Caleb got sick this weekend.

Actually... not just Caleb.  Caleb AND Bruiser.  Let's say there was alot of puke and poop to clean up this weekend.  And Mom-mom and Daddy did not get much sleep either Saturday or Sunday.

Anywho, I knew there was a correlation between school and Caleb being around lots of other kids and eventually having him get sick more often. 

I just didn't think it would occur instantaneously. 

I mean, he just started school on Tuesday and by Sunday he was sick.

Well this time around, I got some pitiful but cute photos I thought I'd share.

It was really only a 24 hour bug, but we stayed home and snuggled on Monday... which this Mama greatly enjoyed.  Kids just never snuggle like they do when they're sick. 

And while I never want Caleb to be sick... I'll enjoy the snuggles as much as I can when he is.

When I got to school to pick up Caleb, I got an excited and happy "HI MOM!"

The kids had just come in from a walk over to the park accross the street.  It was pretty cold out, so they were ALL BUNDLED UP and looking pretty cute. 

Caleb was rosy cheeked and grinning ear to ear.

"I go to PARK!" he declared.

"You did?!?  That sounds like fun!" I responded.

"Mom, I show you bunnies!" was his next command.  Nevermind that he was still in snowboots and snowpants and mittens and a hat.  Nevermind that the floor was covered in little wriggling bodies as the kids took off their winter outdoor clothing that I had to carefully pick my way through. 

Caleb wanted to show me the bunnies!

I slowed him down and told him that first we had to get out of the borrowed snowpants, gloves and hat (naughty mom... forgot to pack his super cold weather gear on his first day).  As I was stripping him down, I was asking him if he had a good time (answer: "mmmhmmmm") and if he had a good time playing with his friends (answer: "mmmmhmmmm"). 

Then I asked "Are you ready to go home and have lunch with Brenna?"

He burst into tears.  "I no go home eat lunch!  I want eat lunch at school!  MOM, I WANT GO SCHOOOOOOOOL!"

I had to reassure him repeatedly that he would, in fact, come back to school before he calmed down.

By that time, we had the many layers removed and were dressed in our normal clothes again. 

And he got to show me the bunnies.  There were 2 bunnies visiting for the day.  I walked over to the cage and pretended to be very impressed with those handsome bunnies. 

But he was already looking at another cage.

"Look Mom!  More bunnies!" he declared.

He pulled me over to show me.  I looked into the cage and said "oh, no hunny, those are guinea pigs, not bunnies."

He looked at me with an "obviously you are soooo stupid mom" look on his face and said "Pigs?  No, bunnies."

Apparently those were not pigs.  OBVIOUSLY.  And I have to agree, Guinea Pigs do look more like bunnies than pigs.  Kids are pretty smart sometimes.

Today, I dropped you off at your first day of pre-school.

You were a little wary. 

When we were driving there and talking about it, you told me you were "gonna see teecher" and "sing songs".

But when we pulled up in front of the school, you quietly said "I no want to see teecher."

I pasted on my big smile and asked "You don't want to see your teacher?  Why not?  She's going to sing songs with you, and read stories, and do work with you.  You're going to have so much fun!" 

I think you could tell I was faking being excited, because you gave me a look that said "I don't know if I believe you."

It's wasn't that I was telling a lie.  I think you are going to LOVE preschool.  But... in my mind, you are still my baby boy.  And it it makes me a little sad that you are officially old enough to go to preschool.  When did that happen?  When did you get that old?  Where did my baby go?

We went inside and saw Miss Nancy, the teacher you met last week.  You hid your face against my leg when she said hello.  We walked in, found your little cubby and got your coat all hung up.

Then you finally looked around and remembered!  This place with all the toys!  And we spent a few minutes playing with cars and buildings.  You met your first friend, another little boy.

Then... all the other children seemingly came at once.  It went from being you and one other boy to EVERYONE. 

And you were torn.  LOOK AT ALL THOSE KIDS!  ALL THOSE POTENTIAL FRIENDS!

You wanted to go be a big kid like those other children and sit down on the rug for circle time... but you were nervous and shy.

Miss Amy, your other teacher, held your hand and I said a fast goodbye and told you I'd be back later.  You gave me a confused look and then gave Miss Amy a hug and sat down on the rug next to her.  I was so proud that you didn't cry... but a little part of my heart broke that you didn't even notice when I left.

