Caleb's Summer

Caleb was the one to grow and change the most this summer. In June he learned to walk, and starting signing words to us. He also switched from chattering syllables to focusing on intonations. We're trying to get him to go back to words, but right now he carries on entire monologues with lots of inflection and tonal changes all with the sound "gungh gungh gungh," in the back of his throat. It is really funny, and hard to not copycat him! Instead we speak back to him what we think he's saying. Here are some photos to keep you up to date...

Here is Daniel running through a bounce thingy at a birthday party he and Hannah went to at Pump It Up. Daniel was very cautious about everything for about the first 45 minutes, but warmed up nicely. Hannah had no fear at all and was jumping down a 2 story slide almost as soon as we got there. Each of the kids are so different...

Jumping must run in the family. Here is Hannah in action! One day I accidently left Caleb's pool out on the back grass. Then the sprinklers came on, and then I let Hannah and Daniel out to play. Then Caleb and I heard the most delighted squeals of laughter in the backyard. Peeking to investigate, I saw Daniel filling the pool with dirt and pine needles, and Hannah delightedly "washing her hair" with the gooey mud. It was so gross and so funny, that I couldn't even be mad. I just had to grab the camera...

And here they are, the little partners in crime!

My handsome boy. He's quite an eater. When he turned 15 months in June, I compared his growth statistics with Daniel's at 15 months. They were the same height, but Caleb is 3 pounds heavier! That is a lot for this age. Still, Caleb is not fat, he's just sturdy. Look out kids when Caleb starts to jump!

Other notables this month:

- Hannah and Daniel got the 24 hour flu on the day I planned to work on potty training Daniel. Oh well!

- I attended my first home school convention. One funny thing was my silly notion of other home school moms. I had this major dilemna getting dressed for the convention! I thought home school moms must always wear denim jumpers, and I decided I was going to shatter that image and wear...capris. Much to my amazement, I don't think I saw any denim jumpers that day, as almost every other mom there was wearing...capris. By the way, we've started school with Hannah already. She is rip-roaring ready to read. I think she's learned by osmosis, because we just started consonant blending today, and she's reading first grade level books that she's never seen all by herself. I'm being a realist on this, I realize that her ability has nothing to do with me. She's just incredibly bright.

- Peter's car spent almost half of the month at the shop. I don't understand what went wrong with it. I just understand the gouging in the checkbook to the tune of over $3,000. Yikes!

- We attended the final adoption hearing of some friends who adopted three new children into their family, bringing the family kid count to a whopping 8. Amazing!

- Uncle Joe turned 28. That just makes me feel so OLD. I remember when he was born! Daniel sang Happy Birthday along with us - the first time he has sung with others! Joseph loved it. He is such a great uncle. The kids adore him.

- Dad and Peter's officemate, Jim Parks, retired. Our office seems so empty without him! Jim is "retiring" to spend more time on his other vocation - being a full-time pastor. I will miss him at the office. He has been like a second father to me since I started working for Dad when I was 16 years old.

- Peter and I learned country English line dancing at a friend's graduation party! It was fun. I don't think I could do it without some coaching again, but it was a blast.

Stay tuned for a soon-coming July report. It was more eventful.