Beach & Fair Fun, Using a Fork, and Locked In (or Out)!

I am going to start with a few of the pictures from my mom taking Caleb to the beach last Wednesday that I wasn't able to post. They are just too cute to leave out!

Last Thursday I was finally able to get some pictures of our swimming lessons because I had someone take them with my phone. They weren't very good but I at least needed to document it! 

On Friday, Dede and the girls babysat Caleb, but I don't have any pictures from the day. They had fun and Dede was amazed that Caleb slept about 2 1/2 hours! Steve and Jen were both out of town, so Rad and I (and of course, Caleb) went out to eat with my parents. We wanted to eat outside so we went to a restaurant on Main Street but there was a 30 minute wait for an outside table, so we settled for another restaurant down the street and we were extremely disappointed. We will never go back there again. During the meal, Caleb started to choke a little on a tortilla chip and everyone else was starting to freak out, but I remained calm. He usually handles a little choking well and recovers fine, so I didn't get too worked up. Rad especially was worried and then stated that he was going to be a freak-out parent. Anyway, even though the food was lousy, we had a nice time together. Aunt Toni and Uncle Terry came down Friday night and everyone came over to visit at my house after Caleb went to bed, since I wasn't able to leave the house. They stayed until about 10:00, which was good because then Steve got home at 10:30, so it was nice I didn't have to spend the entire evening alone.

On Sabbath, we went to Sabbath School and church. I brought Caleb home to my parents' house for his nap since we were eating lunch there. We had a lovely lunch with the Latimers and the Copseys and a nice visit. Then we went for a walk with the church. I didn't get any pictures, but it was a nice walk!

Sunday was a great family day! And I was still able to get several hours of work in, which was perfect. That is what I love about my schedule. We went to Lake Wequaquet at around 10:00 in the morning. It was a little breezy and the water was a little cool, but we still had a great time. I think next time we will take Steve to Joshua's Pond where we do our swimming lessons because that is very warm and Steve has never been there.

After Caleb's nap, we  then went to the Barnstable County Fair. It is a pretty small fair, and we do enjoy the Fryeburg Fair more, but I wanted Caleb to be able to enjoy the fair on the Cape. It turns out that you have to be 36 inches tall to go on any of the rides (even with an adult), so we didn't take Caleb on any rides. But, he did love the animals and we also paid $5 for him to do a pony ride. We weren't sure if we should do it or not, but since he wasn't able to do any of the rides, we decided to do the pony ride and I am glad we did because Caleb loved it. He was grinning the whole time and held on tight.

After we saw the animals, we saw a little bit of horse jumping, an acrobat show, we got some food, and then we walked around for awhile. It was the last day, so everyone was trying to get you to play their games for prizes. I told Steve it wouldn't be right if we didn't get Caleb a prize, and a lot of people were saying that they would give a kid a prize even if the parent missed. So I paid $2 to throw a dart at a balloon. I missed, but Caleb still got an ugly pink bunny, which he really loves, so it was worth it!

All in all, it was a great day! That's how summer days should be!

On Monday, we did some grocery shopping in the morning at Trader Joe's. We also went to Christmas Tree Shop and Babies R Us, because Caleb's sippy cup got broken while I was at work on Friday and we needed a new one before Nova Scotia. Monday afternoon Caleb spent some time in the pool and had a great time as always!

On Tuesday we had a potentially disastrous situation that had a happy ending. We were in Caleb's room and I left the room to throw something away and when I cam back Caleb had shut the door, which he does a lot, but this time he had also locked the door, which I didn't know he was able to do! To make things worse, my phone was in the room as well, so I couldn't even call Steve to ask him if there was a way to unlock the door from the outside. And the only window that was open was on the side where the basement is, so it is up higher and is basically like a second floor window. I couldn't remember what type of lock it was, so I talked through the door and asked Caleb to jiggle the knob to see if it was the type that opens when you turn the handle. He cooperated, but it wasn't that type of lock. Then I remembered it is the button type of lock where you have to turn it to lock and unlock. So, I had said a prayer, and then I said to Caleb that I couldn't get in and could he turn the button on the door. AND HE DID!! I was so relieved that it ended so well and so quickly. And I stayed very calm throughout the whole thing. I would have panicked if it had lasted longer, but I didn't panic at all, which I am proud of!

So, then we went to swimming and had a great time. It was a gorgeous day and we stayed until almost 12:00 with some of our friends.

They tie-dyed shirts at swimming lessons

So, last week I wrote about trying to get Caleb to use a spoon. Well, this week I concentrated on getting him to use a fork and it has gone much better than the spoon. That makes sense, because you have to have more accuracy to use a spoon. Caleb loves using the fork, especially to pick up watermelon. So, I feel like we are at least making some progress in this department and of course, the spoon use will get better. 

Yes, still a righty...

On Wednesday, my mom had Caleb in the morning and then Rosalie watched Caleb in the afternoon because my parents were getting ready to leave for Nova Scotia. Luckily Caleb took a nice long nap and woke up at 2:45 so Rosalie didn't have to watch him for long because Steve got home at 4:00. The rest of the day was spent starting to pack for Nova Scotia. 

