4/11/13: no signs

I realized today when I was reading to Callen a baby signs book that he's not really using any signs anymore.  The only time I've seen him signing is if I can't understand what he's saying so he signs "bear" to let me know.  He's talking SO much.  It's really fun to see.  He has so many words that it's impossible to keep track of them now.

He had his annual therapy review last week and it went well.  His speech therapist is recommending him to continue his therapy and work on his vowels and annunciation (and some other stuff).  His food therapist is recommending that he continue therapy as well.  She's made some progress with him but he still has a long way to go.  We love both his therapists and it will be hard to say good-bye to them in five months when he ages out of the program.

5/31/12: Faith of a child

We read a book about India tonight.  There was a section on religions of India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.  I said something like "none of those people who follow those religions know Jesus and that's why Amanda and Andrew are in India, to tell people about Jesus."  At the mention of Jesus, Callen signed "pray" (which I saw him do for the first time last week when Elodie was sick... I had said that Elodie was sick and that we needed to be praying for her and he put his hands together in the pray position and that's when I realized he could sign "pray") so I said, "did you want to pray?"  And Elodie said, "let's pray for those people!"  So she bowed her head (with Callen still hands clasped in "pray") and said, "Dear Jesus, Help these people believe in you Lord. Amen."  Amen daughter!  Amen!

As a side note, Callen points to Amanda's Christmas card photo on the fridge everyday so everyday I tell him who everyone in the photo is. :)  He's also especially interested in Bekham's photo since our trip to Steamboat. :)

5/24/12: more C signs

Callen can sign "pray" and I didn't even teach him that. :) He signed it tonight when I was talking about praying for Elodie because she is sick. He also can sign "help" and "goose." He also makes a sign for the Itsy Bitsy Spider song when he wants me to sing it. :)

5/11/12: ssss-balloon & pea up nose

Callen pulled out the kids' utensils drawer and is almost squatting over and over excitedly.  I said, "Do you want a spoon?" as I sign "spoon."  He signed "spoon."  I said "sssssssspoon."  He said "sssss" and then signed "balloon" (puts his hands to his mouth and blows).

Smart boy!!  ssssssssss + balloon = spoon  :)

In other news, Callen stuck a pea up his nose at lunch.  I would have never known, but Elodie told me.  I could barely see it up there so I pushed my finger on the bridge of his nose and it popped right out.  Gross!!

5/10/12: new words

Today, Callen is definitely saying "ut oh" and "unh uhn" (as in "no").   He'll be saying "unh uh" over and over as he's running away from you or shaking his head and saying it.  He's still loving taking the step stool everywhere to "see" things or turn on and off lights and the fan.  He's also still loving waving his finger to get me to sing the "I love you there's no doubt about it" song.

Yesterday during speech therapy, he seemed very easily distracted but he did learn one thing, "mine."  Now he'll hug the object tight to his chest and "mmmmmm", like "it's mine."  It's very cute.

He's also decided that the sign for "bird" (pinching his pointer finger and thumb together) can mean any animal that he doesn't know the sign for so yesterday and today, Elodie and I were looking up the signs for octopus, squirrel, fox, and seal.  He loves to sign "bird" EVERY time he hears a bird.  It is very cute.  He has super good hearing and will sign "car," "plane," "helicopter," and "bird" EVERY time he hears one, even if I didn't hear it.

Callen pointing to his sunglasses.  He's also made up his own sign for my "glasses." :)

5/3/12: more signs

Today Callen and Elodie were looking at the Peter Rabbit book and Elodie & I showed Callen what the sign for "rabbit" is.  Elodie came to find me later and said "Callen did the sign for rabbit!"

Then later, he did the sign for "light" multiple times.  He's been obsessed with lights for a while now so it's nice to see him actually be able to express himself. :)

He also signed and blew "balloon" and signed "apple."  He's also been signing "banana" for a little while.

5/2/12: more speech therapy

Callen had his second speech therapy session today.  She only got him to verbalize a couple times and he was kinda all over the place, but that is the attention span of a 19 month old.  His therapist repeatedly said how cute his giggling is.  His BSF leaders always talk about how they love his giggling and what a joy he is to have in their class.

Tonight, I was playing trains with Callen before bed and saying "train" and "choo choo" a lot and Callen started saying "choo choo!"  Although his version sounds more like "true true," with vibrating lips.  It was so cute! He even pulled his hand down, like signing pulling of the horn whistle cord.

4/29/12: new word?

