First Teeth!

Caleb, our mover and shaker, has erupted two teeth in the last week. Along with these teeth he's hit another milestone as I have started feeding him some vegetables with our dinner. Caleb's thrilled about this. If we happen to be eating as we hold him he tracks our food as we eat it, watching with an open mouth, leaning toward the spoon, grabbing at it, making mealtimes very messy. So now he has his own little meals (he eats sans clothing, so I don't run out of stain remover) as we all eat dinner together.

Noah has also tried to get into the act. I caught him trying to share his juice the other morning as I made my coffee. I looked over and Caleb was in the exer-saucer with a straw in his mouth as Noah held up the juice box for him. It's like they are in cahouts. Last week Noah took a chicken finger to the coffee table and left it there as I was clearing the table in the dining room. When I came back from dropping off dishes in the kitchen I found Caleb gnawing on the chicken finger. The little sneak had crawled over to the coffee table, pulled himself up, grabbed the chicken and began gnawing away. Of course, when I exclaimed, "Caleb, what..?" he turned and lost his balance. The left-over chicken went to Henry and I had to explain to Noah (for the hundredth time) that he can't leave his food on the coffee table. Caleb...well, he had a guilty look on his face, but as far a lectures go, I decided to save my breath for his teenage years.

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?