A Problem of Head-Injury Proportions

How do you convince an 8 month old that he isn't ready to be pulling up and standing???

It started a week and a half ago when Caleb suddenly started crawling. Rick and I were sitting on the couches (it was great that he was home from work right then!), and Caleb just popped up on all fours, turned around, and crawled! He ditched the army crawl (which reappears every so often) and has crawled for real since then!

All fine and good ... until the end of last week when he started pulling up on things! He does it in his crib, too - how am I supposed to stop that?!?!? The problem is, he doesn't know how to get down. He's fallen and busted his head on the floor several times now. Well, not busted like as in blood, but as in a good pop and some serious tears. I try to catch him every time, but he gets up on those legs so fast! I need a baby helmet!

He also likes tight spaces - such as in between the couch and computer desk.

h k n vk v y p - That's a note from Caleb. Thank you, Caleb, for helping mommy type.

I've got some other pics of Caleb to post, but I'm distracted, because as I was reading my Bible this morning, I had a thought. It's the kind of thought that you have, and then you almost wish you hadn't had it - you know what I mean? I was reading and just thought - you know, when you read the Word, and decide that you want to live your life according to it, knowing that Jesus is Lord and should also be Lord of our lives, you start (or at least I started) with the "don'ts". Don't steal, don't lie, don't get drunk, don't hate, etc. Then, I think we move to the attitude stuff, but it's still a bunch of don'ts, Don't roll your eyes at your husband when he's not looking, and things like that. :)

But what if instead, I tried to do things proactively. What if I evaluated every thing I did and thought by what, in that moment, would please God the most. So instead of watching the travel channel's "Best Beach Homes" this morning, although there is nothing wrong with that, (while Rick says from the bathroom "Niki, are you coveting?" Ummmm, no. Until they just showed me the bathtub by the fireplace!) But what if I turned on praise music instead? Or instead of making french toast this morning, which is great, what if I make oatmeal with berries, because it's better for my body, which is God's anyway and not mine. I'm not saying I'm giving up snowcones or anything. But there are probably a lot of decisions I could make throughout the day that I might make "okay" decisions now, but I could do better than that. More God-pleasing than that. I don't know ... but I'm going to think about that a lot.

Yesterday we went to the Forth Worth Zoo (LOVE the zoo!) with our friends Kim, Sam, and David. It was so fun! I really meant to take a picture of all of us, but forgot! Caleb was pretty good - mellow until the penguins. He loved the penguins! By the end of the day, I had pretty much worn him out ...

By the way, this umbrella stroller is the greatest!! He loves it!

When we're not at the zoo, he's pretty much into everything these days.

The fuzz is growing!!

Meal time is getting more interesting. I'm supposed to be introducing more textures to Caleb so that he learns to chew. He is NOT a fan of lumpy food! And we found the first food that he actually disliked enough to refuse to eat - avocado!

I read in one book that I should be letting him feed himself ...

Are you serious, mom? You're gonna let me touch my oatmeal?

What? What did I do? You're the one who put the butternut squash here!




I think we'll save that for once in awhile. This is a new and favorite look of Caleb's - the contemplative look. Sometimes he'll just look all around and stare at us like this! It's hard to capture on film.

We love bathtime these days!

We invited Daddy in to see how much fun we were having!

A day in the life of mobile Caleb.







Now back to the problem, I don't know what I'll do! But Caleb is MOST pleased with himself!

Look at me, mommy!! I'm tall like daddy!