Small But Mighty!

Last week our blog outlined Kaleb's first year and what a sweet, relaxed child he has been. This week, he has shown how quickly things can change - so we've given him a new nickname "Mr. Small But Mighty!" He has decided that even though he may be the smallest person around, he won't be left out! Karis relayed these stories this week after picking up Kaleb from Jennifer's:

-One day, the older boys Zachary and Blake were sitting with Kaleb in a circle on the floor eating "Puffs" (these are star-shaped 'treats' that are designed for kids learning how to eat because they basically dissolve in your mouth and reduce the risk of choking). Zachary and Blake were eating from the can, and Kaleb decided that it was his turn - he took a swipe at the jar and managed to get it away from the 3-year-olds and then when they tried to take it back, he hung on for dear life until he had decided that he'd gotten enough Puffs out of the jar!

-Another day, the older boys were playing with markers when Kaleb determined that he wanted to have one - he managed to get one off of the floor and they tried to take if from him- his grip became decidedly "iron-manish" and even though they are more than twice his size, they couldn't get it away! He then decided that wasn't enough and managed to make a successful grab at another marker that Blake had! Where did this feisty child come from?

It would definitely appear that Kaleb is not going to be timid or as reserved as Zachary is. Zachary has never been that aggressive (comparatively speaking), so it is interesting to see what the baby of the family is turning out - I guess they learn early that they need to stick up for themselves!

-Alas, the arrival of the feistiness is also evidencing itself in "fits" if one's way is not achieved. These fits are complete with wailing, laying one's face down on the floor in despair, and then kicking one's legs. Clearly this is the second time that we've been through this phase as parents, but amazingly we've forgotten what our exact techniques were the first time around to navigate our way through so we're trying to quickly refresh ourselves as we desperately try not to laugh at the tragedy of it all.

The swine flu is making its way through Central Florida - we've now had several confirmed cases. Blake had some kind of bug this week, so we had to keep the boys away from Jennifer's for two days - we are sure hoping that our boys don't get it, and especially now the swine (or should we say H1N1) flu!

We're having pictures taken of the boys tomorrow - we're hoping that they are both cooperative to get at least a few good shots to memorialize their 1 and 3 year old birthdays. We also start swimming lessons again this week - this will be Kaleb's first experience. Poor Karis is the one who ends up having to take them as they happen before Amy's home from work, so he bears the emotional brunt of the crying for the 4-5 weeks that it takes to learn the first go-round.

Phrase of the Week: As we were putting Zachary to bed one night (beside his precious Elmo stuffed animal), he looks at Elmo and says so seriously "Elmo, it's night-time, close your eyes! Close your EYES! Don't be frightened!!!" Ha ha - it was hard not to laugh imagining how this was going to turn out when the stuffed animal could obviously not close his eyes, but thankfully Zachary became distracted with something else and moved on from insisting that Elmo close his eyes!

Amy was never on any gym team, but was playing with Zachary in the living room where he pretended to be a gymnast!

Kaleb discovering a typically off-limits "treasure" - a real paper book belonging to Zachary!

Kaleb following in his older brother's footsteps and discovering the joys of the Tupperware cupboard!