Caleb is One Year Old!!

ONE year. One YEAR. ONE YEAR! Caleb's first year of life has been a measure of time for us in many ways. I was pregnant with him when we left Slovenia, when we spent a month in Oregon in September, when we moved to South Carolina and settled in to living with Joel's parents and welcomed him to our family. Then three months later, we up and moved, yet again, this time across the United States to Oregon, where we've lived for the past 9 months of his life.

Caleb, you're such a sweet gift to our family. You're funny and expressive and just plain a lot of fun to be around! You're been taking your first steps for awhile now, just a couple at a time and then you drop to your knees, not ready to be quite on the go yet. That is perfectly fine for Mama! I think Daddy is ready for you to be running though! A couple weeks ago at church, I picked you up from the nursery and they asked, "Amy, when did Caleb start walking?!" and I said, "oh you mean, walking along things?" and they said, "No! He took steps!" You didn't wait for any camera or for Mom and Dad to cheer you on...you just did it. But you haven't done it much since...one of these days!

Like your Sister and Brother before you, we are teaching you sign language for please and thank you and more and all done for meal times. So far, you think that yelling is a better way to get our attention and sadly, because you're the third child, it really is at times. We still love you though and give you lots of undivided attention at other times. You are good at signing, all done though and just tonight signed thank you after Daddy told you to. It was the first time and you did it without being shown (in that instance). We were so proud of you! You even clapped for yourself!

You are really drawn to cars and often turn things into a "car", like a step stool for instance. Sometimes you turn it upside down and slide it along the floor as though it were a car. You've done it with other funny things as well. You really, really like your big Brother's train sets and have a hard time just watching them and not climbing on the track. You also really like the soccer ball you got for your birthday and really impressed your Grandpa when you said, "ba!" when you saw them at IKEA.

You are very aware of yourself, your limitations and your surroundings. You're observant and enjoy watching people around you. When you first began crawling, sadly, you fell down the stairs a couple of times, but now you are keenly aware of the edges of stairs, beds, chairs and couches. Thankfully, you didn't hurt yourself and now you know how to be careful! Recently, you began climbing up the stairs, and because you are so aware of your limitations, I fully trust that you were "ready" for that new challenge. You've mastered it well!

Your Brother has begun playing "chase" with you lately and you love it! You crawl as fast as you can and he sneaks behind you and then sometimes lays on top of you and squishes you in his affection. You cry and cry and act like you're offended, but deep down you know your brother loves you. You two are going to have so much fun in life together!

Your sister, on the other hand, can pretty much do no wrong in your eyes. She adores you and you adore her! I often find you in her room, playing with her Polly Pocket dolls...well, chewing on all the accessories and getting into her other things. She loves having you in our family. She is strong enough to lift you and carry you around...just a bit...and I think you like being toted by her. The three of you like playing and jumping on Mom & Dad's bed and she is careful to make sure you don't fall off.

One of my favorite times with you is right after you wake up. In the morning, after naps, it doesn't matter. It's always the same. You begin pointing at everything and "talking" about everything around you. I imagine you're telling me about bushes that scrape the window when it's windy or airplanes that fly over. You tell me about the light fixture and your bed, your special Monkey & Doggy blankets, the door and toys scattered around. After that we make our way to pictures on the walls and you tell me about those. You're a brilliant conversationalist! ; )

I think your Daddy would say that his favorite time with you is when he comes home from work and you wrestle on our bed. You love to be tossed in the air into the pillows and flipped upside down. You climb all over him and yell, "Dada, Dada!!" with such intensity I can just hear you saying, "I love you" in your voice! "Dada" was your first word and your favorite one for about 2 months!!

Oh Caleb, we love and adore you and are so glad you're part of our family!!