The Carman Crew: Caleb's First Walk & One Year Appointment

It's hard to say when Caleb took his first "steps". He has taken steps here and there for a few weeks. But yesterday, I put him down, and he walked 5 steps all on his own!! He did it again once last night, and right now while I was typing! So we'll call it Caleb's first walk! Yay!!!!

I took Caleb to the doctor on 10/13 for his one year appointment. So at one year and 10 days, Caleb was:

31.5 inches tall (90%)
25 lbs, 1 ounce (75%)
And his head was in the 50-60% range. Which is crazy, because his head is huge! :)

He was a trooper, too. 4 shots!!! Poor guy! Through teary eyes, he asked for a cup of water out of the nurses water machine ... and got it of course. He seemed to think that was a perfect reward for his hard day at the doctor's office! If only I could "reward" him with water for the rest of his life ... but some day, I'm sure we'll be getting rewards at the snow cone stand instead.

And this is Caleb's new favorite perch. The Elmo chair. (Or "Moe" chair, as Caleb calls it)

This is his favorite position in the Moe chair. He especially likes to do this when Rick is watching football. Like "Hey Dad, I'm just chillin' in my chair, watchin' football, just one of the guys. How 'bout them Cowboys?"

You can see the pillow mom sneaked at the bottom of the chair. At first, he took a few tumbles out of it. (and he thought it was hilarious every time he fell)

A sign my little boy is growing up ... on the way to Midland, he sat in his car seat and read an Elmo book to himself the whole time! Usually, he eats the books instead.

Caleb and Nana, composing great musical works on the piano. Caleb's favorite part was turning it off right in the middle of Nana's song, with an emphatic "OFF!" each time.

We take meal times very seriously in the Carman house ...

I can't believe the new words and concepts that he comes up with each day. Yesterday it was "backpack" and "coffee". You just never know! We have pictures up on his wall of his grandparents so he can tell them goodnight each night. Our pediatrician recommended the idea, and I think it's great! He recognizes them by name now, which is so fun! Although sometimes he adds on parts of names he has made up ... we'll see what he decides to call everyone in the end!

No matter how we try, "date night" just doesn't happen as easily when you have kids, does it? I can't imagine how hard it would be with more than one! But our friends gave us a card the other day with an offer to babysit, and date night money! So we'll have one soon ... and Rick said that from now on, anyone wanting to keep Caleb has to pay us for time with him, since they set a precedent. Ha!

Today when Rick gets off work, we're going to Fort Worth to pick out a rug for Caleb's room. YAY! A field trip! I am feeling cooped up, like a chicken, this week. For Caleb's birthday, his great grandmother offered to carpet his room. But as we looked into it, I think a GIANT rug will be better than carpet. For one, we can keep it forever, change rooms with it, etc. I think it will probably be easier to clean, too ... which is a must if this little boy is going to live on it! So hopefully we can find something today. The football rugs and things like that are precious, but we're going for something he won't outgrow quite so fast.

This is how our last few nights' "conversations" have gone (illustrated) ...

Mom: Caleb, it's time to go Night Night.

Caleb: What? Did you say something, Mom?