Schlitterbahn

Yesterday we loaded up and traveled to Schlitterbahn for the day. It was the first time in a while that Travis and I were off work on the same day so we decided to celebrate. Schlitterbahn is so awesome because it has a ton of things for kids of all ages...even ones Caleb's age. Caleb has always been pretty fearless when it comes to water, but he really surprised us yesterday. They had a huge rainstorm that flooded New Braunfels, so 3/4 of the park was closed. We weren't sure how Caleb was going to do with the few things we had to do but he had a blast...it was almost better for him just to have a few things to do all day rather than last time we went when we tried to do everything at the park.
They have this pirate ship that has water shooting out of it and you can climb up onto the pirate ship and go down 4 different slides that they have. They used to let babies ride on the laps of their parents but won't let you have lap riders anymore so we were concerned about taking Caleb on it, but we figured we'd give it a try and have one parent at top to send him down and one at the bottom to catch him. We sent him down and as soon as he got on the slide he flipped over so he was going down on his tummy. I was frantically waiting at the bottom to catch him and when he came down he jumped up and was like, "Again, again!" We kept taking him up all day. Every time we'd put him on the slide, he'd flip over on his tummy and go off down the slide. As you saw him retreating down the slide, he would shoot you a smile before rounding the first bend. It was crazy! They also had a kiddie pool that had slides on it that he kept going down. It was about a foot deep with water. He started crawling around on his hands in the kiddie pool with just his head sticking up out of water. We were following him all around hysterically, but he was having a blast. He is definitely a water baby.
The one bad thing is that he refused to take a nap. Last time we went we found a spot in the shade and he laid his head down on my shoulder and fell right to sleep. This time we kept taking him out and then bringing him back to the shade to try to get him to go to sleep (probably from 1-4 that we kept trying) and finally we just thought, forget it. He can sleep when we get in the car. Sure enough as soon as we got on the highway he was out and slept all the way home.

Fun Little Surprise

So last night we had fun little surprise...we put Caleb to bed and then went to check on him around 11 that night before we went to bed and he had taken off his pajama pants and was laying their naked from the waist down. He had peed all over the bed so we had to strip the bed, put a new diaper on him, and strap him into a onesie at 11:15 last night. He's taken his shorts and diapers off before, but pajama pants are harder because they are fitted at the bottom but I guess he's getting more savvy at stripping down. Everytime I think we're done with the onesies something else happens that makes us put him back into them. Silly boy.

Why didn't I bring my camera?!?

Yesterday Caleb and I went to the mall and I had one of those "Why didn't I bring my camera" moments. I mean the whole reason we have a flip video is because the size and weight makes it easy to carry anywhere. Anyways, here's what happened.
Caleb and I went to the mall to buy a swimsuit for me. When we were ready to leave it started pouring down rain! I mean pouring. I don't even own an umbrella so I figured we should find something to do while we waited for the rain to stop. Luckily they have this place in the mall that has a bunch of bounce houses and you pay and the kids can go in and jump around in the different bounce houses. I had never taken Caleb before so I talked to one of the ladies and asked her if I could go into any of the bounce houses with him so that he would feel comfortable trying it out. She said that there was one bounce house only for kids under 3 and that I could go into that one with him. She also let us go in for free since it was Caleb's first time to try it out. He had a blast! At first he was kind of hesitant but then another little boy came in and was bouncing all around and Caleb kind of figured out what it was all about. Another boy gave him a ball to use and he jumped around and threw his ball and ran after it. They had slides and pads that he could crawl on.
But the part I wish I had my camera for was when they called all the kids together to dance to the song "Cha cha slide." It something all the workers do for birthdays and the song says things like "everybody clap your hands" and "right stomp, left stomp." So Caleb was in the middle of the all these 8 and 9 year old kids copying them trying to do the dance. It was seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen him do. And then when the song finished the workers screamed "Happy birthday" which Caleb repeated and then started jumping around saying "I did it," "I did it!" My description seriously doesn't do it justice. I loved seeing him that happy.

Caleb Turns 2!

A couple of weeks ago Caleb turned 2. It has been bittersweet for me. I just feel sad that he is not a baby anymore. Every day he surprises us with the things he says and the things he can do by himself. He is such a blessing in our lives.
For his birthday, Grandma and Grandpa DeJong were able to come into town. Caleb was ecstatic and every time he woke up he asked "where's grandpa?" or "where's grandma?" On his day we tried to do all of the things he loves- we woke up and ate blueberry pancakes and opened presents so he would have all day to play with them. He got some new movies, a choo choo set, a table and chairs that are the perfect height for him, the Radiator Springs set from GeoTrax, and a Cd player and Cd's, and some new clothes. We turned on one of his Cd's and he started dancing around the room. He kind of just stands in the same place and moves his hips back and forth. It was so cute! Then he played with his GeoTrax for a long time. He was so happy with all of his presents.
For lunch we went to Chucky Cheese's to eat pizza (which is one of his favorite things). I think he's still a little young for Chucky Cheese's but he enjoyed the pizza. We had cupcakes and ice cream- he just felt whatever about the cupcakes but he LOVED the ice cream. Then his daddy had to go to work and so we took him to the swimming pool at our gym. He loved being in the pool and begin outside. For dinner, Grandma and Grandpa treated us to barbeque and Caleb had lots of turkey and pickles. :) He rounded out the night cuddling with Grandma and watching Incredibles (one of his favorite movies.) He was an exhausted little guy, but I think he had a fun 2nd birthday.

Sea World

A couple of weeks ago we took Caleb to Sea World in San Antonio for his birthday. We had a little trouble getting in, but once we got in Caleb took off and was happy to have so much open space to run in. We took the stroller and I bet he spent maybe 20 minutes tops in it. Unfortunately there was only one ride he could go on, which was the log ride. Fortunately he absolutely loved it. There were some pretty steep drops, so we weren't sure how he'd do on those, but he kept saying "Wheee!" while I was screaming.
He loved seeing the penguins and the whales. They also have a splash pad there and he was having a blast running around in the water. He is a fearless little guy when it comes to water.
They have a water park at Sea World that wasn't open yet, but luckily the day we went, they gave us a free ticket to come back later in the season so Caleb can experience the water park.

Talking, talking, talking

Since Christmas, Caleb's language has REALLY taken off. It is crazy! I am so glad that we have used baby sign language with him because most of the words he is saying are words he has been signing, like car, bus, etc. Well this week he has gotten crazy...Tuesday he said "happy", Wednesday he said "elbow" and pointed to his elbow, and today he turned and said "More crackers please." It was the first "sentence" he has ever said! I went sprinting across the room to give him crackers to encourage him to keep talking.
We are still getting some of the screaming and pointing when he wants something and have to remind him to use his words. We get a lot of "what's that?" "What's that?" The other crazy thing is what he has picked up. We were looking through one of his books the other day and there was like 10 different sea creatures in it and I said "Where's the pufferfish" and he totally pointed to it! And he could point to the dolphin, whale, star fish and other animals on the page. Then he pointed to the treasure chest and said "treasure." Every time we get to a stage I think, this is the most fun, but then he gets older and I think, this is the most fun. I hope it always continues like that. :)

Snow for the first time

While we were in Utah, it snowed. It was Caleb's first experience with snow. He did not like walking on it for some reason. If I put him on the snow, he would whine until I came and took his hand and we walked on it together. Or he would find a path to go around the snow rather than walking on it.