We think Callen has a new word... "woah."  (That would make it his 3rd or 4th or 5th word, depending on whether you count "woof woof" and "sssssss".)  He says it when he falls or he'll repeat it if we say it when he does something.  He also will say "ah" if you ask him to.  Last Thursday, every time I fed him something in the highchair, I told him to say "ah" to get him to open his mouth and to vocalize and it worked.  He did it.  Then today, Elodie wanted to check to see if Callen was actually swallowing the grapes that he was eating (since we were all kinda shocked he was eating them) and she told him, "say ah" and he did it for her too.  (He was actually eating them so he ate a few grapes today.)  He's been saying "ba-ba" a ton when say "ba-ba-ball" or "ba-ba-bowl," etc.  Tonight, he imitated my "brrr cold" sign and did his own sound.  It was really cute.  I also finally got him to sign "bowl" since he's been signing "ball" for "bowl."  He also consistently saying "ssssss" for Elodie.  It's really cute.

Oh, and he can sign "chicken" for chicken we eat, flapping his arms like a chicken. :)

Thurs. 3/29/12: C's In-Home Visit

Callen's getting evaluated next week for speech delay to see if he'll qualify for speech therapy. He has to be in the 25th percentile to qualify. In advance of next week's visit, we had his service coordinator come do an in-home visit to take notes on how he is in his own home environment. She was here for over an hour and asked me a ton of questions about him. He did great playing just as he normally would so she got a very good observation and idea of how he is on average. He stacked cups for her, poured pretzels from one container to the next over and over again (one of his absolute favorite things to do...he even does it in the bath, but with water), danced, played with cars, drew on the magnetic board, etc. He spontaneously said what sounded like mama, but when I asked him to say dada, he said, "dada," and then when I asked him to say "mama," he just blankly stared at me. He did signs for her (I couldn't even think of them all... I think his latest sign is half of the sign for "car." He only uses one of his hands, instead of both, to do it. He also has his version of "airplane." Oh, and he made up his own for "toothbrush." He waves his hand in front of his mouth and breaths out strongly multiple times.). His signs now include: dada, eat, more, all done, milk, yogurt, cookie (or cracker or pretzel), dog, bye-bye, night-night, blowing kisses, hot, toothbrush, ball, shhh, airplane, car, bath, please, thank you, and book. There could be more...I just can't remember right now. He did a lot of the "uh-uh" and pointing that he does to get his point across. Elodie, on the other hand, could have been better and was obviously wishing she was the center of attention. So hopefully he can give them just as accurate a display next week at his evaluation in front of the therapists.

Sunday 3/25/12: C saying "mama" & "ow"

Last Wednesday, March 21, 2012, when I went to pick up Callen from his classroom at BSF, I found him on his teacher's lap saying "mama mama mama" over and over. I was like, "Are you saying "mama"?!" and his teacher said, "oh yes. You haven't heard it?" Ever since then, I've tried to get him to say it for me to no avail, but I have overheard him saying it with daddy. Finally, today, I got him to say "mama!" Woohoo! I also heard him say "ow" today after he hurt his finger. Sure enough, if you say, "Callen, where's your boo boo?" he'll point to a boo boo and then he'll repeat if you say "ow."

He now has made up his own sign for "toothbrush." He waves his hand in front of his mouth and breaths out.

I think I've said that if you ask Callen where his nose is, he'll point to his nose. Well, if you ask him where his eyes are, he'll squeeze his eyes shut and then poke his eyes. It's really cute.

He really likes to me poke my head into Elodie's room (while holding Callen) before I put Callen to bed so he can blow her kisses. They'll both get mad if I forget and don't do it (that only happened once! Learned my lesson!). But if Elodie's already fallen asleep and her light is out, Callen will say "shhh" and put his finger to his mouth. It's adorable!!

He's also really taken to this turtle that projects lighted stars onto his ceiling and walls from its turtle shell that Auntie Candy & Uncle Dale got him for Christmas. He likes to hold it and push all the buttons while his diaper is being changed (he's even figured out how to un-velcro the bottom so he can turn the switch to "off," smart little boy) and now we light it every night when he goes to bed.

He still loves pretzels (sometimes with peanut butter on them), cat cookies from TJs, and animal crackers. He asks for them all-day-long! He basically shuns all fruit, except for raisins and the occasional banana and frozen blueberries, and veggies, except for smoothies and the occasional frozen peas.

