Our Week in Pictures

When I wait a week or more to blog I tend to have a hard time thinking of what to blog about. I'll think about things throughout the week to write about but forget them by the time I sit down at the computer. I usually end up going back through my pictures to remember what went on that week.

The Fort -

It rained a bit last week and on one of these days I decided that Kalin and I needed a rainy day project to keep us occupied since we couldn't go on a walk. I decided to build Kalin a fort. My sister's and I used to do this all the time when we were kids so I thought it would be fun to build one for Kalin. He was surprisingly good (not helpful, but not destructive either) while I was building the fort. I think he was just confused about why mommy was draping the front room with a bunch of blankets and sheets. He enjoyed the fort once it was built though.

Chocolate Puddin' -

I made some chocolate pudding and let Kalin lick the whisk. He thoroughly enjoyed it and ended up looking a lot like I did as a kid after eating chocolate pudding.

Easter Eggs -

I know that this wasn't Kalin's first Easter, but it was the first Easter that we could actually do something fun for him. He was only 2 1/2 months old last year so I wasn't really worried about trying to make it a fabulous first Easter. Plus, I wasn't really in a state of mind that would have allowed for that much forethought and planning. So this year I was excited to buy him a special Easter outfit (which my Aunt Nise ended up buying for him - Thank you!!), color some eggs with him, and put together an Easter basket for him. We colored eggs on Good Friday since Kasey had the day off of work and we were going to be busy on Saturday. After a first failed attempt in which my entire bowl of hardboiled eggs fell off the table and broke (two could be salvaged for coloring purposes), making some more eggs and giving Kalin a nap, we finally colored our eggs. I think I enjoy the thought and anticipation of coloring eggs more than the event itself. My creative abilities get tapped out after two eggs and I no longer find it enjoyable. The same thing happens when decorating cookies. Kasey is much better at this stuff than I am. But we had a good time and Kalin even got to join in the fun. I think he liked the brightly colored eggs and tried to eat more than one of them.

Grandpa Stan's B-Day -

We celebrated my Grandpa's birthday on Saturday so we headed out to Watsonville after Kalin's morning nap. Kalin once again got to lick some beaters. This time it was whipped cream. My dad was able to capture a picture of the funny way Kalin walks sometimes. Usually when he does this it's with his hands clasped behind his back but this time he was sticking his hands in his pants. He's such a boy.

Easter -

On Easter Sunday we enjoyed a wonderful Easter Sunday service (earlier than usual) then an Easter Brunch with our soon-to-be church family (we should be officially accepted into their membership next Sunday). We then headed off to my parent's house where Kalin received an Easter basket full of clothes and fun stuff from my mom (it was like Christmas again!) and took a much needed nap. I had to go wake him up after two hours because it was time to head to my other grandparent's house for Easter lunch with my dad's side of the family. We took a short little walk and took some pictures before having a mini-Easter Egg Hunt for Kalin. He didn't really care too much about it. He wanted more to squeeze the eggs, eat the eggs, or bang them together than anything else. We spent the rest of the day back at my parent's house then headed home when it was time for Kalin to get to bed. It was a busier than usual weekend.

And now I have one more day left at home before it's time to head to Hemet for Shannon's wedding!! I have a feeling things might be a little crazy while I'm there. I have no idea how balancing my motherly duties with my bridesmaid duties is going to work. Especially since I won't have a car of my own. Thankfully my mom will be there to help out.

Kalin's first plane ride is coming up on Wednesday!! I'll let you all know how that goes. I'm slightly nervous about the whole check-in thing. I'm always afraid something will go wrong and they won't let us on the plane. I've got his birth certificate though so we should be fine. I also have no idea how he'll actually do on the hour flight but I'm very thankful that it's only an hour. He can't sit in my lap for 2 seconds much less 1 hour but maybe if we get a window seat and can look outside he'll be ok. And he might be a little timid being in this new experience and just want to stay close to me.

