Caleb's 1st Birthday Party

Back in May...May 12th to be exact, Caleb turned one. Here is a glimpse of his special day...

Caleb Suell,

The past year has been a whirl wind of excitement. For your 1st birthday party we had a jungle safari complete with giraffe, tiger, lion and monkey cupcakes; it seemed fitting for you. You are a joy to our whole family - even though you cause lots of grief to Anna Grace and Dean when you get into their stuff. You are a bright spot in the day of everyone you meet. The constant smile upon your face is infectious as is your laughter. People always ask me, "Does he ever cry?" You are a little man full of personality to say the least. You have found your voice and to no one's surprise you fit right in around here being loud all the time. You can sit and "talk" about things just as long as someone is listening and if you think no one is listening you get louder to make sure you have our attention. (As I type you are screaming at the Baby Einstein video in the background.)

I have prayed as long as I have known about you that you would always find your joy in the Lord. I am always amazed at how God continually uses this family to teach and challenge me. For the past year I have watched you joyfully learn new things daily. It seems that no task is too daunting for you. Sometimes you get frustrated trying but most often you persistently try until you figure it out. Sure for me this often tries my patience because your persistent equals getting into stuff and being a handle. Anna Grace and Dean were content with a simple "no"...you have bigger plans than that however. I will continue to pray that your joy will be found in the God of your salvation (Habakkuk 3:18-19) until the day of your salvation. I am confident that like Caleb in the Bible God has great things in store for you. I cannot wait to see them unfold throughout your life. My favorite "Caleb" verse is not the one that most people quote instead it is Numbers 13:30 (the report of the spies regarding the promise land), "But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, 'Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.'" That sums up your attitude about life, Caleb. You conquered the stairs with ease; you over-took the bathroom drawers (some would consider it unorganized) as if it were your job.

My son, I will always pray for you and always love you. I pray that your joy and zest for life will always inspire and encourage me. And I look forward to the other things that God will teach me through you along the way. May you be a like a tree planted by streams of water (Psalm 1:1-3) all the days of your life. And may you be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might (Ephesians 6:10-13) that no matter what comes your way it might be said of you that you stood firm. Finally, the hymn I chose for you as an infant is Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing; I pray that it will ring true of your life as you grow and mature into a godly man.

I love you, Buddy!
your mama

Calling all Fishermen

I don't even know where to begin with pictures from our weekend at the fishing lake house. We had a great weekend with Mom and Wayne (Juju and Ottie) and the Perry family (Laura, Heath, Laurie and Slade). Since Slade's birthday party and Caleb's birthday parties were planned for the same day we decided to have a little family birthday for them. The rest of our time was spent fishing, playing in the yard and resting. Who could ask for a better time with family than that?

the "big kids" fished;

while others surveyed the land.

but they all showed up for the party.

"a progression of cake" by csh...
waiting,

eating,

loving,

and finally all done.

Then later the next day...

Dreaming of more cake I suppose.

Caleb Weighs in at 1

I can't believe the boy is one! Well actually he was one on the 15th and I am just really slow to get pictures up.

His first ride forward facing. He loves it.

He is growing like a weed; to give you a little perspective of him here are his measurements at his one year check up:

Weight - 23 pounds, 9 ounces (60th percentile)
Height - 29 inches (30th percentile)
Head Circumference - 20 inches (off the chart)

Checking out Anna Grace's new booster seat.

Rocking with Dean watching a little Baby Einstein.

To give further perspective into this head size thing. The 95th percentile for one year old boys (highest listed on the chart) is 19 1/8 inches. Furthermore my head circumference is only 21 3/4 inches. I continue to believe that he is solving all of the world's problems in that noggin (or Bucket Head as my uncle likes to call it) of his but he can't articulate the solutions yet.

The children at Bruster's having birthday ice cream.

One more noteworthy thought. Here is where Anna Grace and Dean were at their one year checkups:

Anna Grace
Weight - 19 pounds, 4 oz (15th percentile)
Height - 28 1/4 inches (20th percentile)
Head Circumference - 18 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Dean
Weight - 20 pounds, 4 ounces (20th percentile)
Height - 29 1/2 inches (50th percentile)
Head Circumference - 18 3/4 inches (90th percentile)

And finally the day Anna Grace was born her body was 20 inches long which is equal to Caleb's current head size...It would have taken her entire body length to make Caleb's head!

