18 Months!!

Calin

18 Months!
(A little late)

Our very enthused boy to have to sit through another photo session...
don't mind the messy hair, we had not gotten to combing it yet. 

Weight: 23.44 lbs. (18%)

Height: 33.46 in. (82%)

Head: 18.1 in. (9%)

Every day Calin amazes us with how much he knows, how many things he can say, the new things he can do, and how smart he is.  Of course, we may be a little partial, but I am quite positive that Calin's verbal skills are quite advanced.  We are definitely proud parents and are grateful that we are able to spend so much time with Calin and help him to learn and grow.

Here are some things about Calin right now:

-He can say pretty much any word you ask him to.  Although it may not sound perfect, it is usually pretty close.

-He talks A LOT on his own and uses many two and three word phrases.  His first was probably "cool cars", but now I could not even list all the combinations he says.  He often surprises me as he puts things together on his own and uses it.  Sometimes it is repeating something we have said recently or before, but other times he puts words together on his own.  An example of something he says a lot is "mommy/daddy badroom, right back".   Another example was when we left Robby's work one day after a lunch date on the way home he kept saying "Daddy more working".  I definitely need to get a journal handy soon because I can tell that he is going to start saying lots more creative and funny things.

-He does not like it when Robby or I go to the bathroom.  He gets very concerned and sad and wants us to come back.  Even if I leave the door open, he is still a little distraught.  He really just loves having mom and dad around.

-He can say all of his colors and can identify colors correctly probably about half the time.

-He can say his numbers and is learning to count.  He knows what one and two are and will often say "two cars" or "two crayons" etc.  When we count to 10 with him he can sometimes say the next number and when we say 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 he ends with 10 on his own.

-He can say lots of shapes and knows circle, triangle, and oval.  Circle is his favorite thing to color.

-He has started loving to color and often requests his "bans" (crayons).

-He is now identifying animals not just by their sounds, but by their names too.  Some animals he still just does the sound, but has often started saying the names first or instead.

-He knows the names of all his aunts and uncles and cousins and uses them most of the time.  He does occasionally get mixed up, but most of the time is correct.

-Grandma has progressed from "mama" to more of "gahma".  Grandpa is still "bapa".

-He still LOVES to play with cars and that is usually the first thing he requests to do in the morning when he wakes up.  It is usually pretty hard to pull him away to get breakfast, get dressed, change his diaper, etc.   He knows the names of many of his cars and usually refers to them by name.  Some of his favorites are his "big truck" (holiday truck),  chevy, and mustang.  Robby and Calin have been enjoying all of their holiday edition hot wheels cars for most of December.   Calin especially likes racing them on the track around the tree.

-Enjoys building with duplos and has started building structures on his own and putting the duplos together.

-Has learned a lot of Christmas songs and books as part of the Christmas season.  Robby has been so excited about Christmas and has taught Calin a lot.  It has been really fun!  He knows a lot of songs and will sing along.  We will sing and then he will finish the line for us.  He started doing parts of the songs on his own like "frosty snowman, happy jolly soul".  We have tried to get this on video, but of course as soon as the camera comes out, he stops performing!  Other songs he learned are "Rudolph" (he would always sing "nose reindeer shiny nose"), "When Santa Got Stuck up The Chimney",  "Up on the House Top",  "Santa Claus is Coming to Town",  "Jingle Bells", "We wish You A Merry Christmas".   He also "reads" parts of the books with us.  His best one was "The Night Before Christmas".

-Often tells us when he has a dirty "peeyew" diaper.  He does this the most when he is dirty in the morning or when waking up for a nap.  However, when we ask him if he is "peeyew" while he is playing he usually says "no" or "otay" (I'm ok) meaning he's not, which is not always correct.

-Started nursery and has been a few times now.  He is not loving being left (big shocker there) but we are hoping it will get better!

-Sometimes says prayers with our help at dinner.  He is usually really good during prayer for meals and folds his arms nicely the whole time.  Does not like to sit still or help with prayers before bedtime though.  He is usually good to go sit down and fold his arms, but it only lasts about 5-10 seconds.  We say fast prayers around here! ;)  At church this last Sunday he decided that the prayer was too long and said "amin" about 8 times hoping to help them along.  It was pretty funny.  My mom and I were both laughing.

-Knows who Jesus is and will say His name when we point to pictures.  He has also been good to identify baby Jesus this Christmas.

-Loves to read books on his own, help read books, or just listen to books read to him.  I often find him sitting at his table in his room or on the floor in the living room reading a book, magazine, or book or coupons to himself.  So proud of our little reader!

-Still eats pretty much everything and loves to have the same food we are having on our plates.  He can pretty much have everything we have, but we do have to be careful with a few things that are still hard to chew.

-Has 10 teeth.  4 on top, 4 on bottom, and 2 molars.