Kalin's eating has still been off and on picky. I don't think he really ate much of anything on Saturday or Sunday except some bread and yogurt. Then tonight at dinner he surprises me by eating a banana, several pieces of chicken, and some steamed vegetables. I can't figure him out. He also never really nursed this weekend. He would take a sip and then just bite me (oh the biting!! That's a whole other issue!) And boy was I feeling those effects by this morning!! I was starting to wonder if he was just wasn't interested and if this was the end of our breastfeeding relationship. He nursed twice today though without too much trouble so I don't know what's going on.

The Biting -

He'll just randomly start biting us. Sometimes he's frustrated but most of the time we're just playing or not really doing much at all. He'll come at our knee caps with his mouth open, or while we're holding him he'll bite our shoulders. Kasey did some research today and found some articles. They give several reasons why toddlers bite. It seems the main reason though is an outlet for their feelings. They don't know how to express themselves and how to release the tension that they may develop through their daily activities. He's past the experimental biting phase where, according to the article, it's appropriate to respond loudly with an "Ouch, that hurt" and other such things. But it seems that what the articles are saying is that those reactions now aren't helpful. He needs our undivided attention and willingness to listen to whatever tension or feelings he needs to express. Of course, this will be much easier once he can verbalize it but it gives us a good starting point in dealing with this. Some of the instances of biting that they talk about in this article are exactly what we've experienced. The biting that occurs when we're cuddling. The wiggling or laughing that occurs when I'm trying to let him know that I'm there for him after he's tried biting is apparently a good sign that whatever tension he might have had is starting to get released. It's been enlightening. Kasey and I both noticed that he isn't biting out of anger or biting because he's trying to be mean. It's just kind of random (to us at least) and has taught me to be more aware about what might be going on that he's feeling this need to bite. Maybe my attention is on something else and he's feeling lonely, or maybe he's been overstimulated. This is some of the same stuff I've come across with my research on toddler's hitting themselves too. Lots of things to think about.

And to end this blog on a completely different thought. I've been missing watching him sleep recently. I used to watch him for hours every day and night sleep in my arms. Last night when he feel asleep in the car on our way home, I spent most of the time watching him in my visor mirror - until it got too dark to see him. A couple nights ago, when it was chilly, we opened his bedroom door to let some of the heat from the house into his room, and I snuck in to cover him with his blanket (which he had thrown on the floor). I wanted so badly to stand there and watch him, but he stirred so I had to get out of the room before he woke up. Maybe some day I'll be able to go stand over his crib again and watch him sleep.

Playground Fun

This weekend was wonderful. Most weekends tend to go by way too fast, but this weekend had a nice leisurely pace to it. Saturday started out much the same as a typical weekday. Kasey had a meeting at 9 so Kalin and I were on our own for a while. In the afternoon, while Kalin was napping, I took a trip to the dollar store and grocery store by myself. I love the dollar store. So many fun things for so cheap!! I bought some stuff for Kalin's Easter basket and some bunny ears for him to wear. It's hard to say "no" to things when they're only $1. Around 3:30 my dad called and asked if we wanted to have Mexican food for dinner. I would have been crazy to pass up seeing my parents and having a free meal! While I waited for them to arrive I took a walk over to the yard sale that Bethany University was having. I found a heater fan (we'd been looking for one) and a book. We ended up having to wake Kalin up from his 2 1/2 hour nap to meet my parents for dinner. After dinner my mom suggested going to the playground to let Kalin run around and play. He had a BLAST!! The slide is his new favorite thing. We couldn't get him off of it.

Sunday was a relaxing day. We all took naps in the afternoon (Kalin took a 3 hour nap!!), ran to the laundry mat to wash a load because our washer is broken and has been for over a week now (grrr), then ate some pizza for dinner. It was a fabulous weekend and the week hasn't started off so bad either!! I hear there's even some rain in the forecast. Yippee!!

That upper tooth has finally broken through his gums and I think I caught a glimpse of another bottom tooth just about to come through. Hooray for more teeth!!

