What We've Been Doing Lately

We've been learning to say "no."

This picture is rather blurry, but it's also the one where you can read Caleb's lips. He's learning about "no hitting," "no standing on chairs," "no drawing on walls," "no playing with pencils" for that matter, "no jumping on Mommy," "no taking all Mommy and Daddy's books off the bookshelf," and a myriad of other "no's." At the same time, Caleb gets lots of encouragement as he cleans up his toys, uses his spoon or fork to feed himself, puts his milk away after a meal, tries to put his socks on, etc.

We've been learning to enjoy (or at least tolerate) the colder weather.

Several weeks ago we visited an apple orchard, which ended up not being a lot of fun for Caleb, but at least we have apples, apple pie, and apple crisp to make up for it. Caleb is enjoying playing in the leaves and swinging in our backyard--even when it's a bit chilly. I'm not looking forward to being cooped up this winter. Snow pants here we come!

I've also been sewing some fall/winter clothes for Caleb.

I hesitate to post about this because some of you will think that I actually know what I'm doing and others of you will easily recognize that I don't. But either way, Caleb needs clothes that fit, and I can either search stores for hours trying to find long, skinny pants or I can be creative, learn something, save some money, and get clothes that fit. What a deal.

I've also been feeling Baby 2 jumping and jiving! This pregnancy is going normally so far. I have my energy back which was exhaustingly absent during the first trimester. (Consequently I've been able to rake leaves, hike, pick apples, and sew.) Caleb and I have heard Baby 2's heartbeat. (Caleb stopped what he was doing, but he had no idea what was going on.) And I'm trying to guess the number of days I have left to slouch and to wear normal clothes. We'll see.

How's that for a little bit of everything?

Retro Day

It's retro day here at our house.

Jon, thanks for sharing your clothes from 35 years ago. Don't you wish they still fit?

Hiking at Palisades

We took advantage of the sunshine this past weekend and enjoyed the colorful leaves and some family time out at Palisades-Keplar State Park.

Caleb also discovered plenty of acorns along the way, so he was very entertained.

Video: This Little Piggy

Video: Body Parts

Traveling with a Toddler

Surviving the Ride. Enjoying the Ride.

One of my biggest worries about going on vacation this year was how Caleb would handle being confined to the car for long periods of time. He did surprisingly well, considering his usual day has included running around a playground, climbing around our house, and bouncing in his crib. He was a super trooper!

Here are some of the strategies we used to help the trip go smoothly.

Strategy #1: Independent Play
I packed a diaper box full of toys for our trip. It included old toys and new toys, real toys and homemade toys. You’ve seen the best featured in the recently awarded CTTAs. Other standouts included magnets on a cookie sheet and a water bottle with random items inside.

Strategy #2: Play with Mommy
When Caleb was fed up with his toys and playing by himself, I’d move into the backseat and we’d play together. Board books were a lifesaver even though we read them over and over (and over). Caleb also had fun pointing to different body parts I’d name or making animal sounds for animals I’d say. “This Little Piggie” was also a good game to get out some giggles. Videos to come!


Strategy #3: Have Realistic Expectations
There will be crying. And yelling. Accept it. Expect it.


Strategy #4: Be creative.
Find toys along the way. Caleb enjoyed navigating for us using a newly acquired (and free) map of Tennessee. Thankfully we already knew where we were going, but it kept him occupied for a bit!

Strategy #5: Eat in the Car
Caleb needs to sit still when he eats anyway so why not feed him in the car? Although Caleb did get a few extra snacks at times, I still tried to make it “lunchtime” by giving him a bib and actual lunch-type food.

Strategy #6: Take a break
We would look for a rest area after Caleb had eaten lunch. At one stop, we found a playland in lieu of a rest area. Then Caleb could run, jump, and climb while we made lunch for ourselves. Burning some energy at this point in the day made the next strategy possible.



Strategy #7: Hope for a nap.
Drive and do not stop until after the nap is over.


Strategy #8: Be flexible.
Go with the flow. Lunch time might not be at lunchtime. Naptime might be early, late, short, or not at all. Not only did I need to hold my plans loosely for our days of travel (especially when it took us three times as long to leave the national park as it did to enter it), I also had to be physically flexible. One benefit of having a sedan is that I could reach many of the places where Caleb would drop his toys. Thankfully I wasn’t more pregnant than I was because it required a lot of twisting and turning and stretching that I don’t think I could do nearly as well in a few months.

What do you do to survive and enjoy long car rides (with or without toddlers)?

Caleb-Tested Toy Awards

Thanks for joining us on this auspicious evening where we honor deserving toys with the highly-coveted CTTA prize. Not many toys can pass rigorous safety standards these days. Fewer pass the "frugal mom" qualification. Fewer even still can say they've engaged the attention of an active, exploring, limit-testing toddler for any length of time. Toys awarded with the highly-prized and highly-competitive CTTA will earn smiles from parents (at least 2 parents) and the loving care of toddler hands. (If you think these prizes are small for such a grandiose award, remember The Velveteen Rabbit. Dust is not the sign of a great toy.)

And the Caleb-Tested Toy Award for "holding the most interest in a single day" goes to...drum roll, please...a baking powder can filled with odds and ends. It started with a rock, an acorn, and a helicopter seed pod inside. As those things were lost to the far reaches of the backseat, they were replaced by water bottle caps, spoons, and other odds and ends. Caleb enjoyed taking the lid off and putting it on again, taking things out and putting them back in, and simply shaking the can like crazy. He also found other creative ways of playing. Just watch.

The Caleb-Tested Toy Award for "holding the most interest over an entire week" as well as the Award for the "most effective on narrow, winding, mountain roads when Mommy can NOT turn around and play with you for fear of sharing breakfast with you all over again" goes to... a Sesame Street button-pushing, switch-turning noisemaker thingy. By the end of the week, Caleb had a pretty good Cookie Monster impression going. He hasn't played with it much since being home, but he definitely got good use out of it throughout our vacation.