Today was more packing and swimming lessons and that's about it. Tomorrow night we leave for Nova Scotia! I can't wait! Here are a couple more pictures from the week. 

Beach Fun & More Talking

Every time I sit down to write a new entry I look back and see how many views I have had on my last post. I was surprised to see 0 views on last week's post and then I realized that it said Draft, so there must have been a problem publishing it. So, now I guess my faithful readers have 2 to read this week!

I just want to start by mentioning again how much Caleb is starting to talk! I mean, he's not talking in sentences but he is saying so many words. Words that I didn't even know he knew! I just went downstairs and got a roll of paper towels and I came back up and he said "towel". Also, last night I was feeding him supper and the dogs were by his high chair and usually he says "doggie" but he all of a sudden said "Kylie" and then he also said "Cody" after I prompted him. The funniest thing lately is how he says "please". He has been starting to say "more" when he wants something more to eat and we have been trying to get him to say "more please". Well, when he says "please" it sounds like "pea" but his voice goes up so high when he does it. He sounds pretty silly when he does it. And now instead of saying "more please" when he wants something more, he just screeches "pea" and it is hilarious. I want to crack up every time he does it but I am just glad he is at least saying "please".

As I mentioned last week (which no one read yet), Caleb is very into playing the piano now. I was able to get a few pictures of the "maestro" in action.

I thought it was pretty clever that he took all the tennis balls and lined them up on the piano

So, last Friday Dede and the girls came and babysat Caleb. I was still in his room with him giving him his milk when they showed up and Steve was talking to them and Caleb heard Dede and he yelled out "Dede!" Then a minute later Rissa started talking and he said "Rissa!" I was pretty impressed that he recognized their voices because I had not said their names or even told him they were coming. They had a good day with him as always. 

So, one of the areas where I feel like Caleb is behind is in getting him to feed himself. Whenever he has anything that needs a spoon like applesauce or yogurt, I just feed it to him. Everything else he pretty much eats with his hands, so he is not adept at using a spoon or a fork at all. On Sabbath morning I tried to get him to eat his applesauce with a spoon and I am sad to report that I'm not sure he is going to be a lefty after all. He did initially start with his left hand, but he actually switched it to his right hand, which was tough for me, but I didn't try to force it! We'll see what happens when he really gets going. 

We went to Sabbath School and it was actually kind of nice that there were only a few kids there. The week before was crazy! Caleb really enjoys Sabbath School, which is so nice to see!

I brought Caleb home for his nap and Steve stayed for the rest of church and potluck. Then after that, Rad and Jen and Ricky came over for a visit. And then my parents came over for a little while too before we all headed to Sandy Neck for our annual church outing and bonfire. We got there about 5:30 and we only stayed until about 7:30 so we could get Caleb home to bed, but we still had a great time! Caleb pretty much played in the sand the entire time and had a ball! Steve mostly kept an eye on him and I enjoyed just sitting around in a chair and visiting with people. We left just as the fire got started and I hear some people (my parents) stayed until about 10:30!

On Sunday, I worked for several hours while Steve took care of Caleb. They went out to the dump, Home Depot, Harbor Freight, etc. A pretty normal Sunday for them. After Caleb's nap, Steve went to the church to help with a work bee and Caleb and I went out grocery shopping. Steve was gone the rest of the day and just barely made it back to see Caleb before bed.

Monday was laundry day. I got a large lot of 4T clothes off of Facebook so we went and picked those up and got those washed in addition to my regular laundry. I always love getting a lot of clothes in one lot because that is easier than going to a consignment store! And although Caleb won't be in 4T for a long time, I like planning ahead. 4T is the highest I have bought, though. I don't have enough room in my attic to buy higher than that!

Other than laundry, we didn't do too much else on Monday. Steve came home from work early because he had to leave early Tuesday morning to go to California. So, he got to spend a little extra time with Caleb before he left, which was nice.

Tuesday was our swimming lesson day and it was a gorgeous day! Our friends Beth and Charlie are in the swimming class with us, but our other friends Heidi and Grace came to the beach as well, which was a lot of fun. We stayed over an hour after swimming was over and Caleb had fun with his two little buddies.

We came home and Caleb ended up taking an almost 3 hour nap! I guess the beach wore him out!

Yesterday my mom had Caleb for the day and she was going to take him to the beach as well. First he had to go to the office with her and a couple of the ladies babysat while my parents had a meeting. They had a lot of fun with Caleb. He is quite a hit in that office!

Samantha showed Caleb how to take a selfie!

I had told my mom she should take him to the beach before his nap so he would sleep a long time but she ran out of time so she took him after his nap and he had a great time! I have a few more pictures from my mom but she sent them to me after I had already uploaded all my pictures for the blog, so I don't have them all here.

Well, I guess that's all for this week. Here are a couple more pictures.

Covering his monkey with a burp cloth for a blanket