Kalin has started nodding his head. He used to just shake it but he's figured out how to nod. Quite honestly, I'm not sure if this really is a new skill or if it's just the first time I've noticed it.

Everything is "dada" or "ga" these days. I'll repeat a word over and over and he just keeps repeating either "dada" or "ga". This was one of our conversations on our walk today:

Me: Bird

Kalin: Dada

Me: Bird

Kalin: Dada

Me: Bbbirrrrddd

Kalin: Dada

I think you get the picture.

Something disturbing that he's been doing is hitting himself on the head. He does it when he's being silly and when he's excited but most often when he's frustrated or mad. He'll just start hitting his head with both hands. Does anybody know if this is normal? I thought I'd ask the doctor about it at our next visit. I'm wondering though if he just doesn't know how else to express himself so that's how his emotions manifest themselves. I really don't like it though. It makes me sad to see him hitting himself.

We like to find lizards on our walks. Kalin likes to watch them run across the sidewalk in front of us.

That's all the news for now. Here's a video of Kalin's first experience on the slides at the playground. I had to rotate the first two clips 90 degrees so that's why they look a little funny.

Picky

Kalin turned into a picky eater this week. Not only did he become picky but his food intake drastically reduced. I had heard that this happens around this age because their growth slows down. I've had a hard time adjusting to his current food intake though. There were a couple days where I wasn't sure if he ate enough good, healthy foods. And that frustrated me. I have to pay a lot more attention now to when he eats certain things (like Cheerios) in relation to mealtimes. And I need to make sure he eats his veggies and protein before he gets a taste (or even a glimpse) of the bread or cheese. Once he sees certain foods that he's in love with, there's no going back to the stuff that's already on his tray. Now, I know that there's nothing wrong with him eating bread and cheese - it's better than potato chips or sweets - but it's a problem when that's all he wants to eat for the day. Besides his milk, I think the only major source of protein he had this week was eggs. He rejected most of the turkey burger, the salmon and all the chicken I tried to get into him. Maybe he's a vegetarian - I'll send him your way, Sarah!! He also started rejecting peas. He'd pick through the carrot and pea medley on his tray and only eat the carrots - then either mush the peas in his hands or drop them one-by-one onto the floor.

That's another thing he's started doing - throwing his food that he doesn't want on the floor. I do not like that one little bit. And being the smart little toddler that he is, he's realized that when he starts doing that, he gets taken out of his high chair and away from the food REAL quick. So when we're all sitting at the table for dinner and he's all done but Kasey and I are still eating, he starts throwing things on the floor hoping that it will get him out of his chair. He's sneaky.

So not only has he started rejecting previously desirable foods, but his little body doesn't need as much. I used to be able to set him in his high chair with a handful (or two handfuls) or Cheerios and some milk while I made dinner and he would still have plenty of room left for a full dinner. Now if I do that, the Cheerios and milk will end being his dinner instead of just the appetizer. I've also had to adjust what I give before and during our late-morning walks otherwise he won't have any room or desire for lunch. So this week's meals have been a bit frustrating with lots of wasted food. I hate wasting food.

In other news, he's getting better feeding himself with his spoon and his fork. One of my tools to get him to eat another bite or two is to give him big cheers and lots of clapping for feeding himself, using his utensils. He loves the praise and will dig right in to pick up more food and show me what a big boy he is becoming.

Earlier this week I noted to Kasey that Kalin hadn't been drooling much the past week or so. The next day he started drooling again. I didn't notice the cessation of drooling in time to enjoy it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the stubborn upper tooth will finally break through his gums. The matching tooth that came in about a month ago is getting big enough that it's noticeable sometimes when he smiles really big and quite frankly, it looks a little goofy not having the pair. He's got 3 teeth on top and it looks a little lopsided.