He kinda signs "yogurt" or at least he's consistent with his version of the sign (moving his hand up and down...the sign for yogurt is one hand like you are holding a cup and the other hand in the "y" position using your pinky as a spoon from your other hand to your mouth) since he likes the yogurt drinks we make for him (combine coconut yogurt and coconut milk).

He gets really mad when you tell him he can't go outside. He constantly wants to go outside. He just loves being in the backyard. It's really hard to take him on walks though because he won't walk consistently in one direction. He'll take off off the sidewalk and into the street or just turn around and go the opposite direction or sit down, put his head to the ground, and refuse to move.

He likes to walk up to my chair and turn around so his back is touching me and he expects me to pick him up and put him in my lap.

He'll raise both hands for you to pick him up. He'll also raise both hands if I'm sitting on the couch and he wants to be put on the couch too. He loves to rock back and forth on the the couch, slamming his body back into the couch cushions. I'm always afraid he's going to bounce right off the couch! He definitely needs to be supervised on the couch because he stands up on the couch or turns his back to the edge. He's just not completely spatially aware yet.

He's been sleeping through the night fairly consistently now since the molars came in so that is great! He also dropped his evening feeds about a week and a half ago, which is nice because I was able to go to my first evening event last week in more than a year. He's still nursing first thing when he wakes up. I think if I dropped it, he'd be totally fine with it but I'm just trying to give him some extra antibodies through the end of cold and flu season.

He understands A LOT! If you ask him to find something, he will. If you ask him to show you something or to show you what he wants, he will. If you say it's bath time, he'll sign "bath" and head for the gate & stairs. If you say "it's time to go," he'll head for the door and get his shoes. He'll also get Elodie's shoes. If you tell him "I need to put your shoes on," he'll come sit down by you so you can put his shoes on. I will say that if he doesn't want to do it, I'm in big trouble because he can throw monster tantrums. Today, he wanted to leave with Dave & Elodie when they went to church, and he cried for over 25 minutes before I got my mom on S*kype to calm him down by singing to him and distracting him.

He loves to do this bashful-put-his-face-to-his-chin-and-into-mama's-shoulder-thing when strangers come up to him. It is beyond cute! When we were at Elodie's choir practice last week, he even sat down in the circle one time and joined the rhythm by clapping his hands on his legs like all the other kids.

He likes to turn on and off light switches and an kind of knob or switch. He knows how to turn on and off EVERY toy we have. He'll also drawn on the magnetic drawing toy thing we have. He likes putting things in and out of containers or bowls or cups. He likes stacking and un-stacking cups, either in each other or on each other.

He loves bath time and does not like to get out of the tub.

He has this infectious laugh. He's just a riot when he thinks something is funny. He's also ticklish when he's in a good mode already but not if he's not smiley already.

He's okay at getting his photograph taken if he can see you, like my point and shoot or cell phone camera, but he's awful to get a smile out of or to sit still with my DSLR.

Overall, he's pretty down right awesome. And his sister is too so I'll have to write a post about her at another time. :)

Oh, and mom and I compared my baby photos with Callen today and he looks a lot like I did at that age.

At the park on Friday. He loved the sand toys and getting dirty! This is right before he fell off the play structure and got a nice little war wound on his elbow to prove it.

To prove he has his father's lips. Look how far out he can get those things!

the aforementioned tantrum on a walk

the boy LOVES shoes

It's been unseasonably warm this March. Driest March on record. Like 8th warmest, looking to finish the month in the top 5 warmest. Crazy.

2/27/12: looking for mama, poop in the tub & thank you

Tonight, while I was out getting my nails done, Callen apparently got hurt while Dave was standing at the sink. I guess Dave comforted him and then Callen walked to the gate and pointed and said "uh" a few times. Dave said, "Are you looking for Mama? She's not home bud." And Callen kept pointing and saying "uh" so Dave opened the gate for him so he could go look for himself. Callen crawled up the stairs and went into our room and came back out and said "uh." Dave said, "I know. I told you she's not here." Then they went back downstairs and Callen went to the gate one last time and Dave said, "Mommy will be home soon."

Then during bath tonight Callen was giving Dave a weird look so Dave said, "Are you done?" and Callen nodded his head emphatically. As Dave was taking him out of the tub, he immediately saw why Callen wanted out! He had left a big poop in the tub! Thankfully, that was the first time I remember that happening!

Tonight, Callen wanted a cookie (signed "cookie" "please") and I said, "say thank you" and he put his hand to his mouth and down. So yay...he's learned yet another sign.

