From baby to big boy in the blink of an eye

My baby boy is growing up. And he doesn’t hesitate to tell me.

“Me boy Mama, not baby.”

Ya, whatever.

And then I rock him and kiss him and sing him rock-a-bye baby and tell him he’ll always be my baby boy.

Even though he’ll always be my baby boy, he has grown up in the blink of an eye. Within the past few months he’s talking has just exploded and so it makes him seem so grown up.  He talks ALL. DAY. LONG.  Whew, it wears us out. But it’s so stinkin’ cute too.  He continues to struggle with some letter pronunciation, but it just depends on the word. For example he can’t always say the letter “L” but sometimes he can. I think overall he talks pretty good so I’m not stressed out about it.  He’s pretty much corrected his stuttering all by himself. He still stutters sometimes but not often. He will slow down and think hard about the words before saying them when he starts stuttering.

Some cute things he says:

“Mama, I need cover ups.” – when he needs covered with a blanket.

“Actually.” – Angel taught him this word and he uses it often when negotiating.

“And then what’s next?” – Lately he’s been wanting to know what we are doing and when I say one thing he’ll ask what’s next. So I go through the entire day until bedtime and then he’s satisfied.

“I’m sorry bout that.”  So sweet.

When he’s trying to convince us of something, like that he needs a treat, he’ll find some writing and say, “It says right here…” and then say whatever it is he wants.  The other day he was “reading” a book and he said, “Mama, this says, ‘Daddy doesn’t have to work anymore and I get to go to school and Angel gets to go to school and Mommy doesn’t have to go to school!”

Caleb continues to love school. He still goes every Friday morning from 9:00-11:30 am. His teachers are fabulous and it has been such a blessing for him and our family. He gets upset that he can’t go more often so I’m glad he really likes it. And I think it’s already really helped him with interacting with other kids. So far he hasn’t beat up anyone so that’s good!  Although last week we were waiting to pick him up and I watched him through the window as all the kids cleaned up. He wasn’t being such a sweet angel to the other boys as they picked up toys.

He is still really inconsistent with eating. Some days he will eat anything and everything. Some days he will eat nothing.  He no longer asks for hot dogs and mac-n-cheese for every meal. Now he asks for Pizza Ranch. Ha!  His favorite foods are noodles, peanut butter and jelly, anything sweet, breakfast bars, chips and guacamole or chips and salsa, and did I mention anything sweet? He certainly has a sweet tooth so we have to be careful with that.  Caleb is still allergic to egg and the past few months his rash has been really bad so we’ve declared an absolutely no egg diet. I mentioned this in another post but we’ve found that flaxmeal is a great substitute for egg and have just recently started using that.  He will eat fruits and veggies pretty good though too. In fact I often make soup with kale in it and he likes that and he loves raw red peppers.

We had the kids’ yearly checkups last week and Caleb is in the 40th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. He’s just now moving into size 3T but still wears some 2T.

Caleb is still a potty training super star.  He’s pretty much dry 24/7 and for the most part stays dry at night too. The last month at school he’s had a few accidents which was really unusual so I’m not sure what that was about. And when he’s really tired he’ll have an accident at night.  We’re still working with him to keep his pants, socks and shoes on when he has to “sit down” because he is adamant about getting completely naked (except for his shirt).

Caleb’s personality is so funny. As trying and exhausting as this busy three year old little boy can be, I absolutely love watching him grow and learn. He does the cutest things and one minute can be a terror and the next minute the sweetest little angel.

He is very protective of his big sister. If Angel and I are playing rough or wrestling he will come over and pound on me.

The past few months he started giving us a thumbs up. He gives us a squinty eyed little smile and sticks his hand out with thumbs up anytime he does something good or is helpful. I have no idea where it came from but I absolutely love it.

He’s all about the negotiating lately.  He’ll ask for candy or another drink of juice and when if I say no he’ll say, “how ’bout just a wittle tiny dwink.” Or if it’s time to brush teeth or get dressed or do something he always has to negotiate and do it his way. I know it’s good for him at this age to make his own decisions so I’m always trying to pick my battles and allow him that freedom as much as possible.  But it’s such a balance because we need him to listen to us too of course. And he’s so strong willed. If he’s determined to do something now, he’s going to do it. He’ll just argue and argue and argue with us. Thankfully most of the time we are stronger willed but it’s just so different from Angel. She’s so tender hearted and we barely have to say anything for her to obey us (most of the time).  I just pray that God will use his strong willed personality to do great things for Him!

He and Angel play like best buds and fight like cats and dogs. Most of the time they fight. Oh my goodness it’s exhausting most every day.  And we have many many opportunities to teach about sharing and caring and “hugs not slugs” and loving each other and being kind to each other and please Lord I hope they will eventually get this.

Caleb loves cars and trucks, super heros, especially Spider man, Diego, baseball, football, “hi-ya” (karate), soccer and anything else that involves kicking, hitting, wrestling, running, fighting and just in general being a busy crazy little boy.  We were going to enroll him in a tae kwon do class when he turned three but I think we’ll wait until next Fall. He still gets pretty shy around people he doesn’t know and this Spring will already bring alot of change with me going back to school.  We are excited for the Summer though as we’re going to get him involved with t-ball and he’s so excited about that.

For awhile Caleb loved to take a shower but now he prefers taking a bath.  He still does a really good job of brushing his teeth and since investing in battery operated toothbrushes he’s been doing it all by himself.  I thought I was crazy for spending $5 on those toothbrushes but they are so worth it. Even Angel is brushing her teeth now.

He usually wakes up about 6:30 am and if he takes a nap it’s 9-9:30 pm before he’s ready for bed and most of the time sleeps through the night. If he doesn’t take a nap bedtime is 8-8:30 pm.  We are still transitioning out of naps so it’s not really consistent. He’s been sick lately so he’s been sleeping alot but I would say in the next few months he’ll probably outgrow his nap all together. Which will actually be nice because 9:30 pm is just too late for bedtime and then me and the Daddy don’t have much time to ourselves before Daddy is ready for bed!  If he does nap later in the day and we end up waking him up he is the crankiest little boy I’ve ever seen. So we are really trying to avoid those later naps because it’s just better for everyone!

As much as Caleb is growing up so fast, he really is still my baby boy. He loves loves loves to cuddle and I know the day will come when that won’t be the case. (Que tears.) He makes us laugh every single day. He also tries our patience every single day. But I guess that’s what they call the joy of parenting!

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