I'm used to being Mom-mom, the center of your universe.  Your best friend.  The person you love more than anyone else in the whole world... although Dad is a very close second now.

I'm sitting here at work now, watching the clock, counting down the minutes until I go pick you up.  I hope you're having fun.  I hope you're being a good boy for your teachers.  I hope you're not scared or missing me. 

In less than 30 minutes, I will find out.  I will go pick you up from school and get a big hug and get to hear all about your adventures.

I can't wait!

In exactly 5 days, Caleb will start pre-school.

PRE-SCHOOL!

Uhhhh, when did that happen?  When did my son suddenly become grown up enough for preschool?!??!

I mean... seriously.  Is he hold enough for this? 

Caleb turns three in exactly 1 month.  And here in Minnesota, a child is eligible for preschool at 33 months.  Caleb has been trying to tell me for awhile that he's ready.  Since Christmas, he keeps asking if he can go see his friends (Kaylee and Colby are his buddies).  Just a month ago he started asking if could come to work with me.

You know, subtle hints that he wants to get the hell out of the house and socialize more often...

So, with the addition of a new nanny (aka my sister in law), we also decided to enroll Caleb in preschool.

I looked at quite a few in our area.  And by "looked at" I mean I called and asked "how many kids are in the class?!?!?"  And if they said anything over 10, I immediately hung up.  Because 10+ toddlers in a classroom scares me.

At least that was the case until I called the Montessori Learning Center in North Mankato.  I didn't think they had any openings, but I figured I'd call and see.

AND THEY DID!

Then I found out how many kids they have in the program... and my heart sank.  They have 18! 

I decided to go check it out anyways.  I mean, if you're a parent, the word "Montessori" is whispered about in all the mom's groups.  It's name is said with a quiet reverence. 

Or maybe that's just me.

The Montessori Method, created by Maria Montessori a long time ago, basically says that if we teach children how to do things on their own and allow them the freedom to explore and learn in their own way, they learn faster.

Instead of one size fits all education, it's "guided" by the teacher but the child gets to choose their task and what they want to learn. 

Sounds complicated right?

I thought the same thing.  I read about it, but couldn't picture how this worked in real life.  I mean how can anyone give 18 students enough attention to help them learn if they are all doing different tasks?

Then I went to the center to observe.  And it was amazing!

The children came in, hung up their coats and went to the circle rug for circle time.  They sang 2 songs and read a story (about 15 min of time).  Then they were dismissed to go to "work".  Each child quietly chose their task, sat down at one of the many desks/tables and got to work. 

I was mystified. 

I was mostly overwhelmed with the sense that it did not feel like there were 18 children in that class.  There were, I counted them.  But it didn't feel that way because it wasn't constant, overwhelming noise or movement.  It was calm, focused learning.

I won't say every child was as focused as the others.  Some needed to change activities more often than others.  But this means the older children, who have longer attention spans, could work on an activity for as long as they wanted/needed to.  And the younger children could move from task to task, as their attention spans are shorter.

The teachers moved about the room, talking to each child for a moment or two, sometimes sitting down to show them how to do a new task, and then moving on to another child. 

I pretty much knew, then and there, that's where I wanted Caleb to be. 

So, Caleb starts school next Tuesday. 

We've been talking about it, trying to get him prepared for the change that is to come.

Every time I say "Caleb, in X days, you're going to go to school!"  He responds with a "YAAAAAYYYY!  School!"  He is excited to make friends and "do work".  He is excited to sing songs and read books.  He is generally just excited at the entire idea of school.

Except for one thing.

Today, I reminded him that Mom-mom cannot go to school with him, and he cried.  Which made me feel a little better about my little boy being so grown up.  He still needs his mom mom!

Anywho, I'm sure I will take pictures on his first day.  Probably copious amounts of pictures.  Be prepared!

It's my birthday!

Guess what Caleb got me?  Go ahead, guess!

He got me puke! 

Wasn't that sweet of him?

Caleb has only seriously vomited once in his life.  It was when we were in Iowa visiting family.  It was about 45 minutes before church.  One puke.  Then done.  I think he did it so he wouldn't have to go to church that day (we all had those days as kids when we pretended to be sick to play hookie from church... admit it!).