Last night, he also started doing the "dog" sign correctly by patting his thigh with his hand. He even patted my leg. Too cute. He also was trying to squat while patting his leg and almost fell over. It was too funny. And of course, he always follows up the sign with saying "woof woof."

I also noticed lately that when he has a car in his hand, he makes "vroom vroom" sounds.

When Callen's excited about something, like when he's about to get the food that he wants (usually a cat cookie or pretzel, etc.), he squats down really quick and then back up over and over. It's ridiculously cute. He'll also swing his arms back and forth.

Oh, and this past week (so when we was almost 17.5 mos.), he finally moved up to 18 months size footed fleece pjs! He must be growing!

I said, "cheese" and this is the what he did.

Tonight he wanted to ride the rocking horse a lot. I'd hold him there and rock it for awhile and then he'd get down. Then he'd want back on and repeat. Several times.

He's also likes sitting in my lap and doing puzzles. Tonight he actually got most of the shapes puzzle on first try, but if he didn't, he'd try all the puzzle holes until he got the right one and then he'd clap for himself. So cute and smart!

2/25/12: more on C

He likes to go "hide" and have to find him. Most of the time he picks corners and nooks, etc. But sometimes he'll go stand against the wall and just stay very still, like you aren't going to see him. It's so ridiculously cute.

Here's one from him in one of his favorite spots, although this time (from 2/18/12) he stole one of my books. Sorry the second one is blurry...you know cell phones, they're such finicky suckers!

He can also sign "bath." I'd say he's done that one for probably a month now.

He's also started doing something with his fist for yogurt.

He can point to his nose if you ask him where his nose is. And once his pointer finger is on his nose, usually that will lead to him doing "shhh" because his finger is there, so why not? :)

The kid really doesn't like most fruit. Won't even stick it in his mouth. He'll sometimes eat bananas and defrosted blueberries. He likes raisins and dried cranberries.

2/20/12: more on C

I've been meaning to update more on our little guy but I keep forgetting!

Anyhow, he now signs "dog" (his version of the sign is flapping his hand at the wrist, instead of hitting your thigh like come here doggy) and makes a "woof" sound, "shhh" and makes the "shh" sound, and will make kissing noises and put his hand over his mouth while he does it like he's going to blow you a kiss.

Tonight he used both his pointer fingers to point to himself and said "dada." He did it repeatedly. I think it's because Dave is always to pointing to himself and saying "dada." Oops! From now on, I think he needs to use the sign for dada and mama when saying those words.

He's also been getting really excited when he sees someone like Grammie on S*kype. It's really cute. One of these days I'll manage to get all of his little cute things on video. It's really hard though. Every time I get out the camera to video it, they stop doing the cute things.

I feel like I'm totally forgetting things he does now so I might just have to come back and edit this post when I remember them! :)

2/3/12: C's signing

I think Callen has ten signs now: milk, more, eat, cookie (meaning cat cookies or animal crackers or pretzels or crackers), hot (used either for food being hot or the heater), yes, no, book, bye-bye (waving, which means you are leaving or he wants to leave too), and please.

Still one word: dada.

1/26/12: C signs "book"

Today, out of the blue, Callen signed "book" over and over and over throughout the day. Guess he's got that one down. The funny thing is that you give him a book and then he signs "book" again so you start to read it to him, but then he wants down. He has no patience to actually be read a book. :)

1/22/12: Dropped nursing, etc.

This past week, Callen started refusing to nurse (and sometimes asking for milk instead by signing "milk") or nursing very little at lunch and dinner so that by the end of the week, he'd dropped the 12pm and 4pm nursings all together. Kinda sad for me, but at the same time very freeing for me because now, if I wanted to, I could actually be gone all day. :)

Other Callenisms: He'll sign "milk" and walk over to the fridge. I'll get out the milk and try to hand it to him, but he'll refuse, so I'd put it back. But he actually wanted it so he'll whine and I'll get it out again and he'll take off down the hallway and then sit down in the family room waiting for his milk. This happened for awhile before Dave and I figured out that, yes, he wanted his milk, but only when he had sat down where ever it was that he wanted to sit. So now, he'll sign "milk," walk to the fridge to see you get it out, then high tale it somewhere to sit down and wait for you to hand it to him. So cute!