Fun with Holt

Caleb enjoyed a fun day playing with Holt, his 2nd cousin (or whatever it is called when it is my 1st cousin's child and my child). Here are some pictures:

Caleb playing and getting all dirty.

Now Holt's turn.

And finally tub time.

(as you can see they were filthy to say the least)

creative discipline

This morning I found myself in a precarious place with Anna Grace - our usual form of discipline is decisive, quick and effective. However, I was very frustrated so I thought it best to think of an alternative lest I discipline in anger (the battle she was pursuing while I was trying to execute discipline was making me angry).

Our choices...
Choice 1: We can do this quickly my way then you can go to MDO and play with your friends. Afterward we can still go to the park with the Stubbs as planned this afternoon. ~OR~
Choice 2: You can sit on your bed until the time that MDO ends (1 pm, the current time was 8:40 am). And furthermore, when the time is up we will not go to the park.

Anna Grace chose "choice 2." I immediately began stripping her room of all dolls, toys, books, dress up clothes, everything. She was left in her room with a picture on the wall, her bed, sheets and pillow. I told her under no circumstances could she get off the bed with the one exception being our house catching on fire. She was allowed to talk and sing to herself, look out the window and sit or lay on her bed...for 4 hours.

How it went...
Within minutes as expected she called me to say she needed to go to the bathroom - she thought she had found a loophole. I opened the closet door handed her a pull-up and told her to change into it go potty then take it off without getting off the bed. (Go ahead and think it if you want - you would never do that to your child but given the circumstances you just might.) I gave her a few minutes to ask any questions she could think of that had to do with this new discipline then the boys and I headed out the front door to play - AFTER I put the monitor on in her room so I could hear exactly what was going on in there. Why did we go outside to play? Simple. Her window looks out into the front yard and I wanted her to see what she was missing. After 2 1/2 hours of playing outside (with me poking my head in her room to check on her every 30 minutes or so) we came in for lunch. I brought her food to her on a tray. She sat on her bed and ate by herself. After her lunch - when she really did have to go to the potty when there was still 1 hour and 5 minutes left before she could get off her bed - I let her go potty in the bathroom but she had to go directly back to the bed. When the kitchen timer went off at 1:00 she was allowed to get up and go play with the boys after a brief discussion about why she spent the last 4 hours on her bed.

What exactly did she do while on her bed...
1. She looked out the window.
2. She thought A LOT; apparently about a lot of different things. Every time I went to check on her she tried to bombard me with questions (I quickly realized there was a need to limit her to 2 questions each time). What kind of questions you may ask? Well here is an example, "Mama, I was wondering when are we going to have popsicles again? I really, really like them and you have not made any for a long time."
3. She talked to herself about what she saw outside and made up stuff.
4. She sang. As I said with the monitor I was able to hear all. I timed it; she sang the VeggieTales theme song, full out with great emotion, for 15 minutes. I considered getting the video camera and capturing this moment but figured when she heard me in the hall the moment would be over.

What did I learn...
1. I learned that she does not mind spending 4 hours on her bed with nothing.
2. I learned that it was not punishment for me to keep her there as I feared it would be because her imagination is too great.
3. I learned that our normal punishment is faster and much more effective.
4. I learned that as I had suspected, therefore never disciplining her this way before now, that I really don't like this type of punishment. It may be effective for some but was a waste of time for her, literally.
5. I learned - because of our conversation after the fact - that her decision to sit there was very calculated on her part and definitely seen as the lesser of two evils. She is very smart, the little stinker.
6. I learned that when I think I can call her bluff after 15 minutes of sitting, she is tough and will patiently wait me out.
7. I learned, well, I learned a lot.

In conclusion...
Anna Grace almost sassed me a minute ago but I stopped her and asked, "Did you not learn anything today?" She looked at me with the most perplexed look and said, "No, Mama, I didn't. You didn't let me go to school today. I just sat on my bed the whole time."

Apparently I am the only one who learned anything out of all of this.

Little Miss Smarty Pants in action this past weekend at the
Lynn Meadows Discovery Center in Gulfport.

Having tea in the train and grocery shopping in the store.