-Has moved to one nap a day around 12:30-1:30 depending on how the morning goes.  His nap length varies anywhere from 45 minutes to 2+ hours.  Most of the time it is about an hour to hour and a half.  He goes to sleep really fast most of the time as long as I hang out in his room while he falls asleep. Bedtime is about the same but he is sleeping much better and usually doesn't wake up at until sometimes between 6:30-7:30.  He still likes to have his pacifier to sleep with but rarely ever wants it any other time of the day unless he sees it and is already tired or not feeling good.

-He did not enjoy his 18 month trip to the doctor.  He totally knew what was going on and was very distraught and concerned the whole time.  Thank goodness that's the last shot until Kindergarten booster shots!!

-Does not like it when his hands are dirty unless he is outside playing in the dirt.  When he is eating, if he gets a bunch of stuff on his hands he asks for a "napem" (napkin) and wants to you to "wipe it" or "keen" (clean).

-He loves to help clean and do jobs for us.  He is usually very good to help pick up toys and "put them back".  He also loves to take things to the garbage.  He will often find something that he thinks is garbage and go take it on his own and say "garbage" on his way.   Usually it is garbage, but I do have to check to make sure.  A few times it has not been something to throw away.  He also love to help "dutting" (dusting).  I hope this love of "chores" sticks around!

-Does NOT like pictures and will immediately stop anything cute and give no smiles for pictures, even if we try hidden camera methods.  We did manage some cute pictures with Robby's help once he got home, but as you can see he was not going to sit still or help at all!

-He is very snuggly and loving.  He will often come and give a "big hug" for no reason and I love it!! Some mornings he will also come and snuggle with me and Robby in bed after he wakes up and we love that too.   Mostly we just love Calin and all the joy he brings to our life!

Crazy Start to December!!

We started the week off with a busy Monday night.  As soon as Robby got home from work we had to run to Costco to do some Christmas present investigations.  Then we hurried home for dinner and then went over to the Washington City tree lighting for just a few minutes before we headed over to Tracee and Austin's for cousin Becca's birthday party.  

Monday night my throat started to hurt and so began my week of sickness.  Tuesday morning we woke up to SNOW.  I was not feeling great, but knew I needed to get Calin outside to play in it!  We both bundled up to stay dry and warm and went out to play.  We attempted a snow man, but could not get the snow to stay packed enough to build one.  I tried just scooping it into a pile and packing it, but as soon as I started to make progress Calin would trample it. He was just having fun exploring.  

Making "snow balls." 

"Throwing snow balls"

Tramping around in his "boots". 

Happy to be outside! 

He wanted to swing, so he tried brushing the snow off.  It just went all over him.  He gave up pretty fast on swinging. 

After about 45 minutes outside he started to want me to carry him everywhere.  It was pretty cold still and so we both went inside to warm up.  I was glad he got cold so I could go in and rest a little bit from the freezing! Tuesday I really started to feel miserable with my throat and got a fever.  I thought I was just catching the cold that Calin had had and then given to Robby.  So I ignored it and thought it would just turn into a stuffy nose.  It didn't...(more on that later)

Wednesday was busy with more work on the basement, lunch with Robby to get Calin out of the house, and then very unsuccessful tub shopping with Robby that afternoon and evening.  

Thursday brought another day of basement work and Calin and I went out to try some more places for tubs and were finally successful! Robby and I went to his faculty Christmas party that night and left Calin (still sick and with no nap) at Grandma and Grandpa Comeford's to play with the cousins.  By Thursday I was pretty miserable and really didn't want to be out and had a hard time eating anyways, so I was not thrilled about being at Robby's faculty party. They did have a cool group perform some Mexican dancing though that was fun to watch.  By the time we got home, and got our poor tired and sad Calin (he cried most of the time we were gone), I was really miserable.  That night I went to insta care thinking it was strep throat.  The nurse and the doctor did too (I had had fevers all week and my throat was really red and swollen with lots of white puss pockets) but the strep test came back negative.  That was a relief cause I was worried about Calin and Robby getting it.  Now I am on antibiotics and slowly feeling better.  Thankfully the fevers have been gone for a couple days now and I can eat without feeling so nauseous and so much pain.  

Friday was rough because I had just started taking the antibiotic but was still feeling pretty sick.  Robby was really busy though trying to get some more stuff out of our basement to take to the dump and over to store at my grandmas barn. Calin and I tried to stay out of the way, but Calin just wanted to hang out with dad and see what he was doing.  It was a long day for all of us!  

Saturday we had another long list of things that needed to get done, but it started snowing in the morning and didn't stop all day long!!! Robby and Calin took advantage of light (er) snow in the morning and the better snowman snow and made a snowman over in grandma and grandpa's yard.  (our yard is covered in snow and leaves since our leaves had not come down yet but came down with the snow and we have not been able to clean them up cause the snow hadn't melted and now there is more!!) I took advantage of some time to take a nap since I was still not feeling super.  I was sad not to be outside with them, but glad to give my body a little extra rest time!  Robby caught these great pictures: 

Hugs!! 

