Clever minds remember much...

Sometimes I just wonder how Caleb's little mind recalls so much; especially the little things I don't even intentionally reinforce... (yet he still hasn't got his colors down completely, and I've been working on that!)
Yesterday, upon seeing some candles on TV, he says, "Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you". Also, we drove to the Dollar Tree, which is right by the library, and he said, "story? story?".
His newest thing is always wanting to pray aloud himself, after we pray with him. He usually says, 'Dear God, thank you for this food, Amen' Not a bad start! :)
Aidan has started screeching/squealing with glee, very loudly! He woke up yesterday morning doing it, and has barely stopped since! He has found his voice!!! I think he just might have more of an outgoing, social personality than the rest of us in this family... Could he be an otter? Time will tell... My newest nickname for him is Shamu.... yes, because he's a tank, but also because of how he sticks his tongue out so much, especially when he smiles, it reminds me of a killer whale...

Caleb is...

SO excited about seeing airplanes, helicopters, motorcycles, or fire trucks. He screams in a high pitch, and his whole body shakes with glee as he screeches the name of whatever it is he has spotted. Very cute.

Aidan is...

cooing like crazy and starting to laugh with this infectuous little giggle. His whole body moves with excitement as well. Very, very cute...

baseball

Caleb is in an "I adore baseball" stage... This has been brought on by seeing a couple of Andrew Acker's games, and then going to a Quakes Game last Monday night. Todd even gave him a foul ball that he caught, and Caleb has hardly let it out of his sight since. He has even developed a very cute pitching wind-up that includes lifting his foot off the ground all funny like. And he has quite the arm, honestly. I really think there is a lot of natural athletic ability in this kid.

Another funny thing... Last week one day, after putting him down for a nap, I was sitting here on the computer and I heard, "Amy? Amy?" Sure enough, he was calling out to me by my first name! He wanted his blankie, which I gave him, along with instructions to only call me "mommy". It was pretty funny though, and I haven't heard it since...

a few more things

Last Monday we went to Disneyland! Caleb was very excited about going! Funny how we can impress that excitement on such a young mind, even before he could possibly have any idea what he was getting excited about. He did great there, and we got passes so we look forward to going many more times! Hooray!

Daddy has heard Caleb sing pretty much the whole ABC song through, but he hasn't done it for me yet...

He has been very well-behaved lately... He kinda goes thru cycles, but lately, we're enjoying an obedient attitude! So proud!

He's starting to realize that when we laugh at him, he's being funny. So he starts to try to repeat things that have made us laugh in the past. One funny thing is that in his fave book, "Is Your Mama a LLama?, in which he usually completes the rhymes... (Example, Oh, I said, you are right about that, I think your mama sounds more like a... bat.) But now, he thinks its hilarious (and it kinda is) to complete each one with the word "cowboy". Crazy kid.

the moon is so bright

Last night on the way home from church (where my boys posed as two ADORABLE cowboys for theme night), Caleb pointed out the moon from the car window. So he watched it and we talked about it all the way home. Anyway, this morning when I got him up, the first thing he said was, "the moon is so bright", then, "where did it go?", followed by, "I find it." as he looked out the window. He repeated the same sequence after his nap as well. So cute! The things that stick in their heads!

We love bargains!

The kid's club at the Mills featured a juggler today. Caleb really likes when his daddy juggles, so he was really looking forward to this. Our friends, the Jensens, were there too, and it was extra fun to enjoy the morning together. Sheri has three young children (she's my hero for getting out and about with all three!). Catherine and Bryce were very cute playing and watching out for Caleb, at TCP and at the Chick-Fil-A playplace.
One of my favorite things to do is to find a good bargain. I love to hit sales, save coupons, watch clearance racks, yard sale, and treasure hunt at the thrift store. Its my way to feed my shopping sweet tooth without spending too much money. Anyway, today, we got hats at TCP for about 40 cents. What a steal! Of course I bought about 8; in different sizes and styles, and some for friend's birthdays...
I love how Caleb can anticipate and remember things now... I love telling him in the morning what we are going to do that day, and watch him process the info. He almost always brings up what I told him as we load into the car, and/or arrive at our destination. Today, when I pulled thru the drive-thru ATM, he says "chicken stars?". He recognized a drive-thru and thought we were at Carls! Granted, those are his favorite type of chicken nugget, but he's honestly only had them about 4 times ever, and only once in a drive-thru! Funny!
Another funny thing he's doing lately is calling the sun or the moon the, "moon-sun". Its like he got tired of distinguishing between the two, so he just lumped them together. Its silly, but cute. It's funny how as his language develops, he starts to create short-cuts for some words, sometimes coming up with a word that sounds less advanced than the original one.
He has been so sweet with Aidan lately. He loves to be near him, and to try to give him the pacifier. Aidan usually responds with a big smile.
Aidan found his thumb yesterday, and seemed to love it. I think if he can figure it out on a more consistent basis, we might have a real thumb-sucker on our hand... Hmm... Not sure how I feel about that.