Today Kalin grabbed my oven mitt (which isn't unusual, he likes to play with it) and walked over to the oven and grabbed the handle. For safety reasons, I'm trying to teach him not to touch the oven or worse, hang on the handle (he's been known to do that). So I turned around to tell him not to touch the handle, but then I looked a little closer, and noticed that he actually had the oven mitt on his hand and was trying to open the oven. I guess he's seen me get things out of the oven often enough and he was trying to imitate me. I just started laughing and then he handed me the oven mitt and wanted me to open the oven and pretend to pull things out of it. I though it was very clever of him.

Last weekend I started something new. Kalin is not allowed to have his pacifier while he is awake. I just got so fed up with it constantly being in his mouth when I knew that he didn't really need it - he just wanted it and if he could see it then he had to have it. So when he wakes up from a nap or in the morning, I gather his pacifiers (or take them out of his mouth) and put them away - out of his sight. There's been some protesting when I actually have to take it away from him but for the most part, he's perfectly fine during the day. Although Kasey and I have noticed an increase in biting, or attempted biting. That could also have something to do with the drooling and teething.

We've been working on climbing this week. He enjoys standing on our stool but has a hard time climbing onto it. It's a bit too tall for him still. He did successfully climb onto it once with Kasey sitting behind him to help him if he needed it. We can't leave him alone on the stool though because he has a tendency to forget that he's not standing on the ground and will either step off the stool or dance off the stool. He loves being taller though while standing up there.

Sarah and Luke came by on Wednesday. I ended up only have Luke for a half hour but we still had fun. It was fun to watch them check each other out once Kalin woke up from his nap. Luke was sitting and Kalin would just stand next to him and they would reach out and touch each other's hands or Kalin would grab (gently!) Luke's upper arm or pat him on the head. At one point Kalin stared at the front of Luke, then walked around behind him and stared at his back, it was like he was trying to figure out who or what this strange little creature was sitting on the floor of his house. I had just recently read that at this age, toddlers have no sense of empathy. They don't understand that what they do can hurt others. Other people are just toys to them - to be poked, prodded, pulled, and pushed. I'm wondering if he thought Luke was a new toy I had gotten for him. At any rate, it was fun to see them interact. I couldn't get Kalin to cooperate for a picture though.

I got Kalin to draw his first picture!! What do you think it is?!?! And yes, it's hanging on my fridge. Those five minutes of coloring time were filled with me saying, "Crayons are not for eating.", "Crayons are not for throwing!", "Kalin, don't eat the Crayons!" We've already had two crayon fatalities. Two broken crayons and we've only had them for a week. I guess I better get used to it!!

Miracle of the Moment

Not much to report for this week. Same ol' stuff is happening here!! Oh, Kalin has been climbing his crib this week. Not to get out though, he wants to get in. Or maybe he just wants something that's sitting in his crib, such as a pacifier or his sheep. It's fun to watch though. He reaches up and grabs the top of the crib, then puts his feet on the bottom rung, then steps up onto his mattress and tries to do chin-ups. He's a strong little boy!! Had I mentioned in the previous post that he's learned how to bounce on his pony? I no longer have to do all the work for him!! He happily bounces on his own. Oh, we also bought him some Crayons this week!! He has yet to color his own work of art though. We sat down with him yesterday and showed him how cool they are and how they work but the paper was full of all of our colorings and not just his. Maybe tomorrow I'll sit him down with a blank piece of paper that is all his to work with. Then I shall hang it on the fridge and proudly label it as his first drawing!! As you can see in the picture, he's a two-fisted colorer. So I guess there were some fun happenings around here this week :-)

The main reason I was going to post though, was to share a song. You know how you can hear a song a hundred times and then all of a sudden one day, you actually sit and listen to the lyrics? And you have that "Wow" moment. This song speaks to what I've been realizing through this last year or so (and reflecting on more so this last week due to my friend Sarah's ponderings on her blog) after having Kalin. I don't think I had ever fully grasped the meaning of living in the here and now, of not holding on to the past or worrying and fretting over the future until Kalin came along. Watching and helping a little one grow-up and learn seemingly simple things about our world has given me a whole new perspective. There's nothing quite as fun as fully living in toddler-land for a few hours - putting aside e-mail, housework, and other responsibilities until he's down for a nap. It's freeing to just be in those moments with Kalin. Just the two of us, learning, playing, laughing and loving. I wish I could remember to have these moments more often. Anyway, here are the lyrics to one of Steven Curtis Chapman's (my favorite muscial artist of all time!!) songs.