But yesterday afternoon marks the first time in his almost 3 years that Caleb has ever had the flu.  He's had colds.  Minor fevers.  But never ever the puking flu.

So last night, as my very first 31st birthday gift, Caleb gave me vomit.  I got to get up a few times last night to change his sheets, wipe the puke off him, give him a kiss and lay him back down to try to sleep some more.

And he was up at 5 this morning as a extra special bonus gift.

I love my baby boy and I'm honestly not bothered by this in the least, I just feel bad he's not feeling good.  There is nothing sadder than a sick toddler saying "Mom-mom, my tummy hurt."

In a perfect world, my birthday would involve a happy, healthy little boy, maybe a trip to a restaurant as a family and a little swimming at the YMCA after (the most fun you can have with a toddler... EVER). 

But since this world isn't quite perfect, I'll go home, take care of my tired, "tummy hurt" little boy, hopefully get some sweet snuggles and call it an early night.  And even if my night is as vomit filled as last night was, it'll still be a good day because I get to spend it with him.

We went to see Santa last night.

It was magical. 

Caleb is almost 3 and he seems to be really "getting it" this year.  Which is just the greatest thing ever for a parent.  It brings back the magic of Christmas in a way that nothing else ever will.

So for the last 3-4 weeks, Caleb and I have been practicing for our visit with Santa.  Caleb is a kid that does better when he's prepared for an event.  If you spring something on him, he gets shy or cries sometimes.  Thus, to make our visit to Santa as enjoyable as possible, I've been doing my prep work.

It went something like this:

Mom-mom: Caleb, when we go see santa, he'll pull you up on his lap like this and say "Ho Ho Ho!  What do you want for Christmas little boy?"

Caleb:  Mmmm-hmmmm

Mom-mom:  And what are you going to tell him?  What do you want for Christmas?

Caleb:  A... a.... Big BIG ROBOT!!!

Mom-mom:  Anything else?

Caleb:  Ahhh... a big, BIG ROCKET!!!

Mom-mom:  Well those are great presents!  Good job! 

We've practiced like this probably 20 times.  And on the way to the mall last night, we practiced it again.  He had this stuff DOWN!

So we get there, we go to see Santa... and he's on break.  Hmph!  We go do a little shopping and come back 10 minutes before Santa is expected back so we can be one of the first in line. 

Caleb is SO EXCITED.

Santa walks into the area and Caleb is waving and hollering "HI SANTA!!"  He is SO  ready for this!  And as a parent I'm excited because he LOVES Santa and isn't scared.  I'm patting myself on the back for doing such an amazing job preparing him for this moment.

We're second in line and the family ahead of us has 3 kids.  So we have to wait about 5 minutes and Caleb is literally dancing in place and I have the biggest smile on my face.

Then it's our turn.

Caleb sprints over to Santa and gives him the biggest hug ever!  Santa pulls him onto his lap and is talking to him... and Caleb is hugging Santa.  And then the photo guy gets their attention to get a photo.  While I'm looking at the photos, Santa is talking to Caleb and I'm thinking Caleb is telling Santa what he wants and I'm so excited.  Caleb is done and runs over to me and I'm so proud of my little boy. 

And then we have to wait a few minutes for our photos.  Suddenly Caleb bursts into tears.  Seriously, into full on "my heart is broken" tears.

I ask him what is the matter and he tells me "I need tell Santa I want big robot!"

Uh oh.

He forgot to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas.

He is unconsolable.  I go pay for our photos and he is seriously just sobbing.  We get to the car and I try all the parent logic.

"Don't worry honey, Mommy already told Santa what you want!"
"Baby, it's OK.  I'm sure Santa will bring you a big robot."
"I'll call Santa on the phone tonight and we can tell him what you want."

None of this works.  He just keeps sobbing that he needs Santa.

I tell him we'll go back to see Santa again.  This does not help.

Finally, Daddy says that maybe we should write Santa a letter.  Somehow this gets Caleb to calm down.  I had no idea Caleb knew what a letter was. 

So that night, we sit down at the dining room table and we write Santa a letter.  Here is a photo:

Caleb's little eyes lit up when I showed him the letter and we talked about how it would get to Santa so that Santa would know what he wanted.

