Christmas with Caleb

Oh Caleb,

This Christmas, it seems like you grew so much in every way! I have so much to say!

You LOVE Christmas trees. Each morning you point and ask us to turn on each garland and tree, so I thought the lights were your favorite part. But when we went to Midland and your grandaddy Coach showed you the ornaments, you definitely liked those best! You circled around the tree over and over, pointing out each church, Tinkerbell and then every other bell on the tree, and then each Mickey Mouse (and the bells on those), each cross, each ball ... you are so funny!! You laughed hysterically every time the kitties did anything different (like jumping in and out of the cabinets). You were so fun to share Christmas with! Everything brought a "Wow!" or a "Whoa!" or a gasp from you!

When you opened your first gift, from Jeff and Jessica, you tore one strip of paper off and then tried to put it back on in just the right place where you had torn it off! By the end of Christmas, you at least liked taking tissue paper out of bags, but you haven't quite gotten the gift unwrapping thing down yet!

Anything you can get your hands on becomes a phone, and you hold it up to your ear and say, "Wo?" (which sounds like "Whoa" and is your way of saying hello). Then you fake laugh and say "Bye bye". Then you usually bring me whatever it is, covered in drool, and tell me it's daddy. Then you look at me like, "Mom, it's daddy on the phone, come on, answer!" So I hold it up to my ear and talk to daddy, covering my ear in drool, and you smile, and it's worth it.

You LOVE cranberry sauce, and I have found out that if you see it on your plate, you won't eat anything else. You think everything that dad does is funny. You can name pretty much everyone in the family (we're still working on "Heather", but it's hard to say), and you now recognize and smile at everyone in the family, which I think is great fun! You will repeat any word you hear - your newest ones are tortilla, boots, butterfly, hee-haw (it's what the donkey says), and you are contstantly saying "Get down?" You're so active, I can't keep you in my arms or in your high chair even to eat!

You got your first real tummy bug over Christmas, and you threw up over the side of your crib, pointed at it, and said, "What's that?" Too funny! You are very curious about everything going on around you. If you ask what something is, and we name it (like the "clock" at your grandparents'), then you have to walk around finding every other clock in the room.

You have started to pick up your Bible and read certain letters, which you also pick out on signs or the TV if you see them. So far, I'm pretty sure you know Y, T, B, and O. The rest I think are hit and miss still.

You still love cars, animals, Elmo, and kisses. If you give one person a kiss though, you point to every one else in the room and have to kiss everyone. Yesterday at church, you kissed almost the entire congregation, or at least everyone who was in the foyer. Your smile is so sweet it melts our hearts ... but you have a new attitude when you don't get your way! When you get sleepy now, you walk over to daddy and ask to be "up", and then you crash on his shoulder. You are a sweet boy, and we love you very much!

Oh, you also have a new habit of running your food through your hair. I'm hoping it's a phase!