Miracle of the Moment

It's time for letting go

All of our if only's

'Cause we don't have a time machine

And even if we did

Would we really want to use it?

Would we really want to go change everything?

'Cause we are who and where

and what we are for now

And this is the only moment

we can do anything about.

So breathe it in and breathe it out

Listen to your heartbeat

There's a wonder in the here and now

It's right there in front of you

And I don't want you to miss

The miracle of the moment

There's only One who knows

What's really out there waiting

In all the moments yet to be

And all we need to know

Is He's out there waiting

To Him the future's history

And He has given us

a treasure called right now

And this is the only moment that we can do anything about

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss
The miracle of the moment

And if it brings you tears

Then taste them as they fall

Let them soften your heart

And if it brings you laughter
Then throw your head back

And let it go, let it go

You gotta let it go

Listen to you heartbeat

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss
The miracle of the moment

Random bits

Just some things that Kalin has been up to:

On Wednesday when I gave him his bath, the first thing he did when he got into the tub was to line up his squirty toys on the ledge of the tub. Kasey said that he normally will put a couple up there but never this many. I thought it was so funny that I took a picture.

After he was all dried and dressed from his Wednesday bath, he did something else that made me laugh. I was standing at the kitchen sink and I turn around to find him holding his dirty diaper (I had left it on the bathroom floor, all rolled up of course) over the trashcan trying to throw it away. Our trashcan is motion sensored and he was having a hard time getting it to open so I walked over and opened it for him and he threw his own diaper away!! I laughed and told him what a good boy he was!!
He has started trying to climb everything that he shouldn't be climbing: the oven (makes me really nervous), the chairs that keep him away from the computer, his bookshelf, the table. I'm trying to steer him towards the couch and chair and get him to climb on those instead but he just looks at me like I'm crazy. The reason he climbs those particular objects though is to see what I'm doing, which is also why he's constantly asking to be picked up. He just can't stand the fact that he's not tall enough to see everything that's going on.

Bibs aren't working out for us anymore. I think I would need a poncho to keep him clean. Thankfully, it's getting warmer which means I can just take his shirt off while he's eating (and sometimes his pants, too). It will be easier on me, on him, and on his clothes!! Plus, I have a feeling that once summer rolls around he'll be walking around in nothing but his diaper anyway.

He loves playing with magnets on the fridge. Once he's a little bit older (and won't distribute them all over the house) I think I'll get him those colorful letter and number magnets to play with.

Kasey swears he said "peaches" tonight while he was eating them. We couldn't get him to duplicate it though.

He loves it when we play "keep away" with the ball. He gets to run back and forth between Kasey and I, laughing and trying to get the ball, before we throw it to the other person. Of course, we always give it to him eventually so he doesn't get frustrated. He enjoys throwing it back to one of us.

He loves it when you tickle his ribs and neck. He laughs really hard.

We're still waiting for that 6th tooth to erupt. It's hanging out just below the gums but hasn't made it's official appearance yet.

I think that's all I've got for now!! We really haven't had a very exciting week. We did go over to a family's house that we know from Bethany for dinner on Monday night and on Friday we went to Costco and finally got ourselves a membership, but other than that, not much has happened. Kalin's getting over his cold and I'm fighting something (that I hope is just allergies).

Goodnight!!

Hi, Da

This morning Kasey said, "Hi, Kalin!" and Kalin responded with "Hi, Da!". It was really cute and fun to hear.