We put it in the mailbox and all was right with the world again.

Although now he's talking about wanting to see Santa again :) 

Christmas through the eyes of a child is truly magical.  I forgot how exciting Christmas can be and I am looking forward to seeing his eyes light up with joy when he gets that big big robot.

Thank you Santa!

Remember how I used to post videos of my conversations with Caleb during dinner time?  Well our "conversations" have evolved.  Now we actually have reall dinner time conversations.  I'd say about half of our time is me telling him to face forward and eat is food and not get distracted by toys and... yadda yadda yadda.  The other half is "how was your day?" kind of talk, which is really fun.

Most days Caleb lies to me and tells me he did things he didn't actually do.  I check with our nanny to see if his stories are real or not.  I just think it's funny he makes stuff up. 

So now, I decided to make dinner time into story telling time.  When we run out of things to say, in order to keep his attention, we make up a story.  Caleb tells me the major details, and I narrate it with voices and sound effects and hand motions.  In general, we get alot of laughs out of story time.  Since we get so many laughs, I thought I'd share a Caleb story with you.  I'll highlight the details that Caleb provided me with.

This is last night's story:

Once upon a time there was a robot.  He was blue.  His name was Robot Robot. 

He lived in a world of red robots... so he was a little different.

One day, Robot Robot blasted off! (add a countdown and rocket noises here)

He went to the moon!  When he got there, he saw the earth.  And it was big and blue and beautiful!

And then... he missed his Mom-mom (that's caleb's name for me).  He was very sad and cried because he missed his Mom-mom so much.

So he blasted off again! (add a countdown and rocket noises here)

He flew back to earth and landed.  And then he blasted off again!  He flew around earth looking for his Mom-mom.

He put on his binoculars (put your hands up by your eyes like binoculars) and he loooooked and loooooked and looooooked for his Mom-mom.

Then he saw her!  "There she is!" he yelled.  (point and pretend you see Mom-mom)

So he landed... and then he... put back on his binoculars! (put your hands up by your eyes like binoculars)

Apparently he didn't land close enough to Mom-mom, she was too far away!  So he saw her through his binoculars and yelled "Here I am Mom-mom!"

Then he ran up to her and gave her a BIIIIIG hug (pretend you're hugging your mommy) and lots of kisses (make kissing noises)!  "Mom-mom, I love you!" he said.

Then he told Mom-mom, "My tummy hurt." (point to your tummy)

So Mom-mom had to check to see if he had a temperature (put your hand on your forehead like you're checking for a fever).

She declared, "You don't have a fever my little Robot Robot!"

And then she gave him a slice of orange and he ate it and he felt much better! (we were eating an orange with dinner)

The end

Maybe next time I'll video tape this so you can enjoy the creative process :)  My son sure does have an imagination.  But I also find his stories are very indicative of what he is obsessed with at a particular time.  Last night it was rockets, space, robots and Mom-mom!

Hopefully as we make up more stories, I can post them here.  Enjoy!

Caleb is getting older. 

And with age comes... fears.

Or maybe that's just something I've noticed.  When Caleb was younger, I think he used to have the occasional nightmare.  About something scary... like not being able to find his paci in the middle of the night!

But yesterday... it got real.

We passed a big milestone.

Fear of GHOSTS!

We were watching a little TV before bed and settled on Scooy Doo (because Caleb thinks he's funny).  This is not just a story about an adorable little boy... it's about a not terribly smart mother.  Because seriously, what mother thinks letting her 2 year old watch Scooby-Doo before bed is a GOOD idea?

Anywho, we watched our half hour of TV to calm down before bed... and that backfired terribly.

Next thing I know, Caleb tells me "MomMom, I so scared.  I SO scared of ghost."  And then he'd kind of hug himself and look really pitiful.

And THEN he'd snuggle on my lap.  Which was kind of awesome. 

Anywho, the whole way through getting him ready for bed, he kept telling me how he was so scared of ghosts.  Which I have to admit freaked me out a little b/c I keep seeing those scary movie previews where the kids tell the parents about the ghosts and the parents can't see them and then the ghosts kill everyone!

Hmmm... do you see where Caleb gets his imagination?

