Learning Words and Numbers

Caleb loves learning.  He’s known numbers and letters for probably almost a year now.  He was pretty good at counting up to 20.  But recently, he’s been practicing past 20.  Caleb also loves reading, and he’s always asking about words in the books he’s reading.  “What’s that word?” is a common question he asks while reading his books.  Of course sometimes he points to numbers in the books as well.  Generally, when Caleb picks up on something, he runs with it.  For example, we were reading a garbage truck book for bedtime recently.  On the last page, it says, “Who am I?  The garbage truck, that’s who.”  So you might hear Caleb say, “Who am I? The garbage truck, that’s who.”  Or he may even vary it a little bit, by saying, “Why am I?  Caleb, that’s who.”

Now this is all fun and cute if he recalls the proper things.  If you go to Amazon.com, you can take a look at this book inside, First Virtues for Toddlers.  You can click the “Search inside this book” link and view the table of contents.  Well, Caleb was doing his duty on the potty chair.  While he was reading this book, he points at a number and asks what this number is.  I answer 69.

Caleb, unaware of the sexual connotations of this number, uses it to answer many things that have to do with numbers.  Caleb lately likes to ask, “what time is it?”  Of course I tell him the time, even though he really doesn’t understand the concept of time.  It’s all a set up for him.  It’s like tossing up a softball.  He already knows what he’s going to say.

Old Caleb Videos

Well, I guess you can’t really call them old, but these videos are from the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009.  He was 16-18 months old in these videos (around the same age as Caris is now).

Cold Weather & Our Camping Trip

It is currently 42 degrees outside our house. Tonight’s overnight low is suppose to be 38 degrees. This is what I would call beyond cold. But at least we’re inside our warmer house. 67 degrees is nice for me, but still bundle up weather for Yvonne. We haven’t been in this type of cold since… well… since our camping trip in October.

The thing about our camping trip though is that we were sleeping in tents where the cold didn’t want to stay outside. The overnight low was 45 degrees, which meant it was 45 degrees in our tent. Let’s just say that our children weren’t used to the temperature with their year round temperature controlled house. In fact the thermostat is in Caleb’s room so he’s always sleeping in perfect temperature.

Our tent… not the place for perfect temperature. Look at this thermometer.
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That’s a low of 45 in our tent.  And a high of 115!

We got to Santa Margarita Lake campground on Friday.  Lacking the perfect temperature Caleb was used to, he got very little sleep that first night.  He kept tossing and turning.  And talking and moving.  So much so that he only got just over 3 hours of sleep that night.  45 degrees might be a little to cold for a boy who’s used to perfect temperature in his room.  Caris didn’t sleep well either, but she just slept on me the whole keep and I kept her warm.  Here’s how they looked in the morning.

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Caleb was not in a good mood that morning.  We hoped he would get a good nap at least in the afternoon.  Not quite.  With the sun blazing down upon our tent, the temperatures soared inside.  Again Caleb normally sleeps in that perfect temperature room with barely any light.  Here at camp, he had the bright sun shining on top, heating up the tent.  After 40 minutes of sleep, he awakes to the bright lights and hot tent.  The temperature is about 90 degrees.  Good thing he woke up.  He might have died in the 115 degree tent.

We had thought we dressed our children warmly the first night, but these kids don’t know what cold really was.  And neither did we.  To combat the immense chill of the night, we decided dress our children in every single warm piece of clothing we had.  Both of them must have at least 8 layers on them.  Rebecca Chan can attest to that.

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It doesn’t seem like a lot, but I think he was sweating under those clothes.  Maybe he’s warm enough, and maybe he’s gotten comfortable with our tent.  But finally he sleeps.

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Caris is still cold, but she loves Daddy holding her and keeping her warm.  Caleb gets a good night sleep, and they look much better in the morning.

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Notes for next camping trip:

  • Find someplace close
  • Find someplace not freezing
  • Find someplace not scorching

New Wish Lists

We have new wish lists for Caleb & Caris. You can find the wish lists to the right. Caleb & Caris have their own wish lists. And yes, Caleb’s is much bigger. Everything eventually will get to Caris.

Kiddie Kandids

Went in for our family picture this morning.  Got some pictures of the family.  Got some pictures of Caleb & Caris.  And then got some pictures for Caris’ 9 month.  Here they are.

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First Movie

Caleb went to see Veggie Tales: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything this past Tuesday at the Monrovia Krikorian.  It was his first time watching a whole movie… and his first time in a movie theater.  Sorry no pictures of Caleb, but this a milestone to be remembered in our blog.  At least Chris took a picture of the movie screen (see below).

Caleb did better than we had expected.  He watched the whole movie. 

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“KICK”

Caleb’s been taking a soccer class since mid-July.  One more Saturday class left.  He’s the youngest in this mommy/daddy & me class. 

 

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Brother & Sister

Caleb & Caris really do like each other.  It’s pretty cute to see.  Caleb gets very concerned if he thinks I might be forgetting “mei-mei” (little sister in Mandarin) in the car.  Caris always flashes a big grin when she sees “ge-ge” (big brother).

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(Notice the kitchen stool Caleb used to find his way into Caris’ play yard)

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They’re even starting to sleep the same way at the same time.  Mind you, they’re in different rooms.  Strange.

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Caleb still does get jealous that Caris does certain things he doesn’t get to do. And, he’s not so happy that Caris is now taking his toys and exploring them with her mouth.  His favorite phrase with her now is, “Sister, no… Stop!  Mei-mei, no, stop.  Mine. Caleb’s.” 

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And the teeth just keep on coming…

Caris is getting at least 2 more teeth right now.  The bottom lateral incisors are right under the gum skin.  This now explains why our daughter has become of waterfall of drool.  How come our kids get their teeth so early?  Caris isn’t even 7 months old yet.  (We’ll post pictures of her new teeth when they become more visible.)

At least Caleb is done with his teething for now.  20 pearly whites.  So, why is Caleb still Mr. Drooly?  We haven’t a clue. 

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