Better Late Than Never, Right?

Here's a quick week in review (partly because it wasn't a very exciting week and partly because I have lots to do):

Caleb had a great week at school. Their class now has class pet, a dwarf hamster. Caleb's teachers tell me that he is absolutely IN LOVE with this hamster. In the mornings, we go in and he just walks over to the hamster and blows me kisses like "bye, mom". They also experienced clay for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised when they told me that Caleb was very eager and inquisitive with the clay. Usually he is Mr. Cautious and would wait awhile to see what his friends thought of it before he tried it.

We had a fun time at home Thursday and Friday though it was so cold that all I wanted to do was stay bundled up under the covers but Caleb wasn't on board with that. It was very tough because we are still on this lemonade master cleanse, which is not too bad when you're out of the house and busy but is really not fun when you're hanging out with a 13 month old that keeps asking for food. Who knew your mouth could water over string cheese and Ritz crackers?!?

To attempt to distract Caleb, I opened up a fun present from his Aunt Elyse. He crawled back and forth and back and forth in that tunnel forever.


Then dad came home and had some fun in the tunnel too!


You'll be relieved to know that all Christmas decorations are put away and up in the attic. As part of that process, I unpacked a box that had been shipped with some after-Christmas sale items for next year. Caleb was eating lunch and was totally taken aback by the bubble wrap. Once I was finished unpacking and he was finished eating, I let him see what bubble wrap was about firsthand. The funniest part was when I started jumping on it and he tried to do the same.


Caleb is still loving books (no complaining here!) though I think sometimes he uses them as an excuse to not do something else. "Caleb, let's go to sleep"..."Book, book, book" or "Caleb, time to pick up our toys"..."Book, book, book". What? Am I not supposed to read to the kiddo?

And in a moment of bragging (so rare from parents, I know), let me say that Caleb's sign language vocabulary is coming along wonderfully. He now does "more", "please", "thank you", and "help" and is working on "apple", "water", and "hamster". I need to find out the sign for "banana" because I bet I hear that one no less than 30 times a day.


Saturday night was Miss America. I was not thrilled with the new format, mainly because I thought it was demeaning to the contestants. Not to get on a soapbox but the organization's leadership needs to figure out if a few more TV viewers and being an "It" girl are worth throwing years of tradition, poise, and elegance out the door. It is a tough call because you can't survive on TV with out people watching, but at what cost? Unfortunately, Miss OK did not make it to the Top 16 (for the first time in at least 5 years). I was pleased with the winner, though I would have preferred Miss CA or IN. The new winner has been on several TV shows and did a nice job on Regis and Kelly today. I can see how she was warm and well-spoken in interview, even though she's only 19. What the Miss America pageant really means to me is that it is time to get it in gear for the Miss OK Teen pageant in June. I love it but it is a lot of work and I have definitely enjoyed my "off season". If you want to help find scholarship donors, restaurants to contribute judges and contestants meals, make copies, etc. , let me know and I can put you to work, for sure!

It was finally going to be nice enough on Sunday that we were going to head to the zoo after church. However, plans changed when Caleb woke up with Round 2 of his pink eye. So we went to the after hours clinic yet again and, sure enough, he has pink eye and his ear infection was already back after being off antibiotics for two days. Oh, that reminds me that we visited the ENT Thursday he said Caleb needs tubes in his ears so we are doing that next week. It is a really easy and fast procedure that will hopefully keep those nasty infections away.

Big plans for the Super Bowl, anyone? We will head to a Sunday School friend's house to watch. I am rooting for the Pats because I think a perfect season would be awesome (and maybe a little because Tom Brady is hot, uh... I mean somewhat decent looking).

Have a great week!