So I tried everything I knew of to get him to not be afraid of ghosts.  We practiced yelling "GO AWAY GHOST!" to scare the ghosts away.  And that didn't work.  I tried telling him that ghosts aren't really there.  That didn't work.  I tried convincing him that ghosts are just as afraid of Mickey Mouse as he is of them.  No deal.

So we ended up having to watch a half hour of Blues Clues to distract Caleb from those awful, scary ghosts!

And I'll admit, I mostly felt bad about being "Mom of the Year" and letting my son watch scary cartoons before bed.  But a teensy tiny part of me thought "I love snuggling with him... maybe I should do this more often?"

My only real regret is that I didn't catch his "MomMom, I so scared" on video.  It was pretty dang cute.

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my last post.  Feels like it was just a week ago.  Time flies when you have a 2 year old, 2 separate homes (Mankato and St. Paul), a dog, a full time and currently demanding job AND you're on the hunt for a new nanny.

Phew.

I get tired just thinking about all of it!

Anywho, it's been a busy 3 weeks.  I went to San Francisco for a girls weekend (Girl-a-palooza 2011) so Caleb got to spend some serious time with the Ericson clan down in Hawarden. 

I think he enjoyed it. 

Upside:  he loves me ALOT when he gets home.  He's all sweet and cuddly and gives me hugs and kisses all the time and tells me "Mama, I wuv you SOOOO much."

Downside:  We have to de-Ericson-itize him.  What is that?  Well he picks up a few habits when he's down in Iowa.  Here they are (and you know this is true papa!).

1. He is all revved up from a testosterone overload!  When Caleb goes to Iowa, he's surrounded by boys.  Papa, Uncle Nathaniel, Uncle Trevor, the 4 neighbor boys that come over all the time.  And they're not boys that sit around and write poetry or do art.  No.  They play football and wrestle and play bloody knuckles, etc.  So when Caleb gets home, we have to have the "hitting is NOT nice" talk about a bajillion times. 

2. Candy!  I'm a sweets addict, so I blame myself in part for this.  My son L-O-V-E-S candy.  Since coming back from Iowa, he's asked me for candy almost every single time he sees me.  Still not sure if this is all my fault... or if he might've gotten a sugar overload during his trip.  So for now, I'll just blame the grandparents :)

3. New (old) toys.  Every time Caleb comes home, he has one of his Daddy's old toys with him.  I'm not kidding.  Dawn keeps all toys that are in good condition.  Apparently they made toys sturdier back in the 80s.  Because I keep hearing Chris' exclaim "hey, I remember that toy!" when Caleb pulls out the toy boxes.  Not complaining... I just find this funny.  This trip, Caleb brought home a car/transformer/robot thingy.  LOVES it.  Sleeps with it every night.  Until his next trip when he'll find a new (old) toy.

4. He is LIPPY!  Papa claims Caleb is an angel.  He never says anything wrong.  He is never mean.  He is just full of love.  Yeah... suuuuuuure.  Maybe for you Papa, but yesterday, after I scolded him for hitting me, he told me "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!"  He's definitely got a bit of a 'tude this week.

Thus, we have to de-ericson-ize Caleb.  I'd call it de-grandparent-ize... but I think some of it might be directly due to his Aunt and Uncles as well :)

Grandma and Papa and the rest of the gang, I'm not complaining.  I love that Caleb can come visit.  I love that he LOVES coming to see you all.  It's great being able to have you there to help take care of him and to know that when I'm gone... he probably won't even really miss me.

De-Ericson-izing I'm sure will become a time honored tradition in our household... I already find it pretty entertaining (and only sometimes frustrating).  For now, the hugs and loves and kisses I get when he gets back home are more than enough payment for any "behavior adjustments" that we have to do. 

And then there are sweet little things that I think he picks up from you too.  Like on his first night back, I was getting him ready for bed, and I asked him for a kiss.  When he puckered up, I gave him a big kiss complete with an audible "MWAH!"

He said "No Mom... little kiss. LITTLE kiss." And proceeded to give me a teensy, tiny, light kiss.  It was SO CUTE!  Keep teaching him stuff like that and he can come visit any day ;)

In honor of the Iowa Ericsons AND the fact that it's Daddy's birthday, here are some really old photos from Caleb's 2nd Birthday party.  The whole crew came up from Iowa, bringing gifts and cake and food with them (AWESOME) and we threw an all nighter at a local hotel.  And by all nighter, I mean we were all in bed by 8:30.  It was awesome.