I think I've mentioned before that Callen loves the plastic castle slide we have in our basement. He can go up and down it on his own, but occasionally can't get up it if his socks or jammies are too slippery (best with bare feet). His latest thing is sliding down into this huge monkey pillow pet type thing at the bottom. He just loves it. Plus, it cushions his slide if he wasn't so eloquent about his method downward. He also just loves to walk up to the monkey and fall into it and then irrupt into giggling. It's pretty darn cute. He likes to play peek-a-boo through the slide too (when he's on the end he climbs up at).

He seems to incur more injuries, boo boos, bruises, eggs on his head, split lips, etc. that we ever remember Elodie having. Just in the past 24 hours, he split his bottom lip open, fell off the step stool onto the tile floor on his face attaining a nice goose egg on his forehead and split open his top lip, all while his parents watched while not be fast enough to prevent injuries.

1/7/12: C walks long time

C is walking more and more and looking mighty proud of himself. Tonight he started walking from the window the kitchen, walked around the table, through the kitchen, around the counter, down the hall, all the way to the couch in the family room. I said, "yay Callen!" and he giggled and beamed.

I could hear him "uh uh" at the pantry. Then he walked all the way down the halfway to me sitting on the couch and did the sign for cookie and then toddled back to the pantry door and signed cookie again. So cute.

So happy I've booked a photography trip for this summer! I was jumping up & down in the kitchen this morning and both the kids were just laughing at me. :) Grand Tetons, here I come!

12/12/11: Best mommy & C sign & sleep

Elodie likes to tell me, "You're the best mommy I ever had." And I like to say back, "I'm the only mommy you've ever had," and she'll reply back again, "no, you're the best mommy I ever had."

C did so well sleeping through the night three nights in a row and then didn't for two nights then did again for one night and then didn't last night. I would love to know how to make him sleep through the night!!

Dave and I have been working hard on reinforcing signs with C and Dave was working particularly hard on "all done" this weekend. Well, it seems to have paid off since C signed "all done" at breakfast this morning and after I nursed him before lunch. Then I asked him if he wanted to eat and he signed "food" (put his hand to his mouth). He's also said "dada" a ton this morning and I think he even tried to sign "dada." He also said "mama" but I'm much more convinced that when he says "dada" he actually means Dave than I am of his "mama" meaning me. It's progress at least. :)

12/8/11: C climbing on step stools

I keep finding little guy on step stools or makeshift ones all over the house. Tonight he was whining and I looked over and he was standing on the step stool in the kitchen and was apparently stuck so I helped him get down. Earlier tonight, we found him on toy drum just big enough for his two little feet to stand on trying to get stuff off the tv stand. He also discovered today that if he climbs the stairs that he can reach the back top of the dresser drawers and get everything we've put out of his reach. Smart little dude. Last night, he fell off Elodie's step stool in the bathroom (under daddy's watch). Yesterday, he was on his knees on the step stool, leaning over trying to turn the dishwasher on. Then later, he was on his feet on the step stool trying to get stuff off the kitchen counter. He's also discovered he can climb onto his toy airplane on his knees and then he'll do a little dance. It's really cute but each time I see him up on his knees, I'm afraid he's going to fall and hurt himself. This kid is constantly splitting his lip open.

And no, he's not walking by himself yet. So close though. Tonight he took one step to me about 3 different times. He cruises furniture though and is a super fast crawler.

And no, no words yet. He says "yaya" but it's not a word. He does say "dada" and I think it means "daddy" but who knows for sure. He does know some signs. He waves and claps. He puts his hand up to his ear for "phone." He signs "milk" (moving his fingers) for everything. Sometimes he wants milk, but more often he wants something else, whether it be food or something he sees on the counter. So we offer him milk, he'll swing his hands really big to push it away and shake his head. So then we ask him if he wants to eat or wants food, and then he'll usually put his hand to his mouth (sign for food). He used to sign "more" but he won't do it anymore. He'all also pull himself to standing hanging onto my legs and put his arms up to say "up."

Oh, and C's actually slept through the night the past three nights in a row. Hallelujah! Must be a God thing b/c the only thing I've done differently is put a cotton jammie on under his fleece footed jammies (but I've done that in the past with no magic sleep through the night function) because it's been really cold. Anyhow, here's to praying this stays this way for the rest of his life...the sleeping through the night thing. :)

If C has something in his mouth and Dave or I has to tell him "no" for some reason, C will start to cry and put his hand in his mouth and throw all the food that was previously in it out onto the ground. So annoying. And when he gets mad, he'll throw whatever he has in his hands.

11/4/11: C signs "milk"

Today Callen signed "milk!"