Transitions Since Christmas

As Christmas approached, Noah began to talk about Santa. I'm still not entirely sure where his information was coming from, but as I drove him home from daycare a couple of weeks before Christmas he began chatting in small sentences about "Santa coming" and "eating cookies". I told him yes, that Santa was coming and he would come to our house and eat cookies and leave Noah and Caleb some presents. I was then told "No," this would not happen because, "Santa is scary monster."

Well, here we are into January and Noah is still talking about Santa. He has really captured Noah's imagination and now that Noah has seen how he brings presents, we have decided that perhaps he isn't such a scary monster after all. This whole issue was greatly helped when Santa came to Grandma B's house. While upstairs in Aunt Kristen's bedroom Noah heard Santa enter the house, exclaim "Merry Christmas" and "Ho, Ho, Ho!" Then the front door shut as Santa continued on his rounds. When Noah came down, presents were gathered around the fireplace. Noah was very impressed by all of this and insists that Santa is coming again sometime soon, though we keep explaining that Santa is currently on vacation in the Bahamas for a few months.

Caleb, for his part, is currently very busy putting his crawling skills to use by chasing down any toy Noah leaves on the floor. Keeping up with both of them has become a big job, since Caleb no longer stays in one place when we set him down. Of course, Caleb can't quite keep up with Noah and this seems to frustrate him at times when he sees Noah leave a room without him. He calms down when we all sit on the floor and play together and I get glimpses of how much fun this will be in a few years when the boys can play together instead of just side-by-side.

Noah has also made a major transition over Christmas and New Years...he now sleeps in a his big boy bed. Noah got sheets and blankets (along with wall stickers and a lamp) with cars and trucks on them from Grandma and Grandpa Sam for Christmas. He calls it his car bed and it took only two nights to get him to stay in it for the night when he goes to bed. He has also had mixed success taking his naps in this bed as well. Of course, Travis and I are really excited and proud of this transition. The crib remains in his room for now, but will soon be in use by Caleb as I transition him out of my bed. The whole thing has gone fairly well, but most importantly, Noah wakes up in a much better mood. He enjoys being able to get out of bed when he wants to in the morning, rather than us coming to lift him out of the crib. His smiling face as he opens the hall door and comes running into the living room in the morning really brightens those days when I have been up with Caleb since 5 am. Now, if only potty training could go this smoothly.

Brothers

Caleb has begun crawling. I think he is just trying to keep up with Noah, but he sure is progressing quickly. Just a couple of weeks ago he was scooting like an inchworm, but last night all three of us watched as he lifted his belly off the floor and coordinated his legs and arms to make his way across his playmat, chasing down one of Noah's trucks. Caleb's goals seem to be to get as many of Noah's toys in his mouth as possible, so crawling has become a large part of those plans.

For his part, Noah is pretty good natured about having to share. If Caleb has one of Noah's toys, Noah will go get one to trade. So far this works, since Caleb is happy with any toy he can put in his mouth. Of course, Caleb's new mobility has meant that we have to pay special attention to keeping track of crayons and the small farm animals that wander across our carpet.

Noah has really proven himself to be a great big brother and has shown an intuitive knowledge of what infants need. The other day I had trouble getting Caleb to settle down and I could not figure out what was wrong. He was fussing and crying, would not eat and I knew he was tired. Noah came up as I tried to rock an upset Caleb and told me, with a very matter-of-fact look on his face, "Caleb crying." "Yes," I replied, "Caleb is sleepy and he is having trouble going to sleep." Noah reached over on to the table beside the rocking chair and grabbed the pacifier that had laid there, ignored in my attempts to settle the crying baby. "Caleb paci," Noah said as he aimed for Caleb's open mouth. Sure enough, Caleb took the pacifier and immediately settled down, closing his eyes and fell asleep. Now why didn't mommy think of that?

Noah's Second Birthday

Time has been moving so quickly. Noah is now two! Of course, if you ask him how old he is he will tell you he is three...and I'm not sure why that is. I suspect it's just his favorite number. This is the same child who loves to point at clocks and demand, "Mommy, see ABC's." I have explained many times that those are numbers, but that's a whole other story.

Between Halloween and his birthday, Noah has had an exciting two weeks and enjoys wandering around the house yelling "trick or treat" and "happy birthday" with equally happy abandon. For Halloween he was a dinosaur. On Halloween, it took a while to get out the door (Travis was gone for a couple of weeks for work, so everything look longer during this time) and at the first house he studied the candy for what felt like ages before picking one out of the bowl. After the second house he stopped halfway to the sidewalk and looked in his pumpkin bucket and then up at me. "More," he smiled, "more Halloween!"

His birthday was equally exciting this year. Now he knows: birthday=cake. For Noah, this sums up everything. Oh, and the presents! We kept things small again this year

This year I have begun to realize that between Halloween and his birthday on November 15th, Noah has a two week stretch of sweets and being spoiled. Our house is officially in detox from candy, cakes and presents. I staged an intervention on Sunday after Noah's birthday party when he demanded cake for breakfast and, when that tantrum failed, began pleading for a sucker. As the voice of reason, I tried to convince him these were terrible breakfasts and (evil person that I am) ignored his demands, giving him a banana. Well, he told me it was trash and promptly threw his banana and bowl in the trash. We had the same fight at lunch, same results, but this time he just dumped the food in the trash and set the plate on the floor. See, progress. (Ha!)

Caleb, for his part, is taking off. The other day I set him on his playmat on the floor while I went to get Noah a bowl of cereal and by the time I returned a minute later he had scooted forward a whole body length. I have a feeling that he will be a full-fledged crawler by the end of January. Noah is already telling him, "watch Caleb" and demonstrating the finer points of moving on his hands an knees. The two of them make quite a pair. I'm sure they'll be ganging up on me in no time.