So thanks again to the Ericson crew.  We love you. 

And Happy 30th Birthday Daddy!  We wuv you!

There are days when I think to myself "Self... Two SUCKS!"

Examples of actions that cause me to prolaim this:

1. This weekend, I told Caleb to clean up his toys.  Caleb looked at me and said (in a very serious voice) "I NO clean up toys.  YOU clean up toys MAMA!" 

My eyebrow immediately went up (if you know me, you know exactly what I'm talking about) and I heard myself say something my own mother used to say to me, "I wasn't asking.  I'm telling you to clean up your toys."

2.  The temper tantrums.  OH the temper tantrums.  If I say "time to go home for dinner."  I get "5 minutes?" as an automatic response.  When I say "No, it's time to go."  Caleb then launches himself into crying and stomping his feet and sometimes hitting things (occasionally mama).  The stomping feet is actually kind of cute... but the hitting of Mama (or Daddy) is NOT!

3. Whining/asking the same question 50 times in a row.  Drives.  Me.  CAH-RAZY!  After the above tantrum, Caleb will proceed to whine until he manages to be distracted by something else.  And sometimes it takes like 15 minutes.  During which he will alternate asking for whatever it is that I took away AND whining when I say no.  And I cannot figure out how to get him to STOP doing this.  UGH!


And THEN there are days when I think to myself "Self... Two is AWESOME!"

Examples of actions that cause me to LOUDLY proclaim this:

1. When Caleb spontaneously runs over to me, grabs my face in his hands and gives me kiss after kiss after kiss.  Then declares "I love you SO MUCH mama!"  My heart melts...

2. Caleb has become infatuated with his Micky Mouse stuffed animal.  Micky MUST travel everywhere with us.  Caleb feeds Mickey.  Caleb hugs Mickey.  Caleb tells Mickey he's being naughty.  Sometimes he even talks for Mickey using a high pitched voice.  (I'll admit he's copying me when he does that because sometimes I "talk" for Mickey)  He also insists that I kiss Mickey goodnight and give him hugs whenever I give Caleb hugs.  I just find this incredibly adorable and sweet.

3. Potty training is almost over.  Seriously.  This is AWESOME!  Now all we have to do is train him to push down and pull up his own pants and he'll be a big boy going to the potty ALL BY HIMSELF. 

4.  He is developing quite the memory.  Sometimes this is good... sometimes this is bad.  I generally find it cute.  An example is this:  It's bedtime and Caleb will randomly suggest an activity that means NOT going to bed, like "Mom, let's watch WALL-E."  And I will say, "No it's time to go to bed."  Caleb will commence whining and crying and I'll say "If you go to sleep, we'll watch WALL-E when you wake up."  This will calm him down.  Then the next morning, as soon as I walk into his bedroom, he asks immediately "Watch WALL-E?"  And since he reminds me about WALL-E... I have to fulfill that promise.  Now I just have to watch what I promise because he actually REMEMBERS.  What a little man.

5.  He loves to "help".  As a parent, I constantly try to remind myself that this is good, even when it adds an extra 15 minutes to a 10 minute project.  Then again, he only likes to "help" when HE wants to help, not when I ask him to.  But it's still fun to see him take an interest in activities.  Next step, giving him his own chores (like feeding the dog).

6.  He spontaneously says things that are incredibly appropriate.  In the past, much of what Caleb would say was just parroting Chris or I.  But somedays he will say just the right thing at just the right moment.  And I realize he "gets it".  An example:  We were at the aquarium looking at the Jelly Fish exhibit.  The first tank we went up to, he looked at the jelly fish gently moving through the water and said "Ooooooo, bootiful!  Mama, ees bootiful!"  And I got tears in my eyes because golly garsh, he is just growing up!

I guess that in general, the good outweighs the bad.  He is getting bigger.  He is learning so much.  He is getting SUCH a personality.  And so far, his personality is loving, caring, and sweet.  But it's also demanding, loud, boisterous, happy and sometimes lazy.  I can't wait to watch him grow up more and see this personality continue to bloom. 

Thank heaven for little boys!