Before having Kalin, I never realized how exciting it would be to be a part of a child's life while they were learning some of the most basic skills that we as humans are capable of. When other parents would talk about their infant's or toddler's new skills, I didn't really understand the excitement. I mean, of course they can roll over, or sit up, or babble. But I get it now. Seeing your helpless babe change and grow and learn right before your eyes is amazing and exciting. And the joy of realizing that they've learned a new skill and are closer to becoming an individual who you are able to carry on a conversation with and really communicate and share with is a wonderful feeling. I had one of those moments today.

Kalin's been able to follow simple commands for a little while but today I got a very clear picture of how able he really is. We had been playing on his Bounce 'N Spin Pony today but he had lost interest so I had turned it off. A few minutes later, he started signing "please" and pointing at the receiver for the game which plugs into the tv and receives the signals from the pony as it moves. I thought at first that he wanted to play with the receiver but then decided to test him a little. Without pointing or motioning I said, "If you want to play again go sit on the pony". He walked right over to the pony, climbed on, and looked up at me. I was shocked and amazed. He really does understand what we say. Which brought about a couple of realizations for me.

First, now that he has demonstrated his capabilities in understanding me, I can let go of my notions that he might be too young for certain things: such as being disciplined when he has repeatedly been told "no" to certain activities and decides to do them anyway. If he can understand the instructions I had just given him, then he can definitely understand and be expected to obey, "No hitting", "No throwing food on the floor", "Don't grab the remote" and other various instructions and requests. This realization brought with it a sense of freedom for me. I can raise my expectations of him up a notch. He's not a baby anymore, he's a toddler, and with that comes more responsibility on both of our sides: him to obey and me to discipline.

Second, we have to be really careful what we say and how we say it. Who knows what attitudes or language he's picking up on (not that we walk around cursing or speak with angry tones but there is the occasional "crap" and "sucks" which I don't really want my toddler picking up).

So even though he still doesn't communicate with us verbally (with words instead of babble and grunts) it's good to know that communication is working in the other direction.

A few other observations:

When Kasey gives Kalin a bath, he says that Kalin will make a "duck" noise when he's holding his rubber ducky. Kasey's been working on this with him for a couple weeks.

Also during bathtime, Kasey and Kalin have come up with a new game. Kasey slides him back and forth in the tub making waves and splashes. Kasey used to call it the "wave game" but then one time he said that and Kalin started waving at him. Kasey decided to come up with a different name so Kalin doesn't get confused.

Kalin is really good now at not only taking objects out of the box, pot, or basket but is also really good about putting them back in. Of course, after working for several minutes to gather all the objects together in the receptacle he ends up picking it up and turning it upside down so they all fall out again. But then he'll just start all over putting everything back in. I admire his persistence and focus. In this picture, he is putting little round pieces of paper into the pot and then dumping them all out again. He did this for about 20 minutes last week. One would think that this would be helpful when it's time to clean-up the toys. It would be except for his need to dump everything back out.

Instead of constantly knocking my tower or pyramid of blocks over, he has started participating in the building process. I'm very proud of him. This is a big step from when he couldn't stand to have any of his blocks remotely resembling order and organization. Of course, he eventually will knock it over but only after he has added on a few blocks of his own.

Sometimes he likes to walk around the house with his hands clasped behind his back. It's really cute and I hope to get a picture or video of it soon.

He's been sick for about a week now. I hope he gets better soon. He still coughs (it can get bad at night and I feel so bad for him) and now has a runny nose which is starting to get raw from all the wiping. Poor boy. It hasn't disrupted his nighttime sleeping but his naps have been really short and inconsistent. I hope once he's all better his naps go back to the way they were. I miss those 2-hour afternoon naps.

I did get to enjoy lots of extra hugs and cuddles from him for a couple days when he really wasn't feeling well. He was perfectly content to sit with me and watch tv or read...for about 20 minutes. Then it was back to playing. He has so much energy. It makes me tired. I need those 2 hours back in the afternoon.

At last...

...it's time for another post. It's probably been time for another for quite awhile. What's it been now, over 2 weeks since my last one? Yikes. Well, what matters is that I'm here now to type an update, right? Ok, so here we go.

