Starting a Walters Family Tradition early

Caleb decided to try on my V-neck T-shirt for size. While it was obviously too big, it is never to early to pass on family traditions. My dad, mom, brother Luke and myself are all about the white V-neck T-shirt. Dad and Luke came over yesterday to help us move some furniture as we are to have new carpet installed on Saturday. What were they wearing? The white V-neck and so was I! If you've never tried one, you're missing out as they are much "cooler" in the literal and figurative sense than the regular T-shirts.

Smoothies, Happy Birthday Cake and More!

Caleb recently had his first smoothie, which he loved! I made it with soy milk, frozen blueberries (picked this past summer from my parents' bushes) and frozen apples (also picked this past summer from my parents' trees). The fruit was so sweet I didn't have to add any sugar. I was even surprised at how good it was!My baby brother Luke recently had his 26th birthday celebration. Caleb for some reason doesn't say "Happy Birthday!" instead he says "Happy Birthday Cake!" He was so excited that he got to blow out the candles. I was a little concerned about him being that close to nuts, but Uncle Luke paid careful attention to his safety.
I made Caleb his first wheat, dairy, egg-free pizza to have for Uncle Luke's birthday as that was what the rest of us were having (only with wheat, dairy and whatever else!). As per his usual excited self with others around, he was much too busy to really pay attention to the pizza, but he enjoyed it for lunch the next day!
Caleb and I made allergy free muffins the other day using a recipe posted on Martha Stewart's website. He loved helping put in the muffin liners just about as much as he loved eating the muffins!
Caleb loves spending time with his Mamaw- she is so good to read him stories and fix his stuffed animals when they accidentally hurt themselves by pulling a seam. And this is Caleb's newest smile to pose for pictures. Can anyone say "cheese?"
Our latest treat using Enjoy life allergy-free chocolate chips- Chocolate covered popcorn! Another winner for Caleb (Mommy and Daddy too!).On my last post I mentioned that Caleb would count and often say, "Let's start with one." Well, now he says, "Let's start with twenty." He isn't able to correctly count from 20 by himself, but he loves to repeat after me or Jeremy. Funny the things kids say! One of the sweetest things Caleb has been doing lately is kissing my belly and loving on baby brother. He will say with prompting, "I love you Eli" as we have finally decided on the name Elijah Henry but are pretty sure we will call him Eli. Caleb of course pronounces it E-Yi (with a long I). He should really be given credit for the name as when we would ask him between either Silas or Elijah, he would most often choose Elijah.

Coloring fun

One of Caleb's favorite activities is coloring. Here he and his daddy pose for a brief shot. I said "smile" and for the first time ever Caleb looked at the camera and well I guess he did what he would call a smile, but it was really more of a squint and smirk. This boy is so funny! At night now before he goes to bed and after we have said "Goodnight prayers" he asks to count. He then says, "Let's start at one." It is so funny!!!

First Popcorn and Favorite Books

Caleb recently had his first taste of popcorn. I was somewhat apprehensive about letting him have any because sometimes he stuffs food in his mouth and with popcorn this poses an even greater choking risk. Caleb is now more attentive to being given instructions, so with careful supervision from his daddy, they shared the treat. Caleb, along with his daddy, loved it! He wanted more and asked for popcorn the next day.
In other news in Jenkins land, Caleb has recently taken to new reading material. No, it's not the latest Dr. Seuss or Disney book, but rather a catalog we received in the mail from Toys R Us. He asked me to read it to him for his bedtime story 3 or 4 nights in a row. Imagine, my child is learning that the big beautiful playset is "$100 off" and other various toys are "20% off" or "$8 off." For some reason this was just hilarious to me. And trust me, it is not for lack of books that Caleb would take to a catalog. He has more books than any other child I know his age thanks to his cousins- in fact, we don't even have them all out due to lack of room. I love this age with him even though there is the obvious "Terrible Two's" in there as well. He makes us laugh all the time!

Have you ever played "2 Flashlights?"

Not very long ago Jeremy was doing some work around the house and needed a flashlight. Lo and behold you would have thought it was Christmas in February at our house! Caleb thought the flashlight was the neatest and greatest thing. He begged to hold the flashlight and finally Jeremy had to retrieve a second one. Since then Caleb has learned to ask for the flashlight, (uh, more like order myself or Jeremy to get him a flashlight) with the words, "Get the fashyight Mommy/Daddy." If not immediately satisfied, he will then say, "Get two fashyights Mommy/Daddy." He and Jeremy have now made it into a game, which we call playing "2 Flashlights." The game simply involves going into a darkened room and shining the flashlight under various pieces of furniture to hunt for lost toys, books, clothing, etc. or just up on the wall for various entertainment purposes. I cannot tell you the number of times I have laughed at them playing their game. It is great! I know most adults would probably find this play a waste of time, but what a blessing it is that Jeremy is so willing to invest the time in playing with his son- what a great Dad!

Caleb Jumping

Caleb finds various ways to amuse himself when I am on the computer. This is usually right within eyesight as our computer sits by the bed. As you can tell from the video, I must have just put away some clothes because Caleb made excellent use of the empty clothes basket. Pardon the messy room, but I think the little acrobat is pretty funny.

Ode to a Paci

Oh Happy Day!

We've seen better days!

Well, we did it. We bit the bullet and took the paci away. Caleb has lost his best friend, TV watching companion, bedtime buddy and overall comfort giver. It's been a rough couple of days in the sleep department- nighttime and nap time, but it had to be done! I really was not in any hurry to take the paci away as I figured when Spring hit and we were able to play outside, Caleb would just naturally and gradually lose interest in it. I also wanted to wait and make the change from the crib to a big boy bed with paci on board to ease that transistion. Alas, however, his lips had become so chapped that it developed into eczema around his whole mouth and the paci was just making it worse. Caleb continues to ask for paci and I have repeatedly told him, "Paci is gone, paci made your mouth itch worse so we had to take it away." He now tells me, "Paci made mouth itch, paci gone," but he has continued to ask for paci, especially at naptime and bedtime. He even asks for a specific paci as identified by color- white paci or blue paci. I don't know how many more days we'll have of this, but I figure it won't last forever!

So paci, here's to you!

So long,
farewell
We hate to say goodbye
But truth be told
the time was drawing near
You've been a dear
and we'll miss you for awhile
Especially mommy's missed sleep-
you were such a jewel to help us through each night
But soon
you'll return
we're quite sure
with baby brother to come on board
until then, may you rest comfortably
in the aisles of Target and Wal Mart
Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye

Love, Caleb