Callum's 18 Months Old

My teensy baby officially turned 18 months old on the 25th.  That's a full year and a half, people.  A year.  And a half.  sigh.

It's incredible how much of a baby he still seems to me while I remember thinking Everett was so grown up at this age.  It's not that they're developmentally different, it's just that I think I've learned to cherish the baby days more.  When Everett was 18 months old, I got pregnant with Callum, for goodness' sake.  That's not happening.  lol.

Our little guy is growing up faster than I'd prefer, but he's darn cute while doing it at least.  He  has at least one new word per day right now.  Apple, baby, plane, bird, Catie, Abigail, donkey, hungry, etc.
He runs, he jumps, he rides his scoot bike (but not on the seat, little nut job), he climbs ladders and slides down slides, he walks up and down stairs on two feet, and tackles his brother.  He loves to pick every flower he sees and give it to me, saying "pretty!"  He finally just started to really enjoy reading books even if it is only for a few minutes.  He is still completely obsessed with tractors, but has also added trains to his list of acceptable items to calm him down.

He still likes his nuks, but not if he's upset.  He uses them to sleep and doesn't like to get rid of them when he wakes up, but we're working on it.  Since they have no effect to calm him when he's upset, he doesn't ever have them during the day in public.  And I'm ok with him still having them for sleeping.  He's still a baby who still sleeps in a crib and doesn't have any verbal delays or attachment issues, so we're going with the flow.

He's just the sweetest, funniest little boy who loves his daddy and brother more than anything (he's pretty keen on his mama too) and we cherish him so much.

My Week in Instagram (from last week)

While Callum and I were home alone, I maaaay have taken a few instagram shots.

Callum riding his "bah!"...Eating oatmeal and quite happy about it...Just me and my little guy 

 Watching the rain...riding on Rody...hanging with uncles

 Callum's new soft "trac-t00!"...18 month old riding a bike...watching The Lorax

The boys and their e-toys...Watching tv while standing is the only way to go

Just Callum

Day 1 of "Vacation"

Brian and Everett left this morning by 7:30, headed to the Boundary Waters with three other adults and three other children.  After helping them off, I promptly went back to bed until Callum woke up at 8:30.  We spent our morning in pajamas and then went on a five mile run.  We had to take a very strange route as there is construction all over the place, but I managed a full five, so we're good!
After some lunch, Cally took his nap and I lounged.  It was blissfully quiet except for neighborhood kiddos giggling and yelling outside.  We played outside, visited with nana and kids, and then picked up some freezer pizza for dinner.
After Callum went to bed, I decided that before I nommed some oreos, I'd better check out why only one fish went after food today.  THEN, I got to spend a good ten minutes fishing a dead fish out of the tank (down to one).  Fish are awesome, eh?  THEN, I ate my oreos.  Just finishing up some vampire diaries and it will be time for bed.

My Week in Instagram

Callum checking out Auntie Christy playing piano...Everett and Coconut...Auntie Nell and Coconut

Boys watching "trac-toooooos!"...........mama snack

Blah...May have over-gathered for camping trip...Helpful big brother

Pre-school 2012

I have officially decided that Everett is ready to start pre-school.  Not the, I'm going to spend my money to send you off to someone less educated than myself for 3 hours/day 3 days/week kind of pre-school, but the serious, organized, mama-made pre-school.  Not to deny the legitimacy of those pre-schools; I understand their value, but when I'm being a stay at home mama and I have a degree in education, it's kind of silly for me to not just buckle down and do it myself.

I've been reading on the 1+1+1=1 blog and I adore her recent post on her classroom (if only I had that kind of money!), but would also love any other suggestions of online resources.

I think E finally has his color's figured out and he can actually count (when he wants to), so I'm planning on starting with the alphabet.  He can recognize and write the letters E and C, so I'll probably start with those and then go back to the beginning and create a large visual on the wall.

Tonight, the plan is to figure out where all this pre-schooling will take place.  (The sitting down part, obvs we'll be learning as we go to playgroups, parks, and run errands as always too.)
So, wish me luck, ambition and anything else you can think of to wish me.  Just not bad things.  I don't like bad things.

In other news, we had a house showing today with the buyers deciding they still preferred another house to ours.  Apparently they liked the lightness and spaciousness of our house and appreciated the new garage, but our yard was too small.  Mmmmmkay.....

In other other news, I've been having an internal debate over creating a new blog.  Like actually trying to make a less personal, more frequent blog that has more than an ice cube's chance in Texas of making some money.   I just can't decide if it's worth it or not though.  And if I could actually get myself to sit down and really go through with it.  Obviously, I am not the greatest at frequent blogging and such.  So the internal debate will continue...

Little Sickies

Since Sunday morning, the boys have just been off.  Everett's been running a fever of 100-102 and Callum's not far behind.  They've both been lethargic and cranky and it's just been sad.  Callum was up at 9:30 and 1:15 last night, screaming his head off and appearing that he was trying to crawl out of his skin.  They are remarkably better this morning, but I think we'll still head in to the clinic to make sure everything's ok since Callum still has a rash on his belly and a blister above his lip.
Evidence of the abnormality in our house from yesterday afternoon when Everett hit his 102 degree point:

(Note the ever-present tractor.)

And now today?  Life is back to normal.  The boys are currently sitting on the recliner together, rocking like crazy and giggling.

And Everett drew a picture of me!!!!  Isn't it lovely????

And there's Callum!

Behind on recording the boringness

I blame several sources for my lapse in blogging recently.
1. The iPad.  Since purchasing the addictive little life changer, I have used my laptop maybe five times.  That's all fine and dandy except that typing on an iPad is kind of different than using a real live keyboard and, honestly, I'm pretty bad at it.
2. I've been kind of occupied recently by this whole trying to sell a house situation.  And since broadcasting too much personal detail on a public blog is not such the greatest idea, I haven't really blogged about that.
3. I'm boring.
Then I was told that people don't care about my life anyway and they really just want to hear about the namesakes of the blog.  Well fine then.
Everett:  the three year old has been pretty good lately.  He has his super sweet and helpful moments and the he has his "oh hi, I'm three and didn't you realize that upon reaching the age of three, children do their darnedest to imitate schizophrenic demons?"
The cutest thing lately: Callum will call out, "eh-bet!" and Everett will obviously realize that his brother is calling him and call back, "what, cow-um?".  And then I die from cute.
Callum: he is starting to learn about tantrums.  Oh yay.  They are very very rare and only when he's really tired, so that's nice at least.  Most of the time, he's a sweetie who loves to clean up toys and help out.  He's still loving the idea of going "pah-pee.". Unfortunately, this only involves sitting on the toilet, pretending to flush, and hopping off.  Eh, you win some, you lose some, right?
The cutest thing younger spawn is doing: he will lean his head into your face, waiting for a kiss and once he receives one, he will stand back and clap.  Whether it is applause for you for being able to understand him and give him what he wants or he is just pleased with himself for getting a smooch, doesn't really matter because it's awesome either way.  Even better?  When he's clapping, he's totally straight faced.  Love that kid.
Ok, that's all I can muster tonight.  Happy, family members who complain?  :)