During Calin's nap we finally got our tree decorated.  We have had the tree up and the lights on for a week, but had not had a chance to decorate.  Since we couldn't get the things done we needed to outside we decorated instead.  Calin woke up and went right to the tree to check things out!  Nothing is going to stay on the tree...He is already loving pulling off those shiny balls!! Oh well!

That afternoon we headed to Gracie's dance recital.  Calin did much better than expected and sat and watched several of the dances before getting restless.  When we came out of the recital we were surprised to see quite a bit more snow on our cars than when we went in an hour before.  The roads were covered with inches of snow, it was dark, and St. George was totally unprepared.  There are no snow plows, no salters, no one has snow shovels or brushes for their cars, etc.  Needless to say it was a disaster here! We headed over to Hollie and Jimmy's to have dinner and then by the time we headed home the snow had slowed down quite a bit and the roads were pretty dead so it was not too bad driving.  The roads were still snowy and icy though and so we were not surprised to find out when we got home that they were canceling all church meetings today.  Wahoo!! It was nice to know I would have another day to relax and have Robby home to help take care of Calin so I could maybe continue getting better.  

It has been a great day playing with Calin in our pajamas, helping Grandma and Grandpa Comeford get their tree up in their living room, watching a movie with Robby while Calin napped, visiting Tracee (she broke her arm falling on their driveway last night on her way to the recital and had to have surgery), watching the Christmas devotional, catching up on the blog, and enjoying some hot chocolate!   Glad for the rare beautiful snow in St. George and for the nice day to be home on a Sunday together as a family.  

Finishing the Basement...

With the addition of our new little one coming in March we needed to create some more space, organize, and declutter what is down in the basement.  It has pretty much been a dumping ground for all of Robby and I's stuff.  We have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF.  This will be good to help us get everything organized and cleaned up.  It will also be FANTASTIC to have the basement finished.  

Originally we wanted to do a lot of the work on our own and hire out the jobs we couldn't do.  However, as we got into the details we I realized that that was going to be way too overwhelming and time consuming and drive me crazy.  So we have hired someone and even with him I am still going to go crazy.  We have only been going for about two weeks and I am already sick of all this.  Steve is our main contractor and the one who is here everyday.  Thankfully it is only one guy most of the time but it sounds like his help is going to start being around this coming week and we have a lot of work coming up this week which means LOTS of people in and out of the house.  I didn't realize how much I enjoyed my quiet house for Calin and I to enjoy by ourselves until it was invaded.  Plus, I am doing a lot more organizing and calling than I thought I would do.  But, it will be done soon and it will be great!! 

Right when you come downstairs-this will be the family room.

The hallway with a bedroom straight ahead and another to the left.   A bathroom to the left and storage room to the right. 

The storage room. 

The back bedroom. 

The bathroom looking at it from where the other bedroom will be.  

View into the bedroom from the bathroom doorway.  

Here's to hoping the rest of this goes smoothly and we don't have too many more problems pop up than what has already come up in the last two weeks!! The last two weeks I have felt like I am on the Love It or List It show but only on the Love It side.  There's the lady (I don't remember her name) that comes in and does all the remodels in the house and she always comes to the family several times with hiccups and problems that are going to cost more money.  Yeah, that's how I have felt the last two weeks have gone.  Hiccups and more problems than expected.  Let's hope that part of this ends soon and we can just get the work done and have a finished basement!!

Calin's First Haircut

Robby has been obsessed with Calin's hair for the past few months and has been bugging me to let him cut his hair.  At first I said no way! However, once we got into November I did start to notice his hair getting pretty scraggly.  So I told Robby we could cut it.  I just love his handsome blonde locks and didn't want to see any of it go.  Very silly I know.

So, we finally had a chance last Saturday night.  Robby was sure he could do it himself which I thought would be fine since we were just trimming it all down and not trying to do any special style or anything.  I was still a little skeptical, but it all worked out just fine.

A week or two before the haircut...hair sticking out all over! 

What are you guys doing to me??!! 

This shows his hair hanging over his ear.  This drove Robby crazy!! I also love his very concerned face.  

He wasn't sure what was going on, but he sat very nicely for the whole haircut. 

He found mom's mascara and that kept him entertained for part of the haircut (mascara was closed).

The hair.  It doesn't look like much in this picture but I was surprised at how much we cut off! 

Playing in the tub after. 

Handsome new do! 

Love our handsome happy boy! 

I was so worried about cutting his hair, but it turned out very cute and is now a lot more even and no longer scraggly.  Robby did a great job and now I don't have to hear about the hair hanging over his ears. :)

Technically we did "trim" a few of Calin's hairs a few months ago but this was his first actual hair cut.