One more thing... I've caught Caleb singing to himself a few times lately, and its so cute! His favorites include "Old MacDonald" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes".

Latest happenings...

Last Tuesday we met the Ansiels at the Natural History Museum in LA. We enjoyed the free access to the museum, esp. the kids discovery center. Then, after a picnic lunch in the rose garden, we got to experience a butterfly exhibit. Caleb loved that! He kept saying "butterfly" over and over!

Wednesday, Dorothy came for a visit and got to meet Aidan. She also spoiled me with a day of shopping at the Mills, followed by lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, which Caleb loved.

On Saturday, we attended a birthday party for Tyler Holland at a park, and then had lunch with the Ansiels. On the way home, we stopped by a Cinco De Mayo festival for a $1 pony ride! Caleb loved it!

Today we are taking it easy around home, it has been so busy lately!

what we've been up to lately...

So busy...
Last Thursday, we got to spend the day at the LA Zoo with Daddy. Caleb enjoyed seeing the animals, and kept saying " 'nother one" after each exhibit. Aidan slept the whole time!
Friday, I met a friend, Sarah Foster, for lunch. It was fun having her see my boys for the first time! Friday night, (and Wednesday night), we watched the Laker playoff game at the Linton's. Caleb loved the attention he got from everyone, esp. Jeff. He loved to shout "Kobe" at the screen, also.
Saturday the guys from our small group helped Weston tear apart the old pool and put up a new one. Hailey came and played with Caleb also. In the evening, we attended the Lemon Festival in downtown Upland.
After church Sunday, we got the privilege of visiting with Alice and Steve Tullis, who were down from TX, over lunch.
Monday, we spent the morning at Victoria Gardens for a mom's club function, although we mainly just spent time with Brandy and Hailey, which was great! It led to another fun lunch at Round Table, and a later outing at the park. Weston is gone at staff retreat tonight, so it was good to keep busy!
My favorite moment today came during dinner. I accidently dropped the spoon and spilled some sauce on me and I guess I made a wierd "Pff" sound in annoyance. It cracked Caleb up. He laughed SO hard, and of course then I kept doing it. We laughed and laughed for a long time, just absolutely enjoying each other and the moment. There is nothing that beats sharing times like that with your child...

Caleb has starting counting higher and higher! He can now count to ten! We started a fun game in the car today, and I was amazed he caught on so quickly. We take turns saying the numbers from one to ten. (I say one, he says two, I say three, he says four...etc)

Monday we met the Ansiels and Hankins at a park in Upland for some fun playtime, and then we had lunch at Maniac Mike's at the Cable Airport! So fun! Caleb LOVED watching the airplanes take off and land. He got SO excited and a tad impatient in between planes. He kept saying, "another airplane?" He also learned to distinguish between a motorcycle sound and an airplane sound. He was very infatuated with the word motorcycle all day, and had fun pointing them out on the way home.

Tuesday we played at Rosena Park for 2 hours! Caleb did great, and as there was a light crowd, he became a bit more adventurous! He even did the big slide on his own!

He's also become a fan of golf, thanks to Daddy playing a Tiger Woods Golf game on XBox. I finally found a play golf club at the Dollar store, and he adores his new toy...

Wednesday, today, we played at the park again, this time with Hailey. Then we had a Mom's Club Meeting, followed by lunch with Hailey and Carissa (and their moms, of course) at Round Table. Its so nice to spend the morning out and about, and to arrive home just in time for a long nap!