Kalin had his 12-month check-up on February 26th which made it, technically, a 14-month check-up. All reports were good. He's thriving and growing. He was 24lbs. 11.5oz. and 31.5 inches. This makes him 75th percentile in length, 66th percentile weight-for-age and 75th percentile weight-for-length. Oh, and he's in the 80th percentile for his head circumference. The doc actually mentioned that he has a nice big head :-) Lots of good brains growing in there (we hope).

All in all, it was a great check-up. Oh wait, except the parts about the shots and Kasey and I leaving the office feeling like we deserved the Suckiest-Parents-of-the-Year Award. Kalin was scheduled for two shots at this visit, the MMR and the Chicken Pox vaccines. I figured it would be no big deal. He's had shots many times before and he would cry a little and be over it. I don't know if these needles were bigger or what but they REALLY upset him. It nearly tore my heart out. Maybe it was because it had been awhile since his last shots and since I'd seen him that upset. I don't know but it was not fun for either of us.

Ok, so the hard part was over, right? WRONG!! Next comes the finger prick. That doesn't sound too bad. A little prick instead of a giant needle? Sounds easy enough. Maybe if all they needed was a drop of blood. But no, they need to fill a vial from one little finger. My job was to hold Kalin on my lap and try to keep his shoulder and arm from moving while the lady squeezed as much blood from his finger as she could. I don't know if it was the actually prick, the lady squeezing his finger, or the fact that he was being restrained, but for a full 3 minutes he was screaming and writhing around in my lap while throwing his head back and letting HUGE tears stream down his face. One of the worst feelings I have yet to encounter as a mother. Kasey was having a rough time with it too because he was just standing in front of Kalin while Kalin would periodically look at him like, "Hey dad, why aren't you helping me?". So sad. Glad it's over and hope we won't have to experience it again anytime soon.

Kalin's been saying "dada" a lot more so we're making some progress on the verbal development.

He also waves a lot more now. He'll wave to Kasey as he leaves to work, he'll wave to people in the store and people we pass on our walks. He even randomly started waving to a fence we passed on our walk.

There's another tooth hanging out just below the surface of his upper gums. I can feel it but it has yet to make it's appearance. The other tooth took about 2 weeks to break through so I'm hoping in the next week we'll have another tooth to report. That would make #6. Oh, at our appointment I asked the doc if Kalin was about average in tooth development. He said that he might be a little below average but in his opinion, the later the better. I didn't ask why he thought that though.

One of the most fun things I have to report is his use of his cell phone. Kasey got a new phone so we gave his old one to Kalin to play with. He'll put the phone up to his ear and say "Hi" in a singsong voice. It's so cute and sometimes he'll babble with it up to his ear. He also loves to dance to the different ring tones.

We took a trip down to Hemet for Shannon Farmer's bridal shower. I've known her since we were like, five years old, or something so this is really special. I will also be in her wedding in April so I'm really looking forward to that. We had a good trip down and back up. Kalin got really grumpy about an hour outside of Hemet so I had to try and entertain him and keep him happy, which wasn't really fun since my throat was on fire and my ears were all plugged. But we managed and had a good time!! Kasey couldn't come because of work so it ended up being my mom, my aunt, Kalin and I. It made for a fun trip.

Grandma Jody (Kasey's mom) watched Kalin for me while I attended the shower. It was so nice to have a little break and be able to focus fully on the shower and on the bride-to-be. Later that evening we celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday at Kasey's parent's house. It was nice to see the rest of Kasey's family and to celebrate another year of Jerry. Unfortunately, I never once got my camera out while I was down there so I have no pictures. I do have some pictures though that my mom took while we were traveling. It was a quick whirlwind trip; we left on Saturday and came back Monday. The next time I go down there, for the wedding, Kalin, my mom and I will be flying down!! I'm excited for Kalin's first plane ride.

I think that's all the news I have for now. If I think of more I'll write another post...maybe in a week or two :-)