Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Kalin has been practicing saying "mommy" along with "mama". Except he likes to drag the "y" out so it sounds like "mommyyyy". We think it's really funny. I love when he starts almost chanting "Mommyyyy, Mama, Mommyyy, Mama" over and over. I don't know if I've mentioned it before but he says "Dada" and "Mama" totally different. "Dada" is spoken loudly and with great emphasis and excitement while "Mama" is spoken in hushed, almost reverent tones. This makes it quite amusing when he starts going back and forth between "Dada" and "Mama" because his tone changes each time. We're not sure but we think he might call himself "na-na" (short a sound).

A BIG GIANT THANK YOU to Sara Sandoval for recommending Baby Einstein DVDs to get Kalin to sit still for more than 2 seconds. He will sit for 20 minutes in the chair and watch this particular DVD. I got him the Baby Da Vinci dvd from Netflix which goes through different body parts. We watch it probably 6 times a day. Well, it's on about 6 times a day - half the time he's just using it as background noise while he colors or plays with some toys. I enjoy the downtime to sit with him and watch it. I am, however, getting kind of tired of this same one and look forward to receiving a couple more dvds before the week is over. We usually watch it during breakfast or snack time. We'll sit together in the chair with some Ritz crackers (a new favorite for both Kalin and I), a banana and Cheerios if it's in the morning, and his sippy cup while we watch the show. We haven't gotten to the point though where I can walk away and do something while he watches because he is still very attached to having mommy nearby. But that's OK for now because I am finding it quite enjoyable to sit with my little boy and watch him enjoy the show.

We got Kalin his very own potty. He has become so interested in the big toilet and loves to say "pee pee" while *cough cough* grabbing himself (he's going to thank me later on for putting that out there on the internet!) that we decided we might as well introduce him to the concept of actually going in a toilet. And this really is just an introduction - I'm not entering super-potty-training mode yet but I also didn't want his fascination with all things potty to pass us by. The only time he actually sits on it (without clothes - because he loves to sit on it with his clothes on) is right before his bath. We even tried putting his feet in a bucket of warm water before his bath to see if he would pee before his bath rather than during it. It didn't work but he did think it was pretty funny. I got a picture but I think I'll spare him that embarrassment and keep it for my eyes only (and maybe a few select family members).

Since the last post Kalin has gotten two new teeth - both bottom molars, one on the left and one on the right. So that gives us a grand total of 11 teeth - 6 on top and 5 on the bottom.

He's been asking more often to color. I used to drag out our coloring board and crayons when we needed something to fill our time but he is actually asking to do it. However, there hasn't been a whole lot of actual coloring going on. It's mainly taking the crayons out of the plastic baggy then putting them back into the plastic baggy and also matching up the broken pieces by color then looking for my enthusiastic approval. When he does color though it's mainly lines. He doesn't do a whole lot of scribbling. He enjoys drawing lines. We've recently been experimenting with coloring with our toes. He thinks it's funny.

Several times a day I'll look at Kalin and be amazed at how old and big he has gotten. In my head he's still 6 months old. Of course, I'm almost 26 and still think I'm 20. I guess that's just the way life goes.