib would break. Thus the transfer to the 'big boy bed.'

Unfortunately Caleb was sick with a cold when we made the transfer as well, which did not help matters. The change wasn't as horrible as we expected at first, but it soon became worse than our wildest imagination within a week. Caleb would throw things at the door, slam the sliding closet doors, slam his bedroom door, bang on walls, scream 'no' at the top of his lungs, etc. Bedtime brought out a side of Caleb that we weren't used to as he usually is a really sweet boy. We tried all kinds of different punishments for Caleb's behavior as well as trying to reward the times when Caleb did lay down in his bed. We even bought 'Cars' sheets to try to make his bed a "fun" place for him each night. The problem of Caleb acting like "the devil" resolved the other night when Matt put Caleb in time-out anytime he left his bed (rather than when he left his room, which is what we had done previously). The process took over an hour of Matt doing time-outs over and over and over again. Caleb finally got tired of resisting and crying and stayed in bed. Since that night 3 nights ago, we haven't had a problem of Caleb acting out. (Also, strangely, the bad behavior was limited to bedtime. I rarely had problems with putting him down for naptime.)

In addition to these other antics, Caleb would wake up at least two times a night either leaving his room and laying down in the hallway, or just sitting up in bed screaming progressively louder until I came into his room. He is now only waking up once a night, so hopefully the problem will resolve itself as we have no idea why he won't sleep through the night anymore. I suppose it's just adjusting to his new room and bed, but it's been over 3 weeks, which means it's been over 3 weeks since I've had a solid night's sleep!!! (If I'm woken up in the middle of the night, unfortunately I can't go back to sleep easily. It usually takes about an hour before I fall asleep, which is why the first several months with a newborn are especially a killer on my body!) Oh the joys of parenthood :o)

Besides these changes in Caleb's life, other changes in our house include lots of painting upstairs. Pictures to come soon!

New Church Time

Along with the new year comes a new church time. We now have escaped 2 pm church in exchange for 8:30 am. So much better! The biggest challenge of the late church was trying to get Caleb down for a nap prior to church. I had to be there early as well for choir practice, which meant we left our house by 1 pm, and Caleb had to be down for a nap by 11 - 11:30 am. It was always a struggle as Caleb goes down at 2 pm on every other day. Daddy usually had to lay down with him in order for Caleb to sleep. Just a few Sundays ago, this was the position that Caleb fell asleep in...not comfortable for Matt I'm sure, but it was too precious.

Christmas

Christmas Eve was the usual big event at my mom's house with chimes, dinner, the story of Christ's birth, and White Elephant. After that we opened family gifts to each other. At about 9 pm (past Caleb's bedtime), he started complaining about his ear hurting. Matt and I knew we were in for a long night. Caleb had cold-like symptoms for about a week, so we were both concerned that he had an ear infection. We were up quite a bit of the night with him; anytime Caleb laid down it hurt too bad. He fell asleep sitting up against me watching Caillou as that was the only thing that would make him happy. We were worried that we would be spending Christmas trying to get in to see a doctor and that Caleb wouldn't be excited about his presents. Luckily, he woke up in the morning happy and feeling better. We were able to enjoy Christmas!

One of his presents from Grandma and Grandpa Call was a wheelbarrow. This is before Matt assembled it together.
One of my favorite presents for Caleb and I: a learning rug for the preschool room/game room.

Caleb showing off another present: big boy underwear. We're hitting potty-training hard, trying to be out of diapers by the time the new baby comes. It's slowly coming together. Caleb can now tell us he needs to go potty before he actually goes. Sometimes he's too lazy to tell us.

Some of our other Christmas presents are in the background including a wheat grinder from my parents. A Christmas present to ourselves this year was to get satellite...what a luxury! It sure came in useful on Christmas Eve night when Caleb was sick and cranky.

I'm also so lucky to have a grandma who is so talented. She crocheted blankets for all her great-grandchildren, including our baby that's on the way! It